Abuse and Neglect

The scriptures referred to are Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Ephesians 1:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46.

A few years ago I came across a bit of medical research which has really changed the way I have thought about people. Some doctors were looking into the life histories of patients with chronic illnesses and they discovered some startling commonalities. For some diseases, you look for genetic links. Diseases like breast cancer, cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease tend to run in families. But what these doctors discovered was that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), like abuse, neglect and household dysfunction, could be predictive of people having chronic mental and physical diseases in adulthood. They also correlated with self-destructive behaviors as an adult. Now everyone has some ACEs in their life, like divorce or a relative who has mental illness or an addiction or who has been incarcerated. Using the 10 question tool they came up, it is not unusual for the average person to have a score of between 1 and 3. But what researchers found was that above that level the more ACEs one has, the higher the person's risk of having serious problems later in life, including heart disease, cancer, and severe obesity, as well as behavior problems such as substance abuse, missing work or trouble with the law. A very high ACE score carries the risk of a much lower life expectancy. And as bad as suffering abuse is, it turns out neglect has an even greater negative affect on a child and his or her development.

Of course the more common abuse and neglect are, the greater their effect on society as a whole. It is estimated that at least 1 in 7 children in the US has experienced child abuse and/or neglect in the past year. That's more than 1 million children under the age of 18. And neglect is the most common, followed by physical abuse, sexual abuse and psychological abuse. 76% of the abusers were a parent to the victim. Given the effect on their future lives, the sins of the fathers and mothers are indeed visited upon the children.

And we see this pattern of bullying and neglect even between adults. We see it not only in marriages and domestic partnerships but also in workplaces, in social groups and even in those with positions of power. The astonishing high incidence of people using their power to sexually assault those under them has been uncovered in churches, in the Boy Scouts, in Hollywood, in corporations and in government. Anyone who has ever worked for a terrible boss has seen how he can use his power to deny promotions, show favoritism and stick employees whom he doesn't like with demeaning tasks. There was an eye-opening episode of This American Life which chronicled how the head of maintenance for a school district abused his power to the extent that he was eventually convicted of racketeering!

In today's readings from Ezekiel and Matthew, God pronounces his judgment on those who abuse or neglect others. In Ezekiel God speaks of himself as a shepherd of his people Israel. He tells of how he will find them even though they are scattered among the nations. He says, “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” Why will he do that? “Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.” More powerful animals will use their strength to get their way and even harm others of their kind. But we are more than animals and God will not tolerate abuses of power or bullying in those created in his image. That is not how the kingdom of the God who is love will operate.

The parable that Jesus tells in today's gospel looks at the other more common problem we have: neglect. Essentially that is the deciding factor in the last judgment between the sheep and the goats. Some people have helped of the less powerful members of society, whom Jesus identifies as his siblings, and some have neglected them. Jesus mentions no sins of commission in this parable, only sins of omission. It's not that God doesn't care about the bad things people do; we see that he does in Ezekiel and innumerable other places in the Bible. But Jesus is highlighting something we often forget: that not doing the right thing is also a sin. Nor is this the only place Jesus shows this. In the first part of the parable of the good Samaritan Jesus makes a point of the fact that the priest and the Levite, people you would expect to be the good guys, do nothing for the man beaten and left for dead. The man most of his audience would think of as a heretic half-breed is the real hero because he actually rescues and nurses the victim. (Luke 10:30-37)

Believe it or not, some people, including Christians, have problems with Jesus' teachings on this matter. They are all for charity “in principle,” but they feel some of the people Jesus lists, like those in prison, caused or contributed to the state they find themselves in. They even suspect that a lot of the poor and homeless could have prevented their situation if they had made better choices. Now I could point out all the research that shows that abuse and neglect and poverty have a powerful effect on a child's developing brain which negatively affects decision making, among other things, but Jesus doesn't go into that. Nor does he ever use the word “deserving.” That is irrelevant to our Lord. The only criteria he gives is that the person is in need. It's the same way with doctors and nurses. I have treated people who were injured because a drug deal went bad, or because they tried committing suicide when their wife found out they were having sex with their foster daughter, or because they were driving drunk, or because their lungs were damaged from smoking. But health professionals treat every sick and injured person in their care, regardless of the moral tenor of their life. And in the same way, God does not save only those who are deserving, because in fact nobody is. He does so because he is gracious.

