Sermon by Deacon Donna Lockhart, based on Luke 6:27-38
In today’s Gospel, we hear the second half of the sermon on the plain. We heard the first part of the sermon last week as Jesus addressed the beatitudes and woes to his disciples saying; Blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who weep, who are hated and defamed. And woe to you who are rich, who are full, who feel content, and who are spoken well of. In the second part of this sermon, the part that we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus addresses all who are listening to him.
As theologian Samuel Wells teaches us, in this part of the sermon Jesus gives us a convenient list containing seven classifications of who our enemies are. Enemies are those who hate you, curse you, abuse you, strike you, rob you, demand things from you, and steal from you. In saying this, Jesus makes it challenging for us to say we don’t have enemies. And I’m sure everyone here can think of people who have done one or two of these things to you or a loved one.
But Jesus doesn’t just tell us who are enemies are; as Wells continues to explain, Jesus also gives us seven ways of behaving towards them. Jesus tells us to do good to our enemies, to bless them, pray for them, offer the other cheek, give to them, let them take from you, and to not ask for restitution.
Wells also points out that in this list of behaviors Jesus doesn’t include the instruction to forgive them; that instruction comes later in verse 37. He explains that Jesus doesn’t include “Forgive them” in this list of behaviors because he is speaking of hatred and violence and abuse that is still going on. We’re talking about a time in history when the majority of people were poor, oppressed by the government, and living on the margins; in essence behavior that was still going on, and continues to this day. Conditions that then, and now, promise to inflict long-term lingering effects on one’s life and the lives of those who follow.
Overall, I adopt Well’s theology. I agree that some acts are so brutal, so life altering, so unspeakable and so perpetual, that forgiveness not only seems out of reach in the foreseeable future but appears as an unattainable goal. I think here is where we can get caught in the weeds by comparing ourselves to others and downplaying the reality of what our siblings are living and going through. Along with blanket statements of “Just forgive them,” we often here the phrase “It can always be worse” and for some reason, this phrase is lifted as consolation for a person’s very real, active, and lived trauma.
Try saying to a mother who is grieving her murdered child who died from gun violence or because of racial profiling “It can always be worse. Just forgive them…”
Try saying “It can always be worse” to a child being bullied at school to the point of wanting to take their own lives; tell that child “It can only be worse, forgive them…”
Try saying “It can always be worse” to our mentally and emotionally challenged siblings living on the street because in America we don’t consider mental health, or any healthcare for that matter, a basic human right.
Or how about our siblings in Flint who are still reeling from the lasting and devastating effects of the water crisis that began in 2014.
What about our neighbors in Detroit fighting unfair tax laws and outrageous utility bills; try saying to these siblings “It can always be worse” and “Just forgive the years of redlining and price gouging” as their homes are foreclosed on and they live under the constant threat of having their water shut off.
Or what of the refugee’s fleeing persecution in their homelands, seeking sanctuary in this country and others; do we say to them, as they flee their homes, bury their loved ones along the way, “Buck up, it can always be worse, and by the way just forgive the tyrants who made life so unbearable you had to flee.”
Perhaps Jesus doesn’t include forgive your enemies as one of the behavioral responses because Jesus himself knows the reality of living on the margin, being persecuted and hated, and further knows the very challenging road that lies ahead of him. Jesus understood on a personal level the trials of the people he was preaching to. And Jesus no doubt understands the trials of the people in the examples I just shared. To say just forgive is not enough, and means we are not meeting people where they are at and walking with them as we are called to do.
So, can we ever get to forgiveness. The short answer is yes, however, we cannot do this by ourselves. But we know, with God, all things are possible!
When meditating on what to share with you today, I was drawn inward to the memories of some past wounds and one in particular came shining through. In my mid-twenties I suffered a significant violation, and for years I carried the pain of this violation within me. As some of us may know when we bury our pain, it does not stay buried forever. As Jesus tells us in chapter eight of Luke’s Gospel “…nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light.” (8:17) This my friends, includes the pain and anger we hold from past wounds – one way or another, this pain will see the light of day.
For me, this deep wound was eating me alive, attacking the very essence of my soul. The anger and the hate I held in secret for another human being were in direct conflict with the lessons I shared with others to love your neighbor as yourself and love God with your whole being. I was going to church, praying daily, and active in several ministries, while at the same time holding life altering hatred in my heart.
With every passing day, no matter how much I denied it, I felt myself growing further from God and this scared me into action. Therapy helped tremendously to deal with the act itself, but the wound was far deeper than the scars it left in my memory; my spiritual life was suffering, and I felt a deep shift within myself and my relationship with God. In desperation I decided to reach out to a priest, though I was absolutely sure he would have nothing to help me beyond the words of “Let go and let God and just forgive.”
Much to my relief and blessing, God sent me a priest who gently taught me about forgiveness. Fr. Tim Cooney patiently listened as I told him of the festering hatred and anger towards another human being growing inside me, and not once did he tell me that I needed to forgive.
What Fr. Tim did tell me was that until I was ready to forgive, and more importantly if I never was able to forgive, God would hold all of the pain, all of the anger, all the hatred for me. Fr. Tim added that the burden weighing so heavily on my heart was far greater than God would ever expect me to carry alone and if I was never able to see my way to forgiveness, God would hold this for me for all eternity.
These were the most freeing words I had ever heard and because I was told I didn’t have to forgive in order to live as a beloved child in the light and presence of God, the door to healing was opened.
Fr. Tim’s words took all the pressure off of me. I didn’t have to turn the other cheek and pretend that all was well, for certainly all was not well. What I did have to do however, was live into my human weakness and surrender my brokenness to God. I had to release the hatred so God could heal the wound. By releasing all the hate and anger within me and by turning it all to God, eventually it was replaced with mercy and forgiveness.
When I let go and let God, I turned from accepting my brokenness as a natural state of being and traded it for a heart that carries the good news and salvation of our Lord and the good news of God’s healing grace and love. This only became possible when I invited God to walk with me and to carry a burden I was never meant to carry.
Friends, life is not easy, and as Christians we are called to live in the uneasiness of it by being agents for the change we want to see – and one sure way of doing this is by inviting God to walk with us.
I have so much more to share on this subject but for now I would like to leave you with one of my favorite poems, one many of you may know, entitled Footprints:
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."
He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testing’s.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
We are not alone in our trials. We are not alone when we turn the other cheek, and when we work towards loving our enemies; God is with us always. And when we bless and show mercy to our enemies through acts of love and kindness let us remember the final walk Jesus took prior to his resurrection and the words he spoke, saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Just as God was with Jesus in his time of trial, God is with us in ours as well.
Almighty and gracious God, we praise you, we thank you, we bless you.
Amen