Title: What are the Amish thinking?
Text: Micah 6:8 and Matthew 5:38-48
Thesis: The Amish believe that following Christ works as both faith and practice in the midst of very personal suffering.
We were all stunned when we learned that Roger Morrison had taken hostages student hostages at the Platte Valley High School near Bailey, Colorado. It was heartbreaking to hear of the death of Emily Keyes before t he siege ended.
The Keyes family has demonstrated remarkable grace in the face of their huge loss and have chosen to take the higher ground. They are refusing to dwell on the horrific deed done or the person of Roger Morrison. They have elected to put a positive spin on what was in essence, a random act of violence, by asking that those who knew and loved Emily, remember and honor her by doing random acts of kindness.
However, we were even more stunned when we learned last Monday, that Charles Carl Roberts IV had copycatted the crime in one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School near Georgetown, PA, where he took the lives of five students before taking his own.
I think one of the reasons that I am taken by this story is the utter paradox that that something like this would happen in an Amish community… that is not to say that Amish communities are perfect little places with no dirty little secrets. Nevertheless, they are known for attempting to, according to an MSN news clip on October 6, 2006, “follow the way of Jesus by living in community, separate from society which they believe is filled with vanity, fraud and violence. Their desire is walk in humility before God and the world.”
Violence in an Amish community is a shocking occurrence.
Another reason this is such a compelling story is the utter paradox of the manner in which the Amish choose to respond to those who do violence to them and those they love.
Forgiveness is a rule of life in an Amish community.
The MSN news report cited earlier, which was based on an interview with a student of Amish life, who had lived in an Amish community for over twenty years stated, “The Amish have a deep love for each other and a deep desire to make sure the community forgives [Charles Carl Roberts IV].”
On page 2A of the Thursday, October 5 Denver Post, there were two news stories. The one from the Associated Press was titled, Amish seek, give comfort after killings. The other from the Albany, N.Y. Union Times was titled, Forgiveness, pacifism are core tenets in community.
Paul Grondahl, reporter for the Albany Times Union asked the million dollar question, “How can the notion of forgiveness be considered while viewing news photos of body bags being carried out of the one-room Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania?”
What are the Amish thinking?
Are the Amish folks different from you and me? The Amish funerals are conducted in German and focus on God, not on commemorating the dead. There is no singing, but ministers read hymns and passages from the bible and an Amish prayer book.
Do Amish families grieve as we grieve? The families of the little girls
endure the same deep grief as anyone outside their community grieve. They embrace each other and the weep as uncontrollably as anyone outside their community.
Do the Amish ever question what has happened in their lives? The Amish are just like you and me. They will always wonder how something like this could have happened to their children and to them. They will heal but this incident will affect the entirety of their lives.
What kind of questions do the Amish ask?
The Amish are asking, “What does God require of us? What would please the Lord?” And, they are listening to the Word of God in Micah 6:8, “Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.”
The Amish take the bible seriously.
• They believe what it says and practice their understanding of God’s Word.
• They are devout followers of Jesus Christ.
• They understand that they are sinners and that Christ died for the sins of all sinners.
• They believe that God forgives and gives eternal salvation to those who repent of their sins and invite Jesus Christ into their lives.
• They believe that this life is to be lived as a life of faith in God’s sovereignty and obedience to the teaching of Jesus Christ.
• They believe that one day Jesus Christ will return and establish a visible Kingdom, which will be characterized by peace.
But more pointedly, what are the Amish thinking in regard to this horrific tragedy?
They are thinking the words of Matthew 5:38-48 need to be practiced in their community and before the watching eyes of the world. And they do just that…
FaithCommons.com reports that when the reporters who have inundated the Amish community write their stories; there is a striking absence of Amish quotes about their own faith. The trend in the stories of the reporters is to look at how the Amish are responding.
The Amish are demonstrating their belief that…
I. Holding a grudge has no redeeming value
The Amish do not believe that justice and mercy are contradictory terms. They believe God desires justice and demonstrates mercy…
A. The Amish believe justice is in the hands of God.
“Justice is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Deuteronomy 32:35 and Hebrews 10:30
The Amish do not believe Charles Carl Roberts IV necessarily off the hook… but they choose to leave vengeance and retaliation in the hands of a just God.
