Year C Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany February 18th, 2001
Lord of the Lake Lutheran Church
Web page http://lordofthelake.org
By The Rev. Jerry Morrissey, Esq., Pastor
E-mail pastor@southshore.com
Heavenly Father thank you for your kindness and generosity, empower each of us here at Lord of the Lake Lutheran Church to imitate You in your generous giving of gifts, be they material, emotional or spiritual, and teach us to expect nothing in return. Amen.
Title: “Imitating God.”
Luke 6: 27-38
Jesus, after addressing his disciples, now turns to all who will listen. In a series of sayings, all applying the way God loves to the way Christians should love, he illustrates how generosity in its many forms is also a form of love and a form of forgiveness.
Luke’s counterpart to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount began with last week’s reading and would continue until next week’s reading, except the final section of the “sermon” is the assigned text for eighth week after the Epiphany year C, which, at least in the Lutheran tradition, would be replaced next week by The Transfiguration of Our Lord for the Last Sunday in Epiphany.
Luke’s version is much short than Matthew’s, encompassing 32 verses to Matthew’s 109. Although Luke says that Jesus is speaking to his disciples, it is clear that he also means to include a much larger and varied audience, especially the “rich.” God’s promise of salvation is an invitation to all to become the “poor of God,” but not all accept it. The “rich,” including the economically rich, but not restricted to them, are those who remain content with their present, materially, emotionally, spiritually comfortable existence. The way to become the “poor of God” is to imitate God in his generous giving of gifts, be they material, emotional or spiritual, and expecting nothing in return. So, by using pithy statements, making it easy to remember, Jesus says the same thing in each of these verses: imitate God by lending money, forgiving debts, giving generously and loving enemies both inside and outside the Christian community.
In verse twenty-seven, “love your enemies”: This is not a command to feel good about one’s enemies, but to do good toward them regardless of feelings. The word used here for “love” is the Greek word, agape, a word Christians reserved to refer to Jesus’ special kind of love for others. Jesus’ followers are not to be selective in loving, as in the case of friendship love. They are to love all, regardless of whether or not the other persons have good will toward them.
“Do good to those who hate you”: It is not enough to refrain from hostile acts. Disciples are to actively do good. Contrary to the natural impulse to “hate those who hate you,” the disciple returns love for hate. This defines “to love” as simply the same thing as “to do good.” Love is an attitude that leads to action, not a feeling that is a reaction to a pleasant circumstance.
In verse twenty-eight, “bless those who curse you”: This is consistent with the above and can be done in the privacy of prayer, the acid test. True Christian love finds expression in words as well as deeds. Though some will curse the Christian, he or she is not to retaliate in kind, but say positive things. This is done before others. But the acid test is when one prays and only God is there. To pray for those who mistreat oneself is a sure sign of love unless, of course, one prays that they be cursed.
In verse twenty-nine, “when someone slaps you”: A slap on the cheek is a metaphor for extreme insult. Even a physical slap is more humiliating than it is violent or painful. Such a gesture was a formal sign of expulsion from the synagogue for heresy, to give an example. Whether physical or symbolic a “slap in the face” or “punch in the jaw,” siagon,“cheek,” can also mean “jaw,” is not to be returned in kind, but forgiven, let go, dismissed. Since nothing infuriates an enemy more than forgiveness, the likelihood of another “slap” will follow is considerable.
“Cloak…tunic”: These are the outer and under garments. Again, it is the principle that is meant. A literal giving up of the clothing one is wearing would result in public nudity. Jesus hardly means that. The point, made concretely to emphasize that Jesus is serious, is that generosity, which is the hallmark of love, prompts one to give freely to those who have no legitimate claim on us whether we like them or not, even if they be thieves or robbers.
In verse thirty, “give to all who beg from you”: Again, this extreme example illustrates the principle of generosity. A literal interpretation would result in saintly paupers and prosperous idlers and thieves. The word “give” is in the continuous tense in Greek and means “keep on giving.” It is a habitual attitude, not an occasional impulse, such as one might see at holidays. Such unremitting generosity may seem as absurd as giving to a beggar, but so it is with God’s love.
In verse thirty-one, “do unto others”: The “Golden Rule” does not say to do as others do unto us, but as we, ourselves, would like to be treated. It removes from the equation how others treat us.
