& all day long we talk about mercy
lead me to water Lord I sure am thirsty
All we have left is the final coda, otherwise we’ve made it!
For seven weeks we’ve been following along, as Jesus was baptized, began his mission, called his disciples, ascended that mountain and gave his first sermon laying out what it will mean to be his disciples.
As we’ve followed Jesus, as we’ve wrestled with his words, we’ve also pondered what it in the world it could mean that this man is also God in bones and flesh, that Jesus is God’s incarnation as a human…
To help us really wrestle with the radical Christian claim we’ve also challenged ourselves to say daily, “I am a child of God.” Saying this simple six-word sentence has helped us experience the shock that occurs when divinity collides with humanity.
And now here we are.
Today we hear the culmination of what this Jesus, this God dwelling in and alongside humanity, has been preaching on that mountain. Today we hear the climax of the sermon Jesus has been giving.
That is, if we’re really listening.
After all, the obvious and uncomfortable truth with today’s portion of the sermon Jesus gives to his disciples and those eavesdroppers is that this another familiar part of Jesus’ teachings.
As we’ve been hammering this entire sermon series, the words of Jesus we try to lull ourselves into comfortable familiarity with, are probably the Words we would do well to take more seriously…
I mean, here we are, gathered to remember the life of our savior; and we hear him say “turn the other check,” but all we can muster is a yawn!
We hear God in bones and flesh declare “love your enemies,” and we just shrug, “what the heck” we retort noncommittally…
There is probably no more of a cynical response, a yawn or a shrug, we could give to such ludicrous sentiments that tumble from the mouth of God…
The truth is, at this point in our sermon series, we should be shouting “enough is enough!”
First we heard Jesus declaring “Blessed are those who mourn,”
then we he told us to “Be the light of the world,”
and if that wasn’t enough, Jesus even goes so far as to say “Don’t even get angry unless you want to be guilty of murder.”
Now, to top it all off, Jesus tells us “if someone tries and sue the shirt off your back, you ought to toss in your nicest coat too.”
It truly is incredible that after so much plain absurdity we’re just sitting here, sitting here as if Jesus was simply giving directions about how to balance our budget
(although tragically I think we’d all be listening closer…).
Honestly, to the rest of the world the fact that we keep coming back to listen to these unreasonable teachings looks like we either aren’t really listening or we’re some kind of gluttons for punishment…
The point I am trying to make is, I’d prefer indignation at Jesus’ words today, than our cynical indifference…
After so much foolishness I can’t understand why one of us doesn’t just blurt it out,
“C’mon Jesus, this is no way to get along in this dog-eat-dog world. Let’s be realistic here…”
I’d rather us put aside our yawns to instead be scandalized by Jesus’ words;
because the truth is, these Words of Jesus are scandalous.
I’d rather us be taken-aback by Jesus’ Words, because the truth is our indignation at least takes Jesus seriously. More importantly, though, our shock at Jesus’ Words helps us really hear what Jesus is saying (promising).
People like us ought to be shocked at what Jesus is saying, because honestly this sermon of Jesus is contrary to all those other sermons the world has to offer, the sermons we all too often give our hearts to.
If any of us have any desires to make it to make it in this cut-throat world, if we have any aspirations whatsoever to be the biggest and best, we should put aside Jesus’ Words and take on the yoke of Bernie Madoff.
This rat-race demands we put aside Jesus’ words, because the plain truth is, what Jesus is preaching today is no way to get along in the world;
and maybe that is exactly Jesus’ point…
Think about it. It’s shocking that Jesus would say something like “turn the other check” to vindictive folks like us,
that God in-the-flesh say would say love your enemies to us. We can hardly love our own families some days!
The trouble is all too often we’re not forgiving so much as we are temperamental, judgmental, envious;
and that’s just before we’ve had lunch!
Why would this Jesus say something like “be perfect” to people like us?
There is the scandal of the incarnation; that this Jesus who doesn’t seem to know the mettle of humans is God; this Jesus who lived a short life, died violently, and was raised unexpectedly is none other than God-in-the-flesh.
The scandal of the incarnation is that the one who climbs this mountain and gives this senseless sermon, is none other than God-in-bones-and-flesh.
The scandal of the incarnation is that in this Gospel we read so casually discloses the very voice of God.
That’s the plain rub in today’s Gospel, sisters and brothers, that is so obtuse we go along pretending we’re not raw from this sermon. In the face of moderation or plain wisdom Jesus, God-as-a-human like me or you, says “be perfect.”
What in the world could Jesus be thinking?
Shouldn’t Jesus be a little more realistic here?
And it is right at that moment when we find ourselves pushed up against what Jesus is is saying,
when the Word of God collides with this world, that we finally experience the full scandal of Jesus’ sermon.
