Heaping Burning Coals

Sermon as preached at Lambs and Evington UMC on 8/31/14



Read Romans 12:9-21

 (Image Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Have you ever stopped and actually thought about how amazing something like coal really is? I mean we use or consume different forms of coal quite frequently in our day to day lives, and yet when we stop and to think about this strange ashy fossilized mineral it is spectacular the way in which it has shaped our lives; how it has shaped our communities. Much of our economy here in Virginia and in our neighboring states like West Virginia and Kentucky was driven by coal. Where I grew up in the suburbs of Richmond tobacco was king, industries like Phillip Morris provide jobs to so many around the city, but even still coal had a rich heritage in the area. I remember roads like Coalfield Road and Miners Trail that paid homage to our rich tradition. I remember finding old abandoned mine shafts  sometimes in the strangest places such as next to the library; and I even remember stories of children who would occasionally fall into them. Coal left a huge legacy on Chesterfield County, in fact the official seal of Chesterfield County was not a farmer, but was a coal miner. 

            What makes coal so precious? Why did so many where I grew up and all around our region risk their lives in order to mine this ashy and frankly ugly mineral? Coal is not important for its looks, but is of course important for what it can do.  Coal produces energy. Many of our power plants around the country are still powered by this amazing fossil fuel. You only have to stand by the tracks in Altavista and watch as load after load of coal is carried from one destination to the next to understand the importance that it still plays in our society today. The use of coal however is nothing new but it has in fact been used for centuries. Long before coal was used to make electricity, coal was used to make fire, to make heat.  If we imagine our grills for a moment, then when may be able to understand why coal was so valuable. For those who use a gas grill, get a new grill, and then imagine it. Whereas wood could be used as a source of heat, coal has some qualities to it that makes it preferably. First it is smaller and easier to transport. Secondly what makes coal so great for grilling is that the flame can be controlled better than with wood; the flame doesn’t get quite as wild. Finally and maybe most importantly, coal carries heat for a long time. If the heat starts to run out and you are starting to be left with smoldering ashes, simply adding new coals to the existing ones transfers heat and can keep a fire going.  For all that coal can do, maybe one thing we didn’t expect from it was that it can be used to instruct our lives and how we treat the world around us.

            But in our scripture for today, that’s exactly what we find. Paul tells us that helping our enemies heaps burning coals upon their heads. Before we dive into what this means, when need to first back up and figure out what it is that Paul is writing about here in our chapter. Paul’s letter to the Romans is the largest and probably most complicated letter that he wrote. Unlike his other letters where he is addressing issues that arise at churches he has helped to establish, the letter to the Romans is not believed to be to any established church, at least not one that he himself had established.  For this reason Romans tends to be less problem solving and more of a systematic approach to Christian Theology. While much of the book can be overwhelming, here in chapter 12 Paul seems to switch from a more dense theological approach to the practical approach that we are accustomed to reading in other letters.

            In this chapter Paul is addressing how a Christian community should act. We have seen this before, especially in his first letter to the Corinthians, but here Paul isn’t just talking about how a community should act towards one another, but how Christians should interact with the Non-Christian world around them. It is interesting that Paul has laid out this approach for us almost 2000 years ago, and many Christians fail to observe it.  Far too often as Christians we view outsiders as dangerous. We view people who act differently, think differently, and believe differently as a direct threat to our own way of lives. We tend to approach the way we treat the world from a vantage point of fear; fear that things will change, fear that our faith will be challenged, fear that others will believe something different than us. Because of this fear, we tend to go on the offensive.  We rail against practices that are against our beliefs and attack those who support them.  This is seen with Christians who picket outside of abortion clinics or the likes of Westboro Baptist church who pickets the funeral of soldiers, victims of suicide, homosexuals and many more. Most of us may not be as intense as these groups, and yet this hostile mindset is still one that many Christians have. Even if we aren’t actively hostile, we often view the non-Christian world as something to be avoided.

            With this attitude, when we read Paul say, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads” it seems to make sense to us. Coals are hot and  so heaping burning coals on someone’s head will burn and hurt them.  When we are nice to our enemies then it is almost like Karma and our kindness defeats our enemies. Or if our actions themselves don’t make them suffer, then at least we can take comfort that like the coals burning on their heads they too will burn for their evil ways. Sadly this is how this verse is interpreted in many Christians circles. That when we do good and serve the Lord that we are able to defeat our enemies; that all of the wrongdoing done to us will be repaid upon them in the end as long as we take the high road.

