We find in our Old Testament lesson and in our Gospel reading this morning the wonderful theme of the Sermon on the Plain. Last week we heard the beginning of the sermon in the words we call the Beatitudes. The opening preamble to the sermon was some radical words on what it would mean to be a disciple of Jesus. We were given the “blessings’ and the “woes”, inviting the despised and outcasts of the world into God’s kingdom, to be one with all disciples. In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus gets right in to the topic of how to live with others in a relationship that is unique to say the least. He instructs the disciples just how they can take their stand with the “blessed” with these words:
Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 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. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others, as you would have them do to you.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 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. 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. 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, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
We hear in the 31st verse what we have come to call the Golden Rule. A method of living with others and establishing a relationship. What we have from Jesus is an ethical standard. At the Regimental Officer’s Academy where I taught, Military History and Leadership, that was an important topic for young Officers – Ethics. In fact, it is an important topic for all of us. Let me paraphrase Forrest Gump’s mother – ‘Ethics is as ethics does!” Ethics is the outward manifestation of the Values we possess. Let me take a little side road here a minute. In the Old Testament reading we see the episode of the reuniting of Joseph with his brothers. Joseph displays his values by his ethics or actions when he forgives his brothers all the wrong they have done him from the time he was a young man. Let me summarize Joseph’s earlier adventures with his brothers: From the 37th chapter of Genesis:
Gen 37:1-36
"Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them." "Very well," he replied. So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."
When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe-- the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-- and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt…. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard."
So, you see, Joe was a SNITCH! He knew his brothers did not like him! As they say in prison, “Snitches get stitches!” You will notice in the story that Joseph was obedient to his father Jacob even when his safety might have been in jeopardy when he went to check on his brother’s activities. So, one of Joseph’s values is obedience to the authority of his father. As a result of that he spent the next 22 years away from his family and 13 years of that will be in slavery and prison. Now if anyone had a reason to hold a grudge against his brothers for what they did to him it was Joseph. He puts the brothers through an elaborate test to see if they have had a change of heart since he last saw them. They pass the test, and he announces to them who he is and gives them all sorts of gifts. After their father Jacob dies, in chapter 50, Joseph tells his apprehensive brothers who are still afraid that he will take revenge on them after Jacob has died,
"But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them." (Gen 50: 19-21)
Joseph is displaying kindness and compassion for his brothers and above all forgiveness. That is the heart of the message that Jesus has for us.
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
Ethics, therefore, is the outward and visible manifestation of the inward and invisible Values we have.
T
he Rev. Canon Ben E. Helmer is a Missioner with the Congregational Ministries Unit at the Episcopal Church Center. He lives with his family in Missouri. He writes:
"The ethic is often referred to as the Golden Rule, quoted by Luke from Jesus as "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Luke 6:31 NRSV). Most cultures have a similar rule, but it is usually stated in the negative, something like, "Don't do anything to another you wouldn't want them to do to you." In other words, the rule is a restraint. The version Jesus gives us demands action, not inaction. Jesus tells us to initiate good, even (especially?) where is it undeserved. Jesus continues by saying that God behaves this way, therefore so must we. In our actions, we are not being compared to our neighbor; we are being compared to God! The background for this is a standard of loving that desires the best possible outcome for God's people. There are countless stories about this standard that describe the best in human nature. One story is about a woman who grew up in difficult circumstances and as an adult became wayward and involved in prostitution. Her grandmother always believed this woman had great potential, and in her will she left money in a trust so that her granddaughter could receive an education. The grandmother's church administered the trust and saw to it that the woman was educated. Later she became a great student, an excellent attorney, and eventually a judge. As a judge she often had to deal with cases similar to her own, and she practiced justice that contained mercy, resulting in many people who appeared before her being redeemed from a life of crime."
If you look in the Catechism in the back of the Book of Common Prayer, you will see that the definition for a Sacrament is “An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” It is very difficult to see that which is invisible, right? So, we have to see a manifestation of it. For example, as Jesus told Nicodemus in that famous “Nick at Night“ episode, in John’s gospel, chapter three.
"Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.'
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
(John 3:5-8)
We cannot see the wind, but we see a sign of it when we see the bushes and trees moving in response to the wind. We cannot see our values, but we see our ethics, we cannot see our attitudes, but we see our behaviors. Show me a bad behavior and I’m seeing a bad attitude. Show me a good behavior and I’m seeing a good attitude. Good attitudes and values are at the core of our being, our very heart. That is what Jesus can to change. The brothers of Joseph were afraid that Joseph did not really have a change of heart as it appeared on the outside. They thought he might be a hypocrite, two-faced, saying one thing and believing another. But Joseph had been refined in the fire, and he had come forth as gold. Job at the end of his long troubles said.
"But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." (Job 23:10)
Job was tested, Joseph was tested, Jesus was tested, and we are all tested. God knows what we are made of and he knows how much heat to apply to make us come forth as Gold.
I saw a show on television dealing with the young lady who survived being raped and assaulted by two guys who had raped and murdered another young lady. They had kidnapped her and her date, taken him out in the woods, cut his throat and shot him in the head. He survived and they did n0t kill her, even though they were about to. Anyway, she was the main witness against them at their trial. The man who perpetrated this was the subject of the movie “Dead Man Walking” She had to endure the trial and all the publicity as a 16 year old. Years later she was still suffering depression and problems in her marriage over this event, even after his execution. Her only way out was to forgive the man. Debbie Morris wrote her book called “Forgiving the Dead Man Walking.” She said, “Once she forgave Robert Lee Willie the joy returned to her life again, but until that happened, she was up against a wall of despair.
Jesus is out to do heart surgery on us and get us to where he wants us to be. We can submit to his way or follow the letter of the law and walk a hypocritical path.
When it is all said and done we have to ask ourselves, How is our heart? Can we become a disciple that can Love his enemies? That is a tall order. It is seemingly impossible for us, but Jesus told his disciples that all things are possible with God. What kind of love is that? Let’s look at our Doctrinal Points.
B. DOCTRINAL POINTS
1. Authentic love seeks the best for others. Our natural human instinct is to seek the best for ourselves. But in a life in which God’s love has become the driving force, we also seek the best for others, including those who dislike or even abuse us. “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” [Luke 6:31].
2. Authentic love does not expect repayment. “Well, suppose I do love those lousy people at the office,” we ask. “What am I going to get out of it?” If that’s our question then we have already missed doctrinal point #1, seeking the best for others. To love only those who repay love is nothing special. Christ centered love goes beyond concern for self. Jesus calls us to love those who can’t or won’t repay our love.
3. Authentic love leaves judgment to God. Christ calls us to experience love that is committed to seeking the best for others, without concern for repayment and without clinging to bitter or harsh attitudes. When we allow our hearts to harbor bitterness, it pushes love out of its central position. It is impossible to love and hate at the same time.
C. APPLICATION/DISCUSSION:
The greatest modern day example of the application of the “love your enemies” command of Jesus can be found in South Africa. “ It was very repugnant [in 1993] to think that we could sit down and talk with those people [the Afrikaners], but we had to subject the plan to our brains and to say `without these enemies of ours, we can never bring about a peaceful transformation of this country.’ And that is what we did. The reason why the world has opened its arms to South Africa is because we are able to sit down with our enemies and say let us stop slaughtering one another, Let’s talk peace.” – Nelson Mandela as quoted in Donald W. Shriver’s “Bridging the Abyss of Revenge,” Christian Century, December 1, 1999, p.1170 We can update that to Putin and Zelensky, yes?
Jesus did not promise that becoming a disciple would be easy but it is worthwhile. How’s your heart?