Luke 6:29-30
As I read these two verses, I am inclined to sweep them in with the verses before and after. Getting the context of a particular statement is very important. Hiding a statement you don’t want to deal with by piling it into its larger context so you don’t have to focus on it is another matter.
Here is the famous “turn the other cheek” passage. I remember being a kid and someone throwing this verse at me, along with “you can’t hit me because you are a Christian.” I never could figure out how a nonbeliever like that knew so much Scripture! But this is the verse that nonbelievers all know. It is, in fact, what they equate with what it means to follow Jesus. Why? Because it is so radically different from the way the world operates.
As Jesus says in the verses that follow, our goal as Believers is not to be as good as nonbelievers, but to go way beyond. “Even sinners do that,” he says about ordinary goodness. We are not to settle for normal, everyday, ordinary goodness.
We are, Jesus teaches, to offer our tormentors the other side of our head when they slap us on one side. We are, Jesus says, to let someone also take our sweatshirt if they take our coat. And he wraps up this scary line of thinking by declaring: “Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.”
Only an extremely secure person can handle this assignment. Where’s the exit?
For the most part, Jesus’ followers were extremely poor people. Even those among them who started off wealthy were giving it all away to help Jesus in his work and to bless the poor. No wonder Jesus said elsewhere that it was very hard for the wealthy to gain eternal salvation. They have too much to lose. No wonder that the poor are inclined to be more generous with what they have than the rich are.
Now in dealing with this kind of passage, definitely one of Jesus’ harder sayings, we are inclined to respond, “Surely Jesus doesn’t mean what we think he means. After all, this isn’t practical or doesn’t make sense.” Funny that those who are not so inclined to take Jesus at his word are more inclined to take this passage literally than those who are claim to be serious about Jesus.
Or if we are serious about Jesus’ teachings enough to wrestle with them, we rush to qualify such a passage as this with other teachings of Jesus’. But before we go doing that, we need to be honest enough with Jesus to sit and reflect on what he is saying to us right now at this point in this very passage.
What is he saying, regardless of whether I like it or it makes sense? Your security, he is saying, is not in what you own or have. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about losing anything, whether it is your pride or your reputation or your position or your possessions. Your ability to survive is not wrapped up in all these things. What he is saying now flows out of what he has just said about blessings and woes.
In the larger context he does say that our security is in God. But at this moment, he is emphasizing that our security is not in anything else. And if that is the case, then we don’t really lose when something is taken from us.
Oh, how we are tempted to race ahead to more comforting passages, but I hear Jesus saying these words to his audience on that day 2,000 years ago with a steadied rhythm that allows each sentence, each phrase to sink in deeply on its own. Give to anyone whatever they ask of you and if they take anything of yours without asking, let it go as a gift. Arrgh!!!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Love your Enemies – Part I
Luke 6:27-28
Now Jesus comes to the tough stuff. “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.”
Only those with nothing to lose, as in those he has just pronounced blessings on, are ready to handle this new assignment. When we realize how totally dependent we are on God and that we can lose nothing by doing right because we have nothing left to lose, then we are indeed ready to risk all.
You’d think with all the economic chaos we are in currently that people would see that economic security is not all its trumped up to be. Not so. Ironically, the tougher things get, the more anxious we become about what we have, still thinking that our security lies in the Almighty Dollar instead of the Almighty God.
What does Jesus have to say to all that? Blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who are weeping, who are hated and excluded and insulted and rejected. For you are free of all the world holds dear – wealth, abundance, happiness, respect – free to love those who treat you so badly. Freedom never looked so, so inconvenient.
If we can’t avoid Jesus’ words, we try to find a resting place for them other than on our own shoulders. Like anyone else would, I want to pass these red-lettered words of Jesus off onto someone else, like maybe some dead saint or something. Then I note what he says: “But I tell you who hear me…” These words are for whoever is listening. OK, Jesus, I didn’t mean to hear what you just said.
