Curses and Blessings in the Gospel

Luke 6:27-38

I am going to begin this morning by asking you to do something.

I would like you to move. Change seats. I want you please to get up right now, all of you, and go to a different place in the sanctuary, perhaps to a place you’ve never sat before, and sit in that new place. If you usually sit in the back, why not give sitting in the front a try? If you normally sit on this side, why not try that side? I’d like you to make a significant change in where you are sitting. I’ll wait while you do it.

            How do you feel now? Is it weird? You have a whole new view of things if you made a big change. I wonder if your new seat will change your perspective on anything?

For those of you new to sitting on this side, now you know this is really my better side. Those of you on this side, well, you may want to sit on that side next week.

            Was it difficult for you to change seats? Is it uncomfortable in some way to sit in a new place? Well Friends, if you’re feeling a little uncomfortable right now, my best advice to you is this: get used to it!

Because, the thing is, we are disciples of Jesus Christ, and Jesus is always asking us to do something new. Jesus is always inviting us to do something daring. Jesus is always drawing us into uncomfortable places, changing our point of view, and asking the seeming impossible- (like, really, change seats in church?) - because believe it or not, the new place Jesus leads us to is where we need to be, it’s where we’ll grow our best, and it is where Jesus needs us to be, for his sake and for the sake of the kingdom of God.

            I’m not going to stand here and lie to you. While “Jesus loves us, this we know, for the Bible tells us so”, that doesn’t mean Jesus is all about making us all comfy and cozy in our lives of faith and discipleship.

Remember the invitation Jesus made to those who want to follow him? “you must pick up your cross and follow me”. Nothing comforting in that!

            Today’s text reminds us that Jesus came to draw us all into a new life marked by love, forgiveness, generosity, justice, and mercy. That’s good news, right?

The struggle is, that as this Gospel text indicates, Jesus means for us to live out these qualities in our lives as ways of being that are always moving us outward – to new horizons – new ways of living in relationship with our neighbor and with God. That’s what discipleship means.

This grace, mercy, love and forgiveness all sound great when they are directed toward us and toward those we love and care about. We want and need all those things in our lives.

We know we are broken people and we yearn for the healing that Jesus brings. Yet Jesus came to deliver this mandate that to follow him, we need to direct those same things toward people that our culture and our egos tell us are the last people we should want to benefit from them: like, those who hurt us; those we those who hate us; those curse and abuse us. Yet, when we do this, the radical love of Jesus is evident in our lives; it changes our lives, our relationships, and our world.

            Today’s gospel lesson is a continuation of the one we heard last week, the so-called Sermon on the Plain.

In a reversal of all we have come to expect in life, Jesus gave the crowd some good news/bad news. To the poor, the hungry, and the mourning Jesus delivered the good news that they would be well off in the kingdom of God; and then to the rich, he gave the bad news that they wouldn’t fare so well if they continued to trust in worldly riches rather than in God, especially when they valued and accumulated those things at the expense of the poor.

            As Luke’ Gospel continues into today’s passage, Jesus invites his followers to demonstrate radical love, blessing, forgiveness, generosity, and trust. That shouldn’t be too difficult, should it? Except the thing is, Jesus tells his disciples that the recipients of all that benevolence can’t just be the people we love, or like, or even just tolerate, nor can our good intentions be a reciprocal act.

            Jesus says instead, that we need to shower these radical gifts of mercy and generosity even on our enemies. We’re supposed to love on those we don’t like, don’t know, and don’t really care to know.

            You think changing seats in church is challenging and uncomfortable?

Picture your worst enemy or a person who has created havoc and pain for you or others you care about. Picture a person who has slandered or cursed you or taken from you what is rightfully yours. Picture a person or group that have cost you something you treasure. Now, picture yourself loving that person, forgiving them, and bestowing kindness and mercy on them in their hour of need.

That is how Jesus is telling us we should live:

But 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. That’s not all.

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

And finally, the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you.

How difficult do you find these words?

To be honest, I find them scorchingly difficult to hear. Because the core of this teaching centers on forgiveness and sometimes forgiveness can be so hard to give. This is not simply forgiving your child when they have lied to you or forgiving your partner when they didn’t take the trash out like they were supposed to. I think you know that. Jesus tells us we need to forgive our enemies for the bigger-badder things they have done that hurt us.

The thing is, sometimes it is so much more justifiable and righteous to hold on to grudges and withhold forgiveness from someone who has caused me or someone I love, pain.

