What more are you doing than others? - Rev Allister Lane

READING: MATTHEW 5: 38-48

Do you see how, in today’s reading, the words of Jesus confront our deepest human instincts and assumptions?

He raises the stakes for what it means to ‘do the right thing’. What others do is not the test. If you ‘go with the flow’, what more are you doing than others? Jesus is saying: “I want more.”

In this part of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus teaches on a range of moral issues, using a pattern:

You’ve heard it said…
But I say to you…

This is the ‘antithesis’ pattern.

You’ve assumed this…
But I’m offering you this…

What is Jesus doing here? Is this a case of new rules to replace the old rules…? No. Jesus is revealing the fullness of God’s way. Jesus is presenting the completeness we experience in God’s Kingdom.

In this part of his teaching, Jesus reverses the understandings of revenge, and how to treat enemies.

Who do you imagine as your ‘enemies’…? Maybe you don’t consider yourself to have any enemies. But there is a consistent human tendency to identify in groups – IN groups, and OUT groups.

I think the most obvious examples we have at the moment are people identifying by groupings of race and of politics. This week we have observed the divided United States lurch through the pre-election intensity of campaigning, and the tension of post-election.

And although we awoke this morning to hear the news that Joe Biden has the necessary votes to become the next President of the United States, we wait to see how Donald Trump will respond. Will he concede, or will he fight in the courts? The great fear is that there will be further discord on the streets. Americans seems more polarised than ever before. Increasingly Republicans and Democrats are characterising each other as enemies.

During the week I was watching Joe Biden give a speech, and I quickly wrote down one thing he said:

To make progress, we need to stop treating our opponents as enemies.[1]

I don’t think he was just talking to Republicans, but to everyone. There is a need for healing in America.

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. (v38-39)

Jesus is teaching about breaking the cycle of hate. When we retaliate, the perpetrator has set the agenda. Not striking back breaks the circulation of hate. We can become the place where hate is extinguished.

This isn’t good advice, …it’s good news.

You see, Jesus did this himself. He lived out what he taught. Jesus opens up a new way of being human. Jesus absorbed mockery, whipping, being struck in the face, and when he was nailed to the cross – he prayed for those who nailed him there.[2]

Where does this lead…? The goal is reconciliation, in every situation. To be committed to reconciliation means we may not experience everything on our own terms. We may well have to give up what we feel entitled to, and the grievances that we may hold.

I need to say, it’s very important to understand this teaching isn’t about allowing oneself to be abused. And an important safeguard for this, is to work out what non-retaliation looks like, not alone, but in community. With others we know and trust, we have healthy perspective and can nurture vision and transformation.

Jesus invites us to live a new way, where we respond differently. Just as Jesus prays for those who killed him, he says to us:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (v43-44)

I recently heard a story about someone who lived this new way of being human…

Four churches in the same area were having a combined service. And, as it happened, the Minister of the hosting church had arranged the Baptism of a four-month-old Japanese baby (Jun) the same Sunday. The visiting Roman Catholic Priest was helping lead the service, and the Minister asked if he would assist.

The priest he said he was happy to assist if the parents agreed - which they did. So following the Baptism, the priest lovingly carried baby Jun up the aisles – and the Minister could feel the presence of God in that moment.

What the Minister found out a few days later from a member of the priest’s parish amplified the meaning of this moment.

The priest’s father had been a doctor stationed in the Island of Nauru to look after Australian troops. And in 1941, when Japan entered the war, the troops were withdrawn but the doctor and four others decided stay behind to help the Nauruans. The Japanese overran the Island and in 1943, the doctor and the others were beheaded by the Japanese.

The Minister could more fully understand that feeling of God’s presence at the service where the priest had carried that Japanese baby around the church with such love.

The Minister phoned the priest to say he had heard about his father the doctor on Nauru. The priest replied down the phone:  “You cannot live on hate. Hate destroys life, forgiveness creates life.”

In a moment, we will come together in God’s presence to the table – for the meal of Communion. The table is a simple but profound gathering place where we recognise our common need for sustenance. We work things out around the table – a shared meal makes a family. Here, we make room for others (including enemies), just as God made room for us.

We discover together that love is not just ‘niceness’ – but committed compassion, real relationships through challenges and conflicts – and sustained across time.

Continuing to pray, even for those we find difficult, is a powerful expression of this love.

And we will now pray for others…

[1] Joe Biden, 5 November 2020

[2] The same verb for forcing/compelling a person in verse 41, is the same verb used by Matthew for describing how Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry Jesus’ cross to Golgotha.