[This sermon was preached on 8 July 2018, 7th Sunday after Pentecost / 3rd year, ELCF Lectionary]
Years ago, a man came to me for help. His life was in a mess. When he looked to the past, he saw many relationships that had shipwrecked. Several of them were still haunting him almost daily. His present family and work relationships were tainted with self-centeredness, jealousy and guilt. Nothing in his life worked. And it was all the fault of the others.
I offered him biblical counseling. We talked about his issues and relationships and attitudes with an open Bible. I gave him homework to do. But the next time we met, it felt as if we were back where we started. He was not ready to listen to me. He was not ready either to accept the message from the Bible as God’s message to him in his specific situation. He was not ready to act on the advice he was getting. In effect, he said: “No, I cannot do that. Give me something else. Don’t tell me to change. Tell the others. Do something about my circumstances. I am the victim, not the cause.”
You won’t be surprised then, that after a few counseling sessions I discontinued our meetings. It was useless.
If you believe in God, you may seek advice from him every so often. One year, when I was teaching 15-year old youth in confirmation camp, we had a Q&A session. They could ask anything they wanted, and they could do it anonymously by writing their question on a slip of paper and putting it in the Question Box. Surprisingly many questions were of the kind: What should I do in a situation like this? What does the Bible say about this? How does God want me to act or choose?
But it is not just the 15-year olds—those without life experience and with their whole life ahead of them. We all, young and old, want to know how we should go forward in life, what choices to make, how to address difficult issues. And so we pray to God and ask him: “Please, show me what is your will in this matter.”
Of course, we don’t always get answers. But often we do. Some are so basic that we find them in the Ten Commandments: “Keep the Sabbath holy! Honor your father and mother! Don’t steal!” Many of our issues and questions can be brought back to basic ethical matters of right and wrong. But the Bible addresses life issues elsewhere as well. And if we keep our Bibles open, we will discover God’s speech and hear his voice. I spoke about this last week in my sermon. God breathes through the words of the Bible. The word of God is alive and active.
But then, if the answer is not what we want to hear, we say “No!” We ask God for another option. And if he doesn’t give one—i.e. if he is not willing to change his mind—we walk out disappointed at God, because he did not provide us with what we would consider a reasonable, viable and doable alternative. In the end, we draw the line of what is acceptable and reasonable. And God should not cross that line. He should not try to force us out of our comfort zone.
Our New Testament reading from the letter to the Hebrews opens with a stern warning:
“See to it that you do not refuse (or resist) him who speaks!”
It is one thing not to hear God speak. It is quite another to hear him and not to listen or not to obey.
Our Gospel reading from Luke 6 sets us right in the middle of a long teaching session of Jesus, that is called the Sermon on the Plain. In Matthew we can find much of the same teaching in Matthew 5–7, which is called the Sermon on the Mount. These sermons contain some very tough and radical teaching about what it means to be citizens of God’s Kingdom and followers of Jesus. The teaching is so tough and radical, that we often seek ways of softening it and smoothing its rough edges. As such, we are not willing to accept it as God’s will for our lives.
The 16th century Protestant reformers Martin Luther and Jean Calvin, after recovering the gospel of grace, sought to define what relevance there is left in the law and the commandments of the Bible for us who are saved by grace. They came to the conclusion that the commandments still have three functions, three vital tasks in the life of a Christian.
The first is to maintain law and order in society. God’s law defines what is ethically right and wrong. And in a Christian society that should be reflected in the law and order of the country. Fear of shame and punishment will make many people abide by the rules. That is number one.
The second is to function as a kind of mirror. When we look at the Bible’s rules for good and godly living, and then we look at our own lives, we see how far sin has removed us from what we were created to be. The law makes us painfully aware of our sinfulness and our inadequacy.
The third task of the law and the commandments is to serve as a guide for God-centered living. The law and commandments reveal to us what kind of life is pleasing to God. And—so Calvin points out—to us, born-again Christians in whom the Spirit of God dwells, the desire to please God leads us to inquire into the will of God and live by it.