In verse thirty-two, “if you love those who love you”: This carries on the thought of the “Golden Rule.” To love those from whom there is little hope for their reciprocating, such as friends might do, is to love like God does. Doing good to others in the hope that they will do good unto us is not wrong. The point is that there is no “credit,” Luke uses the Greek word charis, “grace,” Matthew uses the Greek word misthos, “reward.” The person who does good expecting nothing in return receives reward or grace thanks from God.
Verses thirty-four to thirty-five, “repayment”: Jesus never urges people to serve for the sake of reward. To do so would be to exchange material selfishness for spiritual selfishness. But he insists that the reward is there. For a Christian that reward is communion with God and opportunity for more service.
“Is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked”: God is the example, the model, the pattern. Independent of the response, God bestows good gifts on all without distinction. His love is one-way.
In verse thirty-six, “be compassionate”: Where Matthew uses “perfect,” Luke uses “compassionate” to describe and summarize what we are to emulate in God, modeled after the equally succinct Old Testament command: “Be holy as I am holy.” The descriptive adjective is less important than the structure: “Be or do…as “just like,” I am.” We are called to imitate none other than God himself as he has revealed himself to be. Paul would say, “Become what you are.”
Sons: A child is a reflection of a parent. Hebrew was short on adjectives. The expression “son of…” means “like” Here, be like God or Godlike. Jesus did not see humans as children of God by nature but by choice, a choice expressed in repentance, faith and good works. To become like the Father is the reward. Imitating God’s character, enjoying his love shows one has the very same character and love, reward enough. One enjoys a quality of life similar to God’s. God’s mercy supplies both the pattern and the standard of comparison for his children to emulate and imitate.
In verses thirty-seven to thirty-eight, “do not judge”: Certainly we are to pass judgment on the morality of actions. That should not extend to people, however. If the principle of generosity is not applied in our attitude toward people who do wrong in our judgment then the principle of reciprocity will be applied in our case. We will be judged according to the same standards we have applied to others. If we have been narrow, stingy, rigid, self-righteous, censorious toward others, God will measure us by the same yardstick. Condemnation of another spells our own condemnation. A refusal to forgive prevents our own sins being forgiven by God. If God judges us according to our actions, he wants us to judge others accordingly without crossing the line into a judgment of the person or his or her worth before God. If our judgment is generous, so will be his. If stingy, he will use the same measure. God will treat us better than we deserve until judgment. Then, he will treat us as we have treated others.
The topic here is the interplay between justice and mercy. God is both just and merciful and there is no contradiction in God. Jesus is teaching us how we can reflect both of these divine attributes in our relationships with one another. Only Jesus uses seemingly different categories of thought to make his point, a point he makes in several different ways. When we remember that Jesus did not, in fact, deliver this ‘sermon” at one time, but that it is a compilation of his teachings, we have no trouble with the seeming repetition, that is, saying the same thing in different ways.
Instead of justice Jesus speaks of reciprocity, that is, returning kind for kind or unkind for unkind and instead of mercy, Jesus speaks of generosity, that is, going beyond justice and reciprocity to “above and beyond the call of duty,” really a form of heroism. The behavior Jesus recommends, behavior that reflects God’s behavior, is most uncommon for human beings. To love enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, to turn the other cheek when slapped, to give to all who beg, to lend money without expectation or requirement of repayment, to not judge people is to behave like God, to be a most uncommon human. It is to “go beyond” what any human might expect of us. In a word it is not reciprocity or justice, but is generosity, self-giving or giving-up self-interest, to the point of what humans would call “heroism.” Some might even call it “lunacy.” Jesus would call it being “poor in God.” Or being “a child of God.” Matthew would call it “poor in spirit.” Whatever it might be called, it is the essence of what Jesus came to tell us, indeed to show us by example, of being a child of God, a “spitting image” of our heavenly Father.
Jesus is saying that we should practice generosity now and we will receive justice later. At judgment we will be judged not on how “just” we were, but on how generous we were in this life. In the end God will apply the standard of our own personal generosity to us when he meets out justice upon us. This is definitely not the way we would set it up. We would apply even-steven justice, rather than mercy or generosity. We would maintain that we returned kind for kind, unkind for unkind and that makes us “just.” God has a different idea. One of the very important things Christ came to tell us is that the standards of eternity are different from those of earth. Personal generosity is more important to God than justice. In the end justice and mercy will meet. Essentially they are the same, but only in the final analysis, in the final outcome, on the last earthly day.
