Sunday, February 24, 2019

“Changing the Rules” (Luke 6:27-31)


There came a point when our three youngest children refused to play basketball with their older brother.  Part of it was because he was bigger and stronger than them, but the bigger reason was because he was always changing the rules of the game.  It is difficult to beat someone when the rules of the game keep changing . . . so, for a while, in the Keener household, no one would play basketball against John Andrew.  And, I couldn’t argue against them.  It is no fun when the rules of the game keep changing.  It is frustrating.

Imagine the frustration of those disciples who were listening to Jesus in our scripture reading this morning.  First, they hear that God has turned the world upside down and inside out . . . everything they thought was right, is now the opposite.  They hear that those on the short end of the stick are blessed, and that those with the silver spoon are cursed.  Not quite the way that they were used to.  And, now, Jesus is telling them that they need to act differently towards others; especially those who are their enemies, those who hate and curse them, those who hit and steal from them, and those who demand things from them.  Instead of having adverse reactions towards them, Jesus tells them that they should embrace them, welcome them, and love them.  In fact, he tells them that they are to . . . “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

This wasn’t quite the way that life was being lived.  Quite the opposite . . . and, now, Jesus was telling them that they had to change the way that they lived and treated others.  This is not the way life was meant to be lived.  You do not love your enemies . . . you wipe your enemies out!  Do good to those who hate you . . . no, you be mean to them!  Pray for those who mistreat you . . . no way, you wish for karma, that is what you do.  Turn the other cheek when someone punches you . . . no, you punch back!  That is the way that life is lived, not this wishy washy wimpy “love thy neighbor” stuff that Jesus was telling them.  That is not the way they had been taught.


But here we see Jesus change the rules of the game.  Jesus completely flips the rules and the way that the game of life is to be played.  With Jesus having told them that God sees life and the world differently than humans do, he is now telling them how these differences are played out . . . how God sees life being lived.  It was bad enough that Jesus shocked the people once, but now he was just compounding the shock and frustration.  I am sure more than one person listening that day had second thoughts about Jesus and what he was asking his followers to do.

Despite the affect that Jesus was having on the people, he does not change the importance of this foundation of his ministry . . . he does not back down.  No, he means what he says . . . it comes down to relationships and how those relationships are lived.  For Jesus all relationships are based on a simple premise . . . to treat others as you would want to be treated . . . relationships that are grounded in love.

Even though Jesus spoke those words several thousands of years ago . . . even though they have been written in our Bibles for a long, long time before any of us were here . . . I think that they are still shocking.  I think that they speak of a way of living that is not quite up to what our society values and deems as important.  All we have to do is to watch our televisions, listen to the radio, read our newspapers, listen to the talk of those around us . . . our society and the whole world is a mess.  It is far cry from coming anywhere close to what Jesus is talking about this morning in our scripture reading.

Think about it . . . listen to what is being said on our national and global stage.  If someone is not with us or for us, they are against us.  If they are against us, they are our enemies.  Our enemies are to be eliminated.  Same goes for those who hate, curse, or mistreat us . . . they are evil, they are our enemies . . . they must be destroyed so they cannot hurt us.  If someone strikes us, we strike back; after all, the Old Testament tells us it is an “eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”.  If someone begs, well they need to get up off their rear ends and go to work . . . pick themselves up by their bootstraps and fend for themselves.  We live in a time in which we are taught to watch out for number one . . . to take care of ourselves.  Isn’t that the message that we have been pretty much bombarded with for quite a while now?  Aren’t those the rules we are supposed to be playing the game with . . . the way we are supposed to live life?

Those rules are a no where close to what Jesus is telling his followers to do when it comes to living life . . . then or now.  Not much has changed since the time of Jesus.  What Jesus is asking is for everyone to change the rules . . . rules that no one is too certain they want to change.  Shoot, we are used to the way that things are.  Who wants to make the game harder . . . who wants to make life even more difficult?  As I said earlier, no one likes when the rules of the game are changed.

But, that is the way the game is played if you follow Jesus.  They are played by his rules . . . God’s rules.  Remember that blessing comes from relationship . . . relationship between the individual and God, relationship between the individual and others.  Here Jesus defines the way that those relationships are to be lived . . . by treating others the way that you would want to be treated . . . to love others as you love yourself.  Anything less is not good enough.

