7th Sunday Epiphany: year C
Good morning, All Saints! It is a beautiful day to talk about how we can love our enemies!
As you may know, I am in Seminary, learning to be called to the Priesthood. I attend school online with about 60 students from all over the U.S., including Alaska & Hawaii, and students from First Nations. We are entrenched in the Old Testament during our first year, just as Jesus was taught in the Torah. We are also tasked, as students, to learn about various ways and different lenses to read the Bible. Shall we use the textual criticism lens to read manuscripts to study original text, source criticism, and find sources of the text, or my favorite….The historical-critical lens is where we study the historical & cultural background of the text. Essentially, seminarians are tasked with understanding the socio-political and economic times when the words in the Bible were written to help us spread the Good Word.
Today, we read about Joseph. Did you know that the word used to describe Joseph’s colored coat meant long sleeves, not a multicolored coat? Better yet, only women wore these garments; it is interesting how that adds to the story. But that is for another sermon.
This morning’s readings are rich with wisdom on being more Christ-like in our actions and loving our enemies. Yes, turn the other cheek should you be hit, and give your shirt if your jacket is taken; love all that and then some! It got me thinking: What is the historical context for the word enemies?
Jesus often gave us an outline of how to love our neighbor and what it means to be a neighbor with his directives in the parable of the Good Samaritan.
But back to today’s Gospel: We know how to love our neighbors, but what about our enemies? I am going to drag the elephant right out of the room.
What does it mean to work with, live with, and love those who might disagree with us? Jesus said, “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.”
Jesus then has his punchline: He tells us to be merciful and have mercy, just as God shows us with his mercy. That is a tall order! I wondered what exactly “mercy” means. The Hebrew word for mercy is rahamim, to have compassion, pity, sympathize with, or love tenderly.
I realized I could have love and compassion, too. I can have mercy with the person cutting me off, but what about our neighbors that wish harm to us, to our neighbors? Well, Jesus told us right here at the end of the reading, this is the kicker for me:
“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…”
Again, there is the “thou shall not judge!” Do not condemn, but forgive!
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can get on the struggle bus with this last nudge from Jesus. If you knew that someone turned you in and you were about to die tomorrow, would you have that person over for dinner? Yep, that is what unconditional love looks like, as Jesus showed to Judas as his guest.
Still, I needed more guidance and critical context since someone also told me that I can be loving and forgiving but don’t necessarily have to break bread with everyone all the time.
I discussed this idea with Fr. Joseph; of course, he had a book for me to read. He also looked up where “enemy” shows up in the OT. The Psalms used the word enemy to describe “workers of iniquity” or those against God’s law. What is God’s law? The 10 Commandments, sure, probably pass muster, but what about Jesus’ summation of these Commandments, 2 New Commandments, of loving God and loving our neighbors, which encompasses the 10 Commandments, right?
So here we are again, back to the love-your-neighbor directive Jesus shared at the Last Supper before he died.
So why is this so hard to fathom? To love those who go against God’s laws? Maybe this has nothing to do with those we see as our enemies, but what if we need to work on this within ourselves? Our brothers & sisters in 12-step recovery have a saying, “Freedom from the bondage of self.” What if Jesus asks us to unchain our bondage of mistrust and judgment, to be genuinely free, and to love our enemies? We must break free from our desire to pass judgment in the first place. Maybe we do not even think that our enemies are enemies, but they are our neighbors. Maybe we drop our preconceived notions of why we shouldn’t love our enemies. Then, the reward will be great, as we have been directed in today’s Gospel.
There is an acronym for GOD, which means good orderly directions. The BCP has some good directions, so I thought, let’s look there. In the Book of Common Prayer, that’s the red book in front of you. Let’s open up to page 304, please. For those at home, Search for “Book of Common Prayer Baptisminal Covenant”. (Entire covenant: We proclaim that we will persevere in resisting sin, proclaim the Word, seek God and loving our neighbors as ourselves, we will strive for justice, and peace among all people) Let’s focus on the 5th article: and respect the dignity of every human being. Every human is considered a child of God, and deserving of dignity, love and respect.
We announce that we will…do these things….while humbly asking for God’s help.
There you have it, we are not only encouraged to love our enemies throughout the Bible, but it is also in our covenant that we take when we are baptized as Christians. That means, we get to take the first steps to love everyone, even those that dislike us that wish us harm. Let’s not forget that Jesus told us, “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. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
I find comfort, that God’s mercy is unconditional. It is boundless, with no strings attached. God’s mercy knows no bounds, there are no limitations, stipulations or conditions like some of the pharmaceutical ads we hear on tv. Nope, not here.
By carefully reading the Bible, we see the radical call to love and have mercy, as God has shown us. Mercy on our enemies, means to love them, for who they are, meet them where they are at and love them there. Having mercy can help not only us, change us inside out by allowing for that space for mercy, but for everyone to possibly change with us should we continue to show unbridled love. When we show our love, unbound less love, maybe we are also loving our neighbor but fulfilling God’s wishes for us to have God work through us.. …..with us, and in us.
Since I sometimes like some Good Orderly Direction that is found in the Book of Common Prayer, I found a prayer for our enemies. In closing, let us pray:
For our Enemies
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Christina Cernansky