Jesus never said that it would be easy. I don’t think that he is going to get any
argument from any of the faithful on that point. It is not easy to love. Love is tough . . . and, Jesus understood
that. Love was the foundation of his
message and life. Repeatedly he
reiterated that the task and life of his followers was to love the Lord
completely and to love others as they have been loved by God. He stated that
these two covered all the laws and words of the prophets. He reminded everyone: “Do not think
that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish
them but to fulfill them.” And,
it is not going to be easy.
Looking around the world we live in . .
. considering the times we live in . . . what the world needs—what we need—is
love.
In our scripture reading this morning Jesus continues from the
Beatitudes. He speaks of salt and light
in reference to the faithful. As salt
the faithful “season” the world and lives around them. As the light they shine upon the world and
lives around them. They are the
witnesses of Jesus and his message of love.
It is through them that the world discovers the love presented through
Jesus—his words and actions. Because of
this he warns them to not lose their saltiness or to hide their light. Instead he wants them to put them to use in
sharing the message of love and establishing God’s kingdom.
At least that is what I get from his
admonishment to the faithful to “practice and teach these commands”. Jesus wants God’s desire fulfilled . . .
wants God’s will to be done . . . wants the Kingdom of God established . . .
wants the fulfillment of the Law and words of the prophets. This is not something that can be done if the
followers lose their saltiness or hide their light under a bowl. Jesus challenges them to be the spark that
gets the fire going.
The camp song, Pass It On,
reminds us of this fact:
It
only takes a spark
To get
a fire going
And
soon all those around
Can
warm up in its glowing
That’s
how it is with God’s love
Once
you’ve experienced it
You
spread His love to ev’ryone
You
want to pass it on
We, the faithful—the followers of Jesus,
are that spark. It is our responsibility
to get the fire going . . . our responsibility to share the love . . . to
establish God’s Kingdom in this time and place.
But that is not easy. We live in times that are divisive with great
chasms between people . . . times in which people do not treat one another with
love, respect, and decency. Times that
do not reflect much love for God or one another. We see it all the time in our newspapers, our
television . . . in all the aspects of the lives we live. The times we live in are a far cry from the
picture Jesus painted of God’s Kingdom.
We lack justice, mercy, and humbleness . . . we lack love. These are dark and scary times that we are
living in.
Complicating it even more is fear. It is scary to speak out and stand against
that which goes against God’s desire and will . . . that goes against the love
and grace of God . . . that point to justice, mercy, peace, and love. Too often we have witnessed the expensive
price paid by those who stood up against the world and cried out, “FOUL!” We have seen how the world treats them . . .
called them names, ostracized them, and even killed them because they chose to
stand up for God and love. We don’t want
to end up like them . . . despised outcasts.
None of us wants that despite the fact that Jesus and the early leaders
of the church warned us that this would happen if we stood up for our faith.
The world sure is a mess and it cannot
continue this path of destruction and depravity. The world needs to change. No one sitting here this morning is going
argue against that. But, for the world
to change . . . well, it is going to be hard.
But, don’t forget, Jesus never said it would be easy.
So how is the world going to change?
For the world to change the followers of
Jesus will need to reclaim their saltiness . . . will need to uncover their
lights. For the world to change the
followers of Jesus will need to become that spark that gets the fire going. Thus, it begins where we are . . . it begins
with us as individuals. If we are going
to change the world, we are going to have change ourselves. Mahatma Gandhi said, “We must become the
change we wish to see in the world.”
Rachael Bermingham says, “The only way
we can change our world is to take responsibility for our part in it.”
Nelson Mandela says, “We can change the
world and make it a better place. It is
in your hands to make a difference.”
So it is that we must begin with
ourselves.
I have said this many times, but the way
that we treat others is the way that we love ourselves. Love is reflected in the way that people are
treated. Jesus mentions this in his
parable about the sheep and goats. The
way that we treat others reflects how we love ourselves. Since that is the case, then the question we
must ask ourselves is how well do we treat others? How much do we love ourselves?
My understanding is that we are to love
ourselves the way that God loves us. God
loves us for who we have been created to be.
God loves us no matter how good or bad we are. God loves us to forgive us and allow us to
keep trying over and over again. God
loves us with grace and seeks out only the best for us. God loves us completely whether we deserve
that love or not . . . God desires us.
That is my understanding of how we are to love ourselves . . . just as
God has loved us, and then we are to love others in the exact same way.
If we cannot do this for ourselves, then
we cannot do it for others.
We begin with ourselves. From there all we can do is to go forth and
love . . . to love others as we love ourselves, as God loves us. With such love we want the best for all of
God’s children. Thus, we must stand up
for our love of God and others through the faith we put into action. We must be that light that shines on that
which goes against God’s will . . . to seek justice, mercy, and peace. Not so much by the words we speak—important
as they are, but through the actions we take.
We recall the Beatitudes shared by Jesus
last week . . . we not only help the poor; we also stand up against that which
makes people poor and keeps them there . . . we stand up against injustice and
power that corrupts . . . we seek peace in times of conflict and work towards
reconciliation . . . we stand up for what is right and go against falsehoods
that create divisiveness . . . we seek unity and community, not factions that
divide. We live the love spoken about
and lived by Jesus. We become that spark
that brings the light to others and allows them the same opportunity we had . .
. to be loved and to love. We get the
fire going.
We become the change we seek in the
world. It won’t be easy. But it starts out small . . . a spark. We here in Montana know the power of a
spark. Every summer we hear the news of
how a spark has created a raging fire that consumes everything in its
path. We are that spark when it comes to
God’s love. That is our faith in action.
The last verse in Pass It On says
it well:
I wish
for you my friend
This
happiness I have found
You
can depend on Him
It
matters not where you’re bound
I’ll
shout it from the mountain top
I want
my world to know
The
lord of love has come to me
I want
to pass it on
May we each be that spark that gets the
fire going . . . it is the only way we are ever going to change the world we
live in. Amen.
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