Love your Enemies?!

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
October 17th 2010
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
Luke 6:20-31
“Love Your Enemies?!”

Reading this scripture makes me think two things. 1) There are probably fifty-two sermons in this reading and 2) Does Jesus really expect us to follow this stuff? On the first point please know that I do not intend to cover everything or even touch on everything in this passage. It would either leave us here for a few hours or simply say so little about each thing that what I would say probably would insult your intelligence. And on the second point, this sermon is Jesus longest sermon so we cannot ignore it or explain it away.
My plan on answering this question is to focus on one part of what is called the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus comes down on a level place to be with the people and we receive the same message. The most troubling words in this passage to a people in the midst of its longest war in history, is to love your enemy. Love is a word that gets uses and abused by many folks. So what is Jesus talking about when he says love? Why would Jesus call people to love those who might not love us? Doesn’t he know that this might put our lives at risk?
As I child, I remember really hearing this passage for the first time. What I mean is that I realized that I was not supposed to hit back. Asking an adult I challenged this thinking when we are faced with bullies. That adult told me that Jesus did not mean we were called to be doormats so occasionally we need to stand up to bullies and punch them right in the face. There was something deeply troubling about that answer for me even then. But I did not like the idea of being the brunt of bullying myself. So I was left on my own to sort it out.
Jesus is not asking us to be doormats. In fact, Jesus is actually turning some things on it is head. First of all he was talking to people who had little hope of success of overthrowing the Roman Occupation. He was also talking to people who know what it was like to be repeatedly humiliated. So, just for example, when Jesus says turn the other cheek he is not suggesting we ask for another beating. Well, not really. (Show example of the cheek smack) Jesus is upping the ante on the bully. Without participating in the cycle of violence, his active challenge brought it to an end and gave the person in a subordinate position power.
This example is not simply about gaining power or turning the tables but creating a crisis moment so that transformation can occur. Jesus concern for the enemy is first our maintaining our own faithfulness and then the transformation of the other. So in participating in these actions requires a true love even for the enemy. It requires all our actions be guided by this principle of love. We are a people who are to engage one another in love even as we disagree with one another. It means that our way of interacting cannot be through lies, misdirection, and deceit. The church is not called to be a place where power politics are a refined art.
I believe it is not an overstatement to say that our mission, no matter what our institutional statement may be, is to be a community of love. But that requires us to ask what love is and what love looks like. Being a community whose mission is love, in action not simply words, and is probably the hardest thing I cannot imagine. Love is about letting someone be. But it does not mean to let them alone. It is a fine line between trying to fix someone and encouraging them to live their lives following Jesus. Letting someone be is not about making people become who we want them to be. To be a place that loves in this way means we would say to people: We are a people that know God has a plan for your life and wants you to use your gifts. We want to encourage you on that journey and are not interested in manipulating the outcome. In other words we are not trying to reeducated or argue, belittle, or manipulate someone into doing a particular service in the life of the church. To love in this way, to be a community whose mission is this is more difficult than anything I can imagine.
This is not the kind of mission most churches are interested in because of the difficulty. After all, it is easier to build a habitat house than to love your enemy. It is easier to give money than to give up well worn grudges. It is easier to have meetings and plan events than to engage the reality of strained relationships. It is easier to be busy than to be those who love. Jesus knows this and we know this to be true. The mission of the people of God is to do everything in our power to become the people God has created us to be. Mission is not something we do for other people or to people and it is not us doing something for others they cannot do for themselves. Serving others only loves if we provide those we serve to return the service and be open to being served ourselves.
So how do we become this community? How do we continue to encourage one another on our journey of faith? One way is through the acknowledgement and development of our gifts. This year we are providing Spiritual Gifts inventory. We want %100 participation. We believe that it will enable us to find out and refine the gifts we are currently using. But we are not setting you up for service. We believe that there is a place for all to serve in some capacity but we are not going to take your answers and assign you jobs to do. We are going to encourage you to do so but that will be on you. Our hope is that you will come to see that God indeed has a plan for your life and wants you to use your gifts and talents in loving ways. And the truth is that in order to get to the point where we can truly love our enemies we need to begin with ourselves and those closest to us before we can venture on that difficult road. May God encourage us in this journey as we seek to serve Christ in all our daily tasks. Amen? Amen!