2.13.22 Luke 6:27–36
27 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back. 31 “Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. 32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. 34 If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. 35 Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
What Kind of Grace Is That To You?
If you think of Christianity as a divine thing, as the Bible being inspired by God, then wouldn’t it make sense that the things we are called on to do would be BEYOND NORMAL or even NATURAL? There’s a strange thought that Christianity needs to blend in and be as with the times as possible. So you have professing Christians with the same tongue and behavior as everyone else they work with or go to school with. Trying to attract everyone, we act like everyone? How is that going to work? How can we stand out when we blend in?
Epiphany is such an interesting thing because God comes into our world but He looks like a NORMAL guy. It’s not the beard or the eyes or the body that makes Him stand out. Obviously, His miracles were eye poppers. But a part of it is also that He takes God’s word SERIOUSLY and to the EXTREME. “If I’m going to live for you, I’m going to obey ALL the law in your place. If I’m going to love you, I’m going to love you to DEATH! I’m not just going to die for you, I’m going to be DAMNED for you on the cross. I’m not just going to do this for the good people or the people that love me. I’m going to do this for everyone, even the ones who will hate me to the end and never even want my gift of salvation.” That’s extreme love.
So Jesus calls on the same from us. Don’t just love. I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus speaks of “enemies” as if it were a given? We don’t talk like that in our society much. Even if we think of it from a Christian perspective, Paul told us to live at peace with EVERYONE, as far as it depends on us. (Romans 12) Jesus called Judas his friend when He was being betrayed by him. But living at peace with everyone DOESN’T mean that God wants us to become vanilla piles of nice platitudes. “Be nice. Be kind. Be gentle. Love.” You need to DEFINE what they actually mean within a BIBLICAL CONTEXT. In the Bible, Amnon’s “love” of his sister Tamar led him to rape her. That wasn’t God’s kind of love. That kind of love is one that we should hate and not tolerate. If tolerating that is how you’re going to live at peace, it’s the devil’s kind of peace.
Back in Jesus’ day, the Pharisees openly denied that Jesus could be the Messiah and fought against Him every step of the way. They called Him demon possessed. So Jesus went to war with the Pharisees and the Jews who refused to repent and call Him Lord. He called them hypocrites and sinners and children of the devil, when they thought they were chosen by God. They HATED Him for it. They MURDERED Him for it.
Jesus said you also would have enemies. You will have people who HATE you, no matter how nice you are. If there’s ONE THING that brings out hatred in this world that loves to claim tolerance, it’s those who don’t tolerate or accept their wicked behavior, who say “No, that’s not right. You need to stop.” If you have the gall to speak up you become the devil in the world’s eyes. If you DARE to talk about damnation, hell, sin, or God’s wrath, you will quickly be called the devil incarnate himself. It’s infuriating.
How do we respond? Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Why? Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Think of what Jesus means by being “kind” to the unthankful and being “merciful.” God doesn’t withhold good days and creature comforts from those who never thank Him, even from those who are just plain evil.
There’s some pretty seemingly evil people in this world. I think of a rapper called Lil Nas X who openly promotes Satanism and plenty of other perversions. He put human blood in some shoes that he had modified and sold them for big bucks. You think of how nasty and perverted Miley Cyrus can be at times. God doesn’t put these people to death on the spot. They keep on enjoying their riches and their fame. He keeps on providing for them and keeps on being kind to them. He is MERCIFUL too. That means that He doesn’t give them what they deserve, at least right away. He holds back on His judgment. He does that because Jesus died for the ungrateful and evil too. He wants them saved too. Jesus was already punished for them. Jesus has bought them mercy, so that God has a reason not to damn them on the spot.
Think about the times in your life that you are THANKFUL, so thankful, that God didn’t put you to death at that moment. Something you said in anger. Something you did with your body. Someone you said harmful things to. A time that you lived in fear. God didn’t put you down. He didn’t damn you on the spot. He kept on providing for you. Kept on feeding you. Kept you in good health. God waited for you to come back around. He enabled you to repent. He gave you strength to keep on. You are here today because of His mercy in Christ, an extraordinary mercy that sticks with you.
So Jesus calls for an EXTRAORDINARY type of grace in you, that goes beyond the norm. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. 34 If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. Jesus literally keeps asking, “What kind of grace is that to you?” if you do what is normal for human nature? It’s nothing. It’s natural. But if God’s grace is working in you, then you will do extraordinary things and be extraordinary in your own gracious living.
Look at how Jesus expects this to play out. If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back. It seems as if Jesus was opening us up to being abused by the unbelieving world. The American in me doesn’t like it. We are brought up to stand up for our rights. We are still told today to demand justice! But Jesus says to turn the other cheek. It’s not natural. You might even say it’s dangerous.
I think of the McCloskeys who got out their guns when the potential rioters came by their home back in St. Louis a year or so ago. They went out on their front porch with their guns drawn, and the people taunted them but didn’t attack. I can’t blame them. Some say that the property is not worth as much as the physical life of someone. There was even an attempted prosecution of them for getting out their guns. Was it wrong? If they were doing what Jesus says here, should they have opened the doors and let them in? Does this mean that we open ourselves up to a forced type of socialism, where people can steal our stuff and we do nothing but smile and wave?
