Sermon - Epiphany 7 - Luke 6:27-38

It would have made a great reality tv show scene.  Joseph had been wronged.  His brothers really did a number on him.  They almost killed him, really, but to his father and the rest of his family, he was as good as dead.  They sold him into slavery, and he ended up in Egypt, first as a slave, then as an unjustly accused prisoner.  Finally, after much suffering, God not only restored Joseph but set him at the right hand of Pharaoh himself, ruling all of Egypt.  A rags to riches story if there ever was one. 

But he never forgot what they did to him.  And for most of us, it would be hard to forgive.  So when one day his brothers appeared before him, strangers from a strange land begging for food and help in the midst of a famine, they didn’t even recognize him.  But he hadn’t forgotten them! 

It's a dramatic moment when he reveals his true identity to them.  What’s he going to do?  Call them out for their sins against him?  See how they like it rotting in a dungeon?  Or will he put them to death for their crimes, as he surely could have done?  They betrayed him, they hurt him, they were his enemies.  But Joseph surprises everyone.  He loves them.  He forgives them.  He weeps and embraces them and kisses them.  There’s perhaps no more dramatic Old Testament story of forgiveness than this. 

It's hard to imagine forgiving your enemies like that.  But that’s Just what Jesus calls us to do, as we read today a bit more from the Sermon on the Plain.  “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” 

But sin programs us to do the opposite.  Sin wants us not only to be the judge, but the jury and the executioner.  Sin wants its revenge.  Sin wants us to remember and catalog every little slight, every insult, every disrespect our neighbor shows us.   

And it takes so little.  Your neighbor doesn’t have to throw you in a pit and fake your death, or sell you into slavery to raise your sense of enmity.  An unkind word, perhaps even misunderstood.  A thoughtless slight, “oh, you bought everyone else coffee but me?”  Maybe it’s their politics that put them on the opposite side of you. 

Or even just some annoying habit or personal trait that bothers your delicate sensibilities and all of a sudden that person is no longer worthy of your love, your respect, your kindness. 

We don’t usually go around calling other people our enemies, though.  We try to save that word for the nazis or the communists or maybe a characters in some movies.  But I’m kind of glad that Jesus uses the word.  It pushes us to see the seriousness of our unloving-ness.  We are too quick to make enemies of people, even in our own family, if even only for a time.   

Love them.  But we want to hate them.  We feel justified in hating them. 

Do good to them.  Ah, but we think they deserve anything but good. 

Bless those who curse you.  Now, that just doesn’t seem fair! 

And… get this… pray for those who abuse you!  Our sinful nature must think Jesus is off his rocker.   

This is a hard teaching of Jesus.  And we could try to water it down or explain it away, but isn’t it just better to let this application of law cut us down and expose us as the sinful sinners we are?   

It’s not like we’re the innocent victims, even of our enemies.  And haven’t we done enough to harm others, that we should rightly be judged and found guilty? 

But there is one who had far more enemies than he deserved.  There is one who truly suffered unjustly at the hands of evil men.  And he prayed even for those who abused him, “Father, forgive them!”  He loved even those who denied him.  He blessed those who cursed him.  He even died for those who killed him. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ dies for us, even while we were enemies of God!  He loves us when we were and are unlovable. He does good to us who know nothing but evil.  And he prays for us who deserve nothing of the sort.  His radical grace, the undeserved love shown to us when he saved us from sin, death and hell, is truly remarkable.  And it serves not only as an example to follow, but, far more than that.  It changes us. 

Christ turns us from enemies to friends.  He takes rebellious people who shake their fist at God in anger and arrogance, and he humbles us, restores us, and renews us for service.  He changes the heart.  He changes lives.  He baptizes and feeds us and his Spirit is ever sanctifying us, working to bring that good work to completion at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

And at the same time, he defeats our true enemy, our old evil foe, that ancient serpent who deceived our first parents in the garden.  God put enmity between the woman and all her offspring, and promised the One offspring that would come and crush the serpent’s head.  Jesus Christ has done just that.  Our enemy is destroyed, his power come undone, and all that’s left for him is bluster and threats.  He knows his time is short, and the victory belongs to Christ and all who are in him. 

Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  He reigns even now, ascended on high, seated at the right hand of the Father, governing all things for the good of his church.  But one day he will come again, finish off all his enemies, and the last enemy which is death itself.  He’s already won that victory for himself – risen and alive and never to die again.  But on that final day, he will give us a full share of that victory as we too triumph over death in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. 

Until then, we mortify the flesh even while we live in it.  Each day we drown our old Adam in the waters of baptism, by repentance and faith, and the new man arises.  Each time we come to the altar and receive the risen and victorious body and blood of Christ, we partake of his victory, and are strengthened unto life everlasting.  We are strengthened in faith – a faith that loves our neighbor, and even our enemies.  A strength that forgives and turns the other cheek, and blesses and even prays for those who don’t deserve it.  Because we don’t deserve the good grace he shows us in Christ. 

And then, one day, you will die.  It will seem the enemy has won.  But with Christ, all is not what it seems.  The pastor will stand at your grave and proclaim, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Love your enemies.  For you were once an enemy, and God has made you his friend, his child, his treasured possession in Christ.  Love your enemies, for your neighbor isn’t your true enemy.  But Jesus Christ has given you victory over the real enemies – sin and death and hell.   