B. They also believe mercy… is something they can do.
“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words… instead be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31-32 and Colossians 3:12-13
Grudges are destructive and revenge is not sweet.
One of the simple but great inventions is the eraser. It acknowledges the fact that no one is perfect. It reminds us that there is hope and new possibility for those who mess up their lives and hurt others. When we erase a hurt, we experience freedom, peace and inner joy.
Warren Wiersbe, former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago and Director of Back to the Bible Broadcast in Lincoln, NE said, “The worst prison is the prison of an unforgiving heart.” If we refuse to offer others the gift of mercy and understanding, if we refuse to acknowledge that others, like ourselves are just people, we are only locking ourselves up in a small cell of bitterness where we wallow in our own torment. Wiersbe said, “Some of the most miserable people I have known in my ministry are people who would not forgive others. They lived only to imagine ways to punish those who wronged them.”
Archibald Hart defined forgiveness as “surrendering my right to hurt you for hurting me.”
In 1987, I was offered and accepted a position at the national headquarters of another denomination. We arranged for the purchase of a home and hired a moving van to move our family to New York. One week before we were to leave, I received a call from the Vice President, who had hired me for his staff, the president of the denomination had but the kibosh on my hiring. He cited an unspecified “check in his spirit” as the reason. I don’t know that I have ever felt so helpless to defend myself. How do you respond to an unspecified “check in someone else’s spirit?” I was bitter and I was angry but not nearly as bitter and angry as I was when months later I learned what that check in his spirit was about.
The president of the denomination had noticed on my resume that Bonnie and I were married in 1970, but our oldest son was born in 1969. Seemingly, he did not feel it appropriate for a person at national headquarters to have had a child out of wedlock. I cannot judge his personal convictions but I can judge the inadequacy of his discerning practice in that our son was an adopted child. I was very hurt and angry.
But, in time I learned that a when a root of bitterness takes hold, it does no one but yourself harm. The president retired and has long since gone to be with the Lord. My anger did nothing to hurt him… it only ate away at me.
However, even this brief peeling back of the scab of a wound that occurred nineteen years ago, is sufficient to remind me that even remembering and rehearsing an old story, may be sufficient to let bitterness get a new hold on one’s life.
The Amish know that grudges have no redeeming value and that mercy does.
The Amish take Jesus seriously and consequently have an unusual understanding when it comes to retaliation. They simply do not do “tit for tat.”
II. Tit for Tat may be justice but it isn’t Christ like.
“”You have heard, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, don’t resist an evil person. Turn the other cheek and go the second mile…” Matthew 5:38-42
A. The need for civil law is obvious… if we do not put restraints on vengeance and retaliation, people have a tendency to extract justice, plus some. If you hit me, be assured, I will hit you back only harder.
The law defines what is just. If you have injured someone, you deserve restitution but that restitution must be just restitution. You destroys your car in an auto accident you cannot go and destroy two of his cars or expect that you be compensated for two cars when you have in fact only lost one car. Otherwise, you end up in a feud over a pig, as in the case of the Hatfields and the McCoys, that claims the lives of people as just recompense for the cost of a hog.
Jesus wants us to rise above being world – people with chips on our shoulders, always spoiling for a fight, forever hauling each other into People’s Court to settle silly disputes. Jesus wants us to stop worrying about the bottom line, who owes who an apology or a thank you note or a phone call or a buck.
Jesus is not instructing his followers to be weak or doormat-people. He is asking us to be strong people. He is asking us to be strong enough to practice restraint in our responses to those who hurt us.
Steve May cites the example of Tiger Woods when he won the Master’s a few years ago. Fuzzy Zoeller responded with some very mean-spirited racist remarks. He intended them to be funny but they weren’t funny. As a result, Fuzzy received a great deal of well-deserved criticism. But Tiger Woods responded to it all by saying, “We all make mistakes and it’s time to move on.”
