Lessons
Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40; 1 Corinthians
15:35-38, 42-50; Luke 6:27-38
Key Verses
Luke 6:27-28 “But I say to you who are listening: Love your
enemies; do good to those who hate you; 28 bless those who curse you; pray for
those who mistreat you.”
Message
“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.”[1]
Let us pray. “Let the
words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable to you, O Lord,
my rock and redeemer.”[2] Amen.
Good Evening. So,
here we are. I do not know about you,
but reading the news these days just infuriates me. And that emotion isn’t coming from a frustration
with X or Y media source; although I will admit that I often get infuriated
with the “spin” or utter falseness that pervade several media sources. No, what I am infuriated by is what is going
on at the national level here in the United States of America. Since inauguration day it has been a
perpetual flow of non-stop “shock and awe” spewing forth from the
administration. If you follow me on
social media, you certainly see my infuriation, way too often, come out in
response. To me, none of this is
unexpected, what is happening by the administration, because there was a
published playbook well ahead of the election last autumn that made it clear
what a wrecking ball it was going to be and how incisive this assault was going
to cut. Who and how, however, is doing
it all, is a bit surprising; but not in totality, just in how brazenly shady. I will not go much further discussing the
general situation, other than to say I fear greatly for how we see our way to
the end of this epoch of American history.
Among those attacked, frontally, however, is us. Yes, us, Lutherans. I am sure you have heard by now that retired LTG
Mike Flynn[3], on February 2nd,
sent out a tweet with a screenshot of a spreadsheet of data, related to
Department of Treasury payments to various organizations, passed on to him by
the operatives of the now infamous “Department of Government Efficiency”, aka
DOGE[4]. If you haven’t, here is the direct post by
Flynn:
“Now it’s the ‘Lutheran’ faith (this use of ‘religion’ as a
money laundering operation must end):
Lutheran Family Services and affiliated organizations
receive massive amounts of taxpayer dollars, and the numbers speak for
themselves. These funds, total BILLIONS of American taxpayer dollars.
Here are just a few of the recent grants awarded (pre
@RobertKennedyJr) by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS):
LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICE INC: $367,612,906
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF THE SOUTH, INC: $134,190,472.95
LUTHERAN SERVICES FLORIDA, INC.: $82,937,819.95
There are MANY more organizations cashing in on our
hard-earned money. These entities are receiving huge sums, which raise serious
questions about how taxpayer funds are being spent and who’s benefiting.
It’s time to hold these organizations accountable. American
taxpayers deserve transparency. Enough is enough!
And there is much more where these screen shots below came
from.”[5]
Most of what Flynn said in this post was flat out wrong and
a lie. What he got right was that indeed
Lutheran Services America and Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Refugee
Services), along with their state wide organizations (not the fictitious “Lutheran
Family Services” he posted), did receive significant grants from the federal
government to perform specific services, and indeed the payments shown give a
clear indication of the scale of those grants.
And I am quite sure there are many other “screens” of data he could
share that show hundreds or more faith based organizations receiving payments from
the government for specific task that they are conducting in support of federal
grant programs (as the US Council of Catholic Bishops who are now taking legal
action against the administration). It
is also true that these total billions of dollars in taxpayer money being
spent. But that is where any truth in
his statements end. Added to these false
allegations was a piling on by the Head of DOGE, Mr. Elon Musk[6], and, of course, the
current sitting, President of the United States.
The attack here so brazen and false, that the completely
apolitical and famed Lutheran theologian Timothy Wengert[7] took to Facebook with a
message about the attack. He wrote:
“The time for silence has passed. I have no choice but to speak, despite the
fact that I have never posted anything political on Facebook before. What Elon Musk and his satellite, Donald Trump,
have said about the Lutheran Church and Lutheran Social Services is evil, not
only because it is a lie but because it arises out of a hatred for "the
widow, orphan, and stranger" in our midst.
As an emeritus professor of Lutheran theology, I used to warn my
students that tyrants always begin to abuse their authority by attacking the
church: whether an Episcopal bishop on inauguration day or now a group of
churches (Lutheran) which, despite their size, had for years developed the
largest non-governmental group of social service organizations in the
country. Such behavior is not only
mean-spirited and (probably) unconstitutional, it is also against (anti-)
Christianity itself. Now, Lutherans are
an odd group among Christians. We hold
that our relation to God is defined by grace, through faith, on account of
Christ alone. That is, we don't have to
do good works to get into or stay in a right relation with God. As a result, we Lutherans have all this time
on our hands that other religious folk may not.
