Is He a Christian? (Luke 6: 27-38)

6:27"But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; 28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat 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 ask of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 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 expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 Instead, 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 himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 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."

Luke 6

I think it is fair to say that in the days in which we live we are all encountering some interesting conversations. Or at least I hope we are. Communication is so important. And I also hope that the conversations we are having make us think. It would be so much easier to fling them aside and not look deeper into them for understanding, but also much less fruitful. If the United States of America is to live up to its name, we have some work to do.

Well, anyway, this week I was talking with my spiritual director when a certain name was mentioned. She asked me if I thought he was a Christian.

That question felt an awful lot like when I am driving along at 50 miles an hour and have to slam on my brakes to keep from hitting an animal. All of the baggage I had piled on the seats ended up on the floor. In other words, everything else I might think or say about that individual got cleared away. I was left with one thought: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Her next question is a little easier to deal with, although I continue to answer it very cautiously. After all, whatever I answered would point back to me.

She asked, “So how do you define Christian?” (Let’s sit quietly with that question for just a moment.)

C.S. Lewis defined Christians as little Christs. I find that a rather profound picture. But of course the word Christian simply means to be one who follows Christ. One who walks the same path. Or as the early Christians called it, one who is united with Christ on the Way.

So what is the Way? I’m glad you asked. Let’s start with what it is not. It is not about believing the right creed, praying the right liturgy, or singing the right hymns with the right instruments. It is not about going to the right church,or belonging to the right denomination. All those things may help, but they don’t seem to fit the criteria of being united with Christ on the way. 

The scripture readings from the last few weeks seem to give us a fairly clear and succinct picture of what the Way is all about.

It is about uniting with Christ in proclaiming the good news to the poor, giving sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. It is about wrestling with the Beatitudes and ascertaining who or what is truly sovereign in our lives. And it is about loving our enemies, giving to those who ask, and breathing mercy, both inhaling it for ourselves and exhaling it for others. 

These are ways that we are united with Christ on the way.  Dare I say then, that these are benchmarks of a Christian?

We have talked about some of these other things in the past weeks, so I would like to suggest we focus then on today’s reading. Loving our enemies. Caring for our enemies. Showing mercy to our enemies. 

Let me first warn you, I do not pretend to have all the answers. Rather the things I say may hopefully stir up ponderings within you. And as you find your way through all of the questions, please don’t hesitate to testify to what God reveals. We need to hear too.

So when I looked up the definition of enemy in the English dictionary it read one who opposes or is hostile. Perhaps I am wrong, but in my mind then I might say that if you were not opposed to me you wouldn’t be the enemy. But the first definition for the Greek word was, an enemy is one who is hated or odious. Suddenly I think I hear that if I didn’t hate you, you wouldn’t be my enemy. Interesting on how the emphasis changes from you to me.

So how do I not hate one who is opposed to me and my ideals? When Jesus goes to the demoniac in the cemetery, the first thing he does is ask ‘who are you?’ (Luke 8)

What if we took time to sit down with the one we have labeled as odious, and ask who are you? Tell me your story? 

Perhaps we will never fully understand why the trans-gendered chose to become what he or she has become but we might begin to see the path that led there. We might be able to at least begin to see their choices with mercy rather than judgment.

Or what of the nearly 3,200 people who died or were declared missing at sea on Mediterranean migration routes, or the over 1000 who have been known to drown in the Rio Grande as they fled to other countries? Perhaps if we could hear their stories and learn their names we just might not feel so blinded.

Or what of the one that would place themselves over you and treat you without mercy or respect? What if we could know the story? We may still disagree, we may still attempt to bring an end to the oppression, but we may find that love tempers our opinions and our words.

How do we love our enemy? By not hating them or calling them disgusting. By remembering that Jesus said on the cross, as the men pounded nails into his flesh, “They don’t know what they are doing.” There is a story.

So if the Way seems well spelled out by Jesus and his life, why is it that I do not feel I can say someone is or is not a Christian? Well, because while I try to follow the Way, while my heart yearns to be united with Christ on the journey, I often fail. Does that mean I am not a Christian? I hope not.

Paul tells us we have all failed, we have all missed the bullseye. Even Paul. My hope remains that as I strive to follow Jesus, I will continue to confess my failures and repent or change my mind in the places that are wrong.  Because I know that part of the way that Jesus walked was a way of forgiveness. I can know I am forgiven.

