Words Do Hurt

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, September 15, 2024
James 3:1-12

    Has someone ever told you something that has stuck with you for a long time?  Perhaps these were words that even changed the direction of your life?  It’s funny, isn’t it, the words that we remember and the words we forget?  Of course I will always remember when Rich asked me out for the first time.  And when my high school mentors asked me if I ever thought about being a pastor – those words changed my life, for the better!  Words can be very powerful! What we say to someone else can impact their life, for good or bad.  All of our scripture lessons this morning point us to this fact, but I’m going to focus especially on our second lesson from James this morning.
Many of us know the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  Well, the author of our second reading for today, James, would say that this is just not true.  Words do hurt.  Words can be very powerful.  If you think about it, we have laws against things like libel, slander, and hate speech because words can be so destructive. In our reading for today, James describes the tongue like a forest fire, “a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”  All of us sometimes have been careless and hurtful with our words.  We may not think much of what we say, or that our words impact others, but they can and do!
    The poet Maya Angelou once said that words are so powerful that they get into you – on the walls and in the carpet of your home and eventually into your bones.  As a benign example,  I can tell when my kids are hanging around a new friend, because they start to talk differently at home.  They may use a word or phrase that they hadn’t used before, and I pick up their elementary school slang – “literally” being one of the most overused and misused words my kids like these days.  The words we say and the words we listen to and surround ourselves with get into us and become a big part of who we are. Words matter, James reminds us.  Our words can be a witness to Christ OR a harmful, destructive force of evil.  Although James doesn’t say this outright, he is warning Christians against being “double-tongued” which is to profess to be a Christian and with our words behave as anything but.  You know what animal is double-tongued?  Lemurs.  Ha ha – actually that’s true, Lemurs have two tongues. But no, I’m talking about the forked tongues of snakes.  Satan of course is a snake in his conversation with Adam and Eve, convincing them that they can be like God, lying to them about trusting in themselves rather than in God.  Satan’s smooth words lead Adam and Eve away from God.  James, very powerfully, cautions us from being double-tongued:  it is not natural for us as people who are saved by Christ and filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to curse those who are made in the likeness of God.  We have not been created and redeemed by God to curse other beloved children of God who are also God’s creation!  Like we talked about last week, we are not bearing the good fruit of a living Christian faith or loving our neighbor when we gossip, bully and call people names, and we should not minimize our misuse of words as “just words” or accuse people of being “too sensitive.”
    And so we hear James’ call today to turn from words of cursing to blessing – to strive every day to see other people as those made in the likeness of God, even when it is difficult.  Our witness to our faith with our words matters!!  People are listening!  They expect better from us than the cursing ways of the world, the devil and all his empty promises.  The prophet Isaiah promises us in our first reading for today that the Lord “sustains the weary with a word.”  Words do hurt, but words do also heal and bless and give life.  In the beginning, God spoke and all creation came into being, Genesis tells us.  The gospel of John tells us that Jesus the Word was in the beginning with God and that Jesus of Nazareth is God’s Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us!  In our gospel for today, people are wondering what to call this Jesus:  John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets?  Peter powerfully confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah.  When Peter shows that he still doesn’t understand fully what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah, Jesus corrects his words – “Get behind me, Satan,” and urges Peter and the rest of his disciples to set their mind not on human things but on divine things.  The names we call others and the names we call Jesus matter!  The more we surround ourselves with words of blessing for others and for the Lord, the more it becomes a part of us – in the walls and carpets of our homes and in our bones, so that our witness to Christ becomes more powerful.
    All of us struggle, of course, to bless the Lord and others at all times.  When we read this passage from James, we are convicted once again like we were last week of the times we have failed to use our tongue well.  “All of us make many mistakes,” James admits!  Martin Luther’s solution was to write “I am baptized” in chalk on his writing desk.  Of course, he spent many hours at that desk so it was a constant reminder.  What words of blessing can you tell yourself – have on your bathroom mirror or kitchen refrigerator or even as the wallpaper on your phone to encourage yourself to use words wisely?  How does the Lord sustain you when you are weary with a word?  How do you encourage and bless others?  May the Holy Spirit help us to be more care-full in our speech.  May the Word who became flesh and got dirty to dwell among us as a human being sustain us and bless us to bless others.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.