Funny thing how we treat these words of Jesus. How sadly comical to hear people say we are to take the Bible literally, every bit of it, then in the very next breath start qualifying what Jesus is saying in this passage. “This message of Jesus and the Beatitudes in Matthew are speaking of the Millennium not this present age, so his teachings don’t all apply to us now.”
Or, “Jesus is not talking literally about giving up your coat.” (Which is exactly what he will say a couple verses down.) If not, then why doesn’t he say what he means?
And on it goes. Why is it that we take Jesus at his word only when it is convenient or only where it doesn’t really matter?
To be honest, I don’t necessarily like the direction Jesus is headed in these verses. I’m hoping he’ll get distracted by the newly arrived sick people in the crowd, take time out to heal them and then forget what he was just saying. Something about doing good to those who hate us?
Maybe I just need to take these verses at face value. Jesus wants me to love my enemies, the people I don’t like and who make me so mad. Jesus wants me to do good – be nice to, do good things for – people who hate me. Jesus wants me to bless the very people who curse me. And he is not just talking about people who use those forbidden expletives – he means that he wants me to help, affirm, enrich, empower, encourage those who tear me down. Jesus wants me to pray for the very people who mistreat me. This one I can handle. God, send these people to hell. They don’t deserve your mercy. There, I prayed for them, just like you said to do, Jesus.
To be honest with you, I have never been sure what to do with Jesus’ words in this passage. If I truly believe what he is saying, how he wants me to behave toward others, especially those who are so mean, then it will revolutionize my life. And getting one’s life revolutionized is never a pleasant thing.
Now Jesus comes to the tough stuff. “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you.”
Only those with nothing to lose, as in those he has just pronounced blessings on, are ready to handle this new assignment. When we realize how totally dependent we are on God and that we can lose nothing by doing right because we have nothing left to lose, then we are indeed ready to risk all.
You’d think with all the economic chaos we are in currently that people would see that economic security is not all its trumped up to be. Not so. Ironically, the tougher things get, the more anxious we become about what we have, still thinking that our security lies in the Almighty Dollar instead of the Almighty God.
What does Jesus have to say to all that? Blessed are you who are poor, who are hungry, who are weeping, who are hated and excluded and insulted and rejected. For you are free of all the world holds dear – wealth, abundance, happiness, respect – free to love those who treat you so badly. Freedom never looked so, so inconvenient.
If we can’t avoid Jesus’ words, we try to find a resting place for them other than on our own shoulders. Like anyone else would, I want to pass these red-lettered words of Jesus off onto someone else, like maybe some dead saint or something. Then I note what he says: “But I tell you who hear me…” These words are for whoever is listening. OK, Jesus, I didn’t mean to hear what you just said.
Funny thing how we treat these words of Jesus. How sadly comical to hear people say we are to take the Bible literally, every bit of it, then in the very next breath start qualifying what Jesus is saying in this passage. “This message of Jesus and the Beatitudes in Matthew are speaking of the Millennium not this present age, so his teachings don’t all apply to us now.”
Or, “Jesus is not talking literally about giving up your coat.” (Which is exactly what he will say a couple verses down.) If not, then why doesn’t he say what he means?
And on it goes. Why is it that we take Jesus at his word only when it is convenient or only where it doesn’t really matter?
To be honest, I don’t necessarily like the direction Jesus is headed in these verses. I’m hoping he’ll get distracted by the newly arrived sick people in the crowd, take time out to heal them and then forget what he was just saying. Something about doing good to those who hate us?
Maybe I just need to take these verses at face value. Jesus wants me to love my enemies, the people I don’t like and who make me so mad. Jesus wants me to do good – be nice to, do good things for – people who hate me. Jesus wants me to bless the very people who curse me. And he is not just talking about people who use those forbidden expletives – he means that he wants me to help, affirm, enrich, empower, encourage those who tear me down. Jesus wants me to pray for the very people who mistreat me. This one I can handle. God, send these people to hell. They don’t deserve your mercy. There, I prayed for them, just like you said to do, Jesus.
