7 Epiphany A February 23, 2014
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie Guengerich Hutson
Leviticus 19: 1-2, 9-18 + Psalm 119: 33-40 + 1 Cor. 3: 10-11, 16-23
Matthew 5: 38-48
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Ghandi very famously said “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” In our reading from Matthew’s Gospel today, Jesus agrees. Jesus’ words to those gathered around him for the Sermon on the Mount are hard words for us in this time. Particularly in the west, particularly in our culture, retribution is how we function. It is how our entire justice system is set up. We understand that if you kill someone you may also be sentenced to death. We understand that if you break into my house, I will defend myself and it might involve harming you. We understand that if you attack our country, we will very likely invade yours. Only it’s not that simple. We have placed degrees on the taking of lives – manslaughter and murder in the 2nd degree and in some places we’ve enacted laws that have allowed people to be killed for reasons I still can’t understand and their killers to be freed. We’ve invaded countries for perhaps, even lesser reasons.
I wonder what Jesus would say to us, if he were making his point today? Where would he even begin to speak to us, who have placed the protection of what we own over our ability to love one another as he calls us to love?
And I want to be clear this morning – Jesus is not advocating remaining silent in the face of abuse. He is not saying “turn the other cheek” when your spouse or partner throws you across the room or slaps you across the face. Jesus does not ever condone violence.
So how are we to understand this story? We who gather in the name of the Prince of Peace, the King of Love, and yet who live in a place and time where an eye for an eye is, in fact, the law of the land. Where the crowds cry out that the only way to fight fire is with fire and that if we just put guns in the hands of the good guys and stand our ground all will be set to right again. Then, Jesus’ words ring in our ears….”You have heard it said….but I say…”
Sometimes the best way to understand Jesus and all that he stands for is with a story. It is a tactic he often used himself. So, this morning I want to tell you the story of Alan, and perhaps you know someone like him, too.
Alan was always the skinniest kid in class. He had a cowlick that stuck straight up and he wore glasses and he walked with an uncertain gait. He also had a kind heart and a huge smile and would help with anything you needed. Alan had health challenges too, he was diagnosed with epilepsy at a very young age, and his frequent and hard to predict seizures meant that the kids at school didn’t risk getting very close to him, making him something of a loner. Of course, when you combine all of these traits, what you have is a prime target for the bullies. Those kids, who for whatever reason, needed to make someone else feel bad in order to feel good.
Almost every day between classes, Alan could count on being pushed or shoved into the lockers. His arms were bruised with proof and his spirit was bruised as well. He never went to the bathroom at school again after encountering the offensive line of the football team in there one day.
As his senior year of high school began, Alan decided that he had had enough. He was too small to fight, too slow to run, and too tired to take it any more. So that year, the first time one of those bullies headed for him in the hallway, Alan stopped walking, dead in his tracks. He gathered the full measure of his spirit up inside of him, and rather than cringing or ducking or avoiding, he stood and waited to receive the bully’s blows. He proudly looked his tormentor in the eye while the rest of the kids watched. The bully saw that he had met his match, not in might, but in strength of spirit, to be sure, and with an expletive, he walked away, leaving Alan untouched.
Unfortunately Alan’s story still plays out in our schools today. And like his story, the stories that Jesus references in our Gospel reading today would be familiar scenarios to his listeners, too. It would be common for these early believers to be struck on the face by their accusers. It would be common for them to experience the loss of their coats in an unjust lawsuit. It would be common, that in captivity or imprisonment they would be forced to march a long mile by their captors. And what Jesus is calling for them to do is to seek justice without violence. To stand with strength in the face of injustice so that all of its power would be taken from it. Walking the extra mile in addition to the forced mile takes the power from the soldier. Giving away the cloak as well as the required coat takes the power away from the lawsuit. And turning the other cheek, as Alan’s tormentors discovered, takes the power away from the violence.
For the second time in this sermon, though, I issue this exception, in case you did not hear me the first time. If you are being abused, or if you know someone who is, the most power filled thing you can do is to leave and find safety. If you need help doing that, please go to someone you trust, no matter how old you are. Know that I can help you as can others. Statistics bear out that some among us need to hear this message and I want to be sure you do. Faithful preachers across the country are working hard to make sure this is understood in light of Jesus’ words today.
How then, do we love our enemies? How do we love those who have hurt us, our tormentors, or captors, those who sue us, those who enslave us? After all, Jesus says, if we only love those who love us, what have we accomplished in sharing and spreading love in the world? Even the sinners can do that, he says. So how can we love our enemies? Even as he gives us this command, Jesus tells us how we can best love them….by praying for them.
As Lent approaches, many of us will consider undertaking a Lenten discipline, something designed to draw us closer to Christ in the days leading up to his passion. You have heard me say before that giving up chocolate or caffeine in no way brings me closer to Christ, it just makes me a crabby person. But paying attention to my spiritual life through deeper prayer, through meditating on Scripture, through seeking more clearly for the face of God in the world….for me, that works much better than caffeine deprivation. Several years ago, during Lent, my Lenten discipline was to do as Jesus had commanded in this Gospel reading this morning….to pray for my enemies and those who had hurt me. What I learned in those 40 days, was that by naming them and by praying for them every day, the pain and separation of that brokenness was mended in my spirit and in my heart.
Jesus ends our Gospel reading this morning by admonishing us to be perfect. The only way we achieve the perfection Jesus is speaking of, which is also translated as ‘complete’ or ‘whole’….is by resting in the perfection that comes through Jesus Christ. We are whole, we are complete, because of him.
At Alan’s ten year class reunion, Alan and his classmates learned what everyone does…that who you are in high school disappears about five seconds after graduation. The ground becomes level and the labels disappear. Alan reached out first to those men who had been his hallway tormentors, his school yard bullies and with a handshake and this time a respectful pat about the shoulders, he taught them what it meant to love your enemies and bless those who persecute you.
Sisters and brothers, for us, the ground is level in the waters of baptism where we are all named children of God; it is level at a meal where we are all invited to feast on bread and wine that sustains our souls with ever lasting life; and it is level at the foot of the cross, where Jesus died for each of us and all of us. And that is the Good News, the Gospel News on this and every day.
Thanks be to God. Amen.