February 20, 2011 - Epiphany + 7

Jesus Practices What He Preaches
Matthew 5:38-48
Epiphany + 7 – February 20, 2011

Another reading from Matthew, from The Message.

"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."

Andy & I have recently become fans of a TV show that's been on for a few years now – gotta love that Netflix streaming option. It's Friday Night Lights – which is about a high school football team in Dillon, Texas. Never a show I thought I'd want to watch, but it has great characters, complex plots; it's filled with real tragedy & triumph, struggle and celebration.

Anyway, one episode we watched recently had yet another big game coming up (one thing I know from Andy's time on internship in Houston is that high school football is no joke in Texas – people take it very seriously! - so every game is a big game...). And Coach Taylor & his staff know going into the game that the other team, the Bisons, are gonna try and use every tactic to their advantage, including playing kinda dirty – late hits and pass interference and facemasks and holding and all that. That's the Panthers' history with this other team. And they also know that the Bisons will have the home team advantage. The Panthers were going to their turf – and the refs that would be officiating were notorious for favoring the Bison team, turning a blind eye to all of their tricks.

“They're gonna play dirty, and the refs aren't gonna call them on it,” Coach Taylor says that week during practice. “But we're not gonna play the game that way. We're gonna play the game our way. When they do these things, I want you to keep your head in the game. Don't sink to their level. Dillon Panthers don't play that way.”

That's what I hear Jesus saying to us in the gospel this morning. As we continue listening in on the Sermon on the Mount, we get the rest of the “You have heard that it was said... but I say to you...” statements that finish of this section. The Message puts it this way: “'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.... 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.” In other words, Jesus says, “We know the other team's gonna play dirty. And we know that the refs are gonna let 'em get away with it. But our team doesn't play that way. We don't retaliate by hitting back. When this happens, keep your head in the game & keep it clean.”

Actually, Jesus goes further than that, doesn't he? He doesn't just say keep it clean. He doesn't just say don't sink to their level. He tells his followers – then and now – to take it a step further, to give ourselves away, to turn the other cheek, to go the second mile, to love not just our friends but our enemies.

Hard stuff to hear. Hard stuff to live. And back in that episode of Friday Night Lights, the players out on the field have a hard time in the middle of everything remembering what their coach said. As the game progressed, the Bisons were just flagrantly flouting the rules of the game. The Panthers were taking a physical beating – and the refs just let it happen. They pretended not to see all of the violations going on & just let the game go on as normal. And the players were getting ticked. They were getting heated. Frustrated, mad! They wanted to hit back. They wanted to get some revenge. Somewhere in the middle of the game, they come into the huddle, and one kid says, “Are we just gonna let them do this to us? Are we just gonna take this? What are we gonna do?”

And we all know that feeling. Know what it is to feel beat up and taken advantage of and pushed to the limit; know what it is to want to hit back, to hurt that person the way they hurt us. Besides that, everybody knows that if you ever want a bully to leave you alone, you sooner or later have to stand up to them, give them a taste of their own medicine – and even if you don't win, at least they'll respect you. They'll know you're not gonna take it lying down. Jesus is talking crazy talk here when he says not to retaliate, when he says to love our enemies and pray for them. It goes against common sense. It goes against rational logic. It goes against all human emotion. He can't actually mean for us to live this way! No one can!

Except that Jesus does. Jesus did. He doesn't just tell us to live this way – he practiced what he preached. Matthew says, “This is what God does. He gives his best – the sun to warm and the rain to nourish – to everyone, regardless: the good and the bad, the nice and nasty” (5:45). And that may not seem too hard – weather patterns are kind of generic and not something you have to deal with face to face. It's impersonal. But Jesus went way beyond sending rain or sunshine from a distance. Jesus lived out what he's talking about here day by day, up close and personal, and when his life was on the line and push came to shove, Jesus didn't shove back. That's not to say that Jesus was a pushover – I think we'd all agree that he was anything but a door mat – but when it came to repaying with violence with violence or hating his enemy, Jesus just didn't do it. We see that most clearly in those pivotal 3 days of his life. Judas betrays Jesus, but Jesus doesn't seek revenge. When they come for him in the garden of Gethsemane and his disciples pulled out their swords to protect him, to fight for him, one of them, John's gospel tells us it's Peter, even cuts off the ear of the slave of the high priest, what does Jesus do? He knows he could call down countless angels from heaven, but instead, Jesus tells them to put away their weapons. Jesus heals the ear of that slave. Peter denies Jesus, but when Jesus rises again, he doesn't reject Peter, he calls him to feed his sheep. And if ever there was a time when it would make sense to fight for yourself, to curse your enemies in anger and pain, it's on the cross – but as Jesus hangs there, he does exactly what he tells us to do – he prays for his enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk. 23:34).

Now, we're not Jesus, and not many of us need to be reminded of that. We know that this is a tall order, that we'll never be able to practice what Jesus preaches that he does. But the invitation is to keep practicing. At that pivotal moment in the football game, when the team was at its limit and that one player spoke for the group: “Are we just gonna take this? What are we gonna do?” Tim, the team captain, who's not known for his high moral behavior or pacifist lifestyle by the way (he's a drinker and a brawler off the field, actually), Tim says, “We're gonna suck it up.” We're gonna do what the coach told us to do. We're gonna play the game our way.
The Message puts it this way. “Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

Live out your God-created identity. Extend the grace and mercy that God has given you to others. Practice may not make us perfect, but we can walk with and learn from the One who is. Thanks be to God.

Amen.