The Power of Words.
16th September 2012. 15th Sunday after Trinity.
Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9a; James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38.
‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me.’ I wonder how many of us grew up with that saying ringing in our ears. I wonder how many of us believe it is actually true. For myself I always felt I must be weak because I WAS damaged by words but thought I shouldn’t be. For those of you who feel the same I can tell you we have now been vindicated. Some researchers in Canada have found that psychological abuse such as name calling and belittling can be as damaging as being hit or kicked. It damages self-esteem and makes people think they are really rubbish.
Words can build up and words can destroy both individually and corporately. When people take the time to say something nice or encouraging it can lift your spirits. Gossiping, moaning and being negative about people is very undermining within any sort of community. Another saying I have heard is ‘if you can’t say anything nice then say nothing at all.’ St Benedict who wrote his rule for monks was very aware of the dangers of negative speak and warned against ‘murmuring’ as he called it.
Sometimes we mishear and therefore misquote what is said. A vicar’s son found a dead robin and decided it needed a proper burial so he and his friends dug a little hole in the ground and gathered round as a prayer was said. The lad, repeating what he thought he had heard his father say prayed ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son and into the hole you go.’ I often have the subtitles up on the TV and they are frequently very wrong in what they say. My favourite was when the speaker referred to the shopping centre Merry Hill which came up on the subtitles as Merry Hell.
Sometimes words can be misunderstood and cause humour, sometimes pain. Often repeating words can be like Chinese whispers and the end result bear little resemblance to reality. Think of the damage that the media do by twisting people’s words, quoting out of context and putting a negative slant on what has been said. We make judgements on the basis of what we have heard and others might make their judgements based on what they hear US say. It all has the power to profoundly affect lives one way or another.
I go into several schools regularly to take assembly and one of my favourite ones is to challenge 2 children to a competition to see who can squeeze the toothpaste out of a toothpaste tube the fastest. Great fun. Then when they have done that I challenge them to put it all back in the tube. They always just stand and look at me. That bit is really hard if not pretty impossible. And that is the thing with words; once they are spoken they are spoken and it is impossible to withdraw them. For some people like me, that causes a problem if we don’t always put things very well. Foot in mouth disease I call it. Our New Testament reading from James reminds us how hard it is to control the tongue. It is such a tiny part of our bodies but has such a massive impact either for good or bad. It is a great person who can tame their tongue. What we say and the way we say it can potentially help and build up or mislead and do harm.
Our Old Testament reading from Isaiah is one of the passages known as the servant passages which, whilst being understood in the life and time of the man who wrote them are also seen as words that specifically anticipate Jesus and refer equally to him. So the passage could be read as it is Jesus speaking. Maybe have a look at it again later in the light of that (or now if you are bored of listening to me).
The writer both recognises his responsibility to make sure he hears God’s word to himself correctly, and, as a teacher, to use his tongue wisely, allowing himself to become centred in God and to speak and act with perfect integrity. This is real precursor to our Gospel reading from Mark where Jesus asks his disciples who people think he is. What have they heard? Who is saying what about him? What’s the word on the street? He listens to what they answer then asks them but who do you think I am. You’ve listened to others, you have listened to me, who do you think I am. When Peter says’ You are the Christ,’ he has obviously got it spot on.
But as Jesus then teaches them about the nature of his Messiahship and the suffering it will mean, Peter challenges him and Jesus tells him off. Peter has only got half the story right and is now speaking out of turn. Jesus knew who he was and what he had to face and he had centred himself in God and prepared himself to follow his destiny. He did not need or want to hear distracting words that might pull him off course. He had had to say no to the temptations of power, status, money and popularity in order to be true to God and his calling.
And that is the danger for us. We are trying to centre ourselves in God so that we know who we are, so we can be true to God, true to each other and true to ourselves and speak and act with integrity as Christians. But that’s hard and we need to listen carefully to hear God speaking to us and we need others around us who can encourage us and build us up, and we need to be doing that for each other.
So what we hear and what we speak are both vitally important. We each have a choice. Words can build up, words can destroy. It is up to us.
Susie Walker, Youth Leader.