Now, to a large extent we feel comfortable about this. When it is a matter of ethical distinction between right and wrong, we are ready to apply the law in our day-to-day lives—give and take some exceptions. But when Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount and on the Plain, we get into big problems. Jesus tells his audience—those who want to hear it—that their righteousness should go much further than staying on the safe side of the fence. The question is no longer about ethical right and wrong. Jesus speaks about excelling and overflowing in righteousness, going the extra mile, pursuing a Christlike life of total self-sacrifice. And that is where we like to say: Here Jesus gives us an ideal of what Christlikeness could be in the extreme. You could say that he describes what he himself would do. But—so we like to believe—this is not Jesus’ actual command to us. He just wants to show us how far sin has removed us from the ideal humanity the way God originally created us.
So what we find ourselves doing is this: When commands sound reasonable and attainable—such as: Don’t steal! Don’t kill—we say: “Yes, this is God’s commandment to us: We must obey.” But when we feel Jesus is too radical and too extreme, we turn things around and say: Here Jesus is describing himself—the perfect man, living the perfect life. But we should be cautious to apply this to our own lives. It is not possible. And therefore, it is not possible either that Jesus would demand such things from us. After all, if we let ourselves be used and abused by others as a door mat to be walked over, that cannot be right. That cannot be Jesus’ intention. Surely, we are called to be self-defensive and to stand up for our rights.
And as we reflect on Jesus’ teaching this way, modern psychology comes to our aid. It stresses the importance of rising up for our rights and not letting ourselves be trampled over or abused. Political history comes to our aid as well. It shows how revolutions have been more effective when they have actively and forcefully resisted abuse and discrimination rather than passively ignored them.
But Jesus, in turn, ignores modern psychology and political history. In the opening words of the Sermon on the Plain, he calls blessed those who are oppressed and abused and hated and persecuted. Why? Because they will receive compensation many times over in the kingdom of God:
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.”
When standing trial before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, Jesus said:
“My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight.”
So there is no way around it: These words are to be taken serious.
In Luke 6:27, Jesus opens the passage with the words: “But to you who are listening I say…” He suggests that the people around him may be hearing his words, but not really listening. They are not attentive. Or you may put it the other way round: They may be listening to his preaching, but not really hearing the message and the challenge it holds for them.
The worst compliment a preacher can get is, “Thank you so much for a beautiful sermon.” Sermons are not supposed to be beautiful. They are supposed to be effective, challenging, and life-changing, sometimes hurtfully so.
We are so selective in what we want to hear. Whatever critical notes we hear in the sermon, we believe are aimed at the people in the next pew, not at us. For the same reason Bible reading is often so ineffective. We read our favorite passages over and over again but skip the ones that address the painful issues of our personal lives. That’s why Jesus said, “To you who are listening I say…”
And then come these exhortations—or: commandments, if you like—that are summarized in verse 31 by the Golden Rule.
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Jesus asks to be taken serious about these rules. There is adequate proof in the letters that Peter and Paul write to Christian communities much later, and that echo these words of Jesus.
In Romans 12:14, Paul writes to the Romans—who were facing persecution by the Roman authorities:
”Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
And in 1 Corinthians 4:12, he tells the church how he and his companions put this into practice:
“When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it.”
Peter connects these words of Jesus with the opening words of Jesus’ sermon when he writes:
”Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
The Middle East is well-known for its retaliation mentality. If you break your neighbor’s window—by accident, of course—he might retaliate by smashing all your windows or even setting your house on fire. When somebody feels offended, he will make sure you suffer considerably more than he. And so, in turn, you pay him back with disproportional force. The violence spirals up. In fact, many massive and cruel wars have had their beginnings in insignificant disagreements or violations.
The Old Testament had a rule to constrain this violence from escalating. It was the “law of proportionate retaliation”: A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye, a cow for a cow, etc. In other words, you were not allowed to retaliate any more than you had suffered yourself.
