You know the saying: No good deed goes unpunished?

The saying “no good deed goes unpunished” is often attributed to Clare Boothe Luce, an American playwright, politician, and diplomat. It is believed to have originated from a line in her 1956 book “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.” The phrase is used to express the idea that even when someone does something with good intentions, it may not always lead to positive outcomes and can sometimes result in negative consequences.

I bet that many of us can think of time in our own experiences when we have done something with the best of intentions, with the desire to be helpful and kind only to have it backfire on us. We share with a friend what we think if a helpful suggestion only to be met with resistance and maybe even anger, depending on the situation, it may even cost us their friendship. 

Any of us who have felt compelled to take a stance and speak out on a political issue know that there will undoubtedly be a price to pay: 

Several times in my ministry when I was up for a new appointment I was told that my work for justice and stances on many issues in the church and beyond made me “difficult to appoint.” In one case, in a totally different AC, I was told that I was too progressive to appoint, and the bishop refused to appoint me. I know that I am not alone in this. Many of my friends and colleagues have had similar experiences and have had similar things said to them. 

One of my favorite Scripture verses to lean on in times like these comes from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where he writes to them:

So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.   (Galatian 6:9)

And, most of us, have refused to give up. Even when we were under real pressure to do so, even when there were forces that were determined to silence or at least sideline us, we persisted. And most of us have paid a price for doing what we believe to be the right and good thing.

The story from Acts that we have just heard is the a powerful example of no good deed going unpunished. Peter and the disciples were doing the work for which they had been called and commissioned to do by the risen Christ. They were healing people in the name of Jesus Christ, leading them into the full and abundant life that God sent Jesus to bring to all people, but especially to the suffering, the sick, the poor, and the outcast. And because they obeyed the call to carry on Jesus’ healing, liberating ministry, they now found themselves standing before a tribunal comprised of both legal and religious leaders and authorities. The charge against them? They had been healing in Jesus’ name. 

Even knowing that these men held their future fate and even their very lives in their hands, they held fast and witnessed to their faith. They freely admitted that yes, indeed, they had healed the man crippled since birth in the name of Jesus Christ. But then they went on to do something really extraordinary: they challenged the authorities who had power over them. 

Looking directly at the men standing in judgment on them, they turned the tables and said: The One YOU crucified, God has raised and made the very cornerstone of the new creation God is launching. You killed him. God raised him up. You rejected him. God has made him the cornerstone. You wish to silence us, God has given us a message to speak and work to do. And we must be about the work of our God, honoring the One who commissioned us with carrying on his ministry of redeeming, healing, liberating love. They staunchly refused to be silenced, sidelined, or stopped. They knew what the right thing to do was and they were determined to do it no matter what the cost to them personally.

We have just seen an example of this play out before us in real time.

Now, I do not agree with his policies and positions on virtually anything, but this past week, House Speaker Mike Johnson did something that I find to be truly admirable. Speaker Johnson brought to the floor of the House a very important but controversial bill that will send aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. He KNEW there would fierce pushback from the extreme conservative wing of his party. He knew that in order to secure passage of this bill he would need to work with his democratic counterparts and that THAT would not be well received. He knew that proceeding to the bring the bill to the floor for a vote would mean that he would risk being removed from his position. He knew all that, and he did it anyway. He stood firm despite the pressure he got from members of his own caucus. Despite it all, Speaker Johnson chose to do the right thing. And I am sure that there will be consequences for him because he did a good and right thing.

And this dilemma of having to weigh and decide if we will do the right thing even when, especially when there is a price to pay, is something with which we will all have to wrestle with at some point in our lives:

• Will we challenge someone who is using language that is hurtful, derogatory, and bigoted?

• Will we refuse to laugh at jokes that are made at the expense of someone else or that are racist, sexist, or homophobic?

• Will we speak up when we see someone being bullied?

• These questions take on even more weight when the person using the offensive language is a beloved family member or friend

On a more public level:

• Will we take a stand and work for policies in the church as well as in the public arena that are just, equitable and fair for all persons and not just for a privileged elite?

• Will we challenge those in positions of power when they are using that power to exploit and oppress others?

Will we do the right thing, the hard thing, when we, as people of faith, as the contemporary disciples Jesus, are called upon to do so? Or will we play it safe and remain silent and passive and thereby complicit in the evil we see but refuse to confront? 

I want to be clear that I know exactly how hard it can be do the right thing when faced with pressure not to do so. We risk relationships. We may risk our jobs or at least advancement in our chosen careers for speaking up and daring to do the right thing. No one ever said that the life of faith was an easy. But, friends, there is so much at stake in how we individually and collectively choose to answer that question. In so many cases, lives literally hang in the balance.

When all is said and done, may it be said of us that we did the right and good thing when called upon to do so, even when there was a price to be paid for doing so. And in so doing, we honored God and were faithful to our calling.

Amen.

INVITATION AND BLESSING

So let me close our time together by again quoting Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

Friends let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will 

be rewarded and found to be faithful to our calling to follow the

example of our Lord and Savior, if we do not give up.

May God give us the courage and conviction to do the the good and right thing in all times, situations, and places.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.    Amen.