Replacing evil with Love
Sermon - Replacing evil with love
Over the last three weeks, it has felt like Jesus has been pretty intense. I think more intense than we often like him to be. Today, he seems to be telling us not to seek retributive justice, but to take abuse, over-give, and go the extra mile - all to love our enemy. It can be easy to feel like Jesus is taking it too far, that he’s pushing love too much. But we must remember one thing, Jesus is trying to create God’s Kingdom, he is stopping for nothing short of a perfect world. Today, he is stepping beyond the sin of anger and desire, and showing us how we join with Him in creating a perfect world by replacing evil with love.
In the first half of our gospel reading Jesus addresses the demand for just retribution, by saying that mercy is far better. The original command an eye for an eye comes up three times in Scripture and by almost all interpreters, it is recognized as a law not commanding equal retribution, but meant to limit our retribution. The basic idea is that if someone hurts you, you can’t hurt them worse, even though you may want to. History is full of times when people don’t listen to this command with ever-increasing destructive retributive justice. I think our cancel culture is not listening to this command either.
Jesus is trying to show us that mercy is far better as it does the work justice cannot do. The three examples we are given, are to turn the other cheek, to give someone the shirt off your back, and to go the extra mile. Each of these examples shows us that mercy can do 4 amazing things: 1) shame someone to see what they have done, 2) open up space for the other, 3) give to someone in need, 4) and ultimately, replace evil with love.
First, these acts shame a person with love. In Jesus’ society, if you slapped someone on the right cheek with the back of the hand it was considered punishment, but if you slapped them on the left cheek with an open hand it was considered abuse. By turning the other cheek, we are actually showing them the true reality of their actions. Even without this older understanding, an action to humbly and purposely give ourselves to another's anger can point to their abuse. If someone sues you for your coat, which back in the day would have been one of a person’s most treasured possessions, give them your shirt as well. This means that you would be practically naked in front of them and it would show them what they have taken from you and how great their demand was. Lastly, Roman soldiers in Jesus’s day had the right to demand any citizen to carry their stuff for a mile, when you go the extra mile, you are walking with them for an extra 30 minutes as a consistent reminder of what they are demanding. Our humble gifts of ourselves have a way of showing people the true reality of their unjust actions and demands. Shaming with love can change things. Shame is when someone notices something is wrong. But we are not meant to live in guilt or shame, but with God, we are supposed to redeem it, find forgiveness, and change our actions - so our love can lead people to that.
This shaming though is not Jesus’ main point. I think this is just a comforting reality for us because we want justice and change in the other person. Jesus ends this section by telling us to give to those who ask and not to deny those who want to borrow from us. Basically, when you bring the need of the other beside the idea of turning the other cheek, or giving the shirt off your back, or going the extra mile, what Jesus is showing us is that our abusers, those that sue us, and those that demand something of us, are people in real need. By doing all of these things we are responding to the real need that person has, we aren’t rejecting it or pushing them away, we are serving their need. By serving that need in drastic ways, we are actually making space in our life for that other person beyond their expectations and so offering them the fulfillment of their need, which is not what they are asking for but is ultimately Christ’s love and bounty living through us.
Through all of this and more, our actions can replace evil with love. This idea is the most important one because that is what we want to do in Jesus Christ. We want to replace the evil of this world with love and so build His kingdom. When someone acts against you whether it be abuse, taking something, or forcing you to work, this is an act of evil and makes the world a little less, but if we respond with gracious generosity by giving them something more, we respond to that evil with love and so transform the action. It is our free act to show what God’s love has worked in us, as we live it out for the other person. So instead of making the world a little less, it makes it a little more as it can show the person or others the wrong, it fills a need and opens up space to welcome the other into a new and wonderful love they might never have known otherwise.
A quick note: the ideas of turning the other cheek, giving the shirt off of our back, and going the extra mile can be really hard for us. We can easily become scared that we are just going to become a doormat, taking abuse, that we’ll have nothing left, or that we won’t have the energy or time to do what we need. These are real concerns and may even become a reality in certain ways, but these are also fears that show us that we need greater trust and faith in God’s love and bounty, not just to do the work, but also that in Jesus we will always have enough and that in Him so will we.
We can see that Jesus has already been showing us that we should love our enemies, love those who oppose us, and those who are adversarial because He wants to help us transform that relationship and point it in a new direction toward love and life together. I can quite vividly see a moment in my life where I failed this and a moment where I succeeded in this call to love our enemies.
