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"You have heard that it was said,
"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer.
But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;
and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat,
give your cloak as well;
and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
Give to everyone who begs from you,
and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
"You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Be perfect [τέλειος], therefore,
as your heavenly Father is perfect [τέλειος].
-Matthew 5:38-48
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This church season, the season we call
“the time after the epiphany,”
started with the celebration of “The Epiphany.”
The Epiphany commemorated that night when the magi showed up at the manger in the Bethlehem,
bringing their gold and frankincense
and myrrh,
and presenting it to the newborn child-in-the-hay.
They did this, following a star, traveling from afar,
because they had received from the angels
a secret key,
a key which would open to them a new truth,
a new truth which they had never felt before.
That key was this:
The key was that:
There, in the hay, was God.
God the Son,
God the Body.
There in the hay was “God-with-us…”
This is the key:
There: is God.
There is God.
This is a Truth which one can only see with the eyes of faith, which one can only see with the heart, when the heart is unlocked, when its eyes are opened (Ephesians 1:18).
But it is a Truth which, when grasped,
becomes a valuable key for our understanding,
for us,
for people of faith.
“There is God.” “Right there.”
What a thing to say, right?
+++
Since that Epiphany, here in this “time after the Epiphany,”
we have been spending our time together wanting more.
And so, for the last several weeks, we have been digging through scripture,
seeking out for ourselves other epiphanies,
other illuminations,
and insights,
seeking out what we have been calling,
other “secret keys,”
secret keys,
buried in the texts,
which might unlock for us
something of the Gospel of Jesus’ love,
that God’s love might move more deeply through us,
and that our hearts,
our minds,
and our worlds
might be expanded as a result.
Amen? Amen.
That’s what we’ve been trying to do!
+++
Since the Epiphany, we have discovered six keys,
and today will we dig up our last for this season.
It has been a good excavation.
But next week is the celebration of the Transfiguration!
And, of course, it deserves our full attention.
Also, Samantha will be preaching next week!
So that’s awesome, right?
And after that, we will move into the season of Lent.
+++
But before we close this series, and attempt to dig up one last key today,
here’s a reminder of the secret keys we’ve dug up thus far in our journey:
our keys sounded like this:
To love, serve, and honor God, is to love, to serve, and to honor the Other, our neighbor.
Amen? Amen!
This was our first key.
God does not discriminate.
Amen? Amen!
This was our second key.
God calls us together. It’s hard to go it alone.
Amen? Amen!
This was our third key.
To follow Jesus and the Gospel of Jesus’ Love,
sometimes we are called to leave everything behind.
Amen? Amen!
This was our fourth key.
To walk with and (even) side with Jesus, to walk with and side with the God of the Cross,
is to walk with and side with the ones that Power crucifies today.
Amen? Amen!
This was our fifth key.
We alone possess nothing eternally. But when we together are possessed by God’s love, (when we live in God and God lives in us), our words, our actions, our love, too, makes ripples into forever, and our Love, with God’s Love has no end.
Amen? Amen! This was our sixth key.
These, were our first six keys.
I hope you have been handling them, carrying them with you.
I hope, if even only tucked away in your back pocket,
or clipped to the belt loop of your mind,
that they have unlocked something of your heart,
and that perhaps you have found your mind,
your world, expanding,
as a result.
+++
Today, we dig one more time.
We gather with the crowds on the Mountain with Jesus,
and we hear again his difficult words.
About slaps. About rain. About begging.
And even about Love.
And, I don’t know about you,
but I desperately need some secret keys
to help me to understand these words.
Because at first listen,
they don’t necessarily sit well with my heart.
And my heart needs God to speak its language.
Amen? Amen.
+++
For example,
I know that Jesus walks with the oppressed. I’ve been convinced of that. Jesus stands with the crucified. I know therefore, that Jesus wants absolutely no one to be slapped, ever.
I know that Jesus wants no one to be forced by another person into anything. I know this, in my heart. For me this is an obvious spiritual truth.
When I read this then, our Gospel for today, I have to remember, to think back.
I remember the interpretation I have heard before, that I’ve preached before (I think Walter Wink was the first to write about it?):
I remember that here in his sermon on the mountain (according to this interpretation) it seems that Jesus is teaching the crowds nonviolent resistance.
“Resist by not resisting he says.”
He is teaching the crowds, those gathered in hope on the mountain, that when they receive violence, when they are oppressed, when their bodies are devalued and manipulated, and unfree…
that they need not hide that, (and perhaps we could add: that they need not be ashamed!) but, that, rather, they might, if they could, even though it is painful… make it public.
Go tell it on the mountain.
They might expose the oppression, in hopes that those who love Jesus’ vision of the Reign of God, might be outraged, and stop the abuse. In hopes that those who do the abusing might feel ashamed, convicted, even changed.
That they might be made to stop the abuse for good, forever.
Here is an example:
And here is another one:
These images are from Birmingham in 1963.
