Love, Do Good, Bless, Pray
“Love, Do Good, Bless, Pray”
Seventh Sunday of Epiphany, Year C, February 24, 2019
Genesis 45:3-11, 15 Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40 Luke 6:27-38
First Presbyterian Church of Sandpoint, Idaho
Pastor Andy Kennaly
All three of this morning’s scripture readings are loaded with cultural influences, spiritual practices, and divine promises. Struggling with wrongdoers, trusting in the Lord, and hearing that the meek shall inherit the land are core aspects of the Christian journey, basic to our experience of faith and our living as human beings. Not only do these stories highlight specific people in particular places, like Joseph in Egypt and Jesus on the plain, but they speak to the larger identity of what its like to be alive in the world. The truths within these stories echo through the ages.
“But I say to you that listen, Love, do good, bless, pray.” Jesus gives these actions as foundation to the more contextual, cultural expressions such as turning the other cheek or giving away your coat and shirt. Jesus was a pacifist, much like Christians of the early church for the first 300 years after Jesus who would not participate in the violence of the military or warfare. Jesus practiced non-violence and these commands are grounded in the power of active, non-violent resistance. Remember, being a pacifist is different than doing nothing. It just means that what you do is non-violent. It affects all aspects of life, from political to economic, from public to private, and like most things in life the actions are rooted in a deep heart-space of spiritual formation. That’s why Jesus says right away, “But I say to you that listen” because not everybody’s interested in listening, not seeking self-awareness. He’s speaking on a heart level, and not everyone is open to this transformational depth. But for those who are, then the things that Jesus says are received at a faith level.
Notice the dramatic and distinct contrasts, which make no sense to the mind or a scientific angle, as Jesus links the action of love with the word “enemy” and doing good connected with “those who hate you.” A similar spectrum is involved with “blessing those who curse you,” and praying accompanies no less than the word, “abusers.” People who abuse, curse, hate, and are enemies are seemingly the opposite of those who pray, bless, do good, and love. Dynamics involved with this tension have to do with power and authority. Abusers tend to have power over people through positions of authority. Looking at church sex abuse situations in the Catholic Church, for example, priests have authority that parishioners do not, bishops have even more, and on up the hierarchy. Abuse of power and authority is at the root of many destructive situations and cycles of cover up as the voices of victims are silenced or ignored too long.
One of the recent experiences offered by the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest involves the Blanket Exercise. Tribal leaders from the Nez Perce nation, many of whom are Presbyterian Teaching and Ruling Elders in our presbytery, led this experiential process of summing up 500 years of history into about an hour. On February 2nd, around 100 people at presbytery were invited to stand on blankets spread across the floor of a large room. The blankets represent Turtle Island, a name which indicates the entire North American continent. Our 100 people stood as visual representation for the millions of Native American Indians present prior to European contact, living in thousands of independent, sovereign nations each with distinct cultures, customs, and languages developed over thousands of years.
Four designated facilitators shared from different perspectives, leading us through history as we stood on the blankets. Over the hour, waves of people were gradually dismissed from Turtle Island as blankets rolled up from the edges. By the end, there were only 9 people left on a very small section of blankets. Indigenous peoples experience ongoing destruction of their customs, languages, way of life as disease, slavery, murder, massacres, forced marches, boarding schools, and other forms of violence from European culture support domination, violating hundreds of treaties along the way.
One of the strongest lessons coming early in the Exercise is when a voice proclaims “divine rights.” Representing Pope Nicholas V in 1452, we hear of the official Doctrine of Discovery, which to this day has yet to be rescinded and continues to shape United States law and policy. The Doctrine, originally grounded in the Roman Catholic Church, is declaring “war against all non-Christians throughout the world, and specifically sanctioning and promoting the conquest, colonization, and exploitation of non-Christian nations and their territories.” (http://ili.nativeweb.org/sdrm_art.html, Five Hundred Years of Injustice: The Legacy of Fifteenth Century Religious Prejudice, by Steve Newcomb).
This Doctrine of Discovery, as described by Steve Newcomb, says “non-Christians were considered enemies of the Catholic faith and, as such, less than human. Accordingly, in the bull of 1452, Pope Nicholas directed King Alfonso [V of Portugal] to "capture, vanquish, and subdue the […] pagans, and other enemies of Christ," to "put them into perpetual slavery," and "to take all their possessions and property." Acting on this papal privilege, Portugal continued to traffic in African slaves, and expanded its royal dominions by making "discoveries" along the western coast of Africa, claiming those lands as Portuguese territory.” This Doctrine expanded when Europeans came to America, and the struggles Native people have faced through European domination ever since find roots in this, supposedly, divine pronouncement. Generational trauma is ingrained and passed on as pain cascades through worldviews that still seek to exploit, extract, dominate, control, and exclude anything or anyone which gets in the way.
As Jesus says Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you, there are many scales to measure these types of hatreds, cursing, abuse, and enemies of all types through global, historical scales. Most of us here this morning actually enjoy the benefits of this history, what we might call “cultural privileges” which are now codified by law, ingrained institutionally, and protected by regulation, power, and position.
Jesus is not inviting his followers to take peoples coats, or steal peoples’ shirts. Jesus is not asking his followers to slap people across the face. Jesus is not promoting aggression, not stockpiling weapons as a hedge against evil doers, to lash back in defense if things get out of hand. Jesus is speaking to people who are violated. He’s speaking to those who know what its like to suffer. He’s addressing the victims but not identifying them with a victim mentality. Just the opposite, he’s empowering them to claim their inherent honor as those created by God. Jesus is teaching them to live into the dignity of all things as loved by God. Jesus is reminding them of the ongoing connection they have at their disposal as those in relationship with God. Jesus is living into the unity he shares with all other things as expressions of the Cosmic, Living Christ. This unity is so foundational and solid that even love for enemies is possible because those distinctions are not ultimate. Living in the image of God, with our focus on God’s Presence and the qualities of love is what really matter. Notice the verbs that lead us through this: love, do good, lend, be merciful, do not judge, do not condemn, forgive, give, for the measure you give is what you get back, even how you measure matters.
Christianity is essentially a positive message to the world, grounded and centered in Christ, expressed through love’s connective actions, embodied by people as we participate in the larger creation story.
By the way, someone could demand a coat, but to take their shirt was illegal. Someone with power and position could legally strike the face of a subordinate or a slave. But to turn the other cheek was a way to force their hand to strike again in a way that was culturally shaming to the one doing the slapping. These examples force wrongdoers into looking at their actions, hopefully to learn of the absurdity. They also show that people don’t have to take abuse, but they can call people to account. The intent is not revenge, because this simply perpetuate wounds, and whether you are a perpetrator or a victim, at the source it is all pain. Jesus is trying to release all people from pain, teaching us how to let go so we may embrace a higher energy, a life-giving promise, the very love of God.
As we come to the end of the Season of Epiphany, the greatest lesson these stories share is the Reality of Grace in the sure and certain Presence of God, and that we are participants in the Divine Dance of the Trinity. Relational, covenant Presence is the source of all goodness and mercy, forgiveness, and peace. As we follow the Jesus Way, open to listening and seeking self-awareness, may we learn to trust God more, to love more deeply, to live more simply, to view meekness as an asset and not a liability. Maybe then we’ll discover unity that is so pervasive and life so abundant that even water and air and creatures of all kinds will have a right to exist simply by participating in the larger creation. May the Doctrine of Discovery and other jarring forms of destruction and domination be exposed for what they truly are, as we continue to learn how to listen, love, do good, bless, and pray.
As we follow Christ deeper into humility and glory, may God be glorified, NOW, even as forever. Amen.