Blue ad Red Makes Purple: Kindness

Luke 6:31-36, NRSVue

31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive payment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 Instead, 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 himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

INTRO

This week we begin a new sermon series: “Do Unto Others.” This series was developed to help us learn to live in what series creator, Rev. Dr. Marcia McFee coins, “the purple space.” So often in life we find ourselves on one side of an issue or another. Especially when it comes to politics in the United States, we tend to view ourselves as “red” or “blue.” Yet, Jesus calls us to live differently. In the Golden Rule, we are challenged to open ourselves up to and to truly get to know others and to treat others differently then that of the world. The idea is that coming together does not make one side right and the other side wrong. It doesn’t even mean that we try to convince one another that one of us is right or change each others mind. Instead, we are called to examine the beauty that is found when we work together for the betterment of the world. As Rev. Dr. McFee reminds us, “The ‘purple space’ is where we cultivate kindness, compassion, humility, respect, and love for one another and for the good of all the world, no matter what.” Over the next several weeks, we will explore what it means to live in this space as we learn what it truly means to Do Unto Others.

In our passage this week, we are confronted directly with the gold rule as Jesus tells us, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” I imagine that many of us have heard this rule again and again throughout our lives. I remember the poster in my elementary school classroom with this rule on it. Yet each time we hear the golden rule, I imagine we want to dig deeper into what it really means to do onto others. We have heard it so much that in some ways the rule has lost its meaning. In fact, Culture of Renewal rephrases this rule to “Treat other’s the way they want to be treated.” The goal in the rephrase is the emphasis the need to hear and understand the perspective of the other. Many of us would say we know what the golden rule means… it means that we are supposed to be nice to others. If you have nothing nice to say…then what? Say nothing! Be nice…yet, while being nice to one another is a part of the golden rule, and its true that we ought to be nice, the meaning of Jesus’ words go much deeper than simply being nice.

In our scripture lesson, verses 32-35 offer us an explanation. If the question is how, then Jesus’ instructions are clear. Love others especially those who we view as enemies. Love others especially those who are not loving toward us. Sometimes, though, we wonder how we are to love someone if they are doing hurtful or harmful things to someone we care about. It calls us into a space of discernment. We are obviously called to take up for the weak and the oppressed. Yet, we are also called to love our enemies and to love those that hurt us. The oppressor is not beyond being love.

It’s quite interesting to me that Jesus starts by calling us out. “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.” It’s almost as if Jesus is speaking into the present and not just Luke’s community. The reality is, the sinners Jesus describe in the text as loving when love is received or doing good only when goodness is convenient seem thrive in the world not just in Jesus’ day but in our day too. It’s easy to love those who are similar to us. It is easy to love those who think like us. It is easy to love those we spend a lot of time with. Ultimately, it is easy to love those who are beneficial to us and our goals. This is the instruction that the world gives us. Do whatever is necessary to get on top. Be kind to those who are not in the way of your success or who will help you achieve your goal. Ignore the rest. Push them out of the way if it becomes necessary. Even the idea of only lending to those who can pay you back fits right in with this world view that Jesus speaks of.

And if we are honest with ourselves, the place we find ourselves in right now goes deeper than this. We find ourselves at a time in our country where political discord is at an all time high. We see compromise and reaching across the aisle at an all time low. The rhetoric that we use to talk to each other gets more and more vicious. We can’t see an opposite political opinion and scroll past it without posting nasty comments or provoking a fight. I even read an article this week that talked about rising level of people who accept that violence is just an ongoing part of our political process. Those who accept violence is just part of the political landscape is down a little bit from the past couple of years but it is still significantly elevated since the 1990s.

We also see this divisiveness leaking into the church. Folks have disaffiliated from the denomination. Individuals have left congregations. You are seeing increases in fights among congregation members across the country. We find it difficult to live together with one another in love because of our differences. Yet studies have indicated that more and more congregations identify as purple. That is, they identify as spaces with a diversity in political and theological thought. In fact, our congregation is one of those spaces. We are not all of one mind politically or theologically.

