January 19, 2003 - Changing Lanes

The Sermon on the Mount has been since the day it was spoken by Jesus to this very moment the most provocative and challenging of all our Scriptures. Provocative because it spurs all kinds of "but what if . . . " questions. Challenging because it raises the bar of morality more than a few notches. The verses to be read today give us the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.

The apostle Paul took these teachings by Jesus to heart, and incorporates them into his straightforward instructions to Christ-followers living in Rome. "Do not repay anyone evil for evil," he writes. And he quotes from the book of Proverbs, a saying that Jesus would have been very familiar with. If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink. And listen too for what he says about "vengeance." Let us listen now for the Word of God to us.

Lex Talionis - The ancient law of retribution, retaliation. It?s as old as humankind. Older than the Code of Hammurabi, it appears in the Hebrew Scriptures in words we all know: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. It was an improvement on past practices. It was supposed to limit retribution, so that if you lose just one eye you don?t take both of your enemy?s; if one of your family is killed you don?t go and kill your enemy?s entire village. It was to be a law of limitatons. Nowadays, though, an eye for any eye means for too many that it is our right, our obligation to retaliate, hatred for hatred, violence for violence, mistakenly thinking that is the way to peace.

In the so-called Holy Land today, tragically, lex talionis has become a way of life. If an Israeli is killed, then a Palestinian - or more - will die. If a Palestianian is killed, then an Israeli - or more - will die. And both sides think that this will cause the other to cease hostilities. But as we all know, the cycle of violence ? unrelenting, day in and day out ? being played out on that stage for all the world to see is not bringing peace. And you would think we would have learned by now that violence will ONLY breed more violence. That retribution even when it does interrupt violence for a month, a year, even a decade, inevitably breeds resentment, hatred, and deeper resolve to resistance. You would think that we would have figured out by now that vengeance always sows seeds of hatred, with a harvest of sorrow for generations to come. But we have not learned, have we.

The film Changing Lanes is about doing what is right and what is wrong, about making moral decisions; it?s about retribution, and revenge. It asks what happens when two ordinary men ? complete strangers when they woke up that morning ? apply the law of retribution to each other. Here?s the story line:

Gavin Banek is a young lawyer in his father-in-law?s high-powered Wall Street law firm. He is on his way to the courthouse where he will present documents for a lucrative, and we find out later, fraudulent transfer of assets to his firm. Doyle Gipson is also on his way to the courthouse. A recovering alcoholic, he makes a meager living selling insurance. In family court he will be pleading for another chance to keep his family together, wanting more than anything in the world to salvage his marriage and be with his two boys.

Gavin and Doyle have a minor car accident on the way to that courthouse. The young lawyer running late just wants to give Doyle a blank check for damages; Doyle wants to handle the accident properly: "I have to do this right," he says twice. He says he wants to be "clean in all my actions," knowing that anything on his record might jeopardize his returning to his family. But the impatient Gavin leaves the scene of the accident, saying, "Better luck next time" ? AND mistakenly leaving for Doyle to pick up an essential document for Gavin?s court case. Let?s watch. [51 sec]

Doyle has to walk to the courthouse, and arrives late for the custody hearing, and because he is late loses his appeal to keep his family. He is crushed. Meanwhile, in another courtroom it is discovered that the crucial document is missing, and Gavin is given by the end of the day to produce it. If he does not, he will lose his license to practice law, go to jail, and lose everything.

"On the surface, Banek and Gipson are two very different men: One is struggling to reach the top of his career; the other is desperately scrambling away from rock bottom." [HollywoodJesus.com] But a minor traffic accident means that for both men their lives are about to come crashing down around them. The rest of the film is about how each man struggles with what is the right thing to do, as Gavin tries to recover the missing file from Doyle, and Doyle tries to get back his family. They both know what is right, but the desperation of each man?s circumstance makes doing what is right very difficult indeed. And so they are drawn into a cycle of retaliation that nearly destroys them both.