Which brings up something that has been debated on a clergy Facebook page about this week's gospel. A Lutheran colleague wanted to know “Where is grace in this parable?” It looks like what saves the sheep is what they did, their works. Doesn't Paul say, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast”? (Ephesians 2:8-9) Indeed, he does. And he continues, “For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand that we may do them.” (Ephesians 2:10, emphasis mine)

Some people have tried to argue that Jesus did not preach grace; he taught you must obey the moral laws in the Torah, as any good rabbi would. Grace was Paul's idea. But that is not true. When Jesus says that the rich would have a harder time entering the kingdom of God than a camel would squeezing through the eye of a sewing needle, the disciples were amazed—because in their culture, it was thought that God must like the rich because he blesses them with so many material goods. It follows that people were poor because they didn't have enough faith or didn't please God. It's kind of like the prosperity gospel that certain TV evangelists preach. Believing in this false moral meritocracy, the disciples exclaimed, “Who then can be saved?” To which Jesus replies, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:23-26) Rich or poor, we cannot save ourselves. We must rely upon God's grace.

But didn't Jesus say of people, “By their fruit you will recognize them”? (Matthew 7:20) Again, yes. But just because we are not saved by good works, it doesn't mean they are irrelevant to the Christian life. We were created in the image of God, who does good. Our sins have marred that image, including our capacity to do good. Jesus, who is the very image of God, came to restore that image in us. And the Holy Spirit, which we receive when we put our trust in Christ, gets to work sanctifying us, repairing the image of God in us and enabling us to live a godly and Christlike life, which includes, among other things, doing good. So good works don't save us; they are signs and symptoms that we have been saved, are being saved and will be saved. Like a normal temperature and good appetite are signs of good physical health, doing good works is a sign of good spiritual health. In the parable Jesus is not judging people because of their good works; he recognizes they are saved because they are impelled by the Spirit to show love for others, even the powerless who cannot pay them back.

This parable is not saying “do good works to save yourself” but “if you really are letting God's Spirit work in you, you will see it in your life and the works you do.” In the same way, I can't make myself have more energy by doing things; I happen to realize I have energy by the fact that I am just naturally doing things without thinking or hesitation. It often takes me a few hours of doing things as easily as I used to do them before I realize that I am having a good day or a good few hours. In the same way, good works don't precede being saved; they proceed from being saved by God's grace.

And just as a sudden pain or inability to do something, like breathe easily, should trouble a physically healthy person, and make them do something about it, seeing someone being bullied or neglected should trouble a spiritually healthy person and make them do something about it. God is love and “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5)

And it turns out that we can impede the Spirit's work in us. Paul writes, “Do not extinguish the Holy Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) J.B. Phillips translates this “Never damp the fire of the Spirit.” This is similar to when Jesus says, “People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:15-16) The most extreme example of resisting the Spirit is what Jesus calls the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said this because his critics were saying his healings were done in league with the devil. When someone says that undeniably good deeds done through the power of God are actually evil, they are so spiritually blind to the truth that there is no helping them. Seeing good as evil, they would reject help anyway, the way some patients reject medical treatment because they think the doctors are trying to kill them. By rejecting the source of God's forgiveness, such people render themselves unforgivable. (Mark 3:22, 28-30)

Jeremiah predicted that God would make a new covenant with his people. God says, “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and mind.” (Jeremiah 31:33) In Ezekiel he says, “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26) And we still say that people without empathy or compassion have a heart of stone. And anyone who bullies the weak or neglects the needy does not have the Spirit of the God who is love in their hearts.

As we've said before, parables usually have one point and are not exhaustive treatments of an issue. We are not literally sheep or goats, belonging to different species. The good news is we can be changed from what we are by putting our trust in Jesus, God Incarnate, who came to save us from our fallen natures. When we do we become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we are given God's Spirit who lives in us. (Romans 8:9-10, 1 Corinthians 6:19) He produces results which manifest themselves in our life, qualities like love and kindness and gentleness. (Galatians 5:22-23) A loving, kind and gentle person cannot bully others or neglect those who need help.

Our heroes generally are fighters who punish bad guys. Jesus did not come as a holy warrior but as a healer. He knew that people who do destructive and self-destructive things often need healing from the adverse experiences that shaped them. He showed compassion for those often rejected by society, like tax collectors and prostitutes, as well as those cut off from others by chronic illness, such as lepers and a woman with a continuous bleed that made her unclean. He forgave sinners, including the murderer dying on the cross next to him.

Today our heroes usually get rid of evil by killing bad guys. Jesus got rid of evil by turning bad guys into good guys. Some people have pointed out that if there really was a Bruce Wayne he would do more good in Gotham City by using his fortune to help the mentally ill rather than making weapons to fight them as Batman. Jesus is not the hero we want or the one we deserve. He is the hero we need, sent by a gracious God to help and heal the bullied and neglected. And if we have his Spirit within us, we will do the same. And at the last day, Jesus will not condemn us (John 5:24) but by our fruit recognize us as his own, his body on earth, filled with the fullness of his Spirit, and he will welcome us into the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.