The Questioning Crowd by Bob Dailey

The Questioning Crowd by Bob Dailey

North Webster UMC                                                                  Luke 6:27-38

February 24, 2019

This is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible, because it asks us to be all the things that we are not.  Jesus says:

– Love your enemies.

– Turn the other cheek.

– Give to those who beg from you.

– Lend to those who cannot repay.

– Don't judge other people.

– Forgive so that you will be forgiven.

            Those are "hard sayings."  We don't want to hear them, because they call us to an unnatural life.  Here are some of the things we tend to consider natural:

– To hate your enemies.

– To strike back.

– To walk past the person in need.

– To get an iron-clad guarantee on loans.

– To judge other people.

– To seek revenge instead of forgiveness.

When someone hurts us, we just naturally want to hurt them back. I read a story about three American soldiers in Korea not long after the Korean War.  They hired a local boy to do their housekeeping and cooking – but they were pranksters and kept making practical jokes at the boy's expense. They nailed his shoes to the floor. He didn't seem to mind, but just got some pliers and pulled the nails.  They greased the handles on the stove, but he just got a cloth and wiped them clean.

Finally, their consciences began to bother them, so the soldiers apologized.  They promised no more practical jokes.  He said, "No more nails in shoes?"  They said, "That's right."  He said, "No more grease on knobs?"  They said, "That's right."  He smiled and said, "OK.  Me no more spit in soup."

            When Jesus calls us to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, to give to those who beg from us, and so on, he turns our world on its head.  All those things are very unnatural. We would prefer a Christ who would confirm all our prejudices and tell us how great we are.  Instead, we find a Christ who calls us to change – to become unnatural.

And so, Jesus comes to us saying, "Love your enemies – turn the other cheek – give to those who beg from you – lend money without thought of repayment – don't judge – forgive.  And we respond, "Come on, Jesus!  How can anyone do all that without collapsing in a heap. Be reasonable!"

            But Jesus didn't come from heaven to earth to be reasonable.  He came to be transformational.  He came to make a difference.  He came to change us and our world.  And, to the extent that we follow his teachings, he does change us and our world.

We live in a democracy.  However, democracy creates winners and losers. Winners take all. The losers are expected to accept the decision and wait until the next vote! But as a mature adult, I see all the people who were on the losing side, and I worry that their voices are not heard. 

Both our culture and our church have become increasingly divided; we demonize the “other” and cease listening to one another. In our gospel text verse 27 begins, “But I say to you that listen: Love your enemies.” Jesus challenges the crowd to listen. Then he says the shocking phrase, “Love your enemies.” What?! He doesn’t just tell us to listen to them. We are to love them! I can just imagine how the people around him that day must have looked at one another in amazement, shaking their heads at the absurdity of it all. Some must have decided that they would not listen and walked away with their heads full of questions. Others began to work on the bargain. Which enemy might they “love” without risking their own position? Others 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 were not all the same. 

But Jesus doesn’t seem to be asking us to agree. Instead, Jesus asks us to love one another. He is talking about the kingdom of God, where love is the rule, not an eye for an eye. 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, what credit is that to you?” We are to “Be merciful, just as [God] is merciful.” Everything about this way of being in the world goes against the ways of the world. It’s so counter-cultural that we may not be willing to hear. 

Imagine how the crowd was questioning this message! If I love my enemy, I will let down my guard, and the enemy may win. If I love my enemy, that enemy may threaten the well-being of 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 tormented by competing values. If I turn my other cheek after being struck, how badly will I be wounded? Will my wound threaten those who depend on me? Will I lose my position in society because I am shamed? 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 this work? Will others be vulnerable because of my sacrifice? 

Love begins with seeing and hearing those who are 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. 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 (not control)? Perhaps most importantly, we extend compassionate love, not in order 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.”

            It might be helpful to know that the Greek word for love that is used in the original version of this text is agape.  Agape is not concerned with affection, but with action.  Agape doesn't require us tofeelkindly toward our enemies, but to actkindly toward them.  Agape love is more about doing than feeling.

            Jesus makes that clear after telling us to love our enemies.  He goes on to say: “DO GOOD to those who hate you, BLESS those who curse you, PRAY for those who mistreat you.”  Those are all doing commandments – not feeling commandments.

            Agapelove is the kind of caring and concern we would have for someone whose welfare was important to us; it means an unconquerable benevolence, an unfailing goodwill that will exist no matter what, even during conflict.

