The Seven Deadly Sins - II

The Rev. G. Bradford Hall

St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School

(Envy, Anger & Sloth)

I visited our new school on Wednesday afternoon and while in the first grade, the children showed me some Valentines they had made —not for themselves, they were quick to point out, but for God. Each thanked God for His love and care. I’d like to share a few of the children’s comments with you to open up Part II of our sermons on the Seven Deadly Sins.

“God will always help me.” “I love God and I will pray for Him.” Justin said, “I am special to God,” and he then added a little caveat at the end of his Valentine — “and please, God, help me to be better with my homework!” But most importantly, this comment was on nearly every Valentine: “I will stay away from evil, God,” or “God protects me from evil.”

However they say it, these seven-year-old first graders know enough about evil to stay away from it, and to ask God’s help in doing so. With this wisdom of children in heart and mind, let us continue this series on the Seven Deadly Sins.

II. ENVY:

Henry Fairlie says that “Envy is the one deadly sin to which no one readily confesses, but if envy were a disease, everyone would be sick.” Few of us are able to suppress a secret twinge of envy at another’s good fortune, or some mild satisfaction at the misfortune of a neighbor.

If pride was the first sin of creation committed by our first parents, Adam and Eve, envy was the second, committed by their children Cain and Abel. Cain slew Abel in a jealous rage because of Abel’s special relationship with God.

What do we mean by envy? “It is, “says Lance Webb, “discontent and chagrin toward someone who has some excellence or good fortune. It is something I want and don’t have (material - health). It is jealousy and resentment toward someone who threatens to rival or excel in an area I want to excel in.”

Envy is easily mistaken for its contrary virtue, Justice. We all want “justice “ to be done and life to be “fair” to all (especially me); but it is easy for this quest for fairness and justice to be misguided and internalized, to be used as a way to make others suffer for our sense of hurt and unfairness.

Great literature helps us to understand this perversion of justice. Balzac’s Cousin Bette is a classic example of the secret force of inner hatred in which Bette is eaten up by envy of her virtuous cousin Adeline.

Shakespeare’s Othello is another example of the perversion of justice by “getting even,” when Iago chooses to destroy the love which he cannot have or even understand.

In Spencer’s Fairie Queen, envy is pictured as one of the six beasts hitched to the coach of pride —envy rides on a wolf and in its bosom curls a snake. In Dante’s Purgatorio, we see the souls of the envious clad in sackcloth, their eyes sewn up with iron thread, so that they can no longer see what they envy. But, the absolute classic is Dickens’ masterpiece of envy —Uriah Heep, “that sly creature who never straightened his back, who wormed his way through life.”

Envy has a lighter look these days, but inside it is still the same difficult sin which exalts the self by debasing others. Its modern tools are slander and sarcasm, whispering and gossip. Of all the sins related to envy, gossip is especially malevolent and malicious, because it is so easy to do and so popular these days. We all thrive on it to some extent with office gossip, club gossip, and family gossip. The word “gossip” itself hisses like a snake and it dispatches innocent people to cry in their pillows; it topples reputations and ruins careers; it makes headlines and causes headaches.

Gossip is borne by the false idea that by pointing to the foibles and failures of another, my virtues will be more appreciated. As one writer says, “After a person makes his mark in the world, a lot of people show up with erasers.” An ancient prayer recognizes this, saying: “Please God, make my words today sweet and tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them.”

III. ANGER:
The third deadly sin, following envy, is anger. There was a story which ran in the newspapers a while back about a bus driver who roared through a pool of water on a street in Caracas, Venezuela and splashed muddy water all over a policeman. The policeman became so angry he pulled out his gun and fired six shots into the side of the bus, then jumped aboard and beat up the driver.

Another news story told of a man being sued for divorce by his wife who demanded half of all his assets. In great anger, he sold a car worth $10,000 for $50 and gave $25 to his wife. Later the courts discovered he was systematically proceeding through all his assets in the same way.

These stories were reported as human interest fillers because they are so real and reflect humanity’s never-ending struggle with the third deadly sin, anger (and its first cousins: vengeance, revenge, hatred and violence).

Anger is a difficult sin because, like pride, it has a flip side. It can be used for good and it can be used for bad. By itself, anger is a pure, natural and often healthy emotion; a reflex, an involuntary response to evil situations, threats and dangers.

Anger is often the reason things get done in this sinful world. It enables us to stand the many frustrations that erupt in our lives. It can fuel our determination to get something done, undo some great injustice, and stand against evil.

Because it is so human and natural an emotion, the Bible has lots to say about anger. There are many references in Hebrew Scripture where anger is an emotion attributed to God. It is righteous anger, of course; it is God’s way of challenging His people to not act destructively and to walk in love. Jesus exhibited quite a bit of righteous anger when He proceeded to drive the money changers out of God’s holy temple.

