Scriptural Basis
Luke 6: 27-36 (NRSV)
‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31Do 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. 33If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34If 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. 35But 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 he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father
Blog Reflection
Does it suck to read this particular Gospel today or what? Yes! It does suck. This upcoming Wednesday the Republican controlled House of Representatives will hold a vote on repealing the new Health Care Law. I don't particularly want to be told I have to love those who are about to vote to take health care away from seniors and people with pre-existing conditions and give health insurance companies free will to do as they please. I certainly don't feel like loving the Illinois Family Council who today is accusing LGBT people of "willing to exploit the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement in order to achieve their morally dubious and intellectually vacuous goal."
These are difficult days to love people. Over this past week we have heard of how violent rhetoric has catastrophic consequences in the attempted assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the others killed and wounded in Tucson, Arizona. As horrific as those acts were, the rhetoric and the finger pointing continue. Have we learned anything?
The legacy and vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr continues to live on even 43 years since his assassination in 1968. His work on behalf of our African American sisters and brothers is one worthy of our consideration. Here in 2011 we still have many people today who still cannot see past the color of another persons skin, or the differences in cultural practices, religions, sexual and gender diversity, languages, economic status, health or lack thereof, age, etc. Here in the beginning of the second decade of the 21st Century we still have an American nation and a Christian Church with those who struggle to see past our own prejudices. There are those who suggest in the name of Martin Luther King we should launch a campaign for the Nation's unemployed. The struggle for the civil rights of all kinds of diverse peoples should take place in honor of Martin Luther King. I agree with both of those.
Loving our enemies and doing good to those who hate us is not the same as loving what they do and/or approving of what they say and promote. Spreading violence, hate and malice has deadly consequences as we saw last week. Continuing to divide groups of people against each other, using the words "blood libel" carelessly that offends our Jewish sisters and brothers, and the scapegoating of other people to avoid taking responsibility for our own actions or lack thereof is as much against what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about as failing to love even those who use such ideological rhetoric. Love is not necessarily only in our emotions, or our willingness to go along with what is easy. Love is expressed in actions or lack thereof in order to protect and appreciate the common good that is a part of every human person. That is precisely what has been missing in much of the rhetoric used this past week and over these many years before and since Martin Luther King. Our concern for our neighbors needs to move beyond our limited thinking and become apparent in our actions and even our activism on behalf of the poor, marginalized, sick and oppressed among us. When individuals use the Gospel as an excuse to keep people poor, marginalized, sick and oppressed it is our obligation to respond out of loving concern for the poor, marginalized, sick and oppressed. It is also a commandment of the Gospel that our response be as much about telling our enemies they are wrong as our "speaking the truth in love." (See Ephesians 4: 1-16). It is a tough task, but "somebody's got to do it."
America and the Church have a long way to go on the road to accepting and dealing with diversity and inclusion. Like Martin Luther King we need to be willing to take our steps together and keep on the journey. The people who's lives we touch and those who will join us and oppose us are among God's chosen people as anyone else. While we must "speak the truth in love" and even love those with whom we disagree, we must nevertheless keep up our activism and prayers for the conversion of a world of hate into a world of love. Seeking the common good of all people, especially those oppressed by the incorrect use of the United States Constitution and the Bible by well meaning individuals and now corporations is why Jesus Christ experienced his Epiphany. As God manifests God's presence through a diversity of ways, may we be as open to expressing God's love in diverse and inclusive ways to make our nation and the Church a more welcoming and healing place for all. Amen.
Prayers
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Our Enemies, Book of Common Prayer, page 816).
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (A Prayer Attributed to St. Francis, Book of Common Prayer, page 833).
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