Last Sunday,
we heard the first portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain. This week, we read
another portion of the sermon, a portion that includes many family words and
teachings of Jesus. When we discussed
this teaching of Jesus at Lunch Bunch Bible Study this week, we talked about
how idealistic Jesus’ words are – they are almost impossible for a human being
to fully follow. God knows we aren’t perfect, but in Jesus’ words, we are
called to do better, to strive to live our lives embodying a better way, the
way of Christ.
Hear
Jesus’ teaching as it is recorded in Luke, chapter 6, verses 27-38:
Scripture Reading Luke 6:27-38
“But to you
who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you,
bless those
who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
If someone
slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your
coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
Give to
everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand
it back.
Do to others
as you would have them do to you.
“If you love
those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those
who love them.
And if you do
good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do
that.
And if you
lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even
sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.
But love your
enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get
anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of
the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
Be
merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge,
and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
Give, and it
will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running
over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you.”
Here ends this reading of the word of God
for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
Take my lips, o Lord, and speak through them. Take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Christians say
the Lord’s Prayer more than any other prayer. We say it during our Sunday
morning worship services. At Trinity, we say it at the end of most meetings. We
teach it to our children in our Sunday school classes. When Jesus was asked how
believers are supposed to pray, he taught us the Lord’s Prayer as a template
for our prayers.
Each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer,
we ask God to “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” Or, using
other translations of the prayer, we ask, “Forgive us our trespasses as we
forgive those who trespass against us” or “Forgive us our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us.” Forgiving people who sin against us is our work
and our challenge.
In this morning’s reading, we hear a
portion of Jesus’s Sermon on the Plain. These are familiar statements said by Jesus,
although we don’t usually hear the words of the sermon as a whole block. The
Golden Rule is included in today’s reading: “Do to others as you would have
them do to you.” This reading also includes the teaching to turn the other
cheek when someone slaps us and the teaching that if someone takes our cloak, we
should also give them our shirt. This morning’s teachings from Jesus are
familiar and yet are also almost impossible to completely follow.
Forgiving people who sin against
us is our work and our challenge.
People are all imperfect. We don’t
get everything right. Unfortunately, we do things to hurt each other’s
feelings. We take things that don’t belong to us. We say things that wound. We
sometimes try to be funny and end up hurting each other. We make mistakes that
pain others.
The only difference between friends
and enemies is that friends forgive each other.
We hold grudges against people who once were our friends until we
stopped forgiving them. So much of our anguish and disappointment comes from
failed relationships, when friendships and family relationships fall apart.
Forgiving people who sin against
us is our work and our challenge.
Jesus emphasized that we must love
our enemies. We must do good works for people that don’t like us or who even
hate us. We must bless those who curse us. We must pray for those who mistreat
us. We must do to others as we would have them do to us. We must refrain from
judging others. When we make mistakes, we hope others forgive us.
Forgiving people who sin against
us is our work and our challenge.
Human beings to not do forgiveness
very well. We are quick to criticize. We want to punish. We want vengeance. We
don’t play well in the sandbox – since you took my shovel, I am going to take
your truck. As we have been watching the situation between Ukraine and Russia unfold,
we pray that diplomacy works, but it seems like a lot of threats go into
diplomacy. We watch the military troops and tanks build up on the borders of
the Ukraine and we pray no shots will be fired and no lives will be lost. As a
people, we have resorted to wars when diplomacy fails. We don’t do a good job
of living out Jesus’s injunction for us to do to others as you would have them
do to us.
Forgiving people who sin against
us is our work and our challenge.
Jesus asks Christians to rise above
our human instincts and foibles and live differently. Jesus asks us to live as
if the Kingdom of God is present and happening on earth right now. Christians
must unite with each other to create God’s kingdom here on earth – we must rise
above our hurtful and sinful instincts and treat each other the way we would
like them to treat us. We must work to be generous and share our resources. We
must pray for the people who mistreat us and work to love our enemies and treat
them well. Instead of revenge, we must
treat others with mercy. Instead of looking at other’s behaviors and choices in
a judgmental way, we must work to treat others with generosity and compassion. And, we must work to forgive each other even
when it is hard and even when it hurt.
May we do so with love and
compassion leading us. Amen.
** Photo from Usplash photographer Joanna Kosinska **
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