The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany ---- 24 February 2019

Luke 6:27-38

27 "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."

…for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

·       This doesn’t seem right. Isn’t God supposed to bless the good and punish evil? Shouldn’t those who do evil –whatever that may be- be afraid of some sort of punishment? Shouldn’t life turn on them and bite them?

·       Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t that be exciting? Wouldn’t we then feel justified? We might agree with all those things. And wouldn’t we feel like gods if all that were to happen? Now THAT would be a real problem.

·       We can’t control all the things that happen to us in our lives. There are things we have to accept. What we can control is how we react to those circumstances that are beyond our control. Hence Jesus’ admonition: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

·       We might wonder: Does God bless the ungrateful and the wicked because God does not care? Or does God bless them because God cares for all God has created? We might think that God cares too much from our small point of view? It’d be hard to speak from God’s point of view since my own life and circumstances cloud the larger and wider view. Maybe it’s the same for you.

·       There is a conflict in our lives, one that keeps some folks up nights. We want our lives to make sense and we want them to make sense according to our own lights. Many ideas have developed to help things make sense.

·       The book of Deuteronomy is written from this point of view. Blessings and curses are traceable to behavior and curses flow from sins. One odd thing is this: the Book of Job was written in direct opposition to this idea.

·       The idea that people get what they deserve, that “what goes around, comes around” is often called Karma. That’s a term that comes to us from Hinduism and it implies that our actions determine our future and determine it precisely. It’s a concept of justice and getting exactly what we deserve.

·       The comparative Christian concept is not karma but grace. Karma has to do with what is deserved while grace has to do with what is not deserved and what is freely given as a gift, not what is deserved or worked for or achieved.

·       We live in a broken world and life is unfair. The rich get rich and the poor get poorer, as the old song says. We cannot trust that people will get what is deserved. In fact, we might actually rejoice that we don’t get what we deserve.

·       This might seem quite unfair and rather perverse in a way. But remember Jesus’ words: … he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. That is a reminder that the grace of God is available and can be given to every person.

·       As far as our role as disciples of Jesus, we are to realize the grace of God in our lives, live in that grace, be grateful for it, and proclaim it to the world around. And sometimes grace is not so pretty.

·       Here I want to quote a contemporary theologian from the Reformed tradition. His name is Walter Brueggeman and this quote seems appropriate to today’s topic: The prophetic tasks of the Church are to tell the truth to a society that lives in illusion, grieve in a society that practices denial, and express hope in a society that lives in despair.

·       This sounds painful in some ways and he is right. We are to be truth tellers among a society that lives illusions and lies. We are to tell the truth about what is bought and sold, what is real, what is alive, and what is really worshipped.

·       We are to stand against the denial that pervades all around us. Death and sickness are denied; pain is not acknowledged; the reality of a broken world and broken lives is allowed to fester as if it were an open wound.

·       Finally we are to live and tell others about hope in the face of despair. In speaking of forgiveness, blessing, kindness, and free grace, we challenge the despair of our world which clings to passing things and makes a big deal out of so much that will fail us all.

·       I don’t know… maybe if I tried to live like grace makes a difference for me, then I might understand what Jesus said in that sermon. Love your enemies… treat others as you’d want to be treated… Do not judge… do not condemn… Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

·       If that is the case, maybe then the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ will make a difference where-ever I might be. Imagine the sort of world we’d live in if we all did this.

…for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.