I failed this in University when I had a friend who I felt was trying to manipulate our relationship to get his way. Whether this was true or not, I ended up turning my back on this friendship and he became quite literally an adversary or bully at times, but he also ended up being a bit of an outsider too as he depended on lies, judgment, and pride. I can only imagine at this point what friendship and a self-giving love could have meant for both of us, it would have definitely been more than it was.
I succeeded at this loving my enemy in elementary school when I would befriend and love my enemies. There were numerous times when I was made fun of, beaten up, shunned, and bullied, but at that time I so wanted to be their friend, I so loved them that I never gave up on them and I would keep reaching out to hang out or show hospitality or whatever. Over the years it did get better, but by the end of elementary school, all of these bullies that stuck around were some of my most loyal, devoted, and loving friends. Looking back, I can barely imagine how it happened. It seems almost too astounding, God was definitely at work.
We don’t always have a prolonged time to respond with love like these examples, but even a single act can have a huge effect. We can only imagine what praying for our abusers could do, especially when we humbly speak our prayers to them. We can only imagine what love and welcome can mean for someone who feels like their life is chaos and that they have no ground to stand on. Jesus says even a simple greeting can come with great reward. Greeting someone is something so small but it has a great meaning - a greeting is welcoming, it puts aside shame, it is an act of love and friendship, a greeting honors the other person, lifts them up, a greeting is an invitation, an offer, a greeting is a gentle vulnerable act of trust. Such a simple act can mean so much. I remember a friend and I standing on the side of the road in high school, we greeted an elderly man walking past, not thinking anything of it. This man, though we had never met him and would never see him again, proceeded to tell us his war story, his struggles, losses, and successes through the Second World War. It was a strange and amazing experience, but it was obvious by the end that this man wasn’t able to tell many people this and that by the end he experienced a kind of catharsis and relief. All because we greeted him.
In all of this, I hope you see that responding to evil with love is already in its own way a reward as relationships are transformed, or created, as the world is changed, and as we have the opportunity to live in even greater love through living into God’s goodness. But as always Jesus is so gracious that he wants to offer us more and so he tells us our reward will be great when we respond in His love.
God has already been doing this work of loving enemies for eons. All we have to do is look at creation to see this. He makes the sun rise for the good and evil alike. So just like the sun, he brings his warmth, he lights our path to show us the way, he casts out fear by revealing the truth, and he brings us the hope of the new day even when we are evil. He makes the rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous, so he brings sustenance, abundance, and life to all, he offers relief as we are washed and made clean. God has always been doing this work of loving those who are adversarial and rebellious. He has never stopped, because he longs to transform them and this world. Today, we are invited to join in this work and so God has gifted us with the ability to join with him in replacing evil with love by loving our enemy and responding to injustice with love. AMEN
Is something wrong Mousechief?
Ya, another mouse keeps bullying me. He calls me names, pushes me, and hurts me. He makes me just want to hit him.
I’m sorry to hear that but you shouldn’t hit him, that wouldn’t be nice.
Well, is it only fair that if he hits me I hit him back?
It might seem fair, but it isn’t usually good. Jesus tells us today that we must love our enemies?
Why should we do that?
That is a good question, do any of you have any thoughts on why we should love those that hurt us?
They need it, they might not know love, they might become friends, you transform that evil into something good, you show them the wrong
Okay, I think I am beginning to see, but how do I love them?
Invite them over, greet them as friends, spend time with them, ask them about themselves, celebrate them, give them something, tell them you forgive them,
A small note: what Jesus goes on to teach in the Sermon on the Mount is deeply rooted in the beatitudes, the sections on anger and lust helped to show us our poverty of Spirit and what we should be mourning. Today, Jesus is showing us how we might be meek and hunger after righteousness.
Notes:
Jesus is being intense because he is trying to create the perfect kingdom
Shame others with love
Replacing a demand/evil with love
Giving to someone in need
Opening up space for the other
Abuse - not having enough - trusting God's bounty and life
Loving adversaries, those that hate you (transform, point that relationship in a new direction)
What is their need and ours?
Apology, jealousy, relationship, loss, lacking foundation
Julian
Pray - God might fill them and their needs
Loving those that love you - repaying, they already know love, reinforcing is good, but where is it most needed, where can it do the most good
Greeting (something small with great meaning) - welcoming, no shame, love, friendship, honouring, lifting up, invitation, offer, a gentle vulnerability
Beyond those closest to you
People will refuse to respond
Someone responded with their war story
Reward - through God's miraculous redemption and reconciliation they create great reward - but as always God wants to offer us more
Being like God
Rain for sustenance, crops and relief from heat
The sun to reveal, cast out fear, warm,