So, we help our neighbor so that we don't get bored--or, rather, so that
spontaneously, out of the joy and thanksgiving for God's mercy toward us we
turn that love toward others. Lutheran
Social Services is not the problem in this country; it offers hope and support
for the least fortunate of all. So, to
Mr. Musk and all those who follow him, I offer this. Come to my house, sit down with me, and I
will explain to you why what you are doing and saying is evil. Then, perhaps, you can let go of your lust for
power and actually learn to use your wealth and position to help your neighbor
in need rather than crush him or her.
St. Paul wrote that for Christians governmental authority is ‘God's
servant for your good.’ It is time for
those in authority to stop doing the opposite and start helping the very least
of those here on earth.”[8]
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton quickly responded with
a video that very day calling out the numerous lies in Flynn’s statement and
discussing exactly what these organizations are using these funds for and what
their long standing mission has been. [9] She also reminds us of our calling as church
and what our Lutheran theology teaches us about these situations. And she passed along what the church-wide
organization is doing about it, but also what we can do. I’d encourage you to go to the ELCA YouTube
channel to watch the video yourself and to take action accordingly.
So, we have been attacked.
There is no question about it, we are in the crosshairs as Lutherans. You probably don’t fully realize that every
time we give an offering, a portion of that goes to the church-wide
organization and specifically supports Lutheran Services America and Global
Refuge. Bishop Nathan Pipho, our New
England Synod Bishop, highlighted how our benevolence to the Synod also
supports “Ascentria Care Alliance (formerly Lutheran Social Services New
England), [which] provides critical services throughout New England serving a
variety of populations.”[10] So we are guilty as charged for supporting
these organizations and their mission. To
that end, given the very evil, hate, mistreatment and curse that is being put
upon us, we now have a clear enemy for which we need to contend.
But here we are, with lessons today that seem to speak directly
to our situation. It is as if scripture
is this God given tool that helps us in new ways for new circumstances,
speaking certainly to those who were the first witnesses, but also at each time
and place. Christ, right here in the
midst of his Sermon on the Plain[11] states that “[b]ut I say
to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you;
bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.”[12] Wow.
If there wasn’t a harder lesson to have to wrestle with this week, given
our context, I couldn’t think of one.
If you are like me, when you read this, given things, you
are like, “you have to be kidding right?
I have to love those that are vociferously attacking me and my faith,
and do good to them? That is
insane!” You and I would not be alone in
being dumbfounded by this scripture. As
William Barclay offers in his commentary on this section of scripture, “There
is no commandment of Jesus that has caused so much discussion and debate as the
command to love our enemies.”[13] What he goes on to say is that if you go to
the Greek, the word for love here is “Agapate” sometimes translated as agape.
For those of us that were here for the study of CS Lewis’ book, “The
Four Loves” that ought to bring back a recollection that the kind of love Jesus
is talking about is not eros or
erotic love (sexual/instinctive love), nor is it philas or friendly/brotherly love, nor is storge or affectionate love (the love we have for family and
children). No this is the perfect kind
of all-encompassing love of God. Jesus
is saying here to agape our
enemies. This kind of love, agape, is unique, exceptionally powerful,
and seemingly out of reach. As William
Barclay says, this kind of love, “… describes an active feeling of benevolence
towards other people; it means that no matter what others do to us, we will
never allow ourselves to desire anything but their highest good; we will
deliberately, and of set purpose, go out of our way to be good and kind to
them.”[14] He goes on to say, “… this love towards our
enemies is not only something of the heart; it is something of the will.” As stated in another part of scripture, “This
teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”[15]
Well, this is probably a great time to remind us that each
and every portion of scripture does speak law and gospel. As Martin Luther once wrote, “Virtually the
whole of the scriptures and the understanding of the whole of theology depends
upon the true understanding of the law and the gospel.”[16] To help me remember how this distinction and
how to use it in understanding scripture, I use the adage that “the law accuses
us in our sin and the gospel is the salve that cures our wounded soul.” This isn’t always as easy as it seems. For instance, I’d argue that this lesson, in
our context, is speaking hard law right now, and seeing the gospel in it is
challenging.