And I pray that those whose practices make their declarations of faith questionable to my eyes, will also find that in repentance, in changing their hearts and their minds, they too will find forgiveness.

I still, even after all this, cannot answer the question my Spiritual Director asked me to contemplate. I can only now and always, for myself and others, rely on the mercy of God and continue to to try to be united with Christ on the path of setting the captives free, proclaiming good news to the poor, loving my enemy and listening to their story.

Amen

Wrestling with the Beatitudes (Luke 6: 17-26)

17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.20 Looking at his disciples, he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 Blessed are you who hunger now,for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,or you will laugh.

22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.

25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. Luke 6

Wrestling with the Beatitudes
turns your world upon its head.
Finding the broken and hungry are
the blessed ones instead
of those who rise up like obelisks
and hold they’ll never fall,
depending on fame and fortune,
shielded by their golden wall.
The commandments give order
to a society as a whole.
The Beatitudes, made for wrestling,
give strength to the soul.
The inner beast refutes them
as irrelevant and weak.
Yet in the “blessed are the poor”
is the sacred power we must seek.
Wrestling with the Beatitudes
is no small or easy task.
For in these blessings and these woes,
we find our lies unmasked.

I confess to you that each time I ponder the Beatitudes I wrestle deeply with them. I cannot believe, and perhaps this is my own bias, that Jesus is calling us to live in poverty or to be in a constant state of weeping. Rather, I believe that Jesus is trying to show us that in many ways we are blind (perhaps by choice) to the truth. It is easy to admire and nearly worship those who are rich and powerful and famous and beautiful. 

I am often asked if I don’t just have a library of old sermons to rely on. And it would probably make sense to not have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. But if I did that I would miss so much the Spirit loves to share as we prepare a message together.

I looked up the word translated as the poor. I don’t know why I never saw this before but I read it this time. The original Greek word, according to the Vine’s Expository Dictionary, (a dictionary that defines original Greek words) comes from the adjective of “one who crouches or cowers.” This is a much deeper poverty than economics.

Truthfully, in Jesus’ day, and in ours, those without economic means bow and cower before those over them. They are at the mercy of the ruling class. But not only those economically challenged have to cower. Women, the blind, the disabled, the sick, the oppressed. Each of these are at the mercy of those who rule.

So how in the world are these individuals blessed? My suggestion is not that their affliction is the blessing but rather their confession of their weakness holds the blessing. Paul writes: “[God’s] grace is sufficient for you, for [God’s] power is made perfect in weakness.”

Our strength is not in what we can do for ourselves but in the faith, the trust, the belief that God walks with us in it. 

Hunger and tears hold the same connotations. There is a hunger and a weeping that physically hurts and will seep deeper into the soul. These moments batter our hope and our faith. But the blessings rise up when we acknowledge it is not through our own strength that we will survive but the power of God. Again as Paul puts it, “the same power that raised Christ from the grave.”

The blessing is never the affliction but rather, as The Message translates in the first Psalm, that “you thrill to God’s Word, you chew on Scripture day and night.” You believe.

And what of the woes? We have all heard stories of the pain and chaos and emptiness that resides in the houses of the wealthy. The word hypocrisy comes from the word meaning actors. And so many of those we see on our television screens, on our social media feeds are just that, actors, hypocrites. I do not suggest that with condemnation but with sorrow.

Do you remember what happened to so many of the wealthy during the Stock Market Crash? They could not face life without all that they had lost. Wealth, notoriety, reputation. Out of this came suicides and addictions and a fury to succeed no matter who they hurt.

Again the Message writes that these “are mere windblown dust—without defense in court, unfit company for innocent people.” 

“Woe to you who are rich.”

These declarations of blessings and woes do not encourage weakness but strength. Strength to live in faith in a broken world. Strength to move forward in love no matter what. Strength to follow Jesus, even to the cross. That takes real strength, sacred and divine strength.
Nor are these blessings and woes irrelevant for today. They speak to the heart of what we know and see in our world. They challenge us to wrestle with them until they touch the secret places in our hearts where sovereignty lives. Revealing who and what is sovereign in our lives. 

This is a hard thing. And we have a truckload of distractions to keep us from going there. Retail therapy will keep us busy. But so will good deeds. Anything to keep us too busy to stop and pay attention to the Spirit. 

Jesus comes down from the mountain after prayer, after being with God, and the power was emanating from him.

Wrestling with the Beatitudes
is no small or easy task.
For in these blessings and these woes,
we find our lies unmasked.

