There are some common phrases in the Bible that set off alarm bells for me and today’s Gospel reading has one of those. Jesus says to the crowd, “But I say to you…”
Whenever we hear those words, we know that Jesus is going to offer us a challenge. And in this case today, the challenge relates to forgiveness and loving our enemies.
Last Sunday, our Gospel reading had the words that precede these challenging words. It’s where Jesus offers all of those blessings and woes. “Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh.”
Jesus was preaching some good news there. But today, those blessings turn into a challenge to us. “But I say to you…”
This phrase kind of reminds me of what parents might say to their children. Children don’t usually like it when they hear their parents say, “I know your friends are allowed to do that, but that’s not going to happen here.”
Or as Jesus puts it, “But I say to you…”
What follows is the challenge that Jesus offers us in what it means to be one of his followers. Jesus says, “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 o the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not which old even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
We have a tradition here at our church that after the Gospel reading concludes, the worship reader looks out at the congregation and says, “This is the Word of God for the people of God,” and our response is, “Thanks be to God!”
I noticed that I was a little more hesitant to respond with those words this morning. Jesus has just told us to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us, and we’re supposed to say, “Thanks be to God!” Well, I’m proud to say that I did say those words, but I didn’t do so as enthusiastically as other Sundays.
To be honest, today’s Gospel reading with Jesus’ very challenging words to us makes me hesitate because I don’t know if I’m up to the task.
I mean, do you find it easy to love your enemies? Sure, I believe in forgiveness, but I also don’t want to be treated with disrespect. And what if someone is spreading false information and hatred? I’m not wired to be loving in those moments, trust me!
Here’s a perfect example. While I was working on this sermon, I checked Facebook and one of my Facebook friends had a post that included blatant misinformation that was mixed in with some really, really bad theology.
But actually, it wasn’t the person’s post that got under my skin, it was the many comments to that person’s post. Those comments were filled with even more misinformation and bad theology in my humble opinion.
It reminded me of the frustration a church member shared with me about some social media posts that she had been reading. She said to me, “Robert, is there some sort of Gospel of Hate that I don’t know about because it seems like a lot of people follow that instead of a Gospel of Love.”
I totally get her frustration because I was so tempted to respond to the Facebook comment that I had seen, but today’s Gospel reading prevented me from making such a futile error. My heart was saying, “Prove them wrong!” but my head was saying, “Don’t do it! You know it won’t help. People are going to believe what they want to believe.”
Someone else was talking to me about a similar kind of thing on how to respond to people who believe things that just aren’t true. And so, I asked him, “What helps you to not get into these futile arguments when you feel your blood pressure rising?”
And he said something really interesting. He said, “I just listen to them.” And so I asked him, “Well, does it work?” And he said, “no.” But he said that people just need someone who will listen and that you care enough to listen.
He also said something else that was really interesting. He said that sometimes when you just let people talk, you can hear what their real concerns and fears are. But we don’t know unless we just learn to listen.
If people like this church member are taking Jesus seriously when he says to us, “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you,” maybe I should pay more attention to my own sermons! It’s one thing to preach about following Jesus, it’s a whole different matter to actually follow Jesus.
Jesus says, “But I say to you.” “But I say to you, Robert.”
I think of examples of people who have said, “challenge accepted” when hearing these words of Jesus to love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.
The first one that comes to my mind is from near where I grew up in south central, Pennsylvania. You may remember that back in 2006, a gunman entered a one room Amish school house in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and ended up killing five girls between the ages of 6 and 13 and then also killed himself. It was just an awful, awful tragic news story.
In a story for NPR about this shooting, sociologist Donald Kraybill said, “I think the most powerful demonstration of the depth of Amish forgiveness was when members of the Amish community went to the killer’s burial service at the cemetery. Several families, Amish families who had buried their own daughters just the day before were in attendance and they hugged the widow, and hugged other members of the killer’s family.”
The Amish families extended forgiveness to the family of the shooter including the man’s wife, now widow. One Amish man held the shooter’s father in his arms for an honor offering comfort to him. The Amish community even permitted the widow of the killer to attend the funeral of one of the victims so that she would be able to offer her deepest condolences.
I remember really struggling with this response and feeling that this offer of forgiveness was too soon and that more time was needed for this community to grieve. But then I read a statement from one of the Amish fathers who said that we all need to remember that the man who killed their children had a mother and a wife and now he’s standing before a just God to answer for what he had done.
“But I say to you…” Challenge accepted!
Another example of loving your enemies comes to mind. And this is related to the Westboro Baptist Church that has sadly become famous for being hateful toward anyone who doesn’t believe the way that they do.
Known for their hate speech against atheists, Jews, Muslims, Gay and transgender people, and numerous denominations, this small Kansas church of about 70 members and founded by Fred Phelps continues to travel to places around the country to spread their Gospel of Hate.
But out of this hate-filled church, comes this story of one of their own members, Megan Phelps-Roper, daughter of founder, Fred Phelps. She had grown up in the Westboro church and was their church representative on social media. She would post messages about the church’s doctrine and would use hate-filled language in her posts.
As you can imagine, that led to a lot of reactions to her messages of hate, but there were some Christians who responded to her posts not with hate but with love. These responses to her posts eventually led her to leave the Westboro church because she realized that there was a better way of living out the Christian faith than what she had been taught to believe.
In 2019, she released a Memoir, “Unfollow: A Journey from Hatred to Hope.” She also went on a speaking circuit telling about her experience in moving from a Gospel of Hate to a Gospel of Love.
“But I say unto you…” Challenge accepted!
These stories of love and forgiveness give me hope especially whenever Jesus sets the bar really high in how we respond to others, especially to those who seek to do us harm.
But it’s not like Jesus doesn’t show us what he expects of his followers. At the end of the Luke’s Gospel we are told that as Jesus was hanging on the cross, he prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus' life was one of love and forgiveness.
Jesus says if you want to be my disciple, do good to those who seek to do you harm. One of my favorite prayers that I use during my morning devotions is a very simple prayer that rhymes making it easy to remember. It goes like this:
“Dear Lord Jesus, help me to do the things I should, to be to other kind and good, and in all I do or say be more loving everyday.”
And when I think of Jesus challenging words to us, I also think of these lyrics from a song that asks the question, “Are you tough enough to be kind?”
Are you tough enough to be kind? I think that’s really what Jesus is asking us here in our Gospel reading for today. Are you tough enough to be kind? Are you tough enough to be one of my followers and love your enemies and do good to them? Are you tough enough to not judge others? Are you tough enough to forgive those who have hurt you?
And may we all say, “challenge accepted.”
