I am going to read aloud some of Jesus most difficult words.

Not all of them mind you, for that would take too long.

As I read them aloud, think about which one is the most difficult for you.

I am then going to ask for some of you to share out loud which saying was the most difficult for you and why.

Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, first let me go bury my father. But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:21=22

Do not think I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. Matthew 10:34

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Luke 18:25

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26-27

Jesus said, “I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 27-33

They are all hard aren’t they?

All of these words of Jesus make us feel uncomfortable for various reasons.

And because of the way we often read the Bible, even when we don’t intend to, they become even more uncomfortable, and we avoid them.

I think that our default position when reading the Bible, even those of us who consider ourselves progressive and modern, is that it is an instruction manual or answer sheet for all of life’s questions.

When read in this fashion, many of these sayings are too hard to stomach.

Some of them even seem to contradict other things that Jesus says in other parts of the Gospels.

As specific rules that must be followed or else, these words of Jesus become so impossible that we are either forced to make ourselves crazy trying to live out all of the various rules or we just give up all together and move on to other parts of Scripture that are easier to read.

Most of the time we do the latter but are left with a niggling fear that we are somehow bad people or less than perfect Christians because we are not following all the rules—or maybe that’s just my own personal neuroses.

But I think there is a third way to approach the Bible and in particular the hard sayings of Jesus, that doesn’t avoid the uncomfortable but instead embraces these uncomfortable places so that we can become better, more faithful followers of Christ and experience more fully the love and grace of God right here and right now.

This third way asks us to seek the Bible not as an answer sheet or a book of rules, but rather a collection of divinely inspired writings from our ancestors that helps us to ask the right questions, the hard questions, the life-changing questions, the world-changing questions.

These passages from scripture are difficult and hard because sometimes we need to be shocked out of our complacency, out of our thinking that the world as it is, is the world as it has to be.

For example, when Jesus said:

“Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Matthew 8:21=22

and

Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26-27

was Jesus giving us a new rule about family?

Was he telling us to abandon all responsibilities to our kith and kin?

I don’t think so.

But we are being asked to take a serious look at our family values.

What is our relationship to be with those who are closest to us?

Have we placed our familial relationships above all else in our lives?

Have our familial relationships become idolatrous?

And any other number of difficult questions we could ask ourselves.

Our how about the hard questions about economics that

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Luke 18:25

challenges us to ask.

What are the sources of our resources?

How do we use our resources?

What hold do our resources have on us?

What does this passage say about how God sees the world and what God wishes for the world?

And any other number of difficult questions we could ask ourselves.

And then there is our passage from our Gospel reading for today:

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:27-33

Read as a rule that I have to follow or else I am left with feelings of hopelessness and despair.

No matter how hard I try, I continue to have negative feelings toward those who harm me.

I continue to fight back when someone harms me.

I don’t do to others as I would have them do to me.

I try and I try, and I fail and I fail.

Perhaps I am just weaker than everyone else, but I don’t think so.

I think most people find this passage when viewed as a rule to be impossible.

But what if we read it not as a rule but instead as a challenge to ask the right questions? Here are some of the questions this passage inspires me to ask:

What does this passage have to say about God and the nature of God?

· God loves everyone, even the unkind, ungrateful and the wicked.

· That means God loves me even when I am kind, ungrateful and wicked—even when I am unforgiving, ungenerous, and hateful.

· I frequently don’t deserve God’s love and mercy, but I get it anyway.

· Others who harm me don’t deserve God’s love and mercy, but they get it anyway.

· Thank God, God doesn’t treat me as I deserve. Thank God, God doesn’t treat any of us as we deserve.

What kind of world does God dream for us?

· God dreams of a world in which all of creation thrives not just some.

· God dreams of a world in which there is no more violence.

· God dreams of a world in which all of creation is healed, is whole, is healthy.

· God dreams of a world in which everyone seeks healing and not revenge.

· God dreams of a world in which we love as God loves.

Some have said that this passage from Luke is a call to an impossible utopian dream.

But is it?

Joan Baez once said, “Nonviolence is a flop. The only bigger flop is violence.”

Or maybe the words of the great Christian pastor and prophet Martin Luther King Jr. will make more sense to you,

Upheaval after upheaval has reminded us that modern man is traveling along a road called hate, in a journey that will bring us to destruction and damnation. Far from being the pious injunction of a Utopian dreamer, the command to love one’s enemy is an absolute necessity for our survival. Love even for enemies is the key to the solution of the problems of our world. Jesus is a practical realist. MLK jr. “Loving Your Enemies” 1957

Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can drive out darkness.

Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can drive out hate.

This was the foundational ethic of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life.

And it did not make him weak or passive.

Indeed, he was the incredibly powerful leader of one of the most powerful movements of change in our nation’s history, the civil rights movement.

King and those who followed him did not sit back and let those who were harming black Americans to continue their harmful ways, but they did respond with nonviolence and love.

We have all seen the images of peaceful black Americans being abused at lunch counters and having fire hoses and dogs turned on them.

It was these images of love and peaceful non-resistance in the face of violence and hatred that brought down the evil system of segregation in this country.

And why was King able to embrace Jesus’ ethic of love and forgiveness?

How was he able to do what seems impossible to most of us?

Not because he read this passage from Luke as a rulebook to be followed or else.

He was able to do the impossible because he understood from this passage that God’s mercy extends to all—to him when he didn’t deserve it and to all, including his enemies, including those who had harmed him.

And King understood what Jesus understood and what God is trying to get us to understand—that the only thing more powerful than hate is love.

The only thing that can stop the cycles of violence, hatred, and prejudice that threaten to bring us all down—victims and oppressors—is love and mercy.

If we don’t act in love, then we simply become the oppressor, and the cycle continues.

We are facing a time in which love seems to be in short supply.

Many, many people are being harmed by the actions of a few powerful people who only seem to be interested in making sure that they get all the cookies, all the resources, all the money and power.

This passage is a call to love, but not a passive love.

This passage is a call to active resistance in the face of hate, discrimination, hoarding of resources and power and it is a call to resistance through love.

It is a reminder that the world as God dreams for us is good for everyone, including the oppressors.

To harm another is to harm oneself.

For no one can be truly whole and healthy when another is hurt and suffering.

Hate corrodes the soul and makes the hater less than human.

And we can certainly see right now what wealth can do to one’s soul.

And yet, God loves the oppressor, the oppressed, the hater, and the hated, the wealthy and the poor.

So let us stand up to those who hate and hoard and oppress.

But let us not stand up with our own hate.

Let us stand up with love.

And yes, we are trying to do the impossible but remember that Jesus also said, “For mortals it is impossible but not for God.” Luke 18:27

And remember, King did not do what he did alone.

He did what he did in community.

He did what he did with others.

Let us come together as a community and join with others who are seeking to drive out darkness with light.

Let us join with those who are seeking to counter hatred with love so that God’s dream for this world, a dream in which everyone knows health, abundance, love, and peace, becomes just a little bit more real. Amen.