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It was about 7pm in Glendive, Montana, near the border of North Dakota.  Toby and I had ridden approximately 450 miles that day all the way across the state of Montana.  We roll into Glendive and there are two motels—the Comfort Inn and the Sun and Sea motel.  Given it was Montana, we thought we’d probably not go to the Sun and Sea.  So I proceeded into the Comfort Inn to get us a room. 

Now, understand that we had been on the road for almost a week already.  Showering . . . occasionally.   We were wearing full biker leathers, had Harley t-shirts with like skulls and stuff on ‘em … and I won’t even begin to describe what a helmet can do to one’s already not so groomed hair after 450 miles.  So we walk up to the Comfort Inn, which had ONE car in the parking log, and ask for a room.  There was a young woman behind the desk looked us up and down, and said, I’m sorry we’re full.  I pointed to the empty parking lot and waited.  She shook her head and said, “no, we’re full.”   I just stood there and then was like “oh this is like some funny hidden camera thing, right?”  I could see she was getting irritated and then she said, “we don’t rent to your type.”  I’m like, what type might that be… she says, with great distain, “bikers.”   I took that in and then said, “would it matter if I told you that I was a Baptist minister just wearing biker leathers while on vacation?”   She frowned, and immediately said, “the bible says its wrong to lie.”   Fine, I said, “we’ll just go over to the Sun and Sea.”  Sure enough, the folks at the Sun and Sea were ”biker friendly” so we got a room.  So we got spiffed up a bit, put on clean Harley t-shirts and headed out to dinner… at the sun and sea diner.  But before we went in, I said to Toby, hold up, I need to drop something off at the comfort Inn.  So, I walked over, with one of my business cards, laid it on the counter, and said, “the bible also says ‘judge not’” and walked out. 

Ok yeah, I could have handled it a bit better, that was a little snotty…but, you know, it can make you really mad…to be judged.   In thinking about it later, I had to laugh, I mean the idea of Toby and I—a Baptist minister and an ex-prosecutor as dangerous outlaws, as Hells Angels or whatever was pretty funny.  But, as we rode the next couple of thousand miles home, I also realized, that what happened to us, happens to people every day. 

Have you ever felt unjustly judged?  By something that had NOTHING to do with who you were?  Have you ever unjustly judged someone else?  Of course you have.  We’ve all had that happen, and we’ve all done it to others; judged people based on how they look, rather than who they are.  We judge people on how they look, how they sound, where they are from, their race, their age, their weight, their gender, …whatever.  We judge their worth, their value, whether they are good or evil, whether they are dangerous Hells Angels or innocent tourists, based on what we see. 

Well, I’m here to tell ya… we can NEVER judge another human as worthy or not, as good or evil…because we are all a little of both.  In fact, as human beings we are all Hells Angels—because there is a little hell in every angel, and a little angel in every hell.

Our scripture from Isaiah helps us see that a little better.  The scripture says “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse.”  Jesse being the father of King David a point from which the genealogy of the Messiah is drawn.  So the passage is talking about the coming Messiah, Isaiah says: 

He[the Messiah] shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.”   He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear.   Sounds pretty simply, yet very difficult to do.  We are rational animals and we believe what we see.  We also believe, for the most part, what we hear.  But, in contrast to the old saying, what you see is NOT always what you get. 

First, let’s consider the proposition that there is a little hell in every angel.  It’s the truth.  Just read the headlines.  Every day we see what society deems as “angels”, perfect citizens, respected, honorable people snap and wreak all hell.   In Tennessee, Mary Winkler, a minister’s wife, (ooooo) shot her husband over an argument about money.  Dennis Kozlowski, the CEO of Tyco, a huge corporation, was indicted for stealing millions of dollars from his own shareholders--millions of dollars he spent on everything from an apartment on Park Avenue to a $6000 shower curtain.  And I won’t even begin to speak about some of my clergy brothers in protestant and of course the Catholic Church.   Just know, there’s a little hell in every angel.

On the flip side, though, there is a little angel in every hell.  I had the esteemed honor of meeting Dog the Bounty Hunter while I was doing the Naomi show.  Now at first glance, he is a scary looking piece of riff raft.  But then, you hear his story... a hardened criminal who served time down in Texas for first degree murder…but, now, even though he stills looks the part of an outlaw, he spends his life as a bounty hunter/pastor/therapist/social worker attempting to rehabilitate young folks heading down that slippery criminal slope.  Closer to home, think of how many folks we judge here on the streets of NYC, just because they “look” scary or different.  Our homeless shelter here at Madison is getting ready to resume in October.  And I encourage everyone to volunteer to spend at least one evening a year with those guests.  You will walk in with all kinds of preconceived notions about being homeless and destitute, and sit with these folks, talk with them about their lives and theirs stories, you will walk out with not only a new understanding of the harsh nature of this world but a renewed respect for humanity….a respect for what they have been through. 

If you go onto the Hells Angels website, there is FAQ section.  And one of the questions is:  aren’t you missing an apostrophe in your name?  The answer:  No, because life and history have taught us that there are many forms and versions of hell.  Well, amen to that.  There are many forms and versions of hell in this life, much of which we know nothing about… so Do not judge simply by what our eyes see, or our ears hear, for there’s a little angel in every hell. 

Our scripture from Matthew offers another reason we can’t judge another, that being the fact that our own issues are probably bigger than theirs.  Jesus says don’t go after the spec in your neighbors eye, when there is a log in your own.  Often, we get so caught up in pointing out what is wrong with everyone else, we forget about our own shortcomings.

We are all sinners and angels rolled up together. We are all hells angels at heart.  But, hear this… even though we’re Hells Angels, through the Grace of God it is ok.  There is a third scripture I wanted to include today, but it was just so complicated.  It is involves several passages from Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelations… so I’m just going to give you the cliff note version, if that’s ok.   It is the story about fallen angels, and specifically, the fall of the angel Lucifer, God’s highest angel in heaven who was banished because of pride.  This tees up the obvious question of how can an angel sin?

Well, the Bible does not tell us, but the theologian Thomas Aquinas gave a classic answer in his book Summa Theologica [a dog-eared copy, of which, I carried on the motorcycle with us].  Understand this is not directly from scripture, but his extrapolation of it.  Aquinas basically said this:  like humans, angels had free choice.  Lucifer could follow God and receive God’s grace, or he could go his own way.   Aquinas went on to say that the angels who sinned, like Lucifer, did not start out seeking evil. Rather, they chose to do good but in a way that fed their selfish pride. (ouch… sounds scarily familiar).  Lucifer decided to find bliss through his own actions rather than through God’s love and grace. And that precipitated his downfall.  We’re no different.  We have the opportunity to receive God’s grace, yet many times we turn and go our own way.      

My message this morning is simply this:  Never ever judge another human being as good or evil by what your eyes see or what your ears hear because eyes and ears can deceive.  Know that what you see as evil in your neighbor, is probably a spec compared to the log you carry.  Most importantly, remember we all walk this earth carrying good and evil.   There’s a little hell in every angel and a little angel in every hell.  And the second we realize that, that like the fallen angels, we need God’s Grace, everything changes.  We realize the limits of our understanding.  We realize our neighbor is a lot more like ourselves than we thought.  We realize we are all Hells Angels, but thru the grace of God, it’s ok. 

And the people said… Amen.

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