Bad Advice

Sunday, February 19
7th Sunday after Epiphany

Listen to today’s sermon:

[Jesus said to the disciples:] 38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
  43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – Matthew 5:38-48

See also the first reading: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18

Today I’m going to offer you some very bad advice.

You have heard it said, pick up a few of the most requested items for the food pantry when you do your weekly grocery shopping. But I say to you, give away the food you were planning to eat for dinner tonight.

You have heard it said, if you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all. But I say to you, put your reputation and safety at risk to stand up to those who tear down with lies and hate and prejudice.

You have heard it said, welcome the carefully vetted refugees in reasonable numbers who are likely to work hard and contribute to the economy. Prioritize for deportation only the criminals. But I say to you, risk your political, economic, and physical safety by throwing open your door to everyone – everyone – who knocks.

You have heard it said, give criminals reasonable sentences for their crimes. But I say to you, practice radical forgiveness and set them free.

You have heard it said, don’t discriminate based on race or gender or any other ism. But I say to you, give up your place of power and hand over your privilege to the one who has not been given it in society.

You have heard it said, it’s ok to hate the people who stand for injustice, prejudice and hatred. But I say to you, love those people, too. Make yourself vulnerable to them. Open your heart to them.

You have heard it said, just do right and be good, but I say to you, give yourself up for the kingdom of God. This is terrible advice.

Our first reading and the other elements of Mosaic and cultural teaching that Jesus references in today’s gospel all point to how to live in a just society. Leave a little extra so the poor can get by. Don’t swear falsely, lie, cheat, steal, et cetera. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? That’s the law’s way of saying don’t escalate the violence. Don’t take a life for an eye, or a life for tooth. Don’t give in to your desire for disproportionate revenge. And love your neighbor broadly speaking.

If you follow the law and its vision of a society of mutual aid and support you’ll get along just fine. Take what you need, give what you can. Do simple kindnesses for one another. Avoid violence, physical and verbal. If we could do that much at least, if everyone did that we’d be so far ahead of where we are right now I can’t even imagine it.

Now I don’t know if Jesus missed the memo or what, but we haven’t managed to do that much successfully as of yet. So I’m not sure where he gets the idea that we are ready for going beyond it. The law limits disproportionate responses and asks us to share our excess. We haven’t yet mastered that, but Jesus is asking us now us to dole out not just what is fair but to share more than what is reasonable, more than we have to give, to show disproportionate mercy.

This is Christian discipleship in a nutshell, according to Jesus, give yourself away until there is nothing left. Someone wants your coat? Give them the rest of your outfit, too. Someone wants to strike you on one side of your face? Line up the other side for a punch, as well. An enemy wants to destroy you? Love them – real love – become vulnerable, open your heart to them and wait to see if they tear it to pieces.

Let me say this again: this is terrible advice. If your therapist gives you this kind of advice, get a new one. If your politicians campaign on this, don’t vote for them. If your businesses run this way, don’t bother investing your money in stocks. If your pastor gives you this kind of advice…well…I’m afraid to finish that sentence.

Because when you follow this advice, you have nothing left. No house, no food, no clothes. No church building or budget or program. No part of your body left unbruised. If you have that much trust in God, that you can give every last shred of yourself away, you have more faith than I do.

Now, I always have to pause with this text because it has been used to justify and prolong abuse and oppression. Jesus isn’t asking us to put up with control, abuse, or pain. This is not a justification from Jesus for the ones doing the hitting, the ones doing the stealing, or the ones doing the controlling. For those who are oppressed and abused, the giving away of your whole self might look like you mustering every last ounce of courage to get to a safe place. Loving your enemy might look like naming publicly their oppression, prejudice, and violence for what it is, bringing them and their evils to the light. Or turning the other cheek simply might mean surviving each day one after another, in the face of what you cannot in the moment escape.

But oh what power those things have in the face of evil. Goodness is stronger than evil, love stronger than hate, light stronger than darkness, life stronger than death. Unquestioning mercy, unquestioning generosity, unquestioning welcome: these have a power beyond what is human. The kind of everything-in discipleship that Jesus demands holds a strange and frightening power over the evil within us and the evil around us. But don’t be fooled, nonviolent resistance, self-protection, survival – that also demands every last bit of yourself. Confronting the powers within and around us – the power of hunger, pain, poverty, disease, racism, xenophobia, the power of greed, anger, and the status quo – confronting that demands everything we have.

We are called to give it all away, to live in such utter trust in God that we are willing to let everything go. Called to find ourselves in that place where we have nothing left to do but fall into God’s loving embrace for us and all creation. Jesus is not offering nice Christianity, but inviting us to follow the way of Jesus to the cross and tomb, where everything is stripped away and we have nothing left. And it is there in the emptiness that we find Jesus. When we reach our limit, when we are unable or unwilling to give any more of ourselves away, it is there that we find Jesus living up to his own words. When we reach the limit of our generosity, when we cannot bear to turn the other cheek, when we cannot muster any more love for the enemy, when we simply fail to give away ourselves, our time, and our possessions, we find there Jesus walking our way, welcoming us not with proportional justice, not with an eye for an eye, not with what is right and fair, but with the very same disproportionate mercy that has been asked of us. When we turn back from our self-destruction and violence or when we confess our failure, we find not an angry enemy, but words of gracious and unconditional pardon. When we have given away our food that others may eat and when we have failed to feed the hungry ones, we find on God’s table not the remnants left from an abundant harvest, but the finest bread and wine, the flesh of God given up for us.

We fail to trust that we will be ok when we have nothing left to give, yet we live cradled by a God who trusts that it’s ok for God to give everything for us. We rest in a God who gives up God’s very self for us. We rest in a God who loves past our hate, who stands firm beyond our violence, who gives abundance beyond our deserving.

You have heard it said that God loves and cares for you, and that would be more than enough to get us through this life if we could manage to put our trust fully in that reality. But I say to you that God literally gives up heaven and earth for your sake, and that, dear sisters and brothers in Christ, is enough to raise us from the dead.

-Pastor Steven Wilco