And yet, righteous anger has its other side, for this natural emotion can often become a deadly sin. Much of the problem has to do with self-control, for when a threat is removed, an injustice undone, anger should subside. As Paul put it, “Do not let your anger lead you to sin; do not let the sunset find you still nursing it.” (Eph.: 4) But we do nurse it through the night.

We humans have memories and we are capable of nursing great grievances and resentments long after an event is closed and the threat is over. Any small event may trip us into an enormous angry response. It is “the last straw” response, which often happens in families. We fly off the handle when the toothpaste tube is left open or dirty clothes remain scattered in the closet.

Philosopher Aristotle put it quite well. “Anybody can become angry. That is easy, but to become angry with the right person to the right degree and at the right time for the right purpose and in the right way — that is not so easy. The problem with pent-up anger is that it does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to the one on which it is poured.”

We see this most clearly in national anger, the effects of pent-up anger and unresolved issues in countries like Ireland, Bosnia, and Palestine — where hundreds of years of mutual injustices are nurtured and kept alive through vengeance, even when the original causes have disappeared. Places like Bosnia are capable of complete self-destruction through internal vengeance.

Theologian Fredrick Buechner sums up anger’s effects:

“Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To
lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past,
to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still
to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you
are given and the pain you are giving back — in many ways
it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are
wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”

Well, there are the first three sins —the cold sins of perverted love. We now are in the middle, where clings the sin of Sloth.

IV. SLOTH:

It is helpful to keep sloth in its rightful position among the seven deadly sins. It sits rightfully in the middle. On one side are the cold sins of perverted love —pride, envy, and anger; and on the other side the warm sins of excessive love —avarice (greed), gluttony, and lust. Separating the cold sins from the warm sins clings the lukewarm sin of sloth; neither hot nor cold, it is the sin of No Love.

One problem in dealing with sloth is that it seems such an amiable sin when compared to its odious companions, Anger, Envy, Lust, etc.... But looks often deceive. What do we mean by sloth? We’ll begin by naming some of its first cousins, for synonyms are always helpful definitions.

Sloth is ennui, sluggishness, idleness, and laziness. It is boredom, indolence, indifference, tedium. It is apathy, despair and hopelessness. Quite a list, isn’t it? A list which, you might note, progresses from light to heavy, from early symptoms to major disease.

Most of the wisdom literature of history deals with the idle or lazy side of sloth:

From ancient Biblical Proverbs of the Old Testament dealing with laziness:
“As the door turns on its hinges,
so the sluggard turns in his bed.”

Modern philosophers like Ben Franklin wrote much the same:
“Plow deep while sluggards sleep.”

So we are encouraged to work harder and be less of a couch potato. But the real sin of sloth lies at a deeper level than just laziness. Sloth is a powerful sin which can be like a whirlpool, drawing us ever into its center, for as George Bernard Shaw wrote:

“The worst sin to our fellow creatures is not to hate them,
but to be indifferent to them. That is the essence of inhumanity.”

One definition for this deep level of sloth as sin comes from writer Evelyn Waugh... “Sloth is sadness in the face of spiritual good.”

“Humanity was created by God for joy, and humans are expected
by God to experience and enjoy love of life. If we deliberately turn
away from that joy, we deny our purpose in life (and God’s
creation). The malice of sloth lies not merely in the neglect of
duty and service, but in the refusal of true joy which follows it.”

This might be interpreted theologically by saying “Sloth is the spiritual condition in which we are fully aware of the proper means of salvation but refuse them, filling ourselves instead with tedium and despair.” (Webb)

Sloth’s Latin name is accidia (acedia), a word which comes from the Greek root, akedia, which means “not caring,” an ancient word which has its modern slogans like:

“It doesn’t matter.”
“I couldn’t care less.”
“Not in my back yard.”
“So what?”
“I’ll do my thing, you do yours.”
“Live and let live.”

English theologian Dorothy Sayers puts it best:

“Sloth is the sin which cares for nothing, believes in nothing,
seeks to know nothing. It interferes with nothing, hates nothing,
lives for nothing, and ultimately finds it purpose in - nothing.”

Well, that’s enough sin for today. We will take a break over Easter and promise to return in mid-April with the three warm sins —those which lie closer to the heart and stomach... greed, gluttony and lust. I’ll close with this
delightful manifesto of that classic evangelist, Billy Sunday: He stood up before his congregation and shouted out, “I’m against sin!

“I’m against sin! I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot,
fight it as long as I’ve got a fist, butt it as long as I have
a head, bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth, and when I’m
old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till
I go home to glory and it goes to perdition!”

AMEN