To be honest with you, I have never been sure what to do with Jesus’ words in this passage. If I truly believe what he is saying, how he wants me to behave toward others, especially those who are so mean, then it will revolutionize my life. And getting one’s life revolutionized is never a pleasant thing.
Monday, July 13, 2009
What’s with the Woes? – Part III
Luke 6:20-26
As is often the case in ancient Jewish literature, the main point of Jesus’ blessings and woes is to be found in the center of the passage. Rejoice, Jesus says, when you are hated, excluded and insulted and your name is rejected, for your reward in heaven will be great.
The implication is that this persecution occurs because of what we do for God, for Jesus adds the phrase to the blessings, “because of the Son of Man.” But there may be more to his point. When Jesus pronounces the Woe, he simply says, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how they treated the false prophets.” How people speak of you is not the final analysis, Jesus is saying.
The validity of a prophetic message is not in its reception. Old Testament prophets tended to face outright rejection. John the Baptist in Jesus’ time was beheaded for speaking the truth to King Herod. John was right for doing so, but you would not have known it by Herod’s response in having John’s head cut off.
Sometimes people do stupid things in the name of God and get reviled for it by the world. I’m not sure there is much rejoicing in heaven over such stupidity. Just because someone does something in the name of Jesus does not make it a righteous act. And just because we get reviled by people for being stupid in the name of Jesus does not mean that we will be positively rewarded for it.
What Jesus is saying here is that there is no clear connection between our reputation on earth and our reputation in heaven. Later Paul writes some words about making sure to maintain a good reputation among people of the world. While this has merit, we cannot always predict anyone’s response to our actions when we do what we feel we must do before God. Sometimes doing the right thing discredits us among Believers as well as in the World.
We can even earn people’s hatred through no fault or action of our own. People hate people simply for their skin color or gender, some physical or mental feature that deviates from the norm or their parents’ reputation, or some issue about the circumstances in which they were born. Occasionally people don’t need any excuse to hate others.
Whether this ostracism fits under the blessings and woes concerning weeping or the ones about being reviled, Jesus does include in his blessings anyone who finds himself or herself a misfit in society. He came as a misfit for those who were misfits.
Certainly Jesus is saying that when we do right and people still hate us, we are to remember that the story is not yet over. Our reputation on earth means nothing beyond death. However people paint you down here, the paint does not ascend to heaven with you.
People put great energy into building and preserving a reputation while alive on earth and making sure it lasts beyond the grave. Legacy is a big deal among us humans, especially those who can afford to worry about it. While, there is something to be said for making sure you have a good reputation by maintaining right living, even the best efforts can backfire on you. Moreover, the great length people go to make sure they are respected or liked by others amounts to wasted energy, especially when we disobey God in attempting to do so. Whatever people think about you, God draws his own and completely independent conclusions.
Although it may hurt deeply when people treat you wrongly, such pain is only temporary. In the end, God will right the injustices. Better to ruin your reputation on earth by obeying God whatever the cost. And that is exactly the point why Jesus brings this issue up at this time in his teaching. He is looking for followers who understand that what people think of them is not nearly as important as what God in heaven thinks of them. Only those with a perspective anchored in eternity will be able to handle the assignments he is about to give out.
As is often the case in ancient Jewish literature, the main point of Jesus’ blessings and woes is to be found in the center of the passage. Rejoice, Jesus says, when you are hated, excluded and insulted and your name is rejected, for your reward in heaven will be great.
The implication is that this persecution occurs because of what we do for God, for Jesus adds the phrase to the blessings, “because of the Son of Man.” But there may be more to his point. When Jesus pronounces the Woe, he simply says, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how they treated the false prophets.” How people speak of you is not the final analysis, Jesus is saying.
The validity of a prophetic message is not in its reception. Old Testament prophets tended to face outright rejection. John the Baptist in Jesus’ time was beheaded for speaking the truth to King Herod. John was right for doing so, but you would not have known it by Herod’s response in having John’s head cut off.
Sometimes people do stupid things in the name of God and get reviled for it by the world. I’m not sure there is much rejoicing in heaven over such stupidity. Just because someone does something in the name of Jesus does not make it a righteous act. And just because we get reviled by people for being stupid in the name of Jesus does not mean that we will be positively rewarded for it.
