February 20, 2022: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Jesus said, “I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you… Be merciful…do not judge …do not condemn…Forgive.” That is what we just heard from Jesus – Love, do good, bless, pray, be merciful and without judgement or condemnation, and forgive. That’s a tall order for anyone.
Now, to be clear, Jesus is not saying that anyone should allow themselves to be abused, oppressed, or pained in any way. It is actually quite the opposite, for he knows that hate ensnares the one who bears it in their heart in a prison of poisonous destruction, and Jesus is hoping to save us from that same fate, and perhaps, in the end, save others too.
Yet, in our very divided world, in which a dictator in Russia is threatening war on a democratic people in Ukraine, where people of color are killed for the crime of being black or brown, where violence against women is the number one use of guns across the world, or where those who love differently are oppressed, where people physically fight others over masks, vaccinations, or who one supported in the past election, where destruction of creatures and the earth by those who choose greed over compassion is willfully killing God’s creation, these words of Jesus can seem a bit too altruistic, even downright unreasonable.
As to it being altruistic, I am reminded of something the Rev. Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. said in a sermon in Montgomery, Ala.. He said, “far from being an impractical idealist, Jesus has become the practical realist. The words of this text glitter in our eyes with a new urgency. Far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this command is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.”
Amen, Dr. King, Amen!
If we consider the condition of the world in which Dr. King preached, marched, and ultimately was killed, we come to realize that if his faith could place this knowledge in his heart, perhaps there is hope for us too.
And as for this type of love being unreasonable, well hell yes – it is! Love…when seen through the eyes of Jesus…looks unreasonable. I mean, come on…how possibly are we to do that?
Perhaps that is why this passage is paired today with the one of the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Of course in years past, most folks would know this story from Sunday School – or at least from a Broadway show – but these days, where the soccer field is the place to be on Sunday rather than church, it may be that we need a little refresher. So, here is the cliff notes version of how we got to the scene today:
Joseph was the first born son of Rachel, the second wife of the biblical patriarch Jacob, and the woman Jacob loved most. Now, before we go on, anyone who says that biblical marriage is between one man and one woman obviously never read the bible. Moving along, Joseph was also Jacob’s favorite child, even being given a technicolor dreamcoat by dad. And, had a gift – he could interpret dreams, even his own. Sadly, he had the unfortunate gift of telling the absolute truth. I say unfortunate, not because truth isn’t a good thing, but you know when someone asks “Does this outfit make me look fat?” and it gives the person the appearance of standing before one of those carnival mirrors that adds 500 lbs? Well, Joseph wasn’t great with stuff like that, so when he had dreams that predicted his brothers and even the stars and the moon, would bow down to him, he told his brothers about them. Suffice it to say that his older brothers were as thrilled with Joe as Roy Kent on the Ted Lasso show loves, well, anything.
So, one day, when Joe was sent out to look for his brothers who where far off tending flocks, they decide to kill him. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, and instead they sell him into slavery. They tell their broken-hearted dad he was killed by a wild beast – nice guys. Fast forward, and Joe is a slave in the Egyptian Pharoah’s house, when the Pharoah is having terrible nightmares no one of his court can interpret. Joe is summoned, and he tells him that the dream means there will be 7 years of abundance followed by 7 years of famine, and that if the Pharoah was to survive, he needed to manage the surplus wisely. The Pharoah makes Joseph a sort of Sub-Pharoah charged with doing just that.
During the lean years, even surrounding regions, including where Jacob and his boys dwelled, were hit hard. The sons heard that there was grain to be had in Egypt (due entirely, of course, to Joseph). So, off they go to ask this sub-Pharoah for some of that scarce grain. When they meet Joe, they do not recognize him, but they do bow down to him (yup – his dreams were spot on!). Long story short, Joe eventually, after scaring the daylights out of them, reveals himself to his brothers – this is what we heard today. He kisses them, and forgives them.
Now one might say – that’s a lovely story – but…it’s just a story, right? That doesn’t happen in real life – a guy isn’t imprisoned for years and when confronted with the ones who put him there seeks to reconcile and lead with love, right? Well, we need only look at the life of Nelson Mandela to see a similar story played out in modern times.
Mandela was born into a country that, like our own US, had institutionalized explicit and implicit forms of segregation, hate, and oppression based on race. Having graduated from law school, he participated in underground groups fighting against the apartheid system, which was formally made law in 1950. Arrested and imprisoned for 27 years, he was released in 1990, and continued his fight. In 1994, after worldwide pressure, including from churches and other faith groups from all over the world, apartheid was ended, and Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa.
What did he do with his new power? Did he exact revenge, as many hoped he would (and which most would understand), for the persecution of his sisters and brothers, for his own persecution? No. He announced that “courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.” And formed the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, chaired by our own Archbishop Desmond Tutu of the Anglican Communion, to seek a path of healing, forgiveness, and restoration. It is now a model for all the world, but then it was looked at as unreasonable, unworkable, and downright crazy.
