Sermon: Listen!

 

          Jesus has preached his beloved blessings of:

the poor, the hungry, the weeping, and the reviled,
as well as the corollary woes to: the rich, filled, overjoyed, and honored.

          Then he asks, “Are you listening?”

 

          He takes a beat—he does a sort of mic check,
 to see if people are paying attention.
He insists that the Disciples and the Crowd reflect on what such blessings and woes mean,
 not as abstractions,
but in the world they found themselves in… the world as it actually is!

In Judea long occupied by Rome
—where patriotic rebels and vicious bandits were rather hard to tell apart…
because they were usually the same people…

In a polarized place
—Samaritans and Jews jostling for position,
Judaism itself riven and split
—Patrician Sadducees and Essenes exiled and proud of it,
Pharisees themselves divided between
acceptance of the occupation             and resistance to it…

In such a reality
—what does God’s grand reversal
—the blessing of the Kingdom of God
that Jesus has just spoken into existence
mean in concrete terms?
“Are you listening?” This is what that will look like in your life…

And at base, Jesus insists there is a path between retaliation and reciprocity,
a path that can not be found—only revealed.
The path between retaliation and reciprocity cannot be found, only revealed.

Prayer

 

“Are you listening?”

Jesus warns the crowd of the twin dangers of Retaliation and Reciprocity.

If you live as if the Beatitudes are true
—even as a part time lifestyle, even as a hobby,
there will be consequences, you will make enemies… you will get hurt.

The temptation, an o’ so human one, is to retaliate
—you hurt me, I’ll hurt you back.
An eye for an eye—blinding the whole world.

 

“Are you listening?”

When you are struck, however, offer your enemy the other cheek
—now one reading of this is a so-called post-colonial reading
—Roman citizens alone could be struck with the left hand…
so this second slap is a sort of conferring of dignity—I’m a good as any Roman! (back-hand)

 

Maybe a more meaningful reading is that offering a second strike
is asking of the question: “Do you really mean it?”

So too, when your cloak is requisitioned,
a Roman form of Imminent Domain,
give them more than they are allowed to take
—go naked to get the occupiers to knock it off!

 

Luke’s Gospel, and the Acts of the Apostles,
 are both filled with the radical generosity of “give to all who beg”
to the point of sharing everything in common…
a practice often lauded, but rarely done.

 

Then finally, Jesus insists that theft ought to be transformed into a gift…
they can’t take your stuff if you give it to ‘em!
You’re saving them from sinning,
saving them from breaking a commandment!

 

          Resist your enemies by heightening the stakes
—make it uncomfortable and personal
—make them see the evil of their ways
and even force them to go against their own values and rules when they harm you!

          Not only that, heighten your own good deeds
—heighten the rightness of your cause,
treating them like the human beings they are!

 

“Are you listening?”

The other impulse of us humans is to transform kindness and goodness into a game
—I scratch your back, you scratch mine,
Quid Pro Quo
Reciprocity!

 

That Springsteen song might boast that,
“We take care of our own…”
but Sorry Bruce,
Jesus says “guess what, everyone does that
—even sinners love those who love them.”

 

Likewise, you might do good
in order that someone will owe you a favor
—that’s not how the least, last, and lost are going to be blessed,
that’s not Kingdom-work.

 

If you give,
in order to make someone indebted to you
—then it wasn’t a gift!

I think this is something most of us have experienced
—I’d say 1/3 of the fights I’ve mediated in my life have involved some form of this
—“I gave you this thing, and you didn’t use it the way I wanted you to…
-now I’m going to take it back…
-now I’m going to take it from you,
-it was never really yours to begin with!

A gift is only a gift if there are no strings attached to it!

          Instead of relying on reciprocity,
be merciful as our Father is merciful
—start out from a point of thanksgiving
—grateful for every gift, life itself a gift…

 

“Are you listening?”

This way of life
—retaliation replaced with resistance and empathy.

This way of life
—reciprocity overcome by mercy,
and by the Way of Jesus who is the Christ, the Lord, the very Son of God.

 

“Are you listening?”

This is impossible if it is a task,
if it is a way to be found,
to search and sift and struggle to do…

but as a Revelation,
that’s a whole different story
—mercy, empathy, resistance, a way
—is shown to us.

The Life of Jesus Christ reveals God’s own heart.

God is not a God of retaliation
—our sins are not held against us, our shortcomings and misdeeds do not condemn us…

Instead, God holds us back where we would harm another
and looks upon us with tears of compassion and love,
may the lost be found,
the hungry fed,
the least uplifted.

Neither is God a God of reciprocity
—God is not looking for a bribe,
or desires good things only for those who do good…
God doesn’t string us along or make us into, to quote Luther, “workbeasts”
or give us favor, only if we give God something in return…

Instead, God is the God of Gift and Grace,
rushes to us while we are still far off,
cares for us even when we do not care for ourselves
—God loves the unlovable and…
when God showed up to save sinners, he was all in
—living this way of blessing even when it kills him,
and makes him alive again,
and with him all of us!

 

“Are you listening?”
Jesus revealed a cosmic mercy and empathy that makes the beatitudes true,
despite all the evidence to the contrary.

He is blessing this poor hungry mournful reviled world,
transforming it into an abundant place
—a whole world resurrected through Jesus Christ!

Amen.