February 23, 2025 7th Sunday after Epiphany
Readings: 1st Corinthians 15:35-38; Luke 6:27-38
A Questioned Crowd
The United States of America was started as a democracy. In 1967 The United Methodist Church was also conceived as a democracy, with legislative, executive, and judicial branches. I grew up thinking that democracy is the best form of government. I was pleased that the church was a democracy. I’ve come to realize that even in a democracy there are winners and losers. Winners do take all. The losers are expected to accept the decision and wait until the next vote! But as a pastor, I’m responsible to see all the people, including those who’re on the losing side, and I worry that their voices may not have been heard. I see that in some respects these days, the majority must make concessions in the name of being politically correct, sometimes it’s appropriate. So, are there real winners or losers, or are there only losers in those battles?
Both our culture and in our church, have become gravely divided; we’ve seen the “others” demonize and cease listening to one another. In the CEB, verse 27 begins, “But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies.” Today I want to focus on only two points, Jesus challenges the crowd to hear. Then he says the shocking phrase, “Love your enemies.” What?! He didn’t just tell us to listen to them, we are to love them! I can just imagine how the people around him that day, they must have looked at one another in utter amazement, shaking their heads at the absurdity of it all. Some must have decided that they were not “willing to hear”. Did they walk away with their heads full of questions? Others may have begun to work on a compromise. Which enemy can they “love” and without risking their position? Others may have tried to imagine how they could love their enemies. Our imaginations can help us to see all the people who were there that day listening to Jesus. Their responses wouldn’t be all the same either as neither would ours. We tend to make contingencies and variations abound.
Jesus is not asking for us to agree. Jesus is saying we must love one another as fellow creations of God. He is talking about the kingdom of God, where love is the rule, not an eye for an eye or tit for tat. The world tempts us to go for retribution, we need justice. It is also human for us to experience temptations that if someone does wrong to you, then we are to pay it back in spades. If you do not agree with me then you are against me!
Verses 32-36 contain examples of ways we should be generous and loving, expecting nothing in return. In fact, Jesus tells us if we are willing to listen, “If you do good to those who do good to you, why should you be commended?” It is much easier to do nice things for people whom we know will appreciate it. We are to “Be compassionate just as our God is compassionate.” Everything about this way of living in the world goes against the ways of being in the world. It is so counter-cultural that we may not be willing to hear. If we feel someone is attacking our Religion, then we are to defend it to the death! Besides, that’s what Jesus did, he went to the grave so that we could have life everlasting so we must be willing to do the same.
Imagine how the crowd questioned this message! If I love my enemy, I could be personally harmed. If I let down my guard, then the enemy could possibly win the battle against me. If I love my enemy, that enemy may come back and threaten my community or my family. If I am not a “winner,” will others suffer too? If I give my coat away, I may be cold. Who will give me a coat when I need it? If I lend money to someone who has no job and no prospect of paying me back, how will I support myself in my retirement? Part of the challenge of this teaching is that we are besieged by competing values. If I turn the other cheek after being struck, they are just going to hit the other cheek and how badly will I be wounded? Will my wounds threaten those who depend on me? Will I lose my position in society because I’m ashamed? If I give my coat away, how can I pass it on to my child who may be cold? In fact, Jesus asks us to give without expectation of any reward in return. How does that work for us? Will others that I love be vulnerable because I chose to sacrifice and love my enemy?
Are we willing to hear? Jesus asks us to “be compassionate just as God almighty is compassionate.” The United Methodist Church Book of Discipline at one time stated this: “The people of God, who are the church made visible in the world, must convince the world of the reality of the gospel or leave it unconvinced”. So how do we convince the world of the reality of this gospel that Jesus preached? Well, we must focus on compassion and love. Love begins with seeing and hearing those who are different from you, different from us. That means that those who voted on the other side should be heard and seen. In the hearing and seeing is the opportunity to love. With hearing and seeing comes understanding and compassion. It does not mean that we must agree with them on all their points. Compassion is to feel or join in the passion with the other. Can we hear and see those with whom we differ? In hearing and seeing them, can we join in their pain? Can we extend love and not control? Perhaps most importantly, we extend compassionate love, not to get something back like agreement on an issue or gaining power for a political point of view, but simply because that is the gospel message. “But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies.”
Many years ago, when I was a lay leader in my home church, I was appalled by the resistance that came from some members of the church toward two presiding pastors. They made a show of their dissatisfaction with their leadership ability by gossiping with others and filing complaints. They would stir up support for their point of view whenever the church council opened for decision. I confess I had trouble loving them! I tried asking them to explain their point of view. They were enemies of the pastor whom I was trying to support. I had trouble listening to them because I could not see how Christians could be that cruel. As I look back now, 27 years later, I still regret all that happened. Someone told me that sometimes Christians do not want healing. That’s hard! Sometimes Christians do not want healing. Maybe it’s because they were tempted by evil thoughts. I question if I had listened to them with an untainted heart, maybe I could have become more compassionate and understanding. After all they were faithful church members all their lives. I suspect that they had some faith-filled reasons for their actions. Clearly, their methods were poorly chosen because it cost the church two religious leaders. Yet, they may have had important lessons that all needed to hear. I will never know because I may not have loved my enemies enough. I may not have been willing to hear what Jesus has to say to us. Are you? We use our differences to build walls. What if we use the differences to build bridges?
Several years ago, the theme in the UMC was to see all the people. Now the very people that recited that theme have gotten tunnel vision. If we are to convince the world, the reality of the gospel, we must live the way of love every day and in all parts of our lives. That requires us to see all the people, with their differences and their passions. The way of love, the gospel, is the heart of our mission in the world. If we act the way children of God act, love must be at the center. No matter what happens, all of us, on both sides of the disagreements, are all children of God. We need God to lead us, not into the temptation, path that we go as humans, but we need him to deliver us from our evil ways and the pitfalls that evil ways deliver us unto. Are you willing to hear, and love your enemy?
