Community Church Sermons

The Seventh Sunday After Epiphany, Year C - February 18, 2001

"A Glimpse Of Grace"

Luke 6:27-38

Daniel Boone, the great wilderness trailblazer, was once asked if he ever got lost. He thought a minute, then said, "Lost? No, I never was lost. But I was bewildered once for three days."

And that sounds to me a lot like our experience with following Jesus. We know that we are not lost because, after all, Jesus has found us. But, if you're like me, sometimes you find yourself at least slightly bewildered as to what you're supposed to do with this new life as a Christian person.

And contributing to our bewilderment is a controversial part of the Gospels that represents the main teachings of Jesus. We describe it as the sermon on the mount, or in Luke's Gospel, the sermon on the plain. In either case, Jesus' most important teachings about how we are to live as people of the Kingdom of God leave us somewhat flabbergasted because some of the requirements seem to be so unreasonable! They are so radically different from how we humans think Christians ought to live.

For instance, some of us assume that living as a Christian means keeping pure from sin. In my mother's religious background, there could be no movie-going, no card playing, no dancing, and certainly no drinking of alcohol. I won't tell you what her background was, except to say it wasn't Episcopalian. In fact, my mom still insists to this very day that the wine Jesus drank was non-alcoholic wine. And lots of Christians erroneously believe that. In fact, in the very hymnal we use in this church, which comes out of that very same tradition as my mother, that beautiful hymn "Let Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees" has been changed. In the second verse of this re-written version, we do not "drink WINE together on our knees". Oh no! Heaven forbid! Instead, a clumsy re-write of the original has us drinking "…THE CUP together on our knees." And the clear anticipation is that the cup will contain nothing stronger than Welch's grape juice.

For many people, the Christian walk is defined by what you don't do anymore.

Others have a very strong sense that the Christian life is lived by developing a deep kind of personal spirituality in which the believer becomes more and more sensitive to the Lord's presence in their lives. It's a kind of mystical thing. The Holy Spirit provides direct guidance for living, and the believer grows spiritually, even to the point of being able to say things like, "The Lord told me I should go and volunteer at the Good Samaritan Center."

Some see the Christian walk as this kind of very close daily encounter with God.

And still others believe that Christianity could be summed up by taking up new activities of godliness. Some see it as taking responsibility for your life, and trying to live it well. Working hard. Providing for your family. Some see it as acting out of compassion - feeding the hungry, helping the poor. Oh, I'd say many people see Christian living as doing Christian things.

And all of these ideas are true to one extent or another. We people of God do need to leave behind destructive patterns of behavior. And we do need to try to grow in our personal relationship with the Lord, and seek God's guidance each day. And we do need to take up new activities that help both ourselves and others find better ways of living.

But, do you know what? Not one of these ideas is a new idea. None of these is a radical idea. None of these is an idea that is not already part of the teaching of virtually all the world's religions. None of these is an idea that you or I couldn't cook up on our own. And none of these is an idea that would get someone killed for teaching it, like what happened to Jesus.

So why do we define our faith in terms of staying away from bad things, seeking heavenly things, and doing good things? Perhaps, it is because these are all reasonable things, believable things, and easily acceptable things. And besides, they protect us from what Jesus really taught.

For what Jesus taught as the central proclamation of the Gospel appears to be neither reasonable, believable, nor easily acceptable.

Last week's Scripture text is a good example. In it - Luke's version of the Beatitudes - Jesus offers blessing to the poor, the hungry, the sorrowful and the disenfranchised. And then Jesus heaps woe on the rich, the satisfied, the happy, and the well-connected. And I don't know about you, but that bewilders me! That's not how it is in the world in which we live! It seems so unreasonable! How do you feel about it?

In all of Jesus' teachings in this sermon, he gives us a glimpse of the Kingdom of God that is radically different from the way things are where we live. We learn that God's Kingdom operates differently than our kingdom here in America, different than in England, different than in France, different than anywhere in the world, or anywhere we've ever lived. Why, in God's Kingdom, the last become first, and the first become last. The mighty are lowered, and the meek are lifted. The wise turn out to be fools, and fools turn out to possess true wisdom. And it's all so bewildering! Oh, make no mistake about it, the Beatitudes describe a Kingdom of God in which life as we know it is turned on its head. Most of us - if we lived in God's Kingdom with our current state of thinking - would be on the phone with Atlas Van Lines - desperately trying to move out as fast as we could.

But that was last week's lection. And as bewildering as it may be, it hardly compares with this week's text that tells us specifically how we are to live as children of God.

Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer him the other. If someone takes your coat from you, offer him your shirt, too. Give to everyone who begs from you. If anyone takes what belongs to you, don't ask for it to be returned. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

I hear these words of Jesus, and I find myself trying to figure out a way to get around them. Surely, Jesus doesn't mean these things! Surely Jesus doesn't want us to take this literally! But wait. It gets worse.

If you love only those who love you, big deal. Even sinners do that. If you do good only to those who do good to you, what's so great about that? Evil people do that, too. If you lend to people, hoping to get back what you've lent, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.