When we listen to how incredible, unlikely and unexpected God’s Word is when God shows up in this world we can’t help but be scandalized…
To help us really hear Jesus today,
to help us really be shocked at what Jesus is up to, we will continue our practice of reading the Sermon on the Mount from Eugene Peterson’s Message translation.
As we have in previous weeks, let’s listen to this sermon from the perspective of one of those first disciples Jesus called, or as a seeker eavesdropping on this sermon.
“Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.
“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.
“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Wow.
Well, that sounds different, doesn’t it?
Tragically we’ve so thoroughly domesticated Jesus that we can hardly imagine him saying something like, “grow up…”
And that is exactly why we pretend to be so familiar with these Words of Jesus; they’re too much and we can hardly bear it.
We haven’t been godly, not even close.
In fact, most days we don’t even give a second thought to the kind of life Jesus describes up on that mount…
Jesus has climbed that mountain, bidding us follow;
and so we have.
We stopped for a breather, and Jesus went ahead describing the ideal life that we’ve all failed to lead so many times.
Jesus has called us blessed while we’ve believed we were damned.
Jesus has called us to be the light of the world while we were hiding in the dark.
Jesus has called us to refrain from anger while we were plotting our revenge.
Jesus has called us to turn the other cheek while our fists were raised…
Jesus has called us to grow up while we’ve been making infants look mature by comparison.
In a word, Jesus has called us to be perfect while we’ve been anything but…
That’s the tragedy we all know too well, isn’t is sisters and brothers?
That’s the pain and tragedy of the Christian life. One of my favorite theologians likes to say Christians are the worst sinners. Unbelievers, they just murder steal and the like, but Christians disobey God…
That’s why we try to sit here indifferently when our Lord and savior says turn the other cheek to us…
Faced with the stark facts, we prefer to domesticate Jesus’ words, lest we admit the nakedness we all come to God in.
“Jesus didn’t really mean that,” we say. Or we decided Jesus’ words are too idealistic for the kind of world we live in, and make ourselves the exception.
In fact, we do anything to try to get some space from these Words of Jesus…
The reason the incarnation matters though is that in it, God’s gets too close for our cynicisms’ comfort.
As we pondered last week, God’s Word is not something we should try to control, but rather something that controls us.
Today on that mount, Jesus continues what he’s been up to all along, laying claim to all of your life.
Although today Jesus finally comes clean.
Jesus describes all of our life to make the absurd claim, “this belongs to me.”
The incarnation matters, sisters and brothers, because our life is no longer our own.
As Jesus put in “so that you may be children of your father in heaven.”
In other words, today Jesus takes that simple six-word sentence you’ve been saying for so many days now and fulfills it.
As we noted, except for a last coda, today completes our sermon series on the incarnation. In fact, today is the end of the season of epiphany. Next week is the Transfiguration.
As we come to the end of this series, this season and our wits; we can’t help but be pointed back to the beginning.
As we find ourselves dumbfounded over why Jesus would preach such a ridiculous sermon to folks like us, we find ourselves in the company of a man we encountered much earlier; John the Baptist.
Remember way back when Jesus was baptized?
Remember that poor and confused John who would have prevented Jesus saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
And remember how Jesus answered him, saying, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness."
Here’s the thing, sisters and brothers,
today on the mountain Jesus is laying out the life we should live,
but here’s why the incarnation matters,
Jesus fulfills that life for YOU.
Martin Luther had a great way of describing it, the law says ‘do this,’ but it’s never done.
Jesus, on the other hand, says ‘trust me,’ and everything is completed.
As we noted last week, Jesus is speaking to every aspect of our lives, claiming every aspect of our lives. But, sinners like us want to turn Jesus Word’s into a to-do list, but that isn’t what Jesus is doing.
No, Jesus is doing something entirely different, making and fulfilling promises.
Today, at the climax of this sermon we find ourselves in the position John found himself in so many years before us, trying to stop Jesus.
But Jesus won’t stop, Jesus won’t stop because he has come to fulfill all righteousness;
my righteousness, your righteousness;
all righteousness.
Here is why the incarnation matters,
because in it, God once and for all takes the whole shoot-and-matchsticks, and completed it.
That is why you’re children of God.
That’s what fulfills Jesus’ sermon;
not that you turn the other cheek, but that you stop trusting vengeance and instead trust God;
not that you love your enemies, but that you stop trusting our meager attempts at love and instead trust God.
It is when we let the scandal of what Jesus is up to have full reign that things start happening.
When we find ourselves dead in the water and find it has been Christ living in us all along anyway;
when we stop trying, because it is God working in and through us.
When that happens, we find that our enemies are already loved, because God has redeemed us together;
that our cheeks are already turned, because we’ve turned to follow God;
that we are already perfect, because Jesus has become our very righteousness.
That finally is what Jesus is up to, up there on the mount, killing off old sinners, to raise up new saints.
That is your path to perfection.
That is why you’re a child of God, because Jesus has shown up, and claimed, remade and renewed.
Amen
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