But Jesus goes far beyond that, when he calls us to repay evil with good. Does somebody force you to give him your mobile phone? Well, give him your charger and pin code as well! If you know somebody hates you or has a grudge against you, shower that person with good things. If somebody speaks bad about you behind your back, find something good to say about her, and say it also for others to hear. If somebody curses you, bless him. If you receive unjust treatment from somebody in church, from a family member, or perhaps from your boss at work, pray for them, wishing them well, and treating them well.
How on earth can Jesus say something like that? Well, let me give you three reasons why I believe Jesus is dead serious and wants you and me to take him seriously.
First, if you continue to harbor negative feelings of hurt, anger, hatred and revenge against someone else, you are the one who is going to suffer most. Strong negative emotions can hurt your mental and physical health. In fact, they can make you very sick and even cause premature death. Many people have destroyed their lives hating and cursing others.
So instead, be selfish! Don’t let poisoned relationships and feelings ruin your life! Instead, focus on the positive! Do whatever you can to heal the damaged relationship. But even if you cannot, you can still change the way you feel about it and the way it affects you. If you harbor negative feelings about somebody else because of what they have done to you, and if that has damaged your relationship—for example, you don’t talk to each other any longer—then take that first step to healing and reconciliation. First, pray to God for the other and ask God to bless him. And then go up to him and express your forgiveness and your favor.
Secondly, when you do good to those who hurt you, and bless them, and pray for them, and go the extra mile with them, you will heap burning coals on their heads. That is what Paul says in Romans 12:20:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
I heard of a boy who was being bullied severely in school. He was not the smartest or most handsome in his class, he was slow and clumsy, and he was much smaller and thinner than the others. In other words: he was the perfect victim. The teachers did not know what to do, so they left him on his own without the support he so badly needed. He could not retaliate, because he was no match for the other boys in class. His sadness and helplessness just made the others bully him even more.
One day the pastor of his church found him crying after Sunday school. He asked him what was wrong. And when the boy had explained him the situation, the pastor suggested, that from now on, he should try to pay back evil with good. Whenever the boys teased him, he would do something nice to them that would take them by surprise. For one boy, he offered to ride him home on his bike when the boy’s bike had been stolen during class. With another boy he shared a chocolate bar. A third one he helped with his home assignments. First, things seemed to go from bad to worse. But he did not give up. And before long, the bullying ceased. The boys that had made his life a hell, now accepted him as friend and protégé.
The third reason why I believe Jesus is serious, is because Jesus practiced what he preached. Many of our relationships are governed by more or less selfish motives. Even in so-called love relationships the question is often: “What can I get out of this?” Many marriages, partnerships and friendships end because people feel there is not enough in it for them to maintain that relationship any longer.
But Jesus taught and lived a radically different approach. We also call it “love”, but in the Bible—I mean the original Greek—there is a unique word for it: “agape”. It stands for the unselfish, other-centered, self-sacrificing love that God showed the world in the life and death of Jesus. And what Jesus is saying here to those who are willing to listen and to accept the message is this: If you want to follow me into the kingdom of God, you must love others just the way I love you. Love is God’s gift that is meant to be multiplied in the community of believers, the body of Christ. What you have received from God because of his agape love, pass it on to others.
Paul wrote in Romans 5:
“God demonstrates his own [agape] love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – – When we were still God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.”
While we were still sinners and enemies of God… God took the first step towards peace and reconciliation. And it was a huge step. It cost him dearly. That is how God wants us to deal with our enemies, with those who hate and curse and persecute us, with those who bully us, who steal from us, or who cheat on us.
As members of the body of Christ—as the physical and visible presence of God in this world—let us have the same mindset and “heart-set” and the same readiness to self-sacrifice that we see in Christ. Let us be serious about the Golden Rule: to do to others as we would have them do to us, to put ourselves in the shoes of the other, and think: “If I were him or her, how would I want the other—in whose shoes I actually stand now, because they are my shoes—how would I want him or her to treat me? What would I want him or her to say or to do right now?” And then go on and do and say accordingly.
Let agape love be more than just a biblical buzz word among us. Let it be a motivating power, a healing power, a reconciling power, and a transforming power—among us and in our relationships with others. Amen.