The Great Fishing Expedition (Luke 4: 1-11)

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

I need to begin with a wonderment. 3 weeks ago I came to you with a message about abundance. I said that I had just read the story in Luke about the great fishing expedition and when I discovered I would be preaching that Sunday I looked to find that I would be preaching on the text from John regarding the abundance of wine rather than fish. I was disappointed at first but God’s Abundance led me from fishing on the shores of the lake to the wedding celebration.

I actually got the chills when I saw what text God had prepared for me to preach on today. Coincidence? I’ll leave that for you to decide. But I will simply say, I continue to be in awe of the abundance of God’s grace.

So I stopped and looked at this text with solemn wonderment. What is it that God has for us, you and me, in this text? What are the words God would speak to us today? Those are humbling questions for every pastor who preaches on any Sunday. May the Spirit have her way.

So let’s start at the beginning of this story. Jesus is teaching. The crowds are gathering around him to hear him. And Peter (or Simon) is working on his nets after a long night without a catch. Tired, frustrated, despondent. They had worked hard all night to catch fish, their trade, their means of support. And they had failed miserably. 

While it could be that they had been fishing at night, it is also very much like scripture to infer a different type of darkness when speaking of night time. And day time brings sight, or revelation.

Anyway, Jesus wants to get Peter’s attention, as well as James and John. Jesus has plans for them. What better way to do that than to preach from Peter’s boat? 

You know how it is when you are doing something that needs to be done, especially if you are tired. You might half listen to what is going on around you. Or you might tune it out altogether. 

Peter, let's distance ourselves a bit from what you are so focused on doing so you can take time to listen. Let’s put out a little ways from shore.

And then, when Jesus has said enough, he challenges Peter to set out into the deeper waters. Further away from the distractions on shore. And to throw out his nets into those waters. Jesus has a surprise for him!

It is hard to change course and do something different from what you had planned. I imagine Peter had planned to put away his gear, pat his partners on the back for a good night's work, albeit unsuccessful, and go home. That’s the way it has always been done. That is the way his trade is carried out. 

But Jesus says, “just this one time, let’s try it my way.”

Be careful saying yes to God! Peter puts out his nets and the catch is so great he cannot handle it himself. In fact, it is such a large amount of fish, it almost sinks his boat and his partners’.  

Can you hear them laughing with joy, with awe, with amazing? This is amazing! Jesus, you have got to stay around so we can do this all the time! And they drag the massive catch ashore to the people waiting there. I can almost feel the rush they must have all experienced.

Sometimes even when we have been trying, working, fishing for long periods of time, Jesus says let’s try again. Let’s go out into the deep together and try it my way. For now the time has come.

We may feel weary. We may feel discouraged. We may want to go home and go to bed and save it for another day or perhaps just give up. But what can one possibly do when Jesus says, let’s try again? Don’t quit now. There is no sweeter feeling than being humbled by the abundant grace of God!

I would like it if the reading ended here. It becomes the perfect motivational story. Even though it feels hopeless, believe in God’s abundance. But there is one more part to this story that we can’t ignore.

Peter, John and James do not hang around to memorialize their victorious moment. They do not linger in adoration of all they have accomplished.  

“So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

All the fruits of their labor, all the economic value, all the celebratory feast was left for others to partake in, share, or horde. Peter, John, and James left everything, boats, nets, fish, and followed where Jesus was leading them.

They weren’t going to stick around and try to reproduce this moment. For all they knew there might not ever be another catch like this one. Or maybe there would be. But they were simply going to follow Jesus. 

Peter fell to his knees to worship Jesus and Jesus said come on, get up, we have work to do. We have to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and set free those who are oppressed. We have to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

How are we called? We have been the ones reaping the benefits of a free America. For that I continuously thank the men and women who have fought, died, been wounded. Are we left on shore to celebrate that joyous feast? Are we left on shore to share the fruits of their sacrifice with others? Are we left on shore to horde it for ourselves?

Or are we ones called to follow Jesus to proclaim the Lord’s favor no matter the cost?

I will finish with something that happened the other day. I still visit one man on hospice and have the utter joy of bringing God grace to him. On my last visit, we read this story. I asked him what he heard in it. He focused on the mercy of Jesus, forgiving Peter his sinfulness. But he wondered what it meant to “fish for people.”

