7^th Sunday after the Epiphany

Text: Matthew 5:38-48

Grace mercy and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus. Our text is the Gospel from Matthew 5.

Being married to a preschool teacher means two things. The first thing it means is that I am very good with a pair scissors. Julie is far and away the brains in her own operation, but on a pretty regular basis she needs someone to trace and cut out all those things that wind up on bulletin boards or in backpacks on their way home to be shared with mom and dad. I can cut valentines hearts and winter snowmen and Easter butterflies with the best of them.

The second thing it means is that I am able to consider myself a sort of “poor man’s expert” on all things preschool. That doesn’t mean I can teach preschool mind you. It takes a special person to be able to do that. But I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what goes on in the preschool classroom. Numbers, letters, shapes, and colors are all the purview of your typical day in preschool. Learning to identify and classify and divide into groups is what you want the kids to learn. EG. This symbol that you just drew on the page is a letter and not a number and it makes the sound va. And the color of the crayon you just used to draw that letter V is purple.

So preschool is all about identifying and classifying. Our gospel text is also about identifying and classifying. Only instead of numbers and letters shapes and colors the thing we are identifying and the thing we are classifying are those who are sons of God, (those who are sons of the heavenly father) and those who are not.

Consider the words of our text:

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48

Those verses are all about identifying and classifying those who are sons of the Father who is in heaven (we might call them “Christians” or “disciples” or “believers”) as compared to those who are not disciples and believers in Jesus. Or, as Jesus puts it here “tax collectors” and “Gentiles”. The former can be identified by the fact that they love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. The latter are identified because they simply love those who love them. If you would be a resident of the Kingdom of Heaven, a son of the Heavenly Father, Jesus would have you know that it is your duty to love your enemy.

Now, I suppose it’s true that there is one other thing that I can claim as husband of a preschool teacher. In addition to being really good with a pair scissors and knowing a thing or two about sorting stuff into different categories I also have some experience with children’s books. Of course, I have children of my own. I have spent many an occasion sitting on the couch, Dr. Seuss in hand with a child on my left a child on my right and a child in my lap. So I have that experience. But also, Julie makes frequent trips to the library where she comes home with stacks and stacks of books. Children’s books are fun to read. They are fun to look at. There are phrases that are just fun to say. “You sank our toy ship, sank it deep in our cake” is a phrase from Dr Seuss that comes to mind from his book The Cat in the Hat.

Beyond just being fun, children’s books are also great for teaching moral lessons.  The Cat in the Hat for example ends with a question. After the shenanigans from the day are straightened up and the Cat as well as Thing 1 and Thing 2 are out the door and mother is back home and has asked what sort of things when on that day, the question is asked “What would you do if your mother ask you? “ A great question about honesty and truthfulness.

Children’s books also deal with the topic of what to do when someone is your enemy. And there’s a morality that is built in to these children books. The Berenstein Bears is a great example of teaching kids how to handle a situation where someone is unkind or for someone doesn’t want to share. These are situations that are kids face when they are playing with other kids. These are situations that adults face when dealing with other adults. Maybe we should all spend a little bit more time with the Berenstein Bears.

But the tricky thing about children’s books is that they all tend to have a happy ending. There is a conflict and a challenging situation but that conflict seems to resolve. The reaching out, the being a friend, the sharing your toys with the unsharing child, finds resolution in a change of heart. The unfriendly becomes friendly.  The un sharing learns to share. What do you do when there isn’t a happy ending? Or if the other child doesn’t change, there is comfort and solace found in the understanding arms of mom and dad.

But what do you do about that selfish and angry and unkind kid who doesn’t change? What goes on in your heart when that person’s name comes to mind? The radical thing about the teaching of Jesus is that the response of the other person ultimately doesn’t matter. Regardless of whether or not that mean person stops being mean your job is to love them. Regardless of whether or not that person changes their behavior (and change they should!), your job is still to love them, and you demonstrate that love by praying for them.