As we reflect on what seems to be a growing divide in our country, we must pause and ask ourselves why people have a hard time loving their neighbor as themselves. Some theologians argue that we have a hard time loving our neighbors, because we have a hard time loving ourselves. Theologian Robert Darden ponders this as he writes, “Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that a lot of people have trouble loving themselves and thus judge themselves harshly, which makes them more likely to judge others harshly as well. It is difficult to forgive and love your enemies when you do not forgive and love yourself. Feelings of low self-esteem (and sometimes self-loathing) create an easy pathway to the judgment of others. Jesus knew that, of course; that may be why he said, ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.’ We have to believe that we are worthy of that mercy. Jesus believes that, God thinks so. Why can we not?” Before we can love our neighbors, we must love ourselves.

Have you ever heard the song “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us?” The song begins, “How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure!” John Wesley reflected often on God as a loving parent. Yes, God will be disappointed in us when we make mistakes. However, like the love a parent has for their child, God loves us deeply, beyond what we can measure. If we begin to reflect on that love, might we shift the way that love ourselves. Might we offer ourselves more grace. Might we allow ourselves spaces to truly be and feel realizing that God desires this for us. Our challenge then is to allow that same space for others.

Our call then, is to respond with kindness both for ourselves and others. So often we think of differences when it comes to how we view another person. They have green eyes, I have blue, they are tall, I’m short, they are liberal and I’m conservative…But did you know that more than 99% of human DNA is the same from one person to the other. In other words, any person that you see, in any child of God that you encounter, you have more than 99% of identical DNA with that person. We are far more alike than we are different. Further, the word “kindness” comes from a word that means “Family” or “with the feeling of relatives for each other.” Yet if we open our eyes, we find that the world truly is God’s family. If we truly believe that we are all God’s children, science shows us that we are more closely related to others than we think. What if we treated all people with the same feelings that we do our relatives? What if we truly viewed others as our sisters and brothers? If we lived in this way, we would live more fully into the kingdom of God, into the world that God envisions for us.

Being kind also has profound effects on our wellbeing. Dr. Michelle Robin, wellness coach and founder of the 31-day Kindness Campaign, reports that individuals who practice kindness are happier, less stressed, have better relationships, are more likely to be successful in their businesses, have happier marriages, and live longer. Additionally, the Hebrew work for kindness appears 250 times in the Hebrew Bible. So obviously, kindness is important to God!

Jesus is clear that this is our call as he proclaims, “Instead, 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 himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” Sometimes, we read this text and expect health and wealth and all the good things. Interpretations like this form the foundation of the prosperity Gospel. Yet we must name and acknowledge that first, it is impossible to live this way on our own. Left to our own devices, we would never choose to live this way. Augustine names this well when he penned in latin “Sin is the human being curved in on itself.” To be curved in on yourself, is to to dehumanize yourself by giving away your personhood, to choose isolation over relationship because of fear or pride. Yet, to love one enemies, to do good, to lend and expect nothing in return” is to live into the relationships…Church, this is only possible because of Jesus Christ. It is only possible because we open ourselves up to the work of God in and through us.

In fact, if you notice the text, this becomes quite clear. As we become children of the most high God, God’s abundance flows through us. And that is our reward. Our reward is not material wealth. Our reward is not a new house or a new car. Our reward is a life that is transformed by God through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our reward is living our lives as children of the most high. Our reward is being able to live this call to love ourselves and love others because God has first loved us. Because we will never love our enemies, we will never love those who hurt us, without God’s grace in our lives.

Our call then, this morning, is a commitment. Whether you identify as blue or red or some other color, we must come together. We must come together to show ourselves and others kindness. In 2022, a poll showed that 75% of Americans believe that “to restore peace and unity we need leaders to model kindness and understanding…” At the same time, they believe that “waiting for our leaders to ‘model kindness and understanding with people they disagree’ may not happen if ‘we the people,’ the people who elect them, are not willing to do this first.” Church it starts with us. We are called to step forth and model kindness to the world. And it starts not just with us as individuals, but it starts with the church of Jesus Christ. The church, the body of Christ, is called to stand at the forefront and practice kindness, to offer forgiveness, to offer love to this divided world. For if we aren’t willing to step up and lead who will?

So this morning, as we begin this sermon series, as we take an honest look at the world around us, we are challenged to be kind. To share kindness with ourselves and others. We are invited to do unto others as we would have done unto us that our lives might shine forth the transformative power of Jesus Christ. Will you join me? Will we choose kindness together?

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.