Service for February 23
Sermon for February 23, 2025 Seventh Sunday of Epiphany
Two things I think about every time I preach:
First - What does Gather (and this week Immanuel) need to hear this week? I want to be faithful to God, not my ideas, but his.
Second - Would this preach in Auschwitz?
Think about that.
Sermons not to preach: prosperity gospel, if you obey all commandments/rules your life will go well, if you just have enough faith you will get what you desire
To the affluent, pastors will say, You are blessed. Jesus says this to the poor. One example of how upside down the Kingdom of God is compared to our world today.
This sermon is appropriate for Auschwitz, or modern day Palestine, Ukraine, and many other places, but preachers who would preach the aforementioned sermons might not want to preach this one.
Ordo Amoris – Augustine – order of love or rightly ordered love
Basically says that “special regard” is to be paid to those persons who “by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection” with the Christian individual. First love God, then others. The priority of others varies with time, place, and matter at hand. Can’t love everyone equally all the time. Prioritize based on need, not just proximity.
It is right to help a stranger in dire need over a family member in little need. – family/friends/people like us aren’t necessarily given priority automatically
First love God, then love others as their needs require and we have ability to meet those needs
In Augustin’s time, no ability to meet needs around the world. We have that ability and should use it as we are able.
Love should not stay with our family, tribe, or demographic and love is not “my group first”. Not about concentric circles, but about need.
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You may have heard this in the news recently – different interpretation
“You love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus on and prioritize the rest of the world”
This is the way of the world. Take care of your own. Love in concentric circles and run out of love. This is the opposite of the way of Jesus.
As usual, Jesus turns the world’s way upside down.
Recap last week – blessed are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, and insulted
Woe to you who are rich, full, happy, and spoken well of
Woe – lament – riches and comfort keep us from seeing poverty and hardship, we are blind to Jesus in the face of another when we are full of ourselves
Blessed are YOU
Woe to YOU
There are both rich and poor in the crowd and Jesus speaks to both. Jesus does not talk to one about the other…important because we tend to be US and THEM.
Other groups represented – Jerusalem, Judea, Tyre and Sidon (former Canaanites – enemies of the Israelites)
Friends and enemies are in the crowd
Jesus begins with - If you are still listening, listen to this – LOVE YOUR ENEMIES
Blessed are you…woe to you…love your enemies, remember who is in the crowd – poor could see rich as enemies, different people groups could see each other as enemies, can you imagine people looking at each other – what would they be thinking?
The challenge from Jesus is to love those whom it is not natural for us to love. As a matter of fact, our natural inclination would be to hate them. That’s how the world works. That way of thinking pervades our society today. Played out on the national and international stage every day.
“Love your enemies” has been called the hardest commandment.
To our modern ordo amoris believers,
Jesus says: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.”
Modern examples: If you love those in your church, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those in their own clubs. If you love those with your same political leanings, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love the likeminded.
Worldly common reciprocity is motivated by gain, quid pro quo
This is not love, it is transaction
High divorce rates come because when people feel their end of the transaction isn’t being met, they leave the “business”.
People use this modern day ordo amoris way of thinking to figure out who to exclude from their love. Some use their own order of love to justify hate.
God calls me to love and protect my own (family, friends, church, etc.)
Any threat, real or perceived, brings out the opposite of love.
_________________ (group of people) threaten my way of life, so they are enemies and I don’t have to show them love.
If I see them as keeping me from protecting the ones I love, then I don’t have to show them love.
As if hatred, discrimination and persecution will make the world a better place for the ones they DO love.
Pope Francis wrote a letter to US bishops saying, “The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Luke 10
Expert in the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him what the law says.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus tells him to do this and the man, trying to justify himself, he asks, “Who is my neighbor?” (Modern view of ordo amoris – is this person in my sphere? Do I have to love him/her?)
Retell the Good Samaritan parable
The Samaritan would have been considered an “enemy”. He was loving his “enemy”.
Who was a neighbor to the man?
Answer: the one who showed him mercy – can’t even say “Samaritan”
This puts the idea of neighbor in a new light – it isn’t about seeing who is a neighbor, but about being a neighbor to everyone, including enemies. This didn’t set well with the expert in the law and it certainly doesn’t set well today.
Augustine said, “You are all looking forward to greeting Christ seated in heaven. Attend to him lying under the arches, attend to him hungry, attend to him shivering with cold, attend to him needy, attend to him a foreigner.”
And I would add, attend to him an enemy.
What does it look like to love our enemies – We can learn from Jesus and from the Good Samaritan
Jesus doesn’t say “do it” without giving us the way to do it.
A couple of things first off: loving enemies doesn’t mean liking them
It doesn’t mean rolling over to their demands or letting them into your life on a meaningful level, or “forgive and forget” (not really a thing)
Jesus’ direction to turn the other cheek or give your coat as well as your shirt is not simply rolling over to the demand. It is active non-violent resistance. Active non-violent resistance is love because it is not retaliation.
Loving is greater and more powerful than any of these.
Second: this is a journey, working through pain, hurt, emotions, anger. Keep moving forward and you will get there, even if it’s two steps forward and one step back.
Do good to those who hate you
Outrageous and radical, then and now
We are good at blame, individually and societally
We are good at loving our neighbor and holding everyone else responsible for the ills of our society
When we do that, we hold anger and hatred in our hearts, which only hurts us individually. I use the metaphor of carrying a box of rocks. As we add hurts and unforgiveness to our hearts, it is like adding rocks to the box.
We cannot control the actions or thoughts of others, but we can control how we respond. Respond with kindness, mercy, and love. This will free you from the box of rocks, though it may not alter how the other person feels and that’s ok.
Bless those who curse you
Revenge is not sweet
Retaliation brings no comfort, no joy, no peace.
Speak kindly to and about those who insult you, disparage you, or slander you
Hard to do, takes courage and strength that we often don’t have in ourselves
What comes out of our mouths matters
Pray for those who mistreat you
Pray first that the person and their actions will not have such a hold on you that you can’t even pray for them. Pray to be freed from the negative thoughts, the scenarios, the replaying of past hurt that makes everything bigger and worse than it actually is.
Bring the situation before God, bring what it is doing to you before God, and when you are able, bring the other person before God.
Be merciful as your father is merciful –
From the cross, Jesus prayed Father forgive them, loving his enemies to the very end.
Love and mercy go together, and we love in part by showing mercy, not seeking to retaliate, but to do good, to bless, and to pray. This is the journey of healing in the way of Jesus.