Once again, I ask you to look at the world around you . . . does this look like a world in which people love themselves?  Hardly . . . it looks more like a world in which no one loves themselves as we are surrounded by nastiness, threats, and demonizing of those we call different and our enemies.  We see it all around us . . . each . . . and . . . every day!  We live in a world where it seems that no one loves themselves because if they did the world would not be the way that it is.  If the people of the world were doing what Jesus asked . . . treating each other as they would want to be treated . . . of loving them as they loved themselves, we would see a completely different world.  We would begin to see the Kingdom of God as it was meant to be.

Think about it.

We know the rules that Jesus brings to the table.  We know how those rules conflict with what we have learned in our society and world.  We know how difficult it is to change . . . to let go . . . and, to learn and live by new rules.  It is hard . . . real hard.  We all struggle with it each and every day.  I know that I do.  I know that when I am commuting to the university during the week and someone cuts me off, my gut reaction is to signal to them that they are “number one”; but, Jesus calls upon me to grin and bear it . . . to treat them as I would want to be treated . . . to love them.  It is not easy, but it is getting easier when I remember the words of Jesus asking me to do so.

It is hard.  Jesus never said that it would be easy.  At the same time, he did say we had to try . . . we had to try to see our enemies as members—brothers and sisters—of our family, God’s family.  To love those who hate us, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who treat us like dirt . . . he told us to do this.  He told us that we shouldn’t hit back, that we not seek revenge, shouldn’t be mean.  He told us to love others as we love ourselves, and to treat them as we would want to be treated.  He changed the rules . . . shattered them all . . . and, called us to love.

Yeah, Jesus changed the rules.  Jesus changed them for the better.  This is the way that life is to be lived . . . loving God . . . loving others.  There is no better way than God’s way.  Jesus showed us the truth in that.  Amen.

Sunday, February 17, 2019

“Really . . . You Call that Blessing?” (Luke 6:17-26)


It is difficult to take seriously the words of Jesus that we have just heard.  I have been poor and, I did not find much blessing in being poor.  I have been hungry, wondering where the next meal was going to come from and, I did not find any blessing in being hungry.  I have been sad, filled with sorrow and, I did not find any blessing in my sorrow.  And, I have been hated, rejected, ridiculed, and insulted . . . I found no blessing in that.  Yet, here is Jesus telling his listeners and us that to be any of these things is to be blessed.  In our day and age, in our minds and the way that society has raised us, none of these “blessings” mentioned by Jesus would be considered blessings.  No, they would be curses.

Things like wealth, a full belly, being entertained, and be lauded . . . now, those are the things that make up a blessing.  Yet, Jesus tells us that these are not blessings . . . these are curses.  Jesus proclaims: “Woe to you who are rich . . . woe to you who are well fed . . . woe to you who laugh now . . . woe to you when all men speak well of you . . .”  In four sentences Jesus pretty much, stomps all over the mantra of our society as American people.  In our society it seems as if the mantra of life is that you must be rich and famous to be someone . . . to be successful . . . to be someone.  In what we would consider “blessing”, Jesus deems them to be curses.

Maybe Jesus had been out in the sun too long.  To our ears, the words that Jesus speaks, do not make sense.  They seem to be a contradiction to our way of life.  Yet, I am assured by the great biblical scholars and theologians that there is no mistake in the words of Jesus.  They are recorded just as he spoke them.  Jesus said what he meant, and he meant what he said.  Jesus wasn’t interested in keeping things the same . . . no, he was interested in ushering in things as they should be.  He was wanting to bring forth God’s kingdom . . . God’s world . . . in which everything was the reverse of what people were used to.  In such a world the poor, hungry, weeping, and rejected are blessed.  While the rich, satisfied, entertained, and lauded were cursed.  God’s world . . . God’s kingdom . . . is not this world.