Now, I wish my bank operated that way, but it doesn't. Not only does it expect me to pay back what I've borrowed, but with interest! Can you imagine? Oh, that my bank would listen to Jesus! Maybe I ought to go over there next week and say, "Thus saith the Lord, 'Love your enemies, do good, and lend to Marty, expecting nothing in return!" I dare say, they'd have me in a straight-jacket, and on the way to the hospital. Or worse! These ideas of Jesus may represent high ideals, but you couldn't practice them in life, could you? I mean, they're crazy! They are bewildering! They describe this Kingdom Jesus is building as something far different than anything we know. But wait. It gets even more bewildering.

Don't judge, and you won't be judged. Don't condemn, and you won't be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. The measure you give will be the measure you get back.

Do you think maybe Jesus was only kidding? He doesn't really expect us to do these things…does he? I mean, let's cut out the sinning, start up the praying, and head out and do good things. We can all agree to those things. But to love your enemies? To turn the cheek? To lend without expecting anything in return? Let's take a poll. Is there anyone here in the sanctuary today who is ready to go out this week and execute this game plan for life? Love your enemies? Bless those who curse you? Give to everyone who begs from you? If they steal your coat, give them your shirt, too? If they strike one cheek, turn the other and let them have at it, too? Lend generously to people and don't expect to get it back?

Why, Jesus has gone off the deep end here! This is insanity! This is dangerous! This could get you hurt!

No one can live this way!!!

And right here, is the paradox of the Scripture text. Because what Jesus is asking us to do for others is nothing less than what God does and has always done for us!

God loves us, even when we run from him and become enemies of his cause. God loves us even when we're fighting against him tooth and nail. Why, there are many of us here today who can tell a true-life story of how we were living lives a long, long, long way from God. But God - somehow - out of sheer kindness and mercy - found us, and led us home. The Bible says that while we were sinners, Jesus came to us and gave his life for us on the cross. Though we have been enemies of God, God has never given up on us. His love has always pursued us. God loves his enemies.

And God blesses us, even when - in the face of some great loss or hurt - we shake our fist in God's face and tell him to go to hell. There are many of us here today who - at one time or another in our lives - have cursed God, and given up on God, and turned our backs on God because of some bad experience. And yet, the sun still rises in the morning, and the rainbow still comes after the rain, and a new future still arises out of the past. God's rain falls on the just and the unjust, the Bible says. Even when we curse God, we cannot stem the flow of God's blessings toward us. God blesses even those who curse him.

And God turns the other cheek to us over and over again. How many times have you insulted another person made in God's image? Or hurt them in some tangible way? Or talked behind their back, or spread a rumor? How many times have you driven past a homeless drug addict on a street corner and thought "What a loser!"? How many times have you made some disparaging remark about some group of God's children that you don't particularly care for or agree with? I remember how I used to feel when my son was the number one pitcher in the rotation on his high school baseball team, and things weren't going well, and some of the other parents - not knowing I was within earshot - said things. Hurtful things. Insulting things. About my son! When they attacked him, it was like they were slapping me across the face! Do you know what I'm saying? So how do you think God feels when you talk like you do, or act like you do toward his children? And yet God doesn't strike back. No, God turns the other cheek, and keeps coming back for more, so that his forgiveness will be waiting for us when we turn around.

And, you know, God is the greatest lender of all. Everything we have belongs to him, for he is the Creator of it all! We arrived here with nothing. We'll leave here with nothing. In the meantime, God leases it all to us, and even lets us trade it back and forth. He is the Source of our families, and our beautiful homes, and our comfortable cars - all were made out of his earth, you know. Everything we have is on a lease-back from God. But with no interest charged, and not even any payments! This is a better deal than the going-out-of-business sale at the Knoxville Furniture Store where there's no interest and no payments until January, 2002. Oh, God delights in sharing his wealth with us! God lends without ever expecting anything in return.

Do you see the paradox here? This passage is not about us, but about God! This is what God is like, and this is how God lives, and this is the way God has been at work in our lives since the time we were born! This is how God has chosen to transform our lives and our world into the Kingdom of God!

And the simple thing Jesus is asking us to do is the most reasonable thing of all. In Matthew's version of the Sermon on the Mount, it reads "You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." In Luke's edition, that sentence is defined as, "Be merciful, just as your father is merciful." I would paraphrase it this way: "Be to others, what God has been to you; do for others what God does for you."

In Victor Hugo's Les Miserable, escaped convict Jean Valjean is provided refuge in a church. The old priest fixes him a meal, and gives him a place to sleep. Jean Valjean returns the favor by stealing all the gold and silver icons, and running out into the night. But, as luck would have it, Jean Valjean - with his bagful of stolen goods - is caught by the police.

They drag him back to the rectory, and awaken the old priest. It is obvious where the loot has come from. But the old priest, in a remarkable moment of grace, turns the tables. Yes, he says, these things came from here, but they were gifts I gave to the man.

The police depart, and Jean Valjean is left alone with the old man. And then the priest speaks. "Tonight, I have bought your soul for God."

And through that one act of kindness, of mercy, of grace, Jean Valjean's life begins to change, and he himself becomes over time a person of grace as well!

Fred Craddock puts it this way: the final act of God's grace is to make us gracious, too!

And that grace - lived out by God and his children together - is what will, over time, transform this broken world of ours into the beautiful Kingdom of God.