This phrase – Go ahead, make my day – made famous when spoken by Clint Eastwood as the character Harry Callahan in the 1983 film, Sudden Impact, has been very much overworked.
But what does this famous quote mean? What is the context in which people use this phrase in day to day life?
Most often it means that the speaker would be very happy if you would continue on with your actions or behavior because he/she could then react in a manner that would be extremely pleasurable to them. However, there is no suggestion of co-operation between the parties. The anti-social or antagonistic activity will give the other the opportunity to retaliate using unreasonable measures and quite possibly excessive violence. And that is what occurs in the movie, Sudden Impact.
Do I hear questioning mumbling’s now? Is someone thinking, “How is he going to make a biblical point out of this movie quote?” Is this what you are thinking about now? Are you asking, “What has it got to do with God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?” Quite frankly, I asked myself that very same question as I began preparing this sermon. This phrase does not appear anywhere in scripture, as least not in any of the translations I have seen. I had but a single thought on my mind as I chose these words for the title of this sermon: to quickly create a title that I could give to Barbara Tice. And somehow, for some reason, those words began to flow from my mind to my hand and ended up scribbled down as my title for today.
But let us return to the scriptures for a moment. Today’s Gospel lesson is delivered to us in two parts. The first finds us observing Jesus walking through his hometown, when he spies Matthew, a tax collector, sitting at the tax booth. He walks right up to him and says, “Matthew, come, follow me.”
And what does Matthew do? He stands up and follows Jesus, no questions asked.
And where do they go? Scripture is not precise on this, but we presume they go to Matthew’s house, where they eventually partake of dinner. While they are there, more tax collectors and other unsavory individuals arrive and join in with Jesus and the disciples who were also present.
While all this is happening, some Pharisees just “happen” to be watching. When they see Jesus eating and talking and cavorting with all these “unclean,” unholy people, they complain, but not to Jesus. Rather they go to his disciples. “Why does your teacher eat with these tax collectors and sinners?” they question.
Jesus overhears their words and quickly responds, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
Even as Jesus is speaking, we skip over a few verses and are directed to the second part. a leader of the synagogue enters the room and kneels before Jesus. “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
And what does Jesus do? He gets up and follows the leader who has come to him for help, no questions asked.
As they begin the short journey to the leader’s home, a woman who has suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years walks up behind Jesus and touches the fringe of his cloak. She has said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus sensing her presence, turns to her, and with reassurance says to her, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” Instantly the woman is made well, no questions asked.
As they reach the end of their short journey, approaching the leader’s house, Jesus sees the crowd of mourners and onlookers (‘gossips looking for a story,’ as found in the Message version) who are milling about. “Go home, go away; the girl is not dead, she is but sleeping,” he says. The crowd only laughs at the words of Jesus. Yet, when the crowd has been dispersed, Jesus enters the house, takes the girl by the hand, and she gets up, no questions asked. The report of this quickly spread throughout that district.
Make my day; do in love.
Let your imagination roam and suppose with me for a moment, that these words are being spoken to you, not by some human voice, but the voice of God? Would those words, “Make my day,” still have the same meaning as when spoken by Dirty Harry? I think not. In this context, these words convey that God is calling us to be the God-like people for which we were created. To respond to this “calling” by God ties the truth of all scripture to our very being. God speaks to the very heart of our lives, to our purpose for living and breathing and . . . . . . yes, loving. You can read all kinds of things into written words in you want to; you can take them literally, binding them into stringent, unwavering rules, as the Pharisees so religiously tried to do. Following the “rules,” the letter of the law was more important to them than helping those who couldn’t. Thus Jesus challenged the Pharisees in their hard-heartedness to seek the truth of What God wants for his creation.
Or you can read them and then say they mean nothing, that they point to nothing, that they are but the figment of someone’s imagination. This is what those who try to deny the very existence of God attempt to do. This is the belief of an Atheist.
Or you can read them, and leaving your mind open, allow them to challenge you to think about all the possibilities and directions those words can point you toward.
The words with which Jesus responded to the allegations of the Pharisees, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” are very powerful words. In this context, I hear God saying, ‘Be forgiving, not condemning; have compassion, not contempt; Love, not hate. Be all that I have created you be, an imitator of me.”
Yet unlike the frequent use of this word ‘imitator’ to mean “one pretending to be another,” being an imitator of God means to let the image of God live in you, i.e., to be God-like in our living. For us to make God’s day, we need to have the desire to let God in our everyday lives, and not just when it seems to be convenient for us. Jesus called out to Matthew while he was at his office in the streets; “Make my day, Matthew; follow me,” and without hesitation, Matthew responded to Jesus’ words.
I see this very same idea jumping out at us from scripture/ through these word spoken by Jesus to the Pharisees. Jesus is calling for those who hear him to be true to God, to follow God’s direction for them, and not just to hear a bunch of words that if literally taken would difficult, if not impossible, to follow. But if one would is true to God, even when mistakes are made because of our humanness, God’s day is made. Our lives would be made complete.
The second half of our Gospel passage reflects the other half of my title: Do in Love. While Jesus is calling for the people to “imitate God in their lives,” he is approached by a religious leader in distress over the death of his daughter. Jesus’ reaction is the God-like response to that leader’s need. Jesus has compassion; he goes with the leader to his home.
While on their way, a woman troubled for years with hemorrhaging is shown mercy and is praised for her belief in the power of healing that she received through the simple act of touching Jesus’ garment.
When they reached the leader’s house, and the unbelieving crowd was dispersed, God’s love and compassion was passed through Jesus into the daughter of the leader, and she got up. This was an act of doing in love. Jesus went, he saw, and he acted. Not out of self glorification, but out of love. Not to endear himself to the religious leader, but to make love alive for the leader and his family.
You and I may never be called to perform miracles, but we are called to love; you and I may never be called to feed a crowd of hungry followers, but we are called to feed the poor and the starving; you and I may never have the power to raise up another person from death, but we are called to raise up those who mourn from their loneliness with our compassion. You and I, we are called by God to “Make his day,” by sharing his love, every day, with everyone, no questions asked.
Amen.