I had a friend once tell me that the reason most lottery winners end up broke and in debt is because our society lives ten percent above their actual financial means.  He believed that people think that “more” means “better”, and he believed people would go into debt to get more.  He said money wasn’t a blessing, it was a curse.  He would say, “Money can’t buy you happiness.”  My response was always, “Give me some so I can find out for myself.”  But my friend was right.  Statistics of our nation show that anywhere between 50 to 80 percent of people live from paycheck to paycheck or above what they earn.  In fact, credit makes up 40 percent of our nation’s income.  I am not sure one would call that “blessing”, despite having all the trappings of wealth and status.

In God’s world . . . God’s kingdom . . . blessing comes from relationship.  Blessing does not come from wealth, status, or power.  In God’s world . . . God’s kingdom . . . blessing flows from being accepted, welcomed, and desired for who you are by another.  It begins with that relationship between God and the individual . . . between you, me, and God.  It is accepting the knowledge that God wants us, desires us, and welcomes us with open arms into our place in the family of God.  It is taking our rightful place in the family portrait.  That is blessing.  That is the way that Jesus shows us.

The focus to being “blessed” is upon that relationship.  That was the first part of what Jesus affirmed . . . “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind . . .’” (Luke 10:27a, NIV) Love God as God loves you.  In that relationship, we are blessed.  We are blessed no matter what our status in the world might be if we have that loving relationship with God.  Thus, it becomes our obligation to seek the blessing that is offered.  It is our responsibility to receive the blessing into our lives and to allow God’s love to become our love.

It is all about the relationship.

When my wife, Dana, and I got married we did not have two nickels to rub together.  We had nothing . . . literally nothing.  Actually, that’s not true.  We had debt . . . lots of educational debt.  People told us to wait to get married until we had more.  We thought that if we did that we would never get married.  So, we got married.  We didn’t have much, but we had each other . . . we had our relationship.  No matter how broke we were . . . how much we struggled financially, we had each other.  You could not have convinced either one of us that we were not blessed.

Same thing happened to us when we started having children.  We were told to wait until we were financially stable and could afford to have a child.  Again, if we did that, we would not have had any children . . . you’ve seen what it costs to raise a child!  So, we went ahead and had children.  We didn’t have much, but we had each other, lots of love, and we were all blessed.  You could not have told us otherwise . . . we were blessed.

We were blessed because we had relationships with one another.  Relationships in which the other person was desired, wanted, loved, respected, enjoyed . . . in which we supported each other . . . laughed and cried with each other.  Relationships that were not based on things and wealth, but who the other person was in our lives.  In the best of times, in the worse of times . . . we had one another.  We were blessed.

In this, Jesus knew what he was talking about when it came to being blessed.

Yet, for Jesus it is not enough for his followers to step up and receive the blessing from God.  No, blessing is more than receiving.  For Jesus it is also in the giving.  It is true that “blessing” comes from being in that relationship that is all encompassing with God.  That is fine and dandy, and it gets half the task completed . . . but, there is more.  Blessing also comes when we, as individuals and as a group, seek out relationships with others . . . to welcome others into the family of God . . . to love and support, respect and redeem, to care for.  We are blessed when we bring God’s blessing to others.

As I stated earlier, Jesus said we had to get into a relationship with God to be blessed.  He said, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind . . .’” (Luke 10:27a, NIV) We know that part, but we also know that this was only the first half of what Jesus said.  The rest of what he said was, “ . . . and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27b, NIV) For Jesus, it seemed simple, in that in receiving the blessing and love of God we would want others to have it too.  Thus, it was that he called for his followers to go out into the world and share the “good news” . . . to share the “blessing” with others.  In Jesus’ mind, it seemed logical; after all, everyone is a child of God deserving the love of God and others.  To share the “blessing” with others is to step into relationship which opens everyone to greater “blessing”.

When the focus on status, wealth, and power is taken away and put
upon relationships, the words that Jesus speaks to us this morning make sense.  When our lives quit striving to being rich, famous, and powerful; and strive to be based on love, then the words of Jesus make sense.  Blessing does not come from any of the things that Jesus mentions, but it comes from how we relate . . . how we relate to God . . . how we relate to others.  That is not how our world sees being “blessed” . . . that is how God sees it.  Jesus just states the facts.  To receive “blessing” we have to make a choice.  It is always up to us . . . God has already made the offer.  Choose well.  Amen.