There are people I’ve never even met that I have a hard time loving. I have always said that there is no one I hate – I taught my children not even to use that word in reference to another person – but I confess that in an era of toxic division and polarization in our world, I experience grave dislike toward some people. Seeing the pain and destruction of lives caused by the actions of other people, I get angry.  There are people whose words and actions I find so heinous or disagreeable, that I am brought to the point of feeling hatred.

Jesus seems to be asking something that is not only challenging, but in many ways impossible. It’s too radical. It’s too hard.

But then, I look at these words again and I realize that Jesus isn’t just demanding an unachievable standard, but Jesus is showing us the way. Jesus describes his own life, passion and death.

With the gift of knowing the full story of Jesus’ radical love as he lived it himself, we gain a new perspective of what radical love, mercy, forgiveness, generosity and grace look like. Jesus invites us not only to live out this radical love, but to trust and depend on him to lead the way. And Jesus delivers.

Throughout his life, but most especially in his passion and death, Jesus exemplified radical love and forgiveness, mercy and grace.

He spent time with and even ate with tax collectors and sinners; he received water from and gave forgiveness to the woman at the well; he healed and invited outsiders in to the party; through his parables he described the most extraordinary examples of unjustified mercy and generosity that is given to the most unlikely of characters.

He heals one of his arresting soldiers when his ear is cut off, and asks God to forgive his torturers, declaring that they do not know what they are doing.

During his passion and even at the cross, Jesus’ forgiveness and promise bring restoration to a common criminal.

Finally, Jesus forgives us and promises us life everlasting despite our sinfulness, despite our inablity to live out this command, and despite our many foibles and failures.

Instead of giving us what we deserve, Jesus gives us unmerited grace. In his unending generosity, Jesus invites each and every one of us to the table where we are fed and nourished and strengthened and given new perspective and grace.

With these words, Jesus challenges us to grow in living our lives in harmony with God’s desire of restored relationships based on mercy and harmony. What will our answer be?

Making the changes in our lives that Jesus invites today doesn’t happen overnight. We take one step, and then another. But, I wonder how many of you will go back to sitting in your usual seats next week?

I hope that little by little you will challenge yourselves to grow; to become the people God is calling you to be, willing to take on new behaviors and to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. The first of the steps we will need to take is to embrace love.

Amen.

Jesus' Manifesto of Blessedness

Matthew 5:1-12

Throughout the Scriptures, God’s presence is frequently encountered up on mountains; prophets have exchanges and receive instructions from God on mountains. Ancient people believed that, since the heavens were the locus of God, they could be closer to God on a mountaintop than anywhere else on earth.

And so, it is of no great surprise that when Jesus wants to teach his disciples about the nature of God and the values of the kingdom of God, where does Jesus go? The mountain.

As Jesus leads his disciples up to that high place, we are reminded of the prophetic promise from Isaiah, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths…” (Isaiah 2:2-4).

And it seems that teaching is exactly what Jesus has planned as he leads us up this mountain.

The gospel today begins what we know of as the Sermon on the Mount which, in the gospel of Matthew, goes on for three chapters. I hope you’ll join us in Faith Connections beginning next week, as we look more deeply into this Sermon that Jesus delivers there on the mountain, but here, today, at the very beginning Jesus gives the fundamentals for walking a godly path – he opens with what we know of as the “Beatitudes.”

You may be familiar with The Beatitudes from having heard them over the years. Maybe you even had to memorize some of them when you were in Sunday School.

When we hear these teachings, we might hear the message simply as one of comfort. After all, through this sermon, Jesus delivers affirmation to those who are meek, who mourn, who are desperate for justice and we acknowledge that includes many in our world today. Perhaps we see these affirmations as belonging to us.

We might find consolation in the beatitudes for the blessed assurance they offer those who suffer that they will not be forgotten but will receive ultimate justice. In fact, Jesus goes a step or two beyond comfort. “They won’t just be comforted in the future, but they are blessed, NOW,” he says.

A close reading of the Beatitudes reveals not just a set of promises, but a totally different set of  values than we are used to. These values lead us to see God’s desire for the way we should engage in the welfare of our neighbor, conduct our affairs with the other’s welfare in mind, and see ourselves as inter-related children of God, created, valued and loved equally by our maker. The beatitudes call us to a way of life consistent with God’s values, taught by Jesus; shaped by the cross.

The prophet Micah sums up God’s position in our first reading this morning: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The problem is that we do a lousy job of walking humbly or doing justice. We forget God’s instructions to love kindness, given so that we might live in healthy relationships with God and with each other.

Instead, we create chaos and heartbreak, we perpetrate injustice and oppression by our action, and by our inaction.

To make clear the differences between what God values, and the worldly values under which we so often operate, we have an exercise this morning, for which I have a little help, using the framework of the Beatitudes.

