The Irrational Demands of Love

This picture was taken in November in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

February 23, 2014

Matthew 5:38-48

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; ⁴⁰and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; ⁴¹and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. ⁴²Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Sermon:

I didn’t really even plan to be there that day.  It’s just, well, that curiosity that got the better of me.  You see I’d heard about this strange Rabbi Jesus.  I heard that everywhere he went, from Galilee to the Decapolis to Jerusalem, healing went with him.  The sick were set free of their illness.  The lame walked.  The blind saw. 

And all the while, he preached about one thing, over and over again: the kingdom of God.  This kingdom didn’t sound like any kingdom I’d ever heard of: one of freedom for the oppressed, release for the captives and God’s favor raining down on all.  So, like I said, curiosity got the better of me.  When I heard he was coming to town, I went.

And at first, I really liked the guy.  He seemed to emanate a compassion that I’d never quite seen before, and genuinely loved people.  And I don’t mean just the wealthy or powerful people, his words made me, a poor merchant, feel loved.  When he said, “blessed are the poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven,” I felt thrilled.  I wanted to print that on a sticker and put it on my camel.  What an amazing concept!

“Blessed are you when people persecute you,” he said, and I thought of all those times people with money had looked right through me like I didn’t even exist.  “Wow,” I thought.  “This guy actually gets the real world.  I’m liking the sound of this new kind of kingdom.”

Now, I have to be honest here, y’all.  It was hot.  And even the most compelling of preachers starts to put you to sleep after a while.  So, I kind of snoozed there for a bit during the middle of his sermon.  I heard him say something about salt and light, but I really can’t remember much about it.

But then this seemingly golden-tongued preacher changed his tune.  I know this because I got woken up, not by murmurs of agreement and affirmation from the crowd around me, but by grumbling.  People started talking angrily to each other about him, and a few bold folks even booed.  That woke me up.  What was he saying now that could possibly make everyone turn on him so quickly?

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Ah, yes.  That’ll do it.  But it’s almost as if he was intent on making people angry, because he kept talking, saying irrational things like,

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.”

Wait a minute.  Is this the same guy who was so kindly doling out blessings earlier?  Where is all this sin and hell talk coming from?  Why was he taking the law of God SO far?

But before I knew it, he was digging himself deeper and deeper with that phrase again, “You have heard it said….but I say to you…”

"You have heard it said an eye for an eye, but I say don’t resist anyone with violence, even an evildoer.  If someone hits you, turn the other cheek.  If they sue you for your coat, give them your cloak as well."

"You have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Hold on.  I liked this guy when he said “Blessed are you who are persecuted, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.”  But now he’s telling me to pray for the scumbags who persecute me?

Why in the world would I do that? 

I do realize, y’all, that these words were said a very long time ago for you.  So, perhaps you need a more relevant example to grasp just how shocking his words were to us that day.

It would be like him saying to you,

“Adopt a national security policy of allowing terrorists and enemies of your country free reign.  Don’t fight back, ever.”

“If your neighbor sues you with some wildly trumped up charges, pay their legal fees as well as your own.  Also, for good measure, bake them an apple pie.”

“Pray for Al Qaida as often as you pray for your children and grandchildren, maybe even more.”

Are you angry yet?  See what I mean? 

And then, just when we were all looking at each other saying, “Who is this guy?” he finished his words with this:

“Do this so that you are children of your Father in heaven, who makes the sun shine equally on everyone.  If you only love your own, what good is that?  That’s easy.  If you only greet your family, what good is that?  That’s easy.  God expects more from you: be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Oh, okay, be perfect.  Well, why didn’t he just say that?  Perfection: easy!  That’s not an irrational request at all! 

Napping at this point in his sermon was not an option: the crowd was in an uproar.  Those who weren’t laughing at him were shouting at him.  Messiah?  Please.  This guy was a joke.

But then I noticed something.  He didn’t look angry.  He didn’t raise his voice to be heard above the heckling.  He just calmly kept preaching, like his life depended on it, and somehow I got the strange feeling that it did.

I realized in that moment a profound difference between this guy and all of the other Rabbis I’d ever run across: love.  Now, I’m not saying Rabbis aren’t generally loving, but this Jesus guy, his every single word, even those irrational ones that made us really angry, was said with love.  It was the undercurrent of it all: that we were beloved children of God, and so was everyone else.  And like any parent, God wanted us to be the best version of ourselves we could be, and maybe even better than that: to strive for perfection.

Think about it: what parent would say to their child, when they brought home a good report card, “Straight a’s, okay, but really a d is just fine.”

Or who would say to a child fighting with their best friend, “you can make up with your friend, but honestly life is just a series of disappointing relationships, so you may as well move on.”

Or who would ask their child to clean their room, but then add the caveat, “But, just so you know, I don’t expect much of you, so just sweep it all under the bed and that’ll do.”

Parents generally expect more of us than we expect of ourselves.  So does God.  I think this is what that controversial preacher Jesus was getting at.  If we think we know the commandments of God completely, and that we’ve reached a legalistic place of perfection, he has news for us, and we’re not gonna like it.  God wants more – so much more – of us.  God wants us to strive for perfect love, because the One who made us knows we are capable of more than we ever give ourselves (or others) credit for.

It is irrational and impossible, this sort of love.  But how much better it is to live our lives striving for the impossible and irrational instead of settling for the simple and safe?

Now, this doesn’t make Jesus’ words any easier to swallow.  I still had a queasy feeling in my stomach listening to him that day.  But when everyone else in the crowd began drawing battle lines (as we always do when we disagree with someone), all I saw was that such high demands on us were because he loved us so much, and wanted what was best, not just for us, but for every single child of God.

What a weight to carry around, that sort of irrational love for everyone.  It must have been exhausting for him, especially when people turned on him so quickly.  I’ll never forget that man, who I have a feeling was even more than that.

I wish I could tell you that his sermon turned my life around.  I wish I could say that his words turned me from bitter into forgiving and selfish to giving.  Truth is, I went about my life much the same as it was before, and it was more hard than easy. 

But there were moments, just fleeting moments, like when I felt anger rise within me at someone, when I saw people turn on each other without even thinking twice, that I remembered his words.  And sometimes, when I was perhaps being closer to the perfection he wished for me, those words gave me pause.  They made me look behind my anger at someone to see the actual person in front of me, with all of their struggles and pressures and disappointments. 

They made me look behind the mob mentality of us-versus-them and see that both sides, everyone, was terrified of so very much, and felt loved so very little.

So maybe his words can do more for you than they did for me, though they did do a little.  Maybe today is different than my day: maybe people don’t sue each other for no reason anymore.  Maybe people don’t teach their children to fight back first and talk later.  Maybe people aren’t so afraid of the poor, making up reasons they deserve their plight, so they don’t have to help them.  Maybe there aren’t enemies anymore.  Maybe people don’t use their religion to only pray for God to be on “their side.”

Then again….maybe some things never really change.  So maybe you still need his words as much as we did, though we didn’t particularly want to hear them.

And maybe you need to be reminded that you are a child of God, and so is whoever you understand to be your enemy, and that changes things.  The love God has for us is irrationally demanding, but so is sending your Son to preach to a bunch of angry, set-in-their-ways people, heal them when they hate you, pray for them when they misunderstand you, die for them when they kill you, and rise again for them when they so quickly forget you.  There never was anything rational about this sort of love – and I hope there never is.  Amen.