What Jesus is saying here is that there is no clear connection between our reputation on earth and our reputation in heaven. Later Paul writes some words about making sure to maintain a good reputation among people of the world. While this has merit, we cannot always predict anyone’s response to our actions when we do what we feel we must do before God. Sometimes doing the right thing discredits us among Believers as well as in the World.
We can even earn people’s hatred through no fault or action of our own. People hate people simply for their skin color or gender, some physical or mental feature that deviates from the norm or their parents’ reputation, or some issue about the circumstances in which they were born. Occasionally people don’t need any excuse to hate others.
Whether this ostracism fits under the blessings and woes concerning weeping or the ones about being reviled, Jesus does include in his blessings anyone who finds himself or herself a misfit in society. He came as a misfit for those who were misfits.
Certainly Jesus is saying that when we do right and people still hate us, we are to remember that the story is not yet over. Our reputation on earth means nothing beyond death. However people paint you down here, the paint does not ascend to heaven with you.
People put great energy into building and preserving a reputation while alive on earth and making sure it lasts beyond the grave. Legacy is a big deal among us humans, especially those who can afford to worry about it. While, there is something to be said for making sure you have a good reputation by maintaining right living, even the best efforts can backfire on you. Moreover, the great length people go to make sure they are respected or liked by others amounts to wasted energy, especially when we disobey God in attempting to do so. Whatever people think about you, God draws his own and completely independent conclusions.
Although it may hurt deeply when people treat you wrongly, such pain is only temporary. In the end, God will right the injustices. Better to ruin your reputation on earth by obeying God whatever the cost. And that is exactly the point why Jesus brings this issue up at this time in his teaching. He is looking for followers who understand that what people think of them is not nearly as important as what God in heaven thinks of them. Only those with a perspective anchored in eternity will be able to handle the assignments he is about to give out.
Monday, July 6, 2009
What’s with the Woes? – Part II
Luke 6:20-26
Far more people believe we should take the Bible literally than actually practice it as such. Take, for example, the injunction that if you have two coats, you should give one away. I have rarely met a person who believes we should take the Bible so literally that he or she has actually given away any extra coats they own for that reason.
Some Scriptures are easier to deal with in a literal sense because they are narrative. But even narrative stories have to be differentiated – some actually happened and others are just made up stories for a purpose, like Jesus’ parables.
Where our desire for literal interpretation breaks down most strongly is where the Scriptures call for action which moves us outside of our comfort zone. Jesus is notorious for such challenges. He was controversial back then and he is just as controversial today, except that we long ago found all kinds of ways to make his teachings more palatable. The Beatitudes as recorded in Matthew and the Blessings and Woes as found here in Luke are prime examples of where our willingness to take Jesus literally falters.
A critical step in working through what Jesus means is to put ourselves in the sandals of his original listeners. In this passage here, who is Jesus talking to? Luke says he is addressing his followers. To them he says, blessed are you who are poor, who hunger now, who weep now and who are hated. How are Jesus’ followers poor, hungry, weeping and hated?
Most of his followers in that time were very poor materially. In fact, throughout the ages, the poor have always responded more quickly to Jesus’ Good News than anyone else, for they have little to lose and everything to gain. Jesus says that the poor are blessed because the Kingdom of God belongs to them. What need do they have of material wealth if they have everything of God’s at their disposal?
So is Jesus talking only about those who are materially or physically poor? Obviously not, for many of the poor also reject the Good News and do not inherit the Kingdom of God. It is Matthew who mentions Jesus saying “poor in spirit.” Luke’s recording doesn’t make such a dichotomy between the spiritual and the physical and his Gospel places special emphasis on Jesus’ concern for the materially poor and the socially misfit.
To inherit the Kingdom of God, Jesus is saying, you must have no other recourse, either spiritually or materially, than God alone. Does this mean that those who are rich in resources cannot inherit the Kingdom? Jesus addresses this very question elsewhere, but the “woe” that comes in this passage says that the rich have already received their comfort, meaning they have resources of their own and so are not dependent on God, and thus have no claim on the Kingdom.