I invite you to listen carefully as, to each point in the Beatitudes, there is a counterpoint, reflecting the worldly values that so often shape our real desires and behaviors. What you are about to hear are the Beatitudes as Jesus taught them, answered by corresponding “Meatitudes”, based on our common experience.

For instance, Jesus says:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

            The world responds:

Blessed are the rich, for they will control their own fate.

Jesus says:

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

            To which the world answers:

 

Blessed are those who never mourn, for they will have no need for comfort.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are the arrogant, for they will conquer the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are those who compromise their ideals, for they will never be disappointed.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are those who justifiably retaliate, for they will have no need to receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the psychologically aware, for they will find themselves.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are the warmakers, for they will be called defenders of peace, with justice for all.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who annihilate their attackers in the name of righteousness, for they will have prolonged their days on earth.

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Blessed are you when people accept you and honor you because of your willingness to conform to the status quo.  Take satisfaction in this, for in the same way the world has applauded its great people in the past.  [i]

          The point of reading these two, competing sets of values side by side is to illustrate that Jesus is teaching not just a theoretical lesson in niceness but a true way of life shaped by the love of God and the cross of Christ.

When we are so tied up in looking after ourselves first and controlling our own fate that we never mourn, or are arrogant, or compromise our ideals and the values Jesus teaches, we in fact fail to do what God has told us.

The truth is, we fail at these things all the time. Such is the weight of sin. It is what we confessed and sought forgiveness for at the beginning of our service this morning. We need God’s mercy and grace, and the constant reminder of Jesus, to cherish what God cherishes.  

          God does not desire lip-service, nor extraordinary acts of sacrifice and offering, as Micah points out.

          Rather, in Christ God has shown us, Beloved People, what is good:

To do justice,

to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with God.     

While the values of the kingdom life into which Jesus calls us reflect the goodness and kindness, generosity and self-giving capacity of God, the values of the world seek to not only preserve but to build up the self at all costs.

Through the beatitudes, Jesus reminds us what we are incapable of remembering for ourselves; the values of the kingdom, those counter-cultural, foolish, naïve values –the values that reflect the cross, which look nothing like our world.

Jesus showed us, by his associations, through his healing work, and by his teaching, that the least among us are among the most favored in the kingdom of God. Within God’s reign, those who have no hope are given hope.

Jesus’ values declare that every single life has value and should be honored, especially the lives of those who are the most at risk; these are the blessed. In ancient times, God names these in the Scriptures as the widow, the alien, and the orphan. Today we name them the poverty-stricken in every land, the disabled, the migrant, the refugee, the immigrant.

My friends, in his letter today, Paul reminds us that by the world’s standards we are fools to subscribe to Jesus’ teachings. We are ignorant to believe in a savior who teaches us that the way to eternal life is to follow the way of the cross. We are ridiculous to confess the name of Jesus Christ as Lord, and to declare that the light and life he gives, which are the hallmarks of his kingdom are worth more than any power the world can bestow.

In a world where power, wealth and status are the marks of success and must be preserved at all costs, Jesus calls foolish, ignorant, ridiculous believers blessed. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake, blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers.”

In the Beatitudes, Jesus calls blessed those who dare to speak out against the oppression, injustice and persecution that marks our world.

The Beatitudes are much more than the mushy, sentimental treatise that we have often made of them. Rather, they are Jesus’ own call, his manifesto, if you will, to revolution, to change the world, by doing justice, by loving kindness, and by walking humbly with God.

Jesus declares that in the deep-down hunger that we feel for the oppressed, for the disadvantaged, the ridiculed and spat upon, for the marginalized, for the despised, we who mourn will be comforted as they are comforted.

We will be comforted as we reach out and speak for the vulnerable, as we make phone calls and write letters to protest violations of human rights and dignity. The meek will be blessed as those who follow God’s will to do justice, And to love kindness, And to walk humbly with God seek security for the least of our sisters and brothers in the world. We will be comforted when we use our voices to combat oppression, abandonment, cruelty and injustice.

Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Settlement President Linda Hartke said, "It is deeply ingrained in our faith and our understanding of the Bible that we're called to welcome the stranger and love and serve our neighbors," says. "Not the neighbors that we choose, but the neighbors that God gives to us."

Meekness and mercy are lived out in every day acts of kindness. God empowers not the superheroes and gurus but the merciful. The beatitudes aren’t a job description of who’s allowed into the kingdom, rather they offer a description of those who are already here, working in the trenches, humbly serving the one who, emptied of power and dignity on the cross, is raised to new life for the sake of the whole world.

Amen.

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[i] The “‘Me’ Attitudes” is by Robert R. Castle