Third Sunday of Lent: March 28
Think- Violence
Luke 6:27-36
Love for Enemies
Love for Enemies
‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 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. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be compassionate, just as your God is compassionate.
‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be compassionate, just as your God is compassionate.
In Lent, Christians often give up things or practice fasting: from red meat, chocolate, computers, etc. But as we take a week to “THINK” about our faith, it is our (individual and societal) addiction to violence that begs the question as to what we are really willing to give up to follow Jesus. Though Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers, the humble, those who hunger and thirst for justice” we see examples everyday of Christians who declare their right to own and use guns, who argue that this war or that is God’s will, who defend the violence that unchecked capitalism wreaks on the poor. It is all too easy to name violence in our world and particularly in our nation.
I have said before that I think Americans in general have more confidence in the way of John Wayne than in the Way of Jesus. The myth that a strong man with a fast gun can solve the problems of society holds sway even today (along with the myth of the independent man who rides away into the sunset when he has triumphed). Outside of churches (and maybe too often inside) people can quote lines from Westerns or other “action” movies more than they can quote the teachings of Jesus. By the way, most of those “action” movies seem to be based on the idea of justified vengeance (Payback, the Punisher, Death Wish, Gladiator, Kill Bill, Rambo…).
Jesus taught us to love our enemies, not to revenge upon them. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek, walk the extra mile, to do for others as we would have them do for us. As Crossan says in this week’s clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0HKA4ryKds) the kingdom Jesus talked about was the kind never seen on earth: a kingdom not enacted by force but by compassion.
The quandary of Jesus’ penchant for peace is that it frames our understanding of who God must be. When we look at Jesus, we see a God committed to peace, a nonviolent God. A nonviolent God will never choose violent means to accomplish Divine desires. To say that God effected reconciliation with us by means of sacrificing Jesus on the cross is to affirm that God relies on violence. There must be another way of understanding Jesus’ death than to say that God willed it. To believe that God will wage a war with evil at the end of time, destroying with finality all Creation is to believe in a God of violence. I cannot see how a God of violence will ever transform our world into the peacable kingdom. Only a God of peace and compassion can do that. That is the God that Jesus’ unswerving commitment to peace and nonviolence shows us.
Here are the lyrics to a song by John McCutcheon that evokes this challenge. It is entitled, “El Perdon.”
Era soldado, (I was a soldier) I was only eighteen
When the orders came down, I remember
Santiago awoke to a terrible dream
When the sun rose that day in September
We raided the shantytowns, churches and homes
We gathered the greatest and least
En el hospital San Juan de Dios he rose
When we shouted, “We’ve come for the priest”
He stood at the railing, his back to the guns
Hands bound, a blindfold on his head
At the hour of his death he spoke to the ones
I still hear the words that he said Chorus
Chorus
Matame de frente
Porque quiero verte
Para darte, para darte
El perdon
Face me when you kill me
For I want to see you
To give you my final perdo
El Rio Mapocho flows on to the sea
The banks and the beaches run red
Con la sangre de Cristo y de Chile y de mi (with the blood of Christ, Chile, and me)
Still echo the words of the dead Chorus
En la Villa Grimaldi la memoria vive (In the Villa Grimaldi, the memory survives)
Hoy el Parque por la Paz (Today it is a Park for Peace)
En Auchwitz, en Darfur, Argentina y Chile
We cry, “Nunca mas, nunca mas!” (“Never again!”) Chorus
Are we willing to give up violence for Lent? For Life?
This is from today's Daily Devotional. The message tracks with this week's theme so I thought I would post it here.
ReplyDelete(Sorry I will not be at WT today.)
Donna M
Making Toast
Excerpt from John 7:53 - 8:11
"And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.'"
Reflection by Donna Schaper
"You are not your fault," said Anne Lamott. So then whose fault are we? Frankly, is there any fault? The question of blame has all but taken over our conversation. If I get sick, what did I do to cause it? If there is a deficit, what did I do to make it happen? If I get pregnant and am 14, there is a lot said on television about what I did to cause my fertility to be fertile at an inopportune time.
What would life be like if we lived beyond and without blame? First of all, our days would be happier. We would lean forward rather than back into our loss and resentments. Secondly, we would blame fewer victims and be angrier with corporations for stealing our money and with Fox News for its war on women and girls. In congregations, we would not blame the pastor for not "growing" the church and learn ways to be responsible to each other and not for each other. We would know the attitude of lovingly mystified indifference, normally attributed only to the most mature Buddhist monks. Finally, we would live like Jesus, who knew only how to love and lead and seemed to have missed the course in blame and condemnation.
Both right and left had a field day blaming each other for the Tucson deaths and the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Am I the only one amazed that when she first found her speech she asked for toast, not revenge? Doesn't toast seem like a funny thing to want after you have nearly been killed? Roger Rosenblatt, in Making Toast, tells us he enjoys making toast for his grandchildren, after the untimely death of their mother and his daughter. Most of the time we put condemnation and exterminationist violence into the word toast. "I wish they were toast," we'll say. Jesus says something different. "Neither do I blame you." Living without blame means we can also live without revenge...and share a piece of bread together, every now and then, under the most difficult of circumstances.
Prayer
O God, teach us to love making toast with each other. Let the blame game be exterminated and let the rest of us live. Amen.
Tara's verses for Holy Now
ReplyDeleteIt was a very sad sad day,
When people gathered in a civic way,
Were murdered in the open air,
And we lost some freedom then and there.
I remember how my heart felt sick,
And wondered how such treachery,
Could happen so near to my home town,
And to people doing nothing wrong.
Many pundits cast out blame,
Possibly some now feel ashamed,
As the people quickly realized,
The sickness is here in all our lives.
A federal judge, a little girl,
a senator's aid and several more,
all lost their lives that day,
trying to live in a civil way.
A blessing of this tragic event,
We all stopped to consider the words we say,
That could insight a madman to react this way,
and take so many loved ones away.
And one woman, brave and strong,
is the hope we can all get along,
As she works to make her body well,
She works to save our souls as well.
Senator Giffords is a miracle,
to survive such a terrible blow,
And we pray she'll recover fully,
And once again serve us civilly.
The words of Jesus ring so true,
Loving our enemies is the key,
And shows us all how to get along,
If only the whole world will see...