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.