The Quiet Ones pt5

This passage outlines one of the most difficult and controversial passages in all of the teachings of Jesus. It is called the “law of non-resistance” and how it is to be lived out and how expansive it is to be applied has divided families, denominations, even nations. It is as blunt and direct as it could be, yet its merits are debated and its application doubted.

Yet, it is the last two verses that are the key. The part that is so often argued about overshadows the source. And I think, truthfully, that if we grasped the expansiveness of v35-36, we would have a better idea of how to live out verses 27-34.

To begin this morning, however, I want to start with an observation. In November of 2019, Anne Lowery one of my favorite writers for The Atlantic penned an article called “America’s Epidemic of Unkindness.” In it, she discussed the findings and observations of the newly inaugurated Bedari Kindness Institute at UCLA.

The findings should not surprise you. America is suffering from a lack of empathy at pandemic level proportions. In short, we are becoming less kind, less caring, and less concerned with people. And we are delighting more in more in mockery, belittling, and destroying other people.

Here’s the money quote, “The internet is largely a cesspool,” Daniel M. T. Fessler, an evolutionary anthropologist and the new institute’s director, told me. “It is not actually surprising that it is largely a cesspool. Because if there’s one thing that we know, it’s that anonymity invites antisociality.” It is easier to be a jerk when you are hiding behind a Twitter egg or a gaming handle, he explained.

Turn from that quote to the words of Jesus in Luke 6 and you will either snort in mockery or be convicted beyond measure. All depending on where your heart is. Because Luke 6 doesn’t fit well in a social media, memification, cancel culture world.

Luke The Call to Exceptional Love and Mercy (6:27–36)

Jesus calls for the performance of love—in action, thought and petition.

(Read v27-31)

Does this sound like it is from another planet? I know. As I sat in Colorado this last week writing this sermon I had a lot of time to look at these words. They hit hard. First, the simple command to love my enemies. That’s the unconditional kind of love by the way. And my response, “but they hate me” is immediately dismissed by the next phrase “do good to those who hate you.” Dang it. There is ZERO wiggle room here.

Luke Comments

The last three commands reveal that the command to love one’s enemies does not appeal to the emotions but to the will. Jesus did not command his followers “to feel” in a certain way but to act in a certain way. Emotions can be elicited but not commanded. Actions and the will can be commanded. Thus the command to love one’s enemies is not directed to how believers are to feel but how they are to act

The Gospel according to Luke Agapē—The Heart of Jesus’ Ethical Teaching (6:27–36)

These two verses are a single sentence constructed of four imperatives: love, do, bless, and pray. Each imperative is in the Greek present tense, connoting continual action in accordance with the command. The commandments thus characterize not temporary or occasional activities, but habitual behaviors of Jesus’ followers

What does it mean to “do good” to them? Well if you were hoping it meant a head nod of recognition or a smile or paying for their drink at Sonic, you are out of luck. Jesus makes it clear that “doing good” means to value their comfort, their advancement, and their wishes…more than your own. Because, the intent of “doing good” is to do to them as you would want others to do for you. To want them to excel and to succeed.

Luke The Call to Exceptional Love and Mercy (6:27–36)

This is “tough love” because it is tough on the believer who loves. It is “radical love” because it calls for denying oneself and being continually exposed to abuse. It is a love not of power, manipulation or arrangement but of service and meekness.

But it is more than that. Jesus says to bless them. If doing good to them upset you, then this one is going to send you around the bend. “to bless” in this context is to “speak well of” In other words, when they speak poorly of you, you speak well of them. You find things to praise, to commend, to celebrate.

And also, we are to not just do good and bless, we are to pray for them. When is the last time you prayed for an enemy? For someone who you don’t like or appreciate or value? Someone who seeks your demise or failure. That’s a hard prayer. Yet it is so important. Because that prayer, while it is for their good, is also for yours. See it is hard to hate someone you are praying for.

The Gospel according to Luke Agapē—The Heart of Jesus’ Ethical Teaching (6:27–36)

No power in the world is comparable to agapē love, both to keep Christians from becoming like their enemies, and to release their enemies from the prisons of their own hatred.

(Read v32-34)

So why? I mean it why should we do this. I think Jesus anticipated this question. I am sure He knew the disciples were thinking it as He spoke to them. So He gives them the answer to their unvoiced question.

We are to be different.

Luke The Call to Exceptional Love and Mercy (6:27–36)

As children of God, believers have been transformed to live in contrast to the way of sinners, modeling the sacrifice of radical love.

Those who do not know Jesus can be kind to people who are kind to them first. They can love back people who loved them first. They can be good to people who were good to them first. They can share what they have with people who they know will give back to them.

In short, the economy of the world is simple- karma. You get what you give. Whatever you put out there will come back to you. Well karma isn’t very kind or forgiving. And if we operate on karma, we are operating on a system that is going to turn on us eventually. Because none of us are perfect.

My favorite singer, Bono from U2, had this to say about karma “You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics; in physical laws every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep [crap]. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity”- from Bono in Conversation, by Michka Assayas

Bono nails it. Grace is what happens when Jesus shows up.

(Read v35-36)

Remember how I told you, if you get verse 35-36 that the struggles with v27-34 will sort themselves out? This is why. We are kind, to our enemies, because we were once enemies of Jesus and He was kind to us.

Romans 5:10 nails it. Jesus died for us- fully displayed the kindness of God by laying down His life- while we hated Him. We were His mortal enemies, in love with other gods rather than our Savior, and yet He laid down His life for us. (Gospel presentation here)

So we choose kindness, not because it is easy, or moral, or it will make people be nicer to us, but because we are “sons [children] of the Most High”- and we have received His kindness.

The Gospel according to Luke Agapē—The Heart of Jesus’ Ethical Teaching (6:27–36)

Throughout the ancient world, sons—especially firstborn sons—were accorded chief inheritance and privileged status. The ethics of agapē usher believers into fellowship with God as sons, and sons partake of the nature of their Father (2 Pet 1:3). God is kind and merciful, even to “the ungrateful and wicked” (v. 35); “children of the Most High” should likewise be merciful as their Father is merciful.

Without that, it would be impossible to keep the law of non-resistance. We would either go overboard- never standing up to injustice, or ignore it as an impossible task. Instead, when we view it thru the lens of the cross, we see what Jesus means. We are not on the look out for enemies, we are on the look out for people who need Jesus. And they may not be kind to us, but our displays of kindness to them will lead them to Him.