B. However, the need for non-retaliatory, Christ like responses is equally apparent.
Greg Boyd cites in his book The Myth of a Christian Nation that it was revealed that a number of American soldiers inflicted humiliating abuse on Iraqi soldiers at Abu Gharib prison… and shortly after pictures and videos of the abuse were made public. Iraqi terrorists immediately, made their own film showing the grotesque beheading of American civilian, John Berg. In the film, they told us that they executed Mr. Berg in response to the brutality endured by their own soldier at Abu Gharib and they vowed to continue because “we are a people of vengeance.”
In the world, Americans passionately believe that our cause is just and theirs is evil. In the world, terrorists passionately believe their cause is just and ours is evil. Our passion for American justice is mirrored by their passion for Islamic justice. In the world, the good must extinguish the evil. In the world, their side is the “axis of evil” and our side is “satanic” America.
“Tit for Tat” doesn’t work very well in international life or in personal life. It has a way of going on and on until someone finally scrunches the other into submission or wipes them off the map. When we live by the law of “Tit for Tat”, there is no end to the cycle of revenge, vengeance and retaliation.
Most would say that in the world we have little choice but to be “Tit for Tat” people. Most would say that if we were not a “Tit for Tat” nation the Amish could not practice their aberrant form of non-retaliatory Christianity. But, on a personal level, the Amish place no value in “Tit for Tat” and choose rather to let the cycle of retaliation end with them.
The Amish also take seriously the teaching of Christ in how to treat one’s enemies.
III. They think love is the truly Christian response when things get personal.
Jesus said, “You have heard, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But, say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus is not naïve about how things work in the world. He cites in 5:47 that it is easy to love people who love you back. That is how it is in the world. He says, “Even pagans manage to love those who love them back.”
But, in Jesus’ world, it is not like that. In Jesus’ world, the test of our Christianity is not our ability to love people who love us back but our willingness to love those who don’t love us back.
CNN.com reported on October 6, 2006 “Many Amish have embraced the gunman’s wife, Marie Roberts and her three young children.”
In the same news article, they reported, “Donors around the world are pledging money to help the families of the dead and wounded. Amounts ranging, from $1 to $500,000 have been received to help defray the mounting medical bills. [And] At the behest of Amish leaders, a fund has also been set up for the killer’s widow and children.
The Amish believe the response to personal injury and loss is mercy in forgiving and loving those who have hurt them rather than file a civil suit to claim justice against those who injure them.
And finally, the Amish are resurrection Christians.
IV. Resurrection Christians do not grieve as those who have no hope!
“I want you to know what will happen to the Christians who have died so you will not be full of sorrow like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will being back with Jesus all the Christians who have died.” I Thessalonians 4:13-18
Sometimes we forget the words scripture as reflected in the Apostle’s Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
the Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hades.
The third day He arose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
The Amish believe in the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting! They really believe in the resurrection. They really believe that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The Amish really believe the bible and allow God’s Word to bring them comfort and hope in the midst of their loss.
This week, while visiting in the hospital, I met a rather exuberant Christian lady who was going on and on about how beautiful it would be in heaven… and then she asked, “Do you know what I think will be the best thing about heaven?” I answered, “No, what are you looking forward to in heaven?” And she answered, “The children… all the children.”
In the Old Testament, King David grieved over the impending death of his infant son. He begged God to heal the baby. He did not eat or drink for days. At night, he laid on the bare ground refusing comfort and solace. After seven days, the infant child died and David got up, took a bath, changed his clothes and went to the temple to worship God.
Later, his advisors who had observed his behavior asked David why it was that he wept and prayed so bitterly while the child was sick but then got up and about after the baby’s death. David said, “While the baby lived I mourned and prayed thinking that perhaps the Lord would be gracious to me and let our baby live… now, “though I cannot bring him back to me, I will go to be with him one day.” II Samuel 12:15-23
In conclusion, let me summarize just what the Amish are thinking.
The Amish are thinking:
1. Holding a grudge serves no redeeming purpose.
2. “Tit for Tat” does not work.
3. Mercy and love are the Christ like responses to those who hurt them.
4. Their children are with the Lord and one day, they will see them again when Christ returns.
May we let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in our hearts and make us wise. May we use his words to teach and counsel each other… and whatever we may d o or say, let it be as representative of the Lord Jesus. Colossians 3:16-17
