Today’s gospel (Luke 6:27-38) is one of those texts that some say preaches itself. The text itself is the sermon. It’s even called the Sermon on the Plain in recognition that Jesus “stood on a level place” while preaching. I spoke about that level place in last Sunday’s sermon about blessings and woes. Jesus continues the leveling of uneven places in today’s gospel.

Lay this text next to your life and relationships. Let it question and probe your beliefs, words, and actions. Compare it to what you see and hear happening in our country today. Then ask yourself, “Where is there alignment and congruence?” and “Where is there a disconnect, variance, or contradiction?” Do that and you’ll have a sermon. And it would be a pretty good sermon.

A Familiar Text

The problem with that, however, is that this text is so familiar I’m not sure we really hear or can hear what Jesus is saying or just how radical and revolutionary it is. 

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.” “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” “Be merciful.” “Do not judge.” “Do not condemn.” “Forgive.”

How many of you have heard those words before? I suspect we all have, probably more times than we can count. When was the last time you heard them? When was the last time you thought about them? Better yet, when was the last time you intentionally chose and lived them? 

There’s no judgment or criticism in my questions, only the recognition that Jesus’ words and ways often don’t live at the forefront of my life the way I would like them to. Maybe that’s true for you too. Maybe that’s also true for us as the American people. 

I wonder if today’s gospel has become like an old favorite song. The tune has been so overplayed that it no longer calls us to the dance floor. We’ve lost our passion for the music. The words are so familiar that we no longer hear them. The music plays in the background of our life the same way it does during a phone call when you’re on hold or the way elevator music used to. The music fills our ears but not our hearts and not many are singing or dancing to the song.

A Backward Approach

I want us to take Jesus’ words to heart and let them trouble us in a good way. I want us to get past our familiarity with this text and really hear what Jesus is saying, so I’m going to approach his words in a backward sort of way. 

Crush and eliminate your enemies. Do evil and harm to those who hate you. Punish those who curse you. Retaliate against those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, hit them harder than they hit you. If they start it, you finish it. Do to others whatever it takes to get your way. Be ruthless and show no compassion. Take every chance you can to label, name call, and put others down. Be self-righteous and judgmental of others. Lie if it will help you. Hold on to your grudge and take revenge. 

How does that sound to you? I hope you did not like hearing that. I hope it sounded like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard. I hope everything in you resisted what I was saying because you know how wrong it is. I didn’t like saying it because I also know how wrong it is. But maybe it will help us to hear Jesus’ words in a different key, to sing a new song, and to reclaim our place on the dance floor. Maybe it will strike a new chord within us.

A Choice To Be Made

We all have a choice to make. Every day it is a choice about what we will think, what we will say, what we will do, how we will be toward each other. Let me give you a couple of examples. 

A friend told me that last week he and his wife were at a department store when he saw a woman wearing a headscarf. He went to her and asked, “What is your religious tradition?” She immediately became fearful and nervous. Why wouldn’t she? “Islam,” she said quietly. “Oh, I love your Koran,” my friend said. “I’ve studied it.” She smiled and began to relax. They talked about the Koran and the poetry of Rumi, one of Islam’s most famous poets. At the end of their conversation she asked him, “May I take my picture with you?” They both made a choice that day.

Last week I attended our diocesan Council. It’s the annual meeting of all the churches in our diocese. One of the speakers said that she recently met a little Haitian girl about seven or eight years old who asked her, “Miss, are you American?” The woman answered, “Yes,” to which the little girl replied, “Is it true that Americans hate us?” For the next ten minutes the little girl talked about her fear of being in America because Americans hate immigrants.

Sometimes our choices misshape and deform the lives of others. But there is always another choice, a new choice, a better choice, waiting to be made.  

Think about what you see and hear happening in our country today. Much of it falls within my backward approach to Jesus’ words. Does that kind of behavior represent your values and describe how you live your life? Is that what you are teaching your children and grandchildren? Is that want you want our country to be known for? Is that your hope for our future? I don’t think so. So let me ask you this: What might be a better choice? For you? Those you love? America?

I don’t for one second believe that backward life is who you and I really want to be or what we want for each other or our country. It is the antithesis of everything Jesus taught, how he lived, and how he died. And aren’t you here today because you want something different? Because you want a better choice? What is it about Jesus that resonates with you and makes your heart sing? 

Maybe it’s love, doing good, blessing, praying. Maybe it’s knowing you are neither condemned nor judged, but forgiven. Maybe it’s mercy, compassion, and healing. Maybe it’s peace and nonviolence. Maybe it’s the recognition that others matter as much as do we and that we all share a common human dignity. 

Followers Of Jesus

I just don’t know how we can justify doing, supporting, or ignoring the kind of behavior that is happening today and still claim to be followers of Jesus, or why we would even make that claim. Do you? 

I am not saying that America does not have the right to govern and protect itself, keep our communities safe, care for our people, or promote the common good. That’s a duty of government but as Bishop Read said in his Council address to the diocese Friday morning, 

“There will always be times when government policies collide with or contrast with the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s not new. When the Church speaks out about it, that’s not politics. That’s being the Church and proclaiming the gospel.”

This is what I am saying: It’s time to make a choice and be the Church, the Body of Christ.

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Image Credit: By Donatas Dabravolskas – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.