The Green Eyed Monster: Envy

 Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.  The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.

The Second Wednesday of Lent                       2/25/2026

The Green-Eyed Monster: Envy

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ;

Tonight we continue our look at the seven cardinal sins.  They used to be called The Seven Deadly Sins, except that led many people to think that other sins were somehow less deadly.  Not true.  They were called the "deadly" ones because they were so common, so hard to shake, and usually behind any other sin we might commit.  So, to get everyone's attention, they were called deadly.

Our cardinal sin for this evening is Envy.  This has always been my favorite.  Oh, not to do, but to hear about.  My mother used to call envy the "green-eyed monster."   As a kid, this sort of lit up my imagination.  He was always tugging at someone's nose or ear, so I always figured he was about six inches tall, dressed like the little green sprout in the Green Giant commercials.  Kind of cute.  I don't think he is terribly cute any more.

No, that green-eyed monster isn't cute at all.  He isn't even a monster.   Envy is a disease.  Like any sin, envy is sickness, sickness unto eternal death, and it is this disease that turns people into very un-cute green-eyed monsters.

Like any biological disease, envy has symptoms.  Singly, none of these symptoms indicates envy, necessarily, but if you or I have all of them, we  probably have envy.  Everyone is guilty of envy now and then, myself included, but there are those who have literally become infected with it.

The first symptom is dejection.  The envious person feels unworthy and ashamed.  There is usually no focus for these feelings, but they are there anyhow.   The envious person feels that he or she ought to be better, ought to be as good as, as pretty as, as wealthy as others who appear to have no specific advantage over   them.  This symptom sometimes surfaces in the desire to "keep up with the Joneses."  Dejection by itself is deadly, causing a remarkable number of suicides, but it is not envy all by itself.  Coupled with other symptoms it indicates probable envy, though.  

The second symptom is the desire to devalue or destroy.  This desire may be focused at individuals or groups.  Finding one's self in a supposedly inferior position, the envious person tries to bring everything down to his level rather than strive to achieve the greater position.  If, for instance, my neighbor were a wealthier man than I, I might remind people that he probably cheated and swindled and overcharged to get there.  If his children are better behaved, I might suspect that they are only putting on a facade and are secretly quite evil or closet drunks, or something equally silly.  The very least I could do is point out that he is really no different than I am, just blind chance set him, or them above me.  No silly talk about talent, or effort, or achievement.

Our society lives on such ideas.  If we cannot write like Keats or Browning, we bring the standard of poetry down by heralding something we can imitate quite nicely as quality poetry, just of a different style or genre.  Then it is clear that those who "made it" really have nothing over me, they were just lucky.

The third symptom has already been hinted at, backbiting.  In order to point out how not-superior the person I really think is superior is, I must tell it to somebody.   That's where backbiting come  in.  Gossip, slander, innuendo, they are all the tools of the backbiter.   Our national cult of the celebrity thrives on backbiting.  We set up our celebrities, carefully chosen for their real lack of superiority to us, and then we knock them down with talk (or print) of their failings and their weaknesses.  This one drinks, this one is divorced, that one takes dope.  You see, they really aren't as good as I, they just had connections, and slept with the right people until they got what I really think I deserve.

When you see that, dejection, the desire to devalue and destroy, and backbiting, you are looking into the eyes of a green-eyed-monster.

Envy, like the flu as causes.  Certainly we must recognize the sinful nature of man, and his enormous pride, but these are not the specific cause of envy.  Envy is caused by an emaciated self-esteem, and a bloated self love.

The envious person is an absurd contradiction.   He has an abysmally low image of who he is, what he is capable of, and what he has achieved, yet he loves himself with a perverse sort of love that tells him that he ought to be just as talented, just as successful, and just as (anything good,  you fill in the blank) as any other human being.  Sometimes envy will not focus on truly blind fate, such an being born rich, or winning a lottery, but let it be an issue that the person feels measures the value or worth of a person, and envy jumps right in.  We envy even when we are not capable of measuring up to the imaginary standard the other person seems to have set.  He's lighter, that one is stronger, she makes more money, he's too good to be true.

The green-eyed monster belittles his or her own achievements, qualities, and potential, and then says, "but I ought to be every bit as good as so-and-so."  And then the green-eyed monster sets about to bring the other down to his/her level rather than try to achieve, because he believes that he is so much less capable and worthwhile.

Envy has been called the "Revenge of Failure."  Practically everyone does it once in a while, and that is strange because nobody likes it.  Almost any sin is more easily confessed than envy.  Most sins at least begin by offering some reward, some pleasure or gratification to the sinner, but not envy.  Even when the envied person is brought down to our level, in our eyes, it does nothing to raise our self esteem.  Think on this: envy is the only sin that hasn't got a song. No one has ever written about that glorious night that he/she stepped beyond the rules and envied – because there is nothing even faintly pleasant about it.   It is just malice toward others and a state of constant evil-mindedness with no profit, real or imagined.

Envy played a large part in the suffering and death of our Lord.  First there was the envy of the priests.   They envied Jesus for its popularity.  They, the teachers of the Law, could never draw a crowd like that!  And Jesus taught with authority.  Scriptures says that He "taught with authority, not like the priests and the scribes."  Mark, chapter 15 even tells us that Pilate knew that the high priests had delivered Jesus up because of envy.

There could well have been some envy involved with Pilate too.  Envy over the quiet peace of this hounded and abused man, a peace even the governor of the mighty Roman Empire in Judea could not find.  And Jesus was so certain of what He said and what He was doing, yet Pilate, with all of his power, could only face Jesus' declaration that He was come to bear witness to the truth with a show of unsureness and insecurity, and ask, "What is truth."  Yes, Pilate had reason to envy.

And everyone involved in the crucifixion, aside from our lord, tried to do  what every green-eyed monster does to one who is seen as superior, they tried to destroy, this time by death.

Now we have examined this dread disease; its symptoms and its roots.   The question is, what can we do about it?  If we see it in others we can only pray, but If we see it in ourselves, there is a treatment.

First there is the Law of God.  We must believe it.  We must recognize that envy is sin, sin unto death, and if we find envy in us we must confess that sin, repent, and ask God's forgiveness.  But the Law can do more!  It can show us that all men have sinned, and while we are not better than others, we are certainly no worse – for all have sinned, and there is no need to pull anyone down to our level, they're there!

Then we must believe the Gospel.  We must believe that we are forgiven and that any value we have as human beings comes not from ourselves, but from Christ!  We don't compare ourselves to our standard, or to anyone else's   In fact, we don't judge ourselves at all, but stand forgiven by Christ and wearing His righteousness and being valued, even by God, with Christ.  The Bible calls us co-heirs with Christ.  We inherit along side of Christ and because of Christ.  Who we are, and what we are or can do is of no importance now, only Christ crucified.

Then that's where our text for tonight finally comes in.  We respond to the Gospel with love, love for God and therefore also love for man.  We love others as God does, without concern or comparison to self.  With this love we can rejoice in the achievements of others, really praise God for their blessings, and honestly celebrate the good and beauty we meet without feeling diminished  personally by it.  Far from being diminished, we feel enriched and further blessed by the blessing of our brother or sister in Christ.  It doesn't happen all at once, and this feeling doesn't spring full blown into our hearts automatically, but it is there for the one who believes, and prays, and studies God's Word.   It will grow and grow, until it reaches perfection in heaven, but it can be had, by  the grace of God, here.

So, there it is, the cardinal sin of envy.  Look at it carefully and beware.  And here is the answer of God to it; Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.  The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.  Beware of the Green-Eyed Monster, for Christ's sake.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

(Let the people say "Amen".)