This is not to say that forgiveness is easy – nor was it for Mandela. Yet he knew that it was the key to freedom – true and lasting freedom – for his people, and perhaps for himself too – for hate is the easy poison that kills the ones who bear it. To be clear, hate has its place – and as the passage of scripture (and a fabulous song by The Byrds) puts it: there is a time to love, and a time to hate. We should hate.
We should hate war, injustice, oppression, poverty, violence against humanity, and abuse of creation. We should hate racism, sexism & misogyny, heterosexism, and any other form of tyranny against God’s children. Yet overcoming these evils cannot be done through hate, but only through love – totally unconditional, unimaginable, and absolutely unreasonable, love. That is what Jesus is telling his people and us today – that we must act out of a place of love and grace, not fear and anger – for that is the path to peace and hope for the world. This runs counter to everything we believe about power and justice – this is not how many believe this is all supposed to work. This likely perplexed everyone on the plain listening that day, and perhaps it does to many today.
In the verses just before this sermon began, it says that He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a….great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him…And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them. They came to see him because they had heard he was powerful!
Yet, just as Jesus does with everything, he is toppling expectations about what is important, what is reasonable, and what power really. Power – his power – was not demonstrated by force, but by healing; not by vengeance, but by grace; not by fear; but by love – unconditional, unreasonable, love. This was not what was expected, or even hoped for, in the long-awaited Messiah. In fact, it is hard for us even today to consider this type of love to be anything but a sign of weakness. But if we really want to change what is, to what may be, if we really want to live as God dreams for us, there is no other way.
God came into this world that we may know the power of love – God’s love – for all time and in all places. And you know what the best part about it is? That power is free – it is within each one of us! Rich, poor, male, female, gay, straight, of any language, culture, or country! Jesus is saying then and now that this power is available to us – through unreasonable love in the face of anything but! He is telling those then, and now us, that we have all that we need to upend the world ourselves – to bring restoration to all creation, and most importantly perhaps, to ourselves!
And when we fail, and we will, we gather here and confess our sins to God, reconcile ourselves to one another through the Peace, and are restored by the gifts of God’s grace through the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Here, God demonstrates what Jesus calls us to do. We are forgiven, given great mercy, and loved unconditionally. What we say and do here makes it possible for us to be who we are called to be in the world. Our confession offers us a chance to reflect about ourselves and our actions in the world, and that is the key to the wisdom that will bring us into closer relationship with God, and help us to live as we are called to live. Because if we are to live this unreasonable life, we need the wisdom to do it.
You know, in the verses just after what we heard today, Jesus says “A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher…How can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”
Put another way, as Aristotle said “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” The beginning of this unreasonable love to which we are called is looking in the mirror and recognizing that we are not perfect. It is recognizing too that if we are not perfect, than we cannot have those expectations of ourselves, or of others. This is why we need that confession – because we will sometimes stumble as we seek to live out our lives in Christ – every single one of us. Each and every day I can say that confession with a full heart, for I know I have not loved my neighbor as I ought to have done, and because of that, I have not loved God with all my heart as I am called to do.
And by our act of contrition and forgiveness, by our willingness to do acts of love and reconciliation, even when we feel it not – we are slowly released from the heavy burden of hate, we unlock the key of our mortal prison of bitterness at what has been done or left undone. And as we take each step forward in grace, we begin to walk in love as Christ loved us.
Make no mistake about it folks, this type of unreasonable love takes courage. It takes courage to admit that we are not always the right ones, the sinless ones, the ones who never need to be forgiven. It takes courage to admit our own faults, and to forgive ourselves. It takes courage to forgive, to not judge, to be merciful, to pray for those who hate, especially when it is we who are the victims of that hate. We won’t always have it within us to do it, but we must always try – for our own sake and that of the world.
For it is a rather inconvenient truth that, as was prayed in our collect this morning, “…without love whatever we do is nothing.”
“…without love whatever we do is nothing.”
And that is the point of it all isn’t it. You know, in the US, we seem to have the motto “What’s in it for me?” It is a sad commentary on who we are as a country, but there it is. We are often a selfish bunch. Yet if one were to ask Jesus “What’s in it for me – this unreasonable love you ask for?” The answer is really simple – everything.
For without it, we surely die, and all the world with us.
With it, with this unreasonable and unexpected love, we truly live, and peace will abound throughout the earth.
To you that listen, the choice is yours.
Choose to be unreasonable.
Choose the inconvenient truth.
Choose love.
Because it truly is “love that will save our world and our civilization, love even for enemies.”
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here (also available on Audible):
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
February 20, 2022
Epiphany 7 – Year C
1st Reading – Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42
2nd Reading – 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
Gospel – Luke 6:27-38
