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Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your
sight O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer; Amen.
This morning I brought a bit of show and tell to help give us a visual aid for my sermon. I
brought two things that when I read our Gospel lesson for today, came to my mind. The first item
I brought is a piece of sandpaper. And the second item I brought is a nice, soft blanket. Who can
tell me some things that sandpaper is good for? Right. Now who can tell me some ways we could
make use of this nice, soft blanket? Right. Both of these objects have separate functions, and are
both useful and helpful for different reasons, but don’t appear to be interchangeable. Now let me
ask you another question, if you were going to choose one of them to rub against your face,
which one would you choose? The sandpaper or the blanket? Of course you would choose the
blanket. When both Simon and Titus were little and they were sleepy they loved to take a
blanket, just like this one and rub it on their noses. It brought them comfort and made them feel
safe and warm. Certainly they would NEVER do the same with sandpaper. Would you?
I think our Gospel lesson is kind of like sandpaper and a blanket. Jesus, seeming to be
quoting the Old Testament, although it’s not completely the same, when he says, “You have
heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (And then he shifts
to a new law or a new commandment.) But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you.”
The first part of this statement from Jesus is like a nice warm blanket. Of course I can
love those who love me. Of course I can love my neighbor. Of course I can be nice to those who
are nice to me. Of course I can love people who have similar backgrounds and similar faith
structures and similar opinions and beliefs and similar patterns of thinking. Thanks Jesus.
Finally, something Jesus is asking of me that I can do. But the second piece of this…the piece
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where Jesus takes the law and changes it…the love your enemies part. Whew, to me that feels
like taking and rubbing a piece of sandpaper on my face. Even praying for people who persecute
me seems pretty difficult. No thank you. Surely Jesus is talking to someone else. Surely he
doesn’t mean for me to do these things. Right?
Remember today is the fourth Sunday out of five Sundays that we hear excerpts out of
the sermon on the mount. Remember when Jesus was giving this sermon he was surrounded not
just by the disciples, but by huge crowds. They were all waiting anxiously to see what Jesus
would say to them. And so far…what he has instructed them to do has not been easy to hear, and
has been even more difficult to think about doing. These things, like loving your enemy or like
lifting up those who are oppressed by society turns the world upside down for so many. They
show a different way of life, a world that is different than the world they know. A world that is
different than the world we know. A world that we, Jesus’ followers, are being asked to help
create.
So, today I ask you how are we doing with Jesus’ instruction? How are we doing with
loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us? How are we doing with welcoming
people who are different than us and have different opinions and interpret scripture differently?
How are we doing with people who live different lifestyles than we think are acceptable? How
are we doing being in relationship with the poor, and addicts, and the disabled? How are we
doing following Jesus’ words? And yes, I’m asking that question both as individuals and as a
church family. How are we doing welcoming and loving and praying for the other?
When I was growing up, I remember sitting next to my great grandma on rocking chairs
on the front porch. She loved more than any place else to sit out on that porch. But she especially
loved to sit there early in the morning as the sun came up and late in the evening as the sun went
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down. As we sat together and marveled at the splendor of God’s creation she was mostly quiet,
except to answer questions that I would inevitably ask her. And one day when I couldn’t take it
any more I asked her, “Mammi Queenie, you seem to be thinking awfully hard. What do you
think about when you look out into the sky?” She said, “I’m praying.”
I was only seven at the time and I was awfully curious. I asked her, “Who Mammi, who
do you pray for?” She said, “I pray for my family. I pray for my friends. I pray for people I know
who are having a rough time. But mostly I pray for the people I don’t like.” I remember staring
at her hard and saying, “Well why would you pray for them?” And I’ll never forget what she
said. She told me, “God does something with your heart when you pray for people you don’t get
along with or have trouble being around. He softens it. He helps you to see that his light is in
them too.” I thought about that for a little while. I was pretty young, but something inside me
clicked, even then. I knew she was right. And from that moment on if I have a disagreement with
you, or don’t feel comfortable around you, or are unhappy with you, know that you made my
prayer list. And it’s true. While I still may disagree with you, my heart softens a bit each time I
say your name aloud before the creator of all people, humbly acknowledging that the creator who
made me also made you.
I don’t think Jesus made a mistake when he constructed this sentence… “Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” One of the best places to start when you have
someone in your life who you view as adversarial, is to pray for them. After all, that is what
Jesus is asking us to do today. And the example Jesus gave to use as he was hanging on the cross
as he cried out to God, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Why you ask?
Why should you pray for someone who lies about you or spreads rumors about you or is mean to
you or who causes arguments? Why should you pray for them? Because I believe Jesus is telling
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us here in the construction of this sentence that love and prayer are synonymous. It doesn’t say
love your enemy, then pray. It says love your enemy AND pray. I believe that praying for
someone is a good step towards loving them.
So again I ask you, how are we doing with that? How are you doing with loving and
praying for those people you wish you didn’t have to deal with or see again? You know, those
people who feel like sandpaper rubbing on your face? It seems to me that theme of the world at
this moment in time is anger. The news is filled with hate. It feels like I’m being pitted against
others all the time, that the news and politics and commercials even are trying to tell me who I
can or can’t love and why. Protests and riots and hurtful words seem to take center stage. It
seems to be okay to be mean and belittle other people, whether you like them or hate them.
But inside these walls, inside our church family, inside the body of Christ we are called to
be different. We are called to love our enemy. We are called to pray for those who persecute us.
And do you know why? Because God loves all people…and that includes people that we don’t
particularly care for. God’s love includes people who look different and think different and act
different. It includes people who do things that we don’t approve of. It even includes people who
believe different than us. Just because we love someone or pray for someone doesn’t mean that
we approve or agree with all of their life choices, but it does mean that we accept them the way
that they are and acknowledge that they too are a child of God.
Today Jesus gives us a big challenge. It’s a challenge that calls us to step outside of our
boxes and see people for who they really are, beloved children of God. It challenges us to love
and to pray for those who rub us the wrong way. So how are we doing? Will we be a blanket for
the world? Or will we treat others like rubbing sandpaper on our faces feels? I pray we make the
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right choice, following the command of Jesus. “Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you.” Amen.