The foundation of a life that can not only endure wickedness but transform it is a life built on the love Christ calls of you, the same love that already holds you forever.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Lect. 7 C
Texts: Luke 6:27-38 (adding 39-49 from Lect. 8 C); Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
“Do not be provoked by evildoers,” we sang today in the psalm.
And then we sang, “leave rage alone; it leads only to evil.” Because, Psalm 37 says, “in a little while the wicked shall be no more, but the lowly shall possess the land and delight in abundance of peace. God will rescue them.”
Really? That’s what we’re told today? Every time the Bible says those who do evil will be dealt with by God, we wonder: When does that ever happen? Most seem to get away with it. And we’re not supposed to get angry at that?
And Jesus isn’t helpful today, saying, “The Most High is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.”
When so much wickedness is happening around us, so many are being hurt, not just here now but around the world due to our rulers in Washington, how can we not be provoked and angry? And wish that those who are doing all these things would get what we think they deserve?
But instead of answering that, Jesus looks right at us and asks, “why are you so concerned about the sin of other people?”
In these familiar words about ignoring the log in our own eye while obsessing over the speck in our neighbor’s eye, Jesus says, “check yourself first and clean that up.” Never mind if we don’t think what we do compares to rounding up thousands of good people and sending them to detention camps, or randomly firing thousands upon thousands, leaving them in unemployment and despair. Or targeting those who are different from whatever ridiculous norm those in charge think is the only way for a human to be. Or risking the lives of children and the weak by acting against hard earned scientific and medical wisdom.
Surely we’re not that bad, are we, Jesus?
But Jesus doesn’t seem interested in having us compare sins. If you wish to follow me, he says, pay attention to your walk, your life. Are you being Christ in your love and in your life? You can’t control what others do. You can do something about how you live faithfully, he says.
But the path Christ shows today isn’t just hard. In these times it could also make you angry.
Love your enemies, Jesus says today. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Give to anyone who asks of you. And that love and blessing and good also applies to any who hurt others.
This is as frustrating as those other words we began with. Not only must we forget about hoping God’s going to pay back people for evil they do, and remember that God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, now we have to actually love them? Pray for them? Do good to them? Give them whatever they want? Living these words isn’t just hard. It feels wrong. It feels like acquiescing to wickedness and evil and letting it win. Letting vulnerable people be destroyed.
So this is your great challenge to your trust in Christ and following as a disciple. You know you’re fully loved by God forever and always in this life and in a life to come. Nothing can stop that love.
Trusting God’s love enough to walk this path that seems counter to everything that makes sense? Little wonder that at times in his ministry disciples just walked away from Jesus, saying “this is too hard.”
But what if Christ knows something you don’t?
What if changing your heart to love enemies and pray for the wicked can transform you into God’s very heart in this world? Wouldn’t that be something? And if one by one, person by person, the Spirit transformed hearts this way, Christ’s way, to walk this hard path, can you not see how that would change the world for good?
We can hardly argue that our usual human way of dealing with evil – power, retaliation, hatred, violence – has created a better world. Why not try Christ’s way? Look for the logs in our own eyes that lead us to anger and despair and hatred and ask the Spirit to help us forgive and love and pray for all, even the ungrateful and the wicked?
Those disciples who left Jesus because following was too hard were pretty honest.
But they missed the whole point of Jesus’ coming. In coming as one of us the Triune God means to draw us all into God’s way of seeing, acting, loving, so the world can be healed. If Christ’s path is hard it’s only because it’s so counter to the way we’re used to behave and see. But it’s the only way to life and hope. Look at history, at people of faith who have walked this path. You’ll see wonder and joy appear like flowers in the desert. You’ll see healing in the midst of suffering, hope in the midst of despair.
And Christ promises today that if you build your life on this foundation of love, with all of this community around you also putting down their roots to this bedrock, all the while praying that the Holy Spirit change your heart and thereby change your life and thereby change your behavior and thereby change the world, you will see there is no storm, no challenge, no fire, no flood, no drought, no evil, no wickedness that can knock down you or anyone else so built on Christ.
And know this: following Christ’s path this way is absolutely not acquiescing to the wickedness and saying “do what you will.” The call on Christ’s path is still and always to care for those who are hungry and thirsty, those without clothes or homes, those sick and imprisoned, because they are Christ.
We pray for those who do wickedness and love them, while working as hard as we can to undo their wickedness by our love and care for those who are hurt. We ask God’s blessing on those who mock and curse and threaten others, while working as hard as we can to bring healing and hope to all who are so abused.
And as we and millions more are so grounded and changed, God’s healing can finally reach everywhere.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
