“A Sermon with Friends”
Karen Sloan - 23/02/2025
Reading - Luke 6:27-38
6:27 "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
6:28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
6:29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
6:30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
6:32 "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
6:33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
6:34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
6:35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
6:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
6:38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
Reflection
Today for this short reflection I have brought some friends.
We heard one of those friends today, in the form of the gospel reading. The writer of Matthew records Jesus saying something incredibly profound, something he lived out in his short life and mission.
Love your enemies. And do it not for what you get in return but because it is the way to life, not only for us, but for others. It is the way of Jesus who, as the reading says, is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Jesus says, don’t just love one another, but love your enemies as yourself.
The people who are different from you, who hurt you, who we think steal our belongings, or our jobs, or our homes. Enemies who fight us, who steal our land. As Jesus said, do good to those who hate you
This is love on a whole different level. A love that can change the world.
But it is not easy.
As Stephen Mattson wrote –
“Many of Christianity’s tenets are inherently illogical and absurd — a person being fully man and fully God; a person rising from the dead; miracles (like being swallowed alive by a fish); angels and supernatural beings; an afterlife … If Christians can accept these things as true, the basic themes of the gospel: love, joy, peace, kindness, forgiveness, and hope can hardly be questioned. Yet many Christians are failing to abide by these fundamental truths, refusing to follow God’s greatest command. For people claiming the faith of Christ, showing love and compassion to those who are not our family and friends, but who are fundamentally different to us in every way, but needs our help, is a requirement of following Jesus — there is no alternative.”
This is what Frederick Buechner had to say about this. In a slightly more colourful way, and which I love….
“When Jesus said to love your neighbour, a lawyer who was present asked him to clarify what he meant by neighbour. He wanted a legal defintion he could refer to in case the question of loving one ever happened to come up. He presumably wanted something on the order of: “A neighbour (herein-after referred to as the party of the first part) is to be construed as meaning a person of Jewish descent whose legal residence is within a radius of no more than three statute miles from one’s own legal residence unless there is another person of Jewish descent (hereinafter to be referred to as the party of the second part) living closer to the party of the first part than one to oneself, in which case the party of the second part is to be construed as neighbour tot he party of the first part and one is oneself relieved of all responsibility of any sort or knd whatsoever”.
Instead Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), the point of which seems to be that your neighbour is to be construed as meaning anybody who needs you. The lawyer’s response is left unrecorded”.
And this leads me on to my last friend for this morning.
I discovered Ittay Flescher through my sister, who heard him talk at the state library. My sister who is hardly a political animal and not at all religious was totally moved and inspired after hearing him.
Why, because he gave hope in a way that was totally out of left field, helping to run Peace 4 kids in Israel.
So let me give you a little summary, as he has also written a book, called “The Holy and the Broken”..
……….
This is what loving your enemies really looks like. In the real world.
Let me finish with a quote from Barbara Brown Taylor…
“What if church felt more like a way station than a destination? What if the church’s job were to move people out the door instead of trying to keep them in, by convincing them that God needed them more in the world than in the church?”
We are needed in the world more than ever.
Amen