Day of the Church Year: 7th Sunday after Epiphany
Scripture Passage: Luke 6:27-38
Mahatma Gandhi led the Indian independence movement in the first half of the 20th century, a non-violent movement that inspired the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King to lead, alongside many others, a non-violent civil rights movement here in the US. Mired in cultures where to stand up for justice routinely included violence, both Gandhi and King turned to the teaching of Jesus, this teaching of Jesus. Gathered with a crowd on a plain, Jesus teaches love for enemies, good for those who hate us, blessing for those who curse us, prayer for those who abuse us. Sure, Jesus says, even sinners do good to those who do good to them. Sure, Jesus admits, even sinners love those who love them. But those who follow me will love even those who hate them.
Maybe this feels like wishful thinking, an unreasonable command from Jesus, perhaps even a bit naive. Clouded by the distance of two thousand years and a different culture, we may not realize that Jesus preaches and teaches, heals and forgives sin within throwing distance of Roman soldiers. Israel is occupied in the first century. When Jesus teaches the disciples and all who gather on the plain that day, when he implores them to love their enemies and do good to those who hate them, he is not speaking hypothetically. He knows who hates him.
And we, the people of goodwill in this room and those joining by Facebook live, we have probably endured our own measure of discrimination or persecution, misunderstanding or judgment. We have probably encountered people who don’t listen, who make snap judgments, who struggle to forgive when we make mistakes. We have maybe bumped up against an unjust system—and people working within that system—that make life harder for us. These circumstances are terribly unfair and not at all okay and evidence of the deep work our culture at large needs to do to create more just systems and a more loving world. AND, Jesus teaches us today, the ways we have been treated do not determine how we treat others.
At this point, I invited people to put their faith in motion by considering their physical boundaries, things like how much space we need between us and another person, whether or not we are comfortable shaking hands or hugging people during a pandemic, and similar physical boundaries. Considering our physical boundaries first helps us think about emotional boundaries in a similar way. Emotional boundaries are not about the other person but instead about what we need to keep ourselves safe and healthy, not a judgment of anyone else’s behavior. Good emotional boundaries also help us love people regardless of how they treat us.
When we keep our physical boundaries, when someone moves too close, we just move back. When someone offers their hand for a handshake and we don’t want to shake it, we simply say so.
Our emotional boundaries are usually less clear. Instead of keeping our emotional boundaries intact, others’ words and actions can eat at us, can erode our loving intentions. If our intention is to love, we love people regardless of what they say or do. But it’s tricky because keeping emotional boundaries often feels harsh to the other person or difficult for us because we are not defending ourselves.
An example of when a boundary kept might feel harsh to another person: If there is someone in our lives who is using a substance, for instance, and we have asked them to not spend time with us when they are using that substance, keeping an emotional boundary involves leaving the space or inviting that person to leave the space if the person shows up using the substance. Keeping the boundary does not diminish our care for the person.
Another example: A teenager yells at their parent: I hate you! Perhaps the parent has set rules the teenager doesn’t like. Perhaps the teenager is just having a bad day. The parent still makes sure the kid is clothed, fed, gets to school, gets to do the things that bring them life to the best of the parent’s ability. The parent is practicing emotional boundaries, still loving their child despite their child’s alleged hatred.
An example most clearly related to today’s gospel: Someone accuses me of something that, from my perspective, I did not do. When the person accuses me of x, maybe they are yelling and clearly very upset. From my perspective, the person is misunderstanding an action I took or creating a narrative about my reason for a particular action that they have not discussed with me—so they don’t actually know my reason. This could be a friend who feels slighted by something I said—but does not tell me they feel hurt and why they feel hurt. This could be someone here at Grace who has a concern, does not discuss their concern with me, and instead makes assumptions and then lashes out. Instead of yelling, instead of defending myself, I ask the person: What’s going on? How are you doing?
When faced by our so-called enemies, by those who persecute or abuse or do us harm, are we hurt? Angry? Feel guilty? Sad? Absolutely. None of us seek such persecution or abuse, and probably all of us know that feeling rising up in us to defend ourselves. No matter how wildly inaccurate someone’s accusations may be, no matter how clearly manipulative their words may be, we probably all know the feeling of wanting to shout: Na-ah! That’s not true! We have probably all wanted to punch somebody at sometime. But to do so means that the other person has a hold on us, that we have let them destroy our boundaries.
Jesus teaches us today: love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you. Jesus continues with profound instruction, the details of which we do not have time to explore today, but in verse 35, he shares the reason, the reason for these extraordinary commands.
“For God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” God is kind to us. When we are the person crossing God’s boundary. When we are the child who says to God: I hate you! When we are the Jesus-follower who doesn’t understand why God did what God did and assumes the worst. When we are the neighbor who fails to respect others’ boundaries. Then, God is kind to us. We may be ungrateful; we may be wicked. But God is good, and God is loving. And nothing we say or do will ever change God’s love for us. So, Jesus commands us, his followers, to love others the way God loves us, and even to the ungrateful and the wicked, God is kind. Thanks be to God! Amen.