God's little helpers

“…Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Luke 6:31)

Luke 6:27-38 (Year C: Second Sunday before Lent / Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, 24^th February, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

In addition to this coming Sunday’s Gospel reading in the Church of Ireland (Luke 8:22-35) the other readings from scripture found in the ‘paired’ Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) are as follows: Genesis 2:4-25,  Psalm 65, and  Revelation 4.  Directly parallel Gospel readings may be found in Matthew 8:28-34 and in Mark 5:1-20. 

In the liturgical cycle of the Roman Catholic Church, for this coming Sunday, the choice of readings is as follows:  1 Samuel 26:2-23, Psalm 103(102), 1 Corinthians 15:45-49, Luke 6:27-38.

For the purposes of this Blog I am going with Luke 6:27-38 (and directly parallel to Matthew 5:38-48). I can’t resist this particular reading from Luke about loving our enemies!

For readers focussed on Luke 8:22-35 see a previous blog “sent back home”

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SERMON NOTES (774 words)

Everyone needs a bit of help from one’s friends. That’s life. We are not on our own. And even if we think we are at times, there is a cloud of witnesses urging us on and watching over us as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews (12.1) says:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.

But what is the nature of this company we experience in the journey of life? Many people accompany us from birth onwards and even before. We quickly learn the rhythms of life, the tones and accents, the tunes and verses. We never stop growing and learning. It is also true that we never stop dying: dying to old habits or ways. Every day our bodies undergo change as we journey from one phase of life to the next.

In his Great, Infinite and Inscrutable Love for us (capitalisation intended!), God sends us ‘Little Helpers’. These are very special people who accompany us for some or even much of the way of life. Let’s say that they provide a service to us to help us grow in that wholeness of human be-ing (some say ‘holiness’).

You see, the Little Helpers are allowed by God to play an indispensable role in helping us to become more the sort of people God wants us to be: kind, gentle, patient, wise and long-suffering. These Little Helpers test our patience, our love and our stamina. Their role is to challenge us to love more precisely because it seems (and it is truly the case for whatever reasons best known to God) that they treat us with less than the respect, affection and loyalty that they ought to give.

This is difficult territory to be in or to describe. All too often, pious Christians and persons of good will confuse charity for compliance and submissiveness. Tragically, there were and there are persons who cooperate with others in allowing themselves to be emotionally abused or worse.

Therefore, we need to be clear and we need to be careful. The strong teaching of Jesus in today’s Gospel reading from Luke is, indeed, about loving our enemies and ‘turning the cheek’. The choice of the word ‘enemies’ is not done likely. If Jesus the Son of God and the greatest lover of all time had enemies then we might expect a few in our lives? I don’t know: I can only speak from a limited experience of life to date. That others mistreat us may be the result of bad choices or, in some cases, what might be termed ‘facilitating behaviour’ on the part of the one despised.

The point is that whatever stage or circumstances of life we find ourselves in we are there for a reason and the only thing that matters is that we love in the here and now even those who are nasty, manipulative or downright bad.

It is offered as advice that were persons working in dangerous regions of the world to be kidnapped or taken as hostages they ought to discretely and sincerely focus on their own humanity and personal stories as people with families, histories and character. It may not work but it is worth a try.

But, isn’t loving really bad people excessive and imprudent? We need to distinguish carefully between loving our enemies which means wanting and doing what is really good for them, on the one hand, and on the other, resisting and exposing bad behaviour and not allowing it to infect or damage.

We need the Holy Spirit and the support of good friends to know the difference and the nature of each situation we find ourselves in.

‘Pray for those who abuse you’ (v. 28). That’s a strong expression. Now, in case there might be any misunderstanding or misapplication of this phrase, those who abuse – whether emotionally, physically or otherwise – must be confronted and corrected publicly if necessary. But, we should still pray for them and love them because to love is to be free of that hatred that we might experience but which we do not allow to conquer or control us. Love the transgressor but not the transgression. And where some transgressions have wrecked untold misery and suffering on people the transgressor should face the full consequences of the law. The churches have a much less than glorious record in aspects of abusive human behaviour for which they now pay a high price in loss of trust and association.


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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS


Father of mercy we pray for:


The coming of your kingdom among us. May we know and live by the values of your justice, forgiveness and compassion…..

The nations of the world especially those torn apart by war, famine and oppression. We remember in a special way the people of Yemen at this time…

The families and friendships in which we share….

Those who cross us in life and cause suffering or rejection…. Lord of all relationships heal us

The Christian churches … that we may witness to our unity in purpose and faith…

One another….

Other named persons ….

Remembering with thanks those who have gone before us and those mourn their passing….

… praying in silence….

Loving God we entrust our prayers – spoken and unspoken – to the intercession of our redeemer, Jesus Christ who lives and moves with you in the Holy Spirit.

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A PRAYERFUL WALK THROUGH LUKE 6:27-36

Preliminaries

The teaching of Jesus runs on from the beatitudes as recounted by Luke in last Sunday’s reading. What we hear and read this Sunday is an elaboration of last Sunday’s declaration of the blessings or beatitudes. It is a very necessary elaboration because it is all too easy to ‘spiritualise’ the holy scriptures and blunt the full implications of what they say to us today. Both then and now, the idea of loving one’s enemies is not an easy one. Let’s say that is is ‘counter-cultural’ in the extreme.

v.27-30   Dealing with enemies

27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 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. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 

‘I say to you that listen’. But, do we listen? Do we want to listen? The demands of love go beyond the common rules of justice. It surely does not sit with the mentality of the court room or parliamentary debating chamber where the aim is to knock out your opponent and score points to their detriment and one’s own advantage.

Are we take the counsel to ‘turn the other cheek’ literally? In the account of Jesus’ passion (John 18:22-23), we are not provided with any evidence that Jesus followed this literally. Rather, according to John, he verbally challenged those who struck him.

v.31 The Golden Rule

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Here we have the ‘Golden Rule’ in Luke. This Rule is a common ground in all religious and ethical systems that acknowledge the inherent dignity of every living human creature. Do to others as you want them to do to you.

v.32-36   The practice of mercy

32 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 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. 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. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Here, Jesus is presenting a new insight into the very nature of God as a person of love and therefore mercy. This God of mercy is certainly present in the ancient Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament). However, people had lost sight of this reality to some degree trapped as they were in hundreds of regulations and ritual practices.

How often we judge others? How often we claim to know why others act and speak in a certain way? How often we group together people of a particular colour, creed or community and make claims that ‘they think this’ or ‘they are like that’ or ‘what would you expect from them?’. This is the not the way of love that Jesus has shown us. The measure of mercy that we might expect and ask is the measure of mercy that we give to others. Therein lies the deal with the Father of mercies!

V.37-38   the measure of love

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; 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.’