A Trustworthy World – Luke 6:27-38

A text – Luke 6:27-38

²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; ²⁸ bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. ³⁵ Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.^[a] Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; ³⁸ give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

A reflection:

Yes, this sounds like Jesus. Jesus would say this. And on my best days, I might even be able to do this: be God-like in my ability to love my enemies, turn the other cheek, give a coat as well as a shirt. But on my so-so days? Or when under stress?

I have a third career. Someone who knew me well told me that when I retired I should train to be a funeral celebrant. A funeral celebrant meets with the family of someone who has died, collects their stories, and, at the funeral, tells that person’s life story publicly, interwoven with music and readings. I liked the idea of continuing to work a bit, and I knew I had some of the necessary skills, so I took the training and signed on at a local funeral home in my new city. I’ve done 5-12 funerals a year for the past 5 years. 

I’ve seen folks in deep distress, in disbelief, in a fog, in anger, in silence. I have listened them into speaking about the person now gone. I have entered their grief and, for a few days, helped them carry it. I have learned that I can write pretty well under that load, which I must do if I am going to be of help to them. But I don’t always respond to the normal pressures of life very well while co-bearing grief. I’m more short-tempered than I want to be, and I especially hate cleaning. But I love any interruption that involves my 6 year old grandson; he is my secret energy source. And he’s extremely funny.

So what does all this have to do with Jesus’s difficult instructions to us about how to behave with our enemies? I believe God places us and our gifts exactly where God needs us to be co-creators with God of a trustworthy world. That means that we are with the people God is sending us to every day to help them bear their burdens and get through their life, and if they snap at us, we are gentle (while still doing the helpful stuff we have the skills for). If they strike out at us, we let them (while staying put and getting the job done that maybe only we can do). And the Holy Spirit will send us strength in the form we need to go on and complete that work each day. And then we rest between jobs, get back to normal, and then take on another.

In these stressful days that seem unprecedented, keep in mind that you have a calling that makes things better for others, and some secret stashes of strength that you and the Holy Spirit know about. We can actually follow this set of instructions in our own lives day by day in vey concrete circumstances if we trust in God to put us in the place we are needed and to deliver strength to help us. And God will deliver.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for all the gifts you give us. Thank you for giving us work to do and strength to do it. Help us to remember, when our patience flags, to call upon you to help us, so that together with you, we make the world more trustworthy. Amen.