The next scene I want us to look at is where a scared Gavin discusses his plight with a colleague in his office. She questions whether or not he had acted ethically when he had Simon Dunn, whose fortune is being turned over to Gavin?s law firm, sign documents even though he was on his deathbed. Gavin pleads for her help, and she offers to connect him with someone who can help ? illegally. Listen for how Gavin at this point defines "what is right." [2:28]

Living a moral life ? doing what is right, "what is noble in the sight of all" as Saint Paul puts in it the reading today ? is of course one the callings of faith. It is what Jesus calls us to do, even when doing right may have negative consequences for us. Right and wrong cannot be determined by what will work out best for me. Self-interest ? what will advance my well being, my safety, my fortune ? for individuals or for nations is never an adequate standard for ethical living; surely it has nothing to do with the way of Jesus, whose example we say we want to follow. "Love your enemies, and to good to those who hate you." Cursing is to be greeted with blessing, he says.

That?s not to say that moral living will be easy, in our times or in any times. Gavin does have a conscience, and he knows right from wrong. But driven by the need to preserve his way of life, he resorts to sabotaging Doyle?s future. And so in the next scene he pays a rather slimy character $5000 to ruin Doyle?s credit record; he bankrupts him by hacking into his computer records so that Gavin will have leverage over Doyle, and will force Doyle to give him the missing file. But as you?ll see Gavin?s conscience has not been silenced entirely. He wrestles with the decision, but loses. [1:05]

With one keystroke and Gavin has bankrupted Doyle, and the bank loan he had been counting on to buy a house to bring his family back to him will be denied.

The film shows both Gavin and Doyle having moments in which they try to do what is right toward the other. And they feel remorse for what they have done, but then something else always happens that reignites their battle. In one scene, Doyle thinks about returning the file, and comes to a decision to do the right thing, but just as he about to, Gavin?s treachery gets in the way again. [1:14]

That phone call from his bank will tell him that his loan has been refused, and he will know who did it. And the cycle will begin again, spiraling downward until one nearly kills the other.

There is hope in the end, though. Both men ? strangers who become bitter enemies in less than a day ? do come to see the futility of their mutually and self-destructive actions. It is significant that for both of them the revelation comes when they see the humanity of the other. Doyle, by removing the lug nuts from a wheel on Gavin?s car, causes Gavin to be in a serious accident, one that could easily have killed him. As Doyle watches from a distance Gavin?s car careening down the expressway, crashing into the median barrier, he is stunned at his own behavior. He sees what he has done; he has nearly killed a man. And he is sorry.

Gavin has a similar moment of clarity. He has engineered a series of events that have ended in Doyle being arrested in front of his kids. At first as you?ll see, Gavin rejoices in his triumph, taunting Doyle as the police are taking him away. And then he sees Doyle?s wife and two boys, and realizes that Doyle is, after all, a man like himself; that he has hurt not only Doyle but innocent people, even children. He sees his sinfulness. And he is sorry. [1:08]

The moment of seeing. Of seeing ourself in our shame, in our foolishness. And WE see. WE recognize ourselves in Gavin and in Doyle. We see ourselves in the impulse to lash out, to get even. We know that rush of embarrassed anger, the seemingly irrepressible reaction to meet hatred with hatred, violence with violence in word or sometimes even in deed. And so this film is about ourselves, really, and about how difficult it is to do what is right, how hard it is to break the cycle of retaliation once it has begun.

On this Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend we remember the courage it took for those in the civil rights movement not to retaliate against the forces of segregation ? forces that were burning churches and lynching young men ? the most severe forms of violent bigotry carried out by otherwise law-abiding, church-going citizens. We remember today all those who met that violence with grace, and so ultimately won the day. The way of non-violent resistance set forth by Ghandi, and by King ? and by Jesus who is our Teacher, we remember ? that way of peace and not war is a way that is hard to follow. For it appears to be too slow, ineffective, when the path of war seems quick and decisive and efficient. An eye for an eye sounds simple and final. But it never is either.

In times like these it is easy to despair, to think that only the voices of violence as a way of resolving conflict will be heard. But we must have hope; hope that we can yet learn another way. Hope that we will yet have moments of revelation ? of seeing -- in which we will glimpse the humanity of our enemies and find a better way to reconciliation. Let us overcome evil not with more evil. Let us overcome evil with good. Amen.