What Jesus is driving at is that to partake of God we have to let go of our dependency on all other options but God. The “Woes” here do not imply warning as much as “alas” or sadness or pity. It is too bad about those who have something other than God to lean on for they don’t need God. Wealth really is a stumbling block to getting to God, Jesus says, not an insurmountable hurdle, but a hindrance nonetheless. Blessed are those who are so poor that they have no such hurdles.
In the present world economic crisis, it is easy to forget that most Christians in the developed world are far wealthier even now than most of the Believers who have lived through the ages. The middle class of today lives better than kings and queens did in centuries past. Alas, Jesus says, when we have too much else to depend on. Better it is when our only resource is God for then the Kingdom of God is ours.
For the original audience, Jesus’ message was crystal clear. Two thousand years later, the audience may have changed, but the message hasn’t. Total dependency on God is the key to the Kingdom.
Far more people believe we should take the Bible literally than actually practice it as such. Take, for example, the injunction that if you have two coats, you should give one away. I have rarely met a person who believes we should take the Bible so literally that he or she has actually given away any extra coats they own for that reason.
Some Scriptures are easier to deal with in a literal sense because they are narrative. But even narrative stories have to be differentiated – some actually happened and others are just made up stories for a purpose, like Jesus’ parables.
Where our desire for literal interpretation breaks down most strongly is where the Scriptures call for action which moves us outside of our comfort zone. Jesus is notorious for such challenges. He was controversial back then and he is just as controversial today, except that we long ago found all kinds of ways to make his teachings more palatable. The Beatitudes as recorded in Matthew and the Blessings and Woes as found here in Luke are prime examples of where our willingness to take Jesus literally falters.
A critical step in working through what Jesus means is to put ourselves in the sandals of his original listeners. In this passage here, who is Jesus talking to? Luke says he is addressing his followers. To them he says, blessed are you who are poor, who hunger now, who weep now and who are hated. How are Jesus’ followers poor, hungry, weeping and hated?
Most of his followers in that time were very poor materially. In fact, throughout the ages, the poor have always responded more quickly to Jesus’ Good News than anyone else, for they have little to lose and everything to gain. Jesus says that the poor are blessed because the Kingdom of God belongs to them. What need do they have of material wealth if they have everything of God’s at their disposal?
So is Jesus talking only about those who are materially or physically poor? Obviously not, for many of the poor also reject the Good News and do not inherit the Kingdom of God. It is Matthew who mentions Jesus saying “poor in spirit.” Luke’s recording doesn’t make such a dichotomy between the spiritual and the physical and his Gospel places special emphasis on Jesus’ concern for the materially poor and the socially misfit.
To inherit the Kingdom of God, Jesus is saying, you must have no other recourse, either spiritually or materially, than God alone. Does this mean that those who are rich in resources cannot inherit the Kingdom? Jesus addresses this very question elsewhere, but the “woe” that comes in this passage says that the rich have already received their comfort, meaning they have resources of their own and so are not dependent on God, and thus have no claim on the Kingdom.
What Jesus is driving at is that to partake of God we have to let go of our dependency on all other options but God. The “Woes” here do not imply warning as much as “alas” or sadness or pity. It is too bad about those who have something other than God to lean on for they don’t need God. Wealth really is a stumbling block to getting to God, Jesus says, not an insurmountable hurdle, but a hindrance nonetheless. Blessed are those who are so poor that they have no such hurdles.
In the present world economic crisis, it is easy to forget that most Christians in the developed world are far wealthier even now than most of the Believers who have lived through the ages. The middle class of today lives better than kings and queens did in centuries past. Alas, Jesus says, when we have too much else to depend on. Better it is when our only resource is God for then the Kingdom of God is ours.
For the original audience, Jesus’ message was crystal clear. Two thousand years later, the audience may have changed, but the message hasn’t. Total dependency on God is the key to the Kingdom.
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