Words Have Power: Using Them to Save My Soul
Whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:22b
Why does Jesus speak so harshly about name-calling? What happened to: Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me?
First, that line was always a lie, wasn’t it. Bullying destroys lives. It can stick forever.
Words have power. Before there were tools, or materials to make tools, God used words of power, Let there be! When Jesus came to be baptized, God sent him out on his mission with words of power, You are my beloved child.
Hear those words of power spoken to you!
How does one heal a hurt? With an apology, an understanding, an expression of feeling, a new idea, a bit of encouragement, a peace agreement, a poem, a prayer, a stirring speech—words.
One of the first things that people abhorred about the current president of the US was his words, the way he mocks others.
One of the most corrosive effects of those words is that he has elicited the same behavior in others. People who disagree with him refer to his body, his size, the color of his skin. They repeat with glee, glee any failing. The whole culture of discourse is degraded.
Punching up is not the same as punching down. But it harms the soul all the same. It trains the soul to fail to recognize the humanity of the other, that the other is made in the image of God.
I am angry. I am hurt. I fear for the people I love, and those I don’t even know. I am appalled by the rejection and loss of so much good work that has been done by so many good people. I could go on. . . The national parks, the waterways, the animals!
I grieve for the land of my birth.
It is hard to reject mocking and instead to pray for destructive people. But I am determined not to become like them.
I am determined to follow Jesus.
Damn.
View of a pile of sticks acting as a den for children in Wanstead Park by Robert Lamb, licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.