Epiphany 7 Sermon

Epiphany 7
February 20, 2011
Matthew 5:38-48
“Kingdom Living”


If you’ve followed the news the past few weeks, you have probably seen the images of the attempted non-violent protests in the Northern Africa and the Middle East. It began in Tunisia where people gathered peacefully to protest the ruling political party in that country. After two weeks, the heads of government stepped down. The momentum of this successful protest moved over to Egypt, where people peacefully took to the streets demanding that President Mubarak step down, and though he refused for a while, last week he stepped down. The trend is picking up steam through out the Middle East, though in countries like Bahrain, the response of the military has not been as peaceful. And then we have Madison, Wisconsin, where for about a week now, people have been gathering peacefully to protest the budget proposal by Governor Walker that would cut bargaining rights for teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, and other public employees. The intent of all these protests is something that Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud of…communities gathering peacefully to stand up to those committing or attempting to commit injustice against the people whom they serve as heads of government bodies. And the reason I mention these protests, and their links to Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. is that Ghandi and The Rev. Dr. King found their inspiration for non-violent protests from this weeks Gospel text.

“You have heard it said ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;” In a continuation of exhortations that began last week, Jesus has changed focus from relationships with families, friends and spouses, to relationships with our adversaries. And he begins with a very familiar passage that originated in the Code of Hammurabi but also found its way into the Hebrew Scriptures. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,” (Exodus 21:24). It sounds harsh, but this rule was actually put in place to limit one’s ability to retaliate for a wrong done to them and made sure that the punishment for a crime committed was not outlandish in comparison to the crime committed. But Jesus takes it one step further…’do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. If someone sues you for your coat, give them your cloak as well, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”

Now, taken the wrong way, this text has been used in some inappropriate ways. Some have used it against people who are being abused, that if they continue to turn the other cheek, they will eventually be delivered from their abuser and their reward will be great. Others have used this passage to convince people to accept where the injustices of life have left them, because God put them there for a reason. I’m convinced that this is not what Jesus is saying. If this was what Jesus intended by turn the other cheek, Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. would not have been inspired by Jesus’ words and put them into practice by forming non-violent protests to stand up to those who were in positions of power and demanding justice for the oppressed.

Jesus’ words to the people on the mount are revolutionary and they are inspiring. I believe that what Jesus is trying to teach the people is that when faced with situations where injustice and oppression are bearing down, don’t let anyone take your dignity, humanity or your child of God-ness away from you. Instead, show them by your peaceful actions that you will not sit idly by while you or your neighbors are being trampled upon.

Jesus doesn’t stop there, however. He goes yet another step further. “You have heard it said ‘love your neighbors and hate your enemies.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” So not only are we to not retaliate against those who oppress us, we are supposed to love them, too, and include them in our prayers. Now, gathering at the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, or having a sit-in at a Rexall pharmacy in Wichita is one thing, it’s an entirely different thing to summon up enough love and prayers for not only our friends and neighbors but also our enemies…and yet, this is what Jesus is asking us to do.

If you took a poll of American Christians in the time since 9/11, I’m guessing that few, if any of us, would admit to having prayed for Osama bin Laden or the members of Al-Qaeda. And you probably would have gotten a similar response if you had polled Christians opposed to the Holocaust and asked if they prayed for Adolph Hitler and the leaders of the Nazi regime. But this is what Jesus is telling us that we should do, love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us and our loved ones. It’s a hard task to contemplate and an even harder one to carry out. In fact, it would probably be much easier to be a good Lutheran and respond to Jesus by saying “well, that’s interesting, Jesus…but to be honest, we’ve never done it THAT way before.”

But if we take a look at the bigger picture, factoring in Jesus’ calling us to be light and salt for the world, a blessing for others, and justice seekers, here, like in the rest of the sermon on the mount, he is calling us into kingdom living. A way of life in which we do radical things in response to the love of God. And if we look at it this way, it is possible to suggest that Jesus is not telling us that we should pray that we may return to a relationship with those who persecute us in hopes of reconciliation, but rather that we forgive, and by doing so, release our persecutors and enemies from their ability to hurt us. When we forgive, our enemies might not be changed, but we will be changed for the better.

Last week, Pastor Gary spoke about Jesus’ urging to not settle for the letter of the law, but to instead strive to seek ways of living that are life giving, following the example of Jesus, whose death reconciled us with God and freed us to live in ways that bless those around us. We see the same thing this week when faced with a new set of challenges, challenges that don’t involve those we love easily, but rather those who make it nearly impossible to love, those who oppress us, humiliate us, and persecute us. When it comes to our adversaries and enemies, Jesus once again encourages us to look beyond the letter of the law and engage in kingdom living…living that allows us to be light and salt and blessing to those around us. We engage in kingdom living when we peacefully stand for our own rights and the rights of those around us, we engage in kingdom living when we release our oppressors and persecutors from any strangle hold they may have on us because of fear or anger or hurts we may have suffered. We engage in kingdom living when we allow ourselves to be transformed by the love of God and are made whole by that love. And if we need help engaging in this kind of living, we can look to the cross and there we will see a man beaten and bruised praying these words for his persecutors: “father, forgive them, they know not what they are doing.” May Christ’s example empower us to peacefully stand against injustice, to love those that we find the hardest to love, and to look beyond the letter of the law to find the radical nature of God’s love for the world. Amen.