Or what about in marriage and family? What if you have a spouse that is continually taking but never giving? What if your children never want to help around the house as they grow older and older, and only expect to take and take? Does that mean we just take it? Keep on giving and giving and giving, while the other gets more and more lazy? Doesn’t it only encourage people to sin more?
We could go to the rights that we have as individual citizens and the right to defend ourselves. We could say that firearms, police, lawyers and courts are a way that God has provided for us to protect ourselves against thieves and violent offenders. This is true. We should use them. That’s what they are there for, so that thieves and violent people don’t get away with crimes.
God speaks of roles in marriage that spouses and children are supposed to fulfill, so that one doesn’t have to do all the work. Christians should be aware of their roles and strive to live them out. You are called on to be self aware - in light of how you are treating others - so that others don’t have to call you out as often as they might otherwise.
Now, within reason, a part of this is tempered by what Jesus says. Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. If you were being abusive towards people and hurting people, would you want others to just let you abuse them as you head into hell? Wouldn’t you sooner or later meet someone who stood up to you? Wouldn’t you also find it hard to find anyone to love you if you were so abusive? Would you want people stealing your stuff? Of course not.
But on the other hand, if you did sin against someone, you also wouldn’t want them to bring the whole arm of the law against you either. You wouldn’t want them to hate you for the rest of your life. Sometimes it’s nice in life when someone gives you a second chance, or a “mulligan” as they call it in golf. You might compare it to when someone backs into your car and you get a little dent. You have insurance that could pay you for it. You have every right to call the police. Was it just a little dent? Is your car an old beater? Do you have to call the police? Or do you smile and wave? Let it go this time?
I think of Paul, who when slapped by the servant of the high priest quickly spoke up against him, prior to realizing it was the high priest. He defended himself VERBALLY right away against being unlawfully slapped. But then when he found out that the man who ordered him slapped was the high priest, he backed off out of respect to his office. There were times where he loudly used the law to keep himself from being beaten and there were times where he didn’t.
You might think of it this way too, if I turn the other cheek, I’ve only got two cheeks. So perhaps there would be a limit after both of my cheeks have been slapped. People back in the day didn’t have 20 sets of clothes. You give them your cloak and your tunic and you’re pretty much naked. There’s not much more they can get after that at the moment. We think to ourselves, “there has to be a limit to this, right?”
Yet when we see Jesus live on this earth we see how pacifist He really was. There was no limit for Jesus. He was whipped and beaten, mocked and spat upon, crucified and died under injustice. He had the power to fight back, but He didn’t. But in the end, that’s how God worked justice. That’s how Jesus paid for the sins of the world. And some of those who cried out “crucify” later on came to repentance, in time, with mercy. God worked it out in His own way.
If that was Jesus’ limit, then what about mine? How far am I going to take this? If I’m going to live this thing to the extreme, it means I’m just going to have to trust God to take care of me and work justice in the end. Let Him take care of it, because chances are, even when I try to find justice in this world, I won’t. I can either get my undies in a bundle in it or just leave it in God’s hands. I can’t take all this stuff with me anyway. I came into this world empty, and I’ll leave empty. It is what it is. I have to trust God to be God. As Paul says, “Leave room for God’s justice.” Don’t try to fill your room with your own justice, where you’re letting everyone who gets in your way have it. Let God do His thing.
And think of the end of this passage again. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. He doesn’t say what that reward exactly will be, but I’ll trust it to him. If they burn down my house, I’ll have a bigger one in heaven. If they take my life and my family, I’ll see them again when I’m with Jesus. What is the greatest reward? Just knowing that I’m God’s child. Think of the prodigal son who is hugged by the father and given the ring, the robe, and the fattened calf. The other son didn’t like it, but that was his problem. The son would receive the inheritance. The son is part of the family, and there’s nothing better than being called GOD’S son. That’s what you are in your baptism, through faith. What greater reward could you ask for, which comes to ultimate fruition in heaven? So don’t be afraid of what might happen to you in this world.
This is easier said than done. I realize that. It’s not natural. I’ve failed many times. I’ve gotten revenge. I’ve been the aggressor. I’ve been too eager to claim my rights. And in the process, I’ve acted like any red-blooded American would. That’s no excuse. I’ve sinned, and so have you. So I thank God that Jesus was the perfect pacifist, dying on the cross, for my salvation. I rest my salvation on Him alone, and so do you. Thank God for Jesus! But if we’re going to stand out in this world, to truly let our light shine, then we are being called on to do some radical things like turning the other cheek, especially in a world that craves vengeance here and now.
Valentine’s Day just came and went. Some people tried to buy stuff for those they love in order to show them their appreciation for who they are and what they do for them. Others sat in silence as they didn’t have anyone to give them anything sweet or romantic. They’re bummed because they don’t have anyone to love.
God’s kind of Valentine’s Day is different. He loves all of you, but it’s not about sweets or romance. It’s the opposite in a sense. Do nice things and be gracious and merciful to those who HATE you. Why? Because Jesus has been gracious to you and merciful to you on the cross. ALSO, because people will notice something different about you, something merciful in you, and some will actually be attracted to who you are, and hopefully who Jesus is. They’ll wonder, “What kind of grace is in this person?” And you can say, “This grace is Jesus.” There will be a light shining in your little corner of the world, attracting people to Christ, and the world will be better for it. Amen.
