Preaching text: Luke 6:27-38
I want to begin today with a bit of trivia. This year, Easter is one of the latest dates it can appear. As a result, we have an exceptionally long season after Epiphany. Rarely do we ever see the fifth or sixth sunday after Epiphany, let alone the seventh which is today. For a preacher like me, that’s great. I don’t think, even after almost 20 years of ministry, I’ve ever preached this Sunday or these texts. This is all new and fresh. Unfortunately, that also means you’re unlikely to have heard a sermon (at least not recently) on these Biblical passages either.
And that’s a real shame, because they’re good texts. Important texts. Texts we probably need to hear more often. Like today, for instance, “love you enemies.” Think about that for a second. Is there any message that is more counter-cultural than that? Really? Love those who hate and despise us? Those who seek us harm? Is there anything Jesus asks of us that’s more difficult?
Well, it certainly would be, if any of us actually had enemies.
That was the observation one of the ELCA pastors on the Facebook group made this week in regards to this text. Who here really has an enemy? Someone who is truly out to get us, who truly despises us and wants us to fail. We might have rivals at work. We might have people we’ve encountered who dislike us or don’t agree with us. But to really hate us? To invest that much emotional energy into our downfall? Those are rare indeed. I can think of maybe two people in my life that qualify and I’ve neither seen nor encountered either one in almost 30 years.
Now, of course, we’re told there are all kinds of enemies out there. People who want to destroy us. Be afraid of the terrorists! They will destroy everything you hold dear. And I’m sure they’d like to try. Truth is, thought, despite some rather high profile successes on their part, the likelihood of being hurt or dying in a terrorist attack is still somewhere around being eaten by a shark, struck by lightning, and winning the MegaJackpot, all on the same day. So are they really our “enemy” if they never have any impact on our life? Despite what the propagandists say.
There are all sorts of phantom enemies out there according to people who benefit from our distrusting or disliking certain groups of people. It’s easier to punish or persecute the immigrant, the poor, the person of different race, the person of different gender or sexuality, if we believe they hate us and want to destroy us. Our heads are filled with all sorts of nonsense about the threat they pose. But think about it for a moment. Do we really think those people honestly hate us? That they really want to destroy us? Or are they just trying to do what we all do? Live life, make a decent wage, have a family, and a measure of happiness along the way.
None of this is to say that the world doesn’t have its dangers. There absolutely are things out there that are threatening. But, in my experience, apathy is far more dangerous than hate. The “active shooter” that comes at us isn’t going to shoot us because he hates us; he’s going to shoot us because we’re standing there. We mean no more to him than that. We’re in his way. We’re an easy target. The CEO that eliminates our job has done so to maximize “shareholder value.” We’re just a statistic to him, a number without meaning. He doesn’t care.
Many of the problems of the world can be laid at the feet of apathy. They happen because people do not care.
So what are we to do with Jesus’ command to love our enemies, a happenstance which seems so rare in our lives to be pointless? Well, we would do well to listen to what else he tells us in this passage. Give to those who beg, lend to those who cannot pay you back, show mercy, do not judge, do unto others as you would have them do to you.
Or, in other words, start caring.
If apathy is the problem, then we care and love and forgive and show mercy. If the world does not care, then we will. That is the mark of a true Christian. That’s what makes us different from them. That is what Jesus calls us to do.
A few final observations, I would like to leave you with. First is the phrase that should never escape the lips of a Christian. Three words: “Not my problem.” Those are words of apathy. We are called to love and the problem of our neighbor is not just theirs alone. It is ours as well and by solving it together, we build community and fellowship with one another. People are not going to embrace Christianity because we got the best words and our rituals are better than their rituals or whatever nonsense we’ve come to believe. People are going to embrace our faith, because they come to believe Jesus cares because we do. And that means that we’ve got to stick our neck out for others and be there for them in times of need.
Second observation, while we may not have enemies now, if we start caring about people and we start living into that care and love, we will make them. There will always be those who will tell us the people we care about don’t deserve it and they will get angry when we rock the boat. Ignore them. It is not their approval we seek. We are following what God has asked of us. That’s what matters. And if these get go angry and so hateful to seek us harm, well, Jesus has told us how to respond to that as well.
Third and final observation, all of this is nothing more than Jesus asking us to do as he did. Who are we? Why do we matter? It’s not because of what we’ve done. It’s not because we are somehow more special than other people. We’re not any more moral or ethical or righteous than anyone else. No, we matter because God loves us. He cares. And we are a problem that he embraces willingly. Jesus came to solve the problem, our sin and our love of death. He stuck his neck out for us and there were plenty of people who wanted to do him harm for it. They succeeded and nailed him to a cross. That didn't stop him. What mattered was us, saving us, helping us, loving us. God cared about you and me and he asks us to do likewise with those we encounter every day. That’s how the kingdom gets spread. It’s how the world is changed. One hurting soul at a time. Go and care. Go and love. Amen.
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