We certainly could interpret this verse this way, except for this  interpretation makes no sense in the context of the rest of the chapter.  This hostile, fear based approach to the world is not what we find from Paul here in Romans. Paul starts our discourse for this morning not talking about fear or hostility or vengeance, but he starts with love. “Love must be genuine” The whole rest of our passage centers around this idea, that love must be genuine.  It’s amazing how love can transform the way we address the world.  When we approach the world from the standpoint of love and not fear, our focus shifts away from how do we protect ourselves and our views, and moves towards how can we help others. Paul shows us the many ways we can truly show our love for others. Rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. This sounds easy until we realize Paul is telling us to do this not just with our friends but with those with whom we don’t see eye to eye. That’s a lot harder to do.  It means that though we may not understand all that is going on in Ferguson, Missouri, we should weep with the community who has lost a young one, a community afraid that their voice is not being heard. It means that even if some of us do not condone homosexuality, we celebrate when a young teen puts down the gun and finds a community where for the first time in their lives they feel accepted; for sadly there is a rise in suicides by gay youth.  Loving the enemy means not seeking vengeance when we have been wronged, but offering forgiveness, offering food and water, for by doing this you heap burning coals upon their heads.

            And there’s that phrase again, but now it means something completely new in the context of love. Because in our chapter not only does Paul tell us to love our enemy, he also tells us the love must be genuine. Genuine love is not a love for one’s own sake. Loving others because it helps us to be good is not genuine love, genuine love is truly loving the enemy. And so when we read heaping burning coals upon their heads it we are not talking about a punishment, but rather another act of love.

            What heaping coals upon one’s forehead literally means is up for debate. The phrase originally comes from the 25^th Proverb which Paul quotes word for word. One theory of its meaning is derived from the common use of coals in day to day life. As I  said at the beginning, coals have been used for centuries as a source of heat and energy and of course as a means of cooking. Some scholars believe that at the time the acquisition of  coal could be sometimes difficult. Therefore if a family ran out of coals or if there coals went out and they were unable to go the merchants and get more, then they would go and borrow some from their neighbors. It was believed then that these coals would be carried back on their heads, much like we are used to seeing water being carried in other cultures. Therefore heaping burning coals upon someone’s head would not be a form of pain, but a kind act of helping a neighbor provide for their house.  Paul would then be telling the Romans that giving our enemies food and water to drink is like helping them keep their houses running.

            There is another theory however about this peculiar phrase.  This theory does not take the phrase so literally, but views it from a figurative standpoint.  This theory likens the burning coals to the refining of silver. Just a few weeks ago we looked at Malachai and how he described faith like a metal being refined, and here Romans may be using the same idea. This is certainly what our founder John Wesley believed. In his notes on the New Testament he quotes his father on this verse saying, “So artists melt the sullen ore of lead, By heaping coals of fire upon its head: In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow, And pure from dross the silver runs below."  You see silver was commonly found combined together in rocks of lead.  By itself, this rock of lead would be quite useless, but when you put burning coals upon it, and it begins to heat up to a point of melting, the silver which melts first will separate from the rock and could be collected below. Wesley believes that this is what Paul means when he talks  about heaping burning coals upon your enemies head. It is not a form of punishment, but rather a form of refinement. That when  your enemy has given you every right to retaliate and yet you give them water to  drink and food to eat, you are heaping coals upon their head. Coals that like Wesley describes that in the warmth a person begins to glow. Coals that separate the rough, useless rock, from the beautiful and precious mineral inside. When we as Christians show love to not only our neighbors but to our enemies as well, we are giving room for the Holy Spirit to transform the hearts and souls of others through our actions.

            We may not be able to know for sure exactly what is meant by heaping burning coals upon our enemies heads, but one thing is known, it is not a form of retaliation, it is not a form of aggression. Our approach to the world around us is not based upon fear but is rooted in faith, hope, and love. That is why Paul concludes this section of Romans by saying, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

            This is a beautiful phrase but it means nothing until it is put into action. If we continue to act as if we are under attack, if we continue to hunker down as Christians and put up walls to protect ourselves from the world around us, then we are without knowing it being overcome by evil., When we give into our fears, we are abandoning our faith. When we  begin to think that the world around us is something to be fought against rather than embraced for its beauty, the we have already lost the hope that Jesus brings for this Kingdom of God.  When we fail to love our enemies or view ourselves as better than others, we have not shown genuine love.  But the good news of Christ is that we do have faith, a trust nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. We do have  hope in the Kingdom come which has already been established hear on earth. We do have love, the same love that Christ showed us by willingly dying on the cross for our sins.  The truth of the matter is that we need not be afraid, for we know the outcome, we know as Rob Bell puts that “Love Wins.”  And that the key, love wins, not our style of worship, not our political endorsements, not our belligerent evangelism, but Love wins. So let you love be genuine, hate what is evil, cling to what is good,  If your enemy is hungry feed them, if they are thirsty give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals upon  their heads.