Sunday, February 19, 2017: "Life in God's Kingdom" Fr. Carey Stone



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 Epiphany 7A’17

19 February 2017
Matthew 5.38-48
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone
 
O God who is perfect Love and perfect justice: Grant us your grace to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile and thus follow in your steps, in the Name of Jesus who shows us what love looks like. Amen.
 
The author Tom Wright tells the story about a father who had to go away from his wife and two sons for three or four days on business. Anxious about leaving them he had a talk with the oldest that was nine and said, “When I’m away I want you to think what I would normally do around the house, and you do it for me.” What He had in mind was cleaning up the kitchen, washing the dishes, taking out the trash, and similar chores. On his return he asked his wife what the son had done. “Well” she said, “it was very strange. Right after breakfast he made himself another cup of coffee, went into the living room, put on some loud music, and read the newspaper for half an hour.” The father was left wondering whether his son had obeyed him a bit too accurately. 
 
In today’s gospel reading we find God the Father’s son Jesus following his example to the letter and challenging the listeners and us to do the same. But I have to say this passage is not much fun to read. As someone once said there are times when the Bible comforts the afflicted and there are other times when the Bible afflicts the comfortable. I suppose it should come as no surprise that a chapter that began with “blessed are the poor, meek and hungry”, should end with seemingly impossible commands. 
 
The structure of Jesus’ rhetoric let’s those hearing him on that day and those of us hearing it again today that God’s kingdom compared to the kingdoms of this world is upside down. Let’s take a closer look at what have come to be called the six “antitheses.”  
Jesus begins: “You have heard it said…” in other words I know you have grown up thinking this your whole life, “But I say to you…” Jesus is moving things forward - God wants the world to grow up into followers of God and of God’s law of love, which is for us to do what God would do. Tom Wright again says that Jesus is introducing a “new sort of justice, a creative, healing, restorative justice. The old justice found in the Bible was designed to prevent revenge from running rampant” but here is where Jesus’ form of justice is saying how about no revenge at all. Anything less will simply keep the wheels of vendetta going.  Jesus presents us with six antitheses as examples to give us a clue about the justice in God’s Kingdom. 
 
The first antithesis: “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek turn the other also.” Nonviolence is the only way to bring lasting and redemptive change, think Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi. To answer violence with violence is to perpetuate the cycle.   The murders in the Charleston Church were not met with further violence but with forgiveness, no cars were overturned, no neighborhoods were burned, these followers of Jesus in Charleston didn’t allow one act of violence to drag them into more violence and hate. 
 
The second antithesis: “If you are taken to court and sued so that they can take your coat, give them your cloak as well.”  Again this goes against the grain of our natural inclinations. In the first century most people only wore two garments so to give them both coat and cloak would leave them naked. This would bring shame on those bringing the lawsuit and would make room for God’s justice God has a way of evening the score better than any we could ever conceive of.  
 
The third antithesis: “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” This is rooted in the culture of Roman occupation. Roman soldiers by law could force civilians to carry their equipment for one mile but no more than a mile. As oppressed people this was another way to bring shame on their occupiers and draw attention to their unjust policies. 
 
The fourth antithesis: “give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.” I have some experience with the first part of this one but not the second. As a priest I have people that are always coming by or calling and asking for assistance. Some are definitely legitimate and some are questionable. Here is where I feel the struggle as a follower of Jesus, how do I follow these words? There are also the people you and I both see that stand on the street corner with their cardboard signs. Wearing a collar at such times makes me that much more uncomfortable. My wife had a good idea about what to do we now buy McDonalds gift cards and keep them in our cars so that we have something to give them besides money. While these can be bartered for drugs we can be sure that someone who needs it will get a hot meal. 
 
The fifth antithesis: “You have heard it said to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say, love your enemies.” These words were radical then and they are radical today. How on earth is this possible? I’m reminded of the Amish school shooting that took place several years ago in Lancaster, PA where 5 elementary aged children were killed and six others wounded before Law officers could kill the shooter. 
 
After this tragedy the families of the victims forgave the shooter and invited the shooter’s widow to the funeral. They also paid for her to receive educational training so that she could support herself. This, my friends is a group who chose the high road of following Christ.  
 
The sixth antithesis: “Pray for those who persecute you.” This is just the opposite of what first comes into our minds, ‘yeah I’ll pray for them that God fries them!’ Nevertheless, this is the standard that Jesus sets before us, it was radical then, and it is radical now.
Perhaps these Christ-like ways of behaving seem impossible to us. It brings to mind a quote by the 19th and early 20th cen. writer G. K. Chesterton: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tired.”  But, if people responded in some of these ways the Kingdom of God would break forth and in fact it has wherever these principles have been practiced. Perhaps none of us feel like we could ever follow these words of Jesus or at least not all the time. 
 
The closing verse in this massively challenging chapter leaves us with the most impossible command of all, “to be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” This is not a neurotic perfectionism. The Greek word for perfect is teleios it means to reach completion - this is our aim of the long process of following in Jesus footsteps sometimes halting, sometimes stumbling but always in spite of everything, heading towards the goal that will one day be finally realized when the kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdoms of our Lord. In the meantime - when we find ourselves in trying circumstances let us ask ourselves “What Would Jesus Do?” And to respond with as much compassion, generosity and love as God’s grace will allow. Amen.