It is probably worth saying that there are times that we find ourselves in the company of people who hurt us. Sometimes it’s with the things that they say sometimes it’s with the things that they do. Jesus isn’t saying that you should stick around for the abuse. You can love your enemy but love him or love her from a distance. You can protect your body and your peace of mind with a cushion of space between you and that person. What Jesus is getting at is what goes on in your heart after that space and that distance has been secured. When someone is mean to me there is this internal reaction that says I should be mean back. Or, even if I control that meanness in my reaction, there is still this tendency to write them off, treat them like they are dead to you. That is conventional wisdom. That is our default setting. Love the one who loves you but hate the one who is mean to you.

That idea had even been ensconced in behavioral rules for people in Jesus’s day. “You have heard that it was said,” implies that people were saying it. “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” is what people were saying.

And this is where Jesus gets into the sorting. This is where Jesus employees that skill that we hope to teach our preschoolers:

• this is this and that is that.  
• This goes in this pile that goes in that pile.
• These are the ones who are sons of the heavenly father.
• Those are the ones who are sons of the devil.

Jesus says that, “The heavenly father causes the sun to shine on the evil and the good. The heavenly father sends rain on the just and the unjust.” In other words, he shows kindness and mercy and generosity and love even toward those who are completely unlovable. Jesus has in mind that you do the same. If you wish to be a Son of the Heavenly Father, you must do as the Heavenly Father does. And you must do it perfectly. You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So what is a hopeful disciple to do? What is a follower of Jesus, a would-be child of the Father who is in heaven… what are we to do? God expects us to love our enemies. We have a hard time even loving our friends. How are we going to pull that off?

Consider Jesus. When Jesus stood trial before Pontius Pilot and was accused by his enemies, consider his reaction and consider his response. We are told that he stood silent. When he was reviled he did not revile. When he was accused, he did not accuse. When he was received hatred he did not respond with hatred. Jesus suffered his good name to be dragged through the mud by the false accusations of his accusers. He gave his back to be beaten and his beard to be pulled. He gave his hands and feet to be nailed to the wooden boards of his cross. He gave his forehead and his brow to bleed from the crown of thorns. And he did this, all of this… for you.

Jesus did this for you, not because he wants you to likewise suffer abuse. It is not his desire that you submit yourself to the abuses of those who have in mind to harm you. But it is his desire that you love them. It is his desire that you pray for them.

You see the temptation is for us to see that person (that one who has said and done that mean and unkind thing) the temptation is to see that person as your enemy. But the Bible very clearly tells us that we are not fighting against flesh and blood.[1] No. We are fighting against the devil. We are fighting against the rulers, authorities, and Lords of this dark world and against the evil spirits in the heavenly places. Your enemy is not that person. Rather, that person and you have a common enemy. Your enemy is the devil. That person you are tempted to hate is someone for whom Jesus died. Jesus shed his blood for him just as much is he shed his blood for you. Jesus wants that person to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.[2] Therefore when that person is unkind and even despicable, that person has come into your path so that you can unleash against them the greatest spiritual power in the universe. The power that overcomes a multitude of sins.[3] And that power is the love of God in Christ Jesus. You can direct that power against your opponents by showering them with prayer. You can pray that God release them from the imprisonment of the devil so that they in their heart can show love to you even as you show love to them.

“Father forgive them,” said Jesus, “for they do not know what they are doing.”[4]  He was looking down onto his accusers as he hung suspended on the cross. They were spewing out hatred and he was lifting them up in love. He was praying for them and blessing them.

Likewise, Saint Stephen in the book of Acts as he was being stoned to death by an angry mob of his own accusers prayed that the Heavenly Father forgive them.[5]

And so you, when you experience the hatred and evil that this world has to offer are able to counter that hatred are able to counter that evil with the love of God in Christ Jesus. And the Lord will hear your prayer. He will send his Holy Spirit and his holy angels to attend to you. He will comfort you in your suffering as you cling to the promises of his Word. And who knows, maybe he will even rescue that one… that one who presents himself or who presents herself as your enemy.  This will be glorious. Because you will have one more brother or sister in faith for all eternity.  This will be a testimony to the power and the glory of God.

In preschool we are all about sorting and identifying. This is this and that is that. So what is it that sorts you into the discipleship group? Dear friends it is the blood of Jesus that covers over your sin and changes your heart so that it is filled with a love that loves even in the face of hate.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1Jo 4:7-11)

In the name of Jesus.

Amen. And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.