 

 

 

 

Sermon - Epiphany 6 - 1 Corinthians 15:2-20; Luke 6:17-26

The Epiphany Season continues to set before us the question – “who is this Jesus who has appeared and manifested among us?”  He’s the True Bridegroom at the Wedding at Cana.  He’s the preacher who is rejected in his hometown of Nazareth.  He’s the one who teaches with authority and casts out demons and heals the sick.  And he’s the one who calls people to follow him, making fishermen into fishers of men. 

Like the facets of a diamond, we can continue to observe the many aspects of his Epiphany, and see him as both God and man, prophet, priest, and king.  The savior, the redeemer, the one who makes atonement for sin.  The Messiah of the Jews and the Christ of the Gentiles.  It really is all about Jesus. 

 

Today, Luke gives us a bit more of Jesus’ preaching ministry in what is called the “Sermon on the Plain.”  It is similar to his probably more famous “Sermon on the Mount” from Matthew’s Gospel.  Here, he also begins with a poetic piece known as the Beatitudes.  Only this time he not only mentions those who are blessed, but also those who are cursed, or objects of woe.  It’s a study in contrasts as Jesus paints a picture of life as a believer in him. 

 

For the first three blessings, Jesus speaks metaphorically, about the poor, the hungry and those who weep.  Three sad states of affair in this earthly life that most everyone wants to avoid.  The poor lack money to buy what they need.  The hungry lack food to sustain their very life.  And the mourners are deeply grieving some sad state of affairs, most likely someone’s death.  The poor, the hungry, and those who weep – are three pictures of people the world would say are decidedly not favored, not well off, and certainly not blessed by God. 

But Jesus doesn’t think like the world.  In fact he comes to turn the things of the world upside down and inside out.  The poor, he makes rich, even kings, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  The hungry he fills with good things, and they are satisfied.  And those who weep see their tears turned to joy and laughter.   

 

At the end of the book “The Lord of the Rings”, the hobbit Samwise Gamgee wakes up to the bright sun and see his friend Gandalf the wizard.  He thought Gandalf was dead, for the last time he saw him he had fallen down a great chasm.  Sam says, “I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself! Is everything sad going to come untrue?” 

 

With Jesus, that’s just how it is.  In the end, everything sad comes untrue.  For great is your reward in heaven. 

 

It’s not simply being poor or hungry or sad, however that saves you.  Nor is it enduring the hatred of the world, in and of itself.  Faith in Christ alone saves. 

 

But for the one who trusts in Christ, all of this world’s woes are nothing compared to the blessings we are promised.  This world is passing away, it has an expiration date.  But the reward of heaven is forever.  And the blessings in store for us far outshine any woes of this life. 

 

Conversely, those who find their fulfillment only in this world are in a bad way.  Woe unto them.   If your master is your money, you cannot serve God and money, and you will see it all come to nothing.  If your god is your stomach, and all your cares are for the pleasures of this life, then that is all the consolation you will see.  If you laugh now – that is if you find your happiness and joy only in this life – you will find mourning and weeping ahead of you, even gnashing of teeth.   

 

The world may look at wealth and pleasure and all the desirable things of this world as blessings, but the true blessings are not so flashy, not so shallow, and not so easily seen.  True blessing is in Christ, and him crucified for sinners.  True blessing is in his resurrection from the dead, which gives us the hope of the resurrection. 

 

Today we also have a portion of the Great Resurrection Chapter, 1 Corinthians 15.  Here Paul indicates that some were saying in Corinth that Christ didn’t really rise from the dead, and that Christ only gives us hope for this world.  What a horrible lie!  If Christ isn’t raised from the dead then our faith is in vain – it’s all for naught – the whole thing comes tumbling down.  If Christ didn’t conquer death, then how could we have any hope?  If Christ is not raised from the dead, then our future prospects are quite grave.   

 

For as Paul rightly shows us, Christ’s resurrection and our own resurrection are connected.  Ours depends on his.  And his guarantees our own.  Christ’s resurrection is the first-fruit.  He’s the early harvest.  But much more is yet to come.  He’s the first born of the dead, and his brothers and sisters will surely follow. 

 

We confess this in the creeds, of course.  I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. That’s your body, raised from the dead to live in the kingdom of glory forever.  Great is your reward in heaven! 

 

Here is hope also for our loved ones who have died in the faith.  Paul speaks of them as having fallen asleep.  Yes!  Because they will wake up, they will arise, with all the faithful dead at the trumpet call of God on the last day.   

 

If our hope in Christ was only for this life, Paul says, we are most pitiful.  Then poverty and hunger and weeping and persecution would be the end of the story.  Then there would be nothing but woe for us.  We would be without hope.   

 

But Christ has been raised from the dead, and he lives forever.  And you will be raised from the dead, also to live forever!  Blessed are you, indeed!  For in that day, everything sad will come untrue.  And all the blessings now hidden will be revealed.  Fortunes are reversed, the mighty are brought low, and the lowly raised up.  And even death itself must give way to life.