Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
Original Manuscript:
At one point in the show, Leslie's husband, Ben, starts working as the City Manager of Pawnee. This is a welcome change for the couple, until they find themselves on opposing sides.
It starts as a little problem. A man selling Chard at the farmers' market starts using back up dancers to sell his product, which seems a little inappropriate. And Leslie wants them gone.
Ben decides they need a firewall so that they only talk about work things at work. Except Leslie keeps finding ways around the firewall. And she starts to go behind Ben's back to make sure everything is done her way.
Ben finally gets fed up with it and stands outside City Hall, saying they are off government property, so the firewall kicks in. Leslie tells him the concrete was poured by the Pawnee Government, so the firewall won't work.
It gets so ridiculous that Ben and Leslie end up in a fountain outside the bank as Leslie tries to break the firewall and Ben tries to restore it.
Finally Ben breaks down and says "Look, things are confusing. We've both changed jobs so many times. And, I mean, now I'm your boss? You just need to consider my point of view. I mean, you're so passionate that sometimes I feel like I'm arguing with the sun."
And Leslie realizes that she's wrong. That she does need to listen to Ben. And together they figure out a solution that leaves everybody happy.
The hardest part of any relationship, especially our close relationships with our friends, is letting them know that they are doing something wrong. We worry that in telling people something they don't want to hear, that they will get upset with us. Sometimes we worry that maybe we'll end up like Leslie and Ben, stuck in a freezing fountain because of an argument.
But our Scripture today urges us to do so. It urges us to be there to tell our friends when they are acting wrongly. It urges us to make sure our friends are acting in the right way.
In fact, our reading from Ezekiel even demands that we do so. Because if our friend continues acting wrongly and we haven't done anything to warn them, that's on us. We owe it to our friends to let them know when they need to "straighten up and fly right."
Jesus in the Gospel discusses the same truth in a much more gentle way. He says when another sins against us, we should tell them. We should let them know that they've done wrong. Because when they repent, we will have "regained that one". We will have regained a friend.
It's often easier for us to let the bad behavior we see to go unchecked. To go un- repented. Because we don't want to loose that friendship with that person. We don't want them to get mad and hate us.
Jesus tells us that if this person who is sinning against us continues to do so, we should put them out. They should become to us as a Gentile and a tax collector. As one unclean and despised.
That's because this person was never a friend. Because friendship is based on equal standing. Give and take. It's not about being in a relationship where one person's role is to give all the support and the other's is to simply receive it. It's about mutually helping each other as we move forward in this life.
And aiding one another, especially in moving forward in this life, is about making sure we continue to move forward unscathed and unharmed. As Christians, we know that sin leads away from God who is our life and being. Why would we let those we love stumble down the path of sin? Why would we want others to let us stumble down that path as well?
This isn't to say that discussing the hard truths with our friends won't lead to their lashing out at us. Sometimes it will. But a true friend will come back. They will realize they have done wrong to us and ask our forgiveness, just as Leslie did with Ben. A true friend will make things right.
Don't enable your friends and loved ones in their bad habits. Talk to them. See how you can help. Do what you can to make things better. Use Jesus as a reminder. Because Jesus didn't die to enable us in our sins. He died to make us better. He died to make us whole.