I smiled. I said it is what you do now that you have found the abundance of God’s grace. You tell others what God means to you. You share the peace you have found with God. You invite them to pray with you. Even though you long to be with God in heaven, God has called you to be a fisher of people. And in spite of your pain, you say yes.

Who are we? What are we called to? Are we willing to follow, not simply worship, Jesus?

For Such a Time as This

First reading Jeremiah 1:4-10 Psalm Psalm 71:1-6 Second reading 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Gospel Luke 4:21-30

One of the first teachings I received on sermons was to not incorporate all the readings into one sermon.  Preach on the Hebrew Scripture reading if you must, or the Epistle reading.  Rarely do we hear the Psalm preached on. And it is of course preferred that one preaches on the gospel. But whatever you preach on, do not try to include all them. 

On occasion, however, I just can’t resist. God has a way of coming through the texts that cannot be ignored. And for me today’s readings are just that. A proclamation I cannot ignore.

In fact, it is regarding God’s call to proclaim that my heart was drawn. We begin with Jeremiah. He is known as the weeping prophet. He often complains to God that the call of God is hard. And it is. The prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures had hard lives and often very harsh deaths. Jeremiah, according to tradition, was stoned to death in Egypt by fellow countrymen.

So Jeremiah begins by telling God he cannot proclaim the word of God because he is only a boy. He tells God is not a public speaker.  I always swore I would never be able to stand before a group and speak.

God doesn’t listen very well to our excuses. Moses complained he stuttered. Isaiah said he was too sinful. Gideon told God he was the least of the smallest of all the tribes. And God used them all anyway.

Jeremiah writes: “Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth.”

Perhaps you recall from last week that just prior to today's  gospel reading, Jesus reads this scripture from Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

    because he has anointed me

    to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

    and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

After reading it, Jesus declares that in him this scripture is fulfilled. Jesus has been sent by God to proclaim the Good News of God’s favor for all people.

If ever there was a good excuse to refuse to be a proclaimer, Jesus had one. His friends and neighbors, the community in which he had grown up, tried to throw him off a cliff. “But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.” On his way to proclaim all that God had given him to proclaim to the poor, the oppressed, the prisoners, the blind.

And, as we talked about last week, we too have been given, anointed by, this same spirit. We too are called to proclaim God’s favor to all people. To bless the poor, set the oppressed free, and offer sight to the blind.

You too are the beloved of God. To you God also says "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” And from each of us God does not accept excuses. As Paul has written, the Spirit gives us all gifts to be used for the good of God’s People.

Fortunately, we are not all called to the same type of proclamation! We are blessed that I am not called to be a musician. Don’t get me wrong. I love music and I love to sing. My gifts in that type of proclamation are, however, less than stellar. I do however believe that if I am called to such a task, God will provide. Perhaps by tuning my vocal chords or shielding your eardrums. 

But there is a kind of proclamation that we are all called to and that God gives us the strength to do if we will allow. And that brings me to the Corinthians reading.  The proclamation we can all make of God’s favor every day is in love. Loving our neighbor. Loving our enemy. And even loving ourselves. Remember the command is to love our neighbor as ourselves.

And this is not just a mushy, ambiguous command. Paul’s letter gives us some very solid ways of proclaiming God’s love.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

How can one proclaim God’s favor without words? Be patient, kind and civil. Forgive, believe in the person’s best. Speak truth and uphold right behavior.  

Or as another prophet puts it: God has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah)

We are all called to proclaim God’s favor to all people, and perhaps even to the gift of creation. And we have all been empowered and anointed in ways of doing it. We have no excuses. You are not too young, too old, too unimportant, too sinful. God can and does use all of us. Paul writes that God has created us for good works and empowered us  with the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

Are we afraid to proclaim the word of the Lord? Perhaps our culture tries to hurl us off a cliff of suppression. And in fact, throughout scripture, when the good news goes against the grain of those in power, it can get dangerous. In the book of Esther, Mordecai tells his niece Esther “And who knows but that you have come to your (royal) position for such a time as this?”

God speaks to Jeremiah:

“Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD."

And the Psalmist writes: 

For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

From my birth I have leaned upon you, my protector since my mother's womb. My praise is continually of you.

We are indeed anointed to proclaim good news to the poor.

freedom for the prisoners and oppressed,

recovery of sight for the blind,

the year of the Lord’s favor for all people. 

God leaves us no excuses.

Rise up in love and proclaim oh people of God, God’s favor! Fear not for God is with you.