Peaceful protestors, demonstrating against segregation,
were attacked by dogs and firehoses.
Do you remember these images?
These women and men, our sisters and brothers in Christ, “turned the other cheek,” they resisted “without resisting” and in so doing exposed the violence of the system
that they were protesting.
“Our bodies are controlled and abused—they are not free, even in public. We are not free.” We are told to “keep out.” “You’re not allowed.” “You’re illegal.” “You don’t matter.”
“We are slapped on the cheek.” Struck down, killed, segregated…
Strategically, these women and men took the slap of the fire hoses. They “turned the other cheek” in public.
And soon the whole world was watching.
By exposing the violence done to them, they finally outraged folks who only liked violence in subtler forms.
+++
Perhaps this is what Jesus was preaching about on the mountain.
After all, to side with Jesus, to walk with Jesus,
is to walk with and to side with those who are abused, and oppressed, and those who suffer pain,
to side with Jesus is to side with those who are Crucified today.
And to stop crucifixion.
And to work for Resurrection.
Amen?
+++
But I think we know this already.
We’ve already discovered this key.
So what else is there to dig up under these words?
+++
“Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.”
These are the words with which our reading ends.
Disturbing words, if we take them to mean what we often mean by the word
perfect.
My hunch is that the word translated “perfect”
in this text doesn’t mean
“without flaws,”
or “without blemish,”
or “always gets really good grades,”
or “has a really good credit score.”
Actually, I looked it up.
And I know it doesn’t mean that.
So what could it mean?
The Greek word, in this verse is:
τέλειος
It might translate better here as “complete” or “whole” or even “finished.”
Jesus uses a form of this word at the end of his life, when he’s on the cross, and he says “It is finished (Τετέλεσται - John 19:30).”
That is: “All is complete.”
+++
Be complete, be whole… as God is whole…
be “all that (?)” as your parent, your mother, your father in Heaven is “all that.”
+++
Where in this text is there buried a secret key
that might open to us the Gospel of Jesus’ Love,
that God’s love might move more deeply through us,
and that our hearts,
our minds,
and our worlds
might expand as a result?
I think it lies right here in the previous verses,
where Jesus says this:
“I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be children of your Father in heaven;
for God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and God sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
God rains on everyone.
God loves people, God rains on people,
whether, in that moment, I see them as good or bad, “righteous” or “wicked.”
Or not.
Whether I think they are a “good guy” or a “bad guy.”
Or not.
Whether I can see absolutely no good in them, no human in them, nothing redeemable in them, whatsoever,
or not.
Whether it think they are a “Piece of S….omething undesirable,”
or not.
Did you hear that? God’s love is bigger than my perception.
My opinion.
Me.
And you.
God’s love even loves “the bad guys,” the meanies,
God’s love loves even the people that I secretly hate.
God’s love sees more than I see.
God’s love is bigger.
God’s love is rain.
It gives life.
To everyone.
God’s love is rain.
+++
This is a difficult key.
+++
Many struggle with it.
I do.
So did the one son in the parable called “the prodigal son.” (Right?)
It’s disturbing.
But (I think our keys reveal),
that this key, this epiphany,
it is an integral part of the gospel of Jesus’ love.
It’s important.
But How do we say it? How do we describe it?
This key that calls God’s love “rain?”
I think we say it like this:
There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more, and nothing you can do to make God love you less. God loves you, period. God loves you, always and everywhere. And there’s nothing you can do to separate you from the Love of God.
Some people also just call this key “Grace.”
God’s love is “perfect.” It’s complete. It is finished!
It loves, it rains, it embraces everyone. Even those I wish it wouldn’t.
And if I wish to be “complete” and “whole” as my heavenly parent is,
then this is the goal for my love, too.
To be unlimited, all-embracing.
And so I pray for my heart and my world to expand, that my love to might be “made complete,” made whole.
We pray that we might love as Christ first loved us.
There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more, and nothing you can do to make God love you less. God loves you, period. God loves you, always. God loves you, everywhere. And there’s nothing you/we can do to separate you from the Love of God.
Amen? Amen.
1) To love, serve, and honor God, is to love, to serve, and to honor the Other, our neighbor.
2) God does not discriminate.
3) God calls us together. It’s hard to go it alone.
4) To follow Jesus and the Gospel of Jesus’ Love,
sometimes we are called to leave everything behind.
5) To walk with and side with Jesus, to walk with and side with the God of the Cross,
is to walk with and side with the ones that Power crucifies today.
6) We alone possess nothing eternally. But when we together are possessed by God’s love, (when we live in God and God lives in us), our words, our actions, our love, too, makes ripples into forever, and our Love, with God’s Love has no end.
7) There’s nothing you can do to make God love you more, and nothing you can do to make God love you less. God loves you, period. God loves you, always. God loves you, everywhere. And there’s nothing you can do to separate you from the Love of God.
These are our keys.
Amen.
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