Jesus recommends “uncommon” behavior. “Uncommon” is a synonym for “holy,” that fundamental quality of God that makes him “uncommon,” “unique,” “incomparable.” If we want to be like God, “uncommon,” “holy,” we need to compare our behavior not to that of other humans but to God’s. Jesus gives us insights and examples on how to do just that. Of course, for Jesus being holy and being loving is the same thing. In the Old Testament the uniqueness of God was described as “holy;” in the New Testament it is described as “love.” Not love in the sense of romantic love, though there is nothing wrong with that, or friendship love, certainly, a good thing, but sacrificial love, self-giving love, love that is not reciprocal, like romantic and friendship love, one-way love, love that does not depend on any response from the other, good action love rather than simply good feeling love.
The essence of this “uncommon” behavior is treating people better than they treat us, treating them better than they deserve in the even-steven justice sense. For Jesus that is also the essence of love, the essence of forgiveness and the essence of generosity. Love, forgiveness, and generosity are three different words for the same reality, the reality of God himself, God’s essence. Jesus uses some pretty ugly or, at least, uncomfortable settings and situations in order to illustrate his point. The love he recommends is “tough love” indeed, although it makes the lover look rather wimpy to his or her fellow human beings. Turning the other cheek instead of returning unkind for unkind, lending without demanding repayment, doing good to those who do evil, loving where hating would seem perfectly just and justified, behavior like this is hardly held in high regard in common human society and those who behave in such ways are hardly considered the heroes they really are- in God’s eyes.
Love: In Greek, the language in which the New Testament was originally written, there are three words that are all translated into English as “love.” Because of this there is confusion about just what Jesus is advocating and what he is not advocating. One word is the Greek word eros. Our English “erotic” comes from that word. It stands for in-love love, romantic love, love of the sexual kind. This is a wonderful love, but not the love of which Jesus speaks when he commands us to love one another, even our enemies. One cannot command another to be in love or fall in love with someone, anymore than one can make oneself be “in love.” That is something that happens to us and is beyond our control. We can “control,” to a certain extent, what we do about being in love example, we do not have to have sex with that person, but we cannot control the feeling. The same is true for friendship love. The Greek word for it is philia, from which we get the English word “filial.” Which means having or assuming the relationship of child or offspring to parent. Now, in Latin that word actually became the word for “son” and “daughter.” These distinctions have a lot of overlap, but the main difference remains valid. Like romantic love, friendship love involves our feelings. We feel good about our friends. Both loves are reciprocal, mutual, involving give-and-take. We cannot really be in love with someone or be friends with someone who is not in love or friends in return. The third word for love is the Greek word agape. There is no English equivalent or derivative for this word. Yet, it is the word Jesus uses to describe what he is commanding of his followers. It is God’s kind of love, although God is also in love with each of us and wants to be friends with each one of us. This is not reciprocal, but is one-way love. It does not depend on what the other person does or does not do. It is not good feeling love, but right attitude and action love. It acts in the best interest of the other, even when the other does no know of it or want it. All three kinds of love can co-exist, but it is in the absence of any type of good feeling that agape-love stands out. It is possible to love even one’s enemies in this way, to act well toward them, despite negative feelings on both sides.
Turning the Other Cheek, Etc: Jesus is not advocating that we refrain from defending ourselves, any more than he would want us to refrain from coming to the defense of another person under attack, physical or otherwise. He does not want us to strip naked in public on demand from someone who wants our clothes or to become destitute as a result of giving money to the destitute. He is exaggerating in order to make a point, a typically Semitic way of expressing oneself. Yet, he is serious and wants us to take him seriously. The principle behind all these examples is the same: make generosity the standard, not pan scale justice. Take generosity to its nth degree. Materially, lend without expecting, let alone demanding, recompense. Compensation may be the just thing, but not the generous one. Leave justice for eternity. On earth, God’s justice is found more in overdoing generosity than insisting on equality or reprisal. The latter almost always leads to overdoing justice. On the social level, forgive injustices rather than retaliate. A person does not just get even, but gets more than even, which causes the other person to overdo his or her retaliation. All one gets is escalation of conflict, not resolution. But, if a person stops the injustice by refusing to retaliate, there is a greater chance at reconciliation. There is simply less to forgive. And remember, forgiveness is a form of generosity, treating people better than they have treated us, more than they deserve. Amen.