            How far should we take this “unconquerable benevolence”? Does this mean that we are to condone evil? Does loving our enemies mean that we can never confront them about what made us enemies in the first place? Of course not. We are certainly not very loving, we are not looking out for someone’s highest and best good, if we let them get away with anything they please, if we do not set limits.

            If you have ever driven along a newly resurfaced road before the center lines have been painted on it, you understand. Your tendency is to drive right down the middle rather than down the right-hand side as would be normal once the lines are drawn. You drive more comfortably once the limits are laid out. Parents who really love their kids will let them know what the limits are because the youngsters will live more comfortably once they are firmly established. In terms of our enemies or potential enemies they, too, will end up in a better relationship with us once they understand just what the limits are. Love, even for enemies, will define the limits.

            All right, we are to love our enemies. Our love is not the kind that will just allow anything to go on but will seek the highest and best for them. You must admit, that is a tall order. How are we to go about it? 

Jesus gives a hint: pray for them. To be sure, that is not our natural inclination. If there is someone we really dislike, someone we really hate, we surely are not going to pray for them. As a matter of fact, if their name ever comes up in our prayers, it is generally in terms of violent death, or at least painful injury. But Jesus does not say “pray about them,” he says, “Pray for them” (Luke 6:28). That's excellent advice.  Prayer changes things.  Sometimes our prayers will change the other person's heart. Sometimes our prayers will change our hearts.  In either event, the act of love makes a difference – a positive difference. It works. You just cannot hate someone for whom you are praying.

            Sometimes, we think that violence equals strength and non-violence equals weakness.  Was Jesus calling us to be weak?  Was he calling us to be passive?  Jesus was not calling us to be weak or passive, but to become strong in a new way. Jesus was teaching us to disrupt the cycle of violence by refusing to participate in it.

            That isn't weakness but strength!  We have not often seen it practiced, but we have occasionally witnessed its power.  Gandhi practiced non-violent resistance against the British and became more powerful than the entire British army.  Martin Luther King practiced non-violent resistance in this country and changed the way that we think and act.

            Jesus also calls us to break the cycle of poverty.  He says:  "Give to everyone who begs from you.... lend, expecting nothing in return."

            That isn't easy either, is it?  Jesus calls us to an open-handed generosity and that isn't easy.  I am reminded of a young man who came to my church office in Bedford looking for money.  He wanted twenty dollars to avoid going to court and had a legal-looking document to prove it. The document referred to the manager of a local business that was pressing charges against him. 

            I listened to his story and read the document.  I was willing to help, but I first wanted to ask the manager if he would accept the twenty dollars and drop the charges.  I picked up the phone.

            The young man said, "What are you doing?"  

            I said, "I’m calling the manager."  

            "Why are you doing that?"  

            "I want to make sure that he will drop the charges if I give him twenty dollars."  

            "Oh, you don't need to bother with that."  

            "Why not?"  

            "Oh, I don't want you to trouble yourself."  

            "It isn't any trouble."  

            To make a long story short, the man didn't want help if I were going to get involved.  He just wanted twenty dollars.  I didn't give him twenty dollars.  He left.

            Did I disappoint Jesus by not giving the man twenty dollars?  I hope not.  I believe that Jesus wants us to give generously in ways that will help the recipient.  I don't think that I would have helped the young man if I had given him twenty dollars.  

            Jesus also said, "Forgive, and you will be forgiven." Occasionally, someone will tell me how difficult it is for them to pray the Lord's Prayer.  The part that bothers them is "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  Jesus emphasized over and over that we need much forgiveness from God, so we need to show a little forgiveness to our neighbor.

            And then Jesus closes this passage with a promise.  He says:  "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."

            In the agricultural economy of Jesus' day, fair scales were important. While no merchant would dare to be caught with shortweights, neither could they afford longweights. They certainly would not "press down" or "shake together" the grain to insure the customer a bargain.

            But God's mercy is such that he presses it down, shakes it together, and fills the basket to overflowing.  Christ promises us his unnatural disciples an abundant life.  All we must do is to obey – to live our lives in faith – and to trust his promise.

The first two verses of our gospel text today are what I leave with you:   "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, blessthose who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28).  To put only those things into practice can transform lives, families, workplaces, churches, and nations.

Let us pray …

Lord of our lives, grant that we might love as you love, be merciful as you are merciful, forgive as you forgive.  Help us to be patient and loving with one another.  Grant us wisdom and knowledge to know how to treat one another in ways that make for peace.  Where there is brokenness, help healing begin.  Help us to love one another, to look through pride and prejudice, over the wrongs and pains of the past until we see each other as brothers and sisters whom you love and who need to love one another.  Help us to understand that only such love can bring peace. Amen.