Lent 2000/Week 4
Mid-Week Series/The Seven Deadly sins
The word envy is from the Latin "invidia" which means "to look maliciously upon." The New Testament Greek word for envy literally means "evil eye." Hence, envy has often been called "the sin of the evil eye."
There's ancient Greek story about envy that tells of a Greek city that erected a statue to honor a champion athlete of its public games. The athlete had an arch-rival who was so envious that each night under the cover of darkness this rival would go to the statue and chisel away a little of the statue's base, hoping to finally topple the thing over. If he couldn't defeat is rival on the field of competition, well, perhaps he could derive some twisted satisfaction from destroying his statue likeness. Well, after many night of chiseling away, he finally achieved his goal. However, what happened was when the statue fell, it fell on top of him, crushing him to death! As much as the falling statue, it was his envy that destroyed him.
Envy almost always ends up destroying -- if not literally then figuratively--but something or some part of someone gets killed!
There are numerous Biblical stories about envy, so many it's hard to chose, but one stands out for me, and that's the story of Joseph and his older half brothers. Jacob had twelve sons. It wasn't that Jacob didn't love all of his sons. It wasn't that Jacob didn't provide equally for his sons. It wasn't that the sons were insecure in the family or that Jacob was abusive. No, it wasn't any of those things.
It was just that Jacob had a special spot in his heart for Joseph. It was because Joseph was the first-born of true love, Rebekah. Jacob didn't hide his feelings about Joseph. Joseph was his favorite, but not in such a way that it brought suffering to the other sons. However, Jacob did give Joseph a special coat that was symbolic of his father's favored love for him. It is sometimes known as the "coat of many colors!" That was too much for his ten older half brothers. Their jealousy and their envy burned like a fire within them. They set their hearts against Joseph. It finally threatened to burst out in violence. Had it not been for an intervening caravan and one of the brothers, Reuben, who saw the caravan to be an opportunity to get rid of Joseph without killing him, they would have killed him for sure! So instead, they sold him into slavery. The ensuing story is one of the great epic stories of the Old Testament. Joseph's life was spared, but envy had done its dirty deed, and from that day on the life of that entire family took a whole new tragic course.
Envy kills! Envy destroys! Envy corrupts the spirit! Envy degenerates the mind.
I remember how envious I was as a teenager of anyone who was popular and successful at athletics. In those days I perceived myself to be pretty much a failure, and envy of certain others burned like a bitter fire within me. And as a result I was a pretty unhappy camper! And, I must admit, that my child-like envy carried over into my adulthood as well. How many times have I detected envy in the deepest places of my heart. Envy of other pastors who I perceive have something I do not have: a certain ability; a certain gift; a certain this, a certain that. I know how sick it has made my spirit wishing I was someone I am not. You've heard the expression "green with envy." I can think of many times when I was pretty green.
How does envy take root in your heart? Have you ever had negative or malicious feelings toward another because they had something you did not have--something you really wanted! Have you ever thought or said something like: "I wish I were as smart as she!" Or "Oh, to be as handsome as he!" Or "Why can't I be as athletic as she?" Or "If I only had his connections!" Or "I wish I had as much luck as she always seems to have!" We could add to the list. These verbalizations seem so innocent, but we hardly have to scratch beneath the surface to identify a much larger problem.
And the larger problem is this: At the very heart of envy is the venom of the denial of the miracle of you! I remember once somebody gave me a little card to carry in my wallet. She told me to place the card in such a way that every time I opened my wallet I had to read this card. On the card it said, "I am a unique, unrepeatable, miracle of God." She told me to read it everyday; several times a day; to pray that the Lord would enable me to be convinced and convicted of this truth, "I am a unique, unrepeatable, miracle of God."
Envy is deadly, not because it sometimes literally destroys us, but because it will simply not let us live. Envy will not let us be satisfied with what we have, or to be grateful for our talents and our personal qualities. In fact, envy even blinds us to our talents and blinds us to our personal qualities, blinds us to the gifts that God has given uniquely to each of us. Envy hinders us from finding the truest meaning of who we are and the wondrous miracle of ourselves.
Envy is never satisfied. Advertisers know this. Millions of dollars are spent every day in the United States, holding out the promise of happiness; holding out the promise of satisfaction; holding out the promise of meaning; appealing mostly to the residual presence of the seven deadly sins in our lives-certainly appealing to and triggering any remnant of envy that might be lying dormant in our hearts.
Sometimes our motivation for buying is to be the envy of others. Tony Campolo, evangelical Christian and sociologist talks a bout a kind of sick psychological fulfillment which comes from being envied. He says,
"Thorsten Veblen, one of America's most brilliant economic theorists, claims that the spending habits of people are highly influenced by the psychic enjoyment which comes from getting others to long for what they possess. It is Veblen's contention that it is possible to get people to buy products that are not particularly superior in quality, by publicizing widely that the products are very expensive. This practice which Veblen calls 'conspicuous consumption,' motivates people to buy, for example, expensive automobiles because they know that most other people know that these cars are just that, very expensive!"
The parable that I read that Jesus told, about the Laborers in the Vineyard is partly a story about envy and how envy is never satisfied. For sure it is an unsettling story. The story certainly doesn't make economic sense and it violates a common sense of fairness.
However, Jesus was not hesitant in confronting the grumblers with their sin. His question was a probing one: "Are you envious because I am generous?" he admonished them!
Envy is calculating and never satisfied! No injustice had been done. Everyone had been paid what they were promised. However, some of the workers were not satisfied with their just pay; for they were green with envy of those who had received the same amount for less work.
The point Jesus was making was that envy refuses to recognize God's goodness, God's generosity! The landowner had been good to the workers; he paid them well for their labor. Yet when some of them saw the good fortune of the others, their envy blinded them to that which was already theirs. Their envy diminished what they had been given. They could not rejoice! They could not rejoice in what they had been given. They could not rejoice with the others in what they had been given. And most importantly, they could not rejoice in the generosity of the landowner--which of course we are to take in this parable as God!
The surest way of rooting out envy; the surest way of defeating envy; the surest way to nullify the power of envy to is sit in presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and to hear him tell us over and over and over again, "You are a unique, unrepeatable miracle of God." - to little by little to receive the glorious good news that we are loved and accepted by God as we are, with all our weaknesses and inadequacies. Resting back in the cherishing arms of Jesus and his unconditional love we can discover the wonder of ourselves; we can learn to affirm, accept and appreciate ourselves; we can rejoice and be content with what we have; we can be gin to see the unique gifts and talents that God has bless us with; and we can rejoice for others in what they have--without envy. And when we find ourselves at that place we will know a greater peace; peace with ourselves peace with each other; and peace with God.