That said, using this very challenging piece of scripture in
today’s Gospel lesson, lets tease out the law and the gospel here (pun
intended). First the law. To begin with, according to one author, “The
law is God's set of rules or demands regarding how we should be.” “The law is
God's demand for our perfection. In order to be in right relationship with God
… we have to be perfect like God.”[17] Well certainly a command like this is a
demand to be perfect with God. Our
resistance to it is certainly accusing us in our sin. That is very much at the core of our
apoplectic response to the idea of loving our enemies. The law here, as we listen to Jesus, is
acting “as a mirror to reflect to us our sinful selves.”[18] So, I am going to admit it, having “an active
feeling of benevolence towards” Mike Flynn or Elon Musk or the current
President of the United States and desiring “anything but their highest good”,
is next to impossible for me to do. I
stand fully accused by the law part of this lesson, and am without in sin. And that impossibility, however, is probably
ok, because the other thing that is true about the law is that “we can never
use it to improve ourselves; this was never its function.”[19] In other words, “the law exposes our failure
to be better, to be perfect. In light of
this, our feeble attempts to improve ourselves here and there are laughable.”[20] When it comes to this command to love our
enemies, this most certainly is going to be true for me.
Luckily for us, however, we have the gospel as well, and
that is the final word. Yes, we are
going to fail miserably at loving our enemies.
It is a sign that trying to do agape
towards our enemies is indeed a willful act, one that we should and ought to do
our best to live out (after all this is a command). But ultimately, we lack the full will to get
there, and God knows this. That is why,
“He has fulfilled the law on our behalf, has died for our sins on the cross,
and has been raised again for our justification.”[21] It is not our job to satisfy the law or this
command fully, it has always been the plan that God stands in to do that for
us: “Do not think that I have come to
abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill
them.”[22] The good news, the capital-G Gospel, is that
“our relationship with God is not dependent on our works but on his completed
work for us. We are saved by grace
through faith. We believe that Jesus has
already done everything for us so that we might be free from the obligation of the
law and its penalty of death. As a
result, we are saved from having to be perfect on our own. We are forgiven, and we stand in the fact that
‘it is finished’.”[23] The final word here is that God’s free gift
of grace which we receive through the gift of faith, allows us to try and fail,
and it is OK. As Martin Marty once said,
“it is not that we have to” do what God calls us to do, it is that “we get to”
do it.[24] And we can come to peace with this hard
teaching that we have in the Gospel lesson today, to love our enemies, even as
they sting us with vile lies and distortions and cause serious harm which we
need to take responsive action on. And
that is “[b]ecause we have been justified by faith, therefore we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”[25] And for me, at least, that is very, very good
news.
So to conclude, we are under attack fellow Lutherans. There is no doubt and I am certain it will
not be the last or final salvo in our direction. We were told in scripture that “[b]lessed are
you when people hate you and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you
on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on
that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven, for that
is how their ancestors treated the prophets.”[26] We are in good company for sure. But we are to do our best not to fight back
with the barbs thrown at us, but instead to respond in truth, justice, and love,
agape, so that you can “… have loved
righteousness and hated lawlessness;” and “therefore God, your God, [will
anoint] you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”[27] It won’t be easy, nay it will be impossible,
but if we rely on Christ and his will, we can indeed love our enemies and
prevail for all times and all places.
Amen.
[1]
2 Corinthians 1:2
[2]
Psalm 19:14
[3]
The disgraced former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency and short term
National Security Advisor, who was convicted as a felon for false statements,
and later pardoned by Donald Trump during his first administration. A notorious conspiracy theorist and 2020
election denier as well as a prominent leader in the Christian nationalist
movement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Flynn
[6]
Afrikaans-American Billionaire Businessman (current richest man in the world),
owner of Tesla, Skylink, SpaceX, and Twitter.
A polarizing figure that is known to spread lies and conspiracy
theories, now heading up DOGE after having been the single largest donor in the
2024 election in support of Donald Trump, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk
[7]
Famous for numerous articles, his teaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary
at Philadelphia, and his translation and editing of the Book of Concord with
Robert Kolb (which is the go to version for English speaking Lutherans around
the globe).
[11]
Yes, in Luke’s Gospel, this message in verse 17 of Chapter 6 stipulates that Jesus,
“… came down with them and stood on a level place with a great crowd of his
disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the
coast of Tyre and Sidon.” So this has
been come to be known as the “Sermon in the Plain” which is Luke’s rendition of
what Matthew says, starting at the opening of Chapter 5, “… he went up the
mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.” Commonly called the “Sermon on the Mount.”
[12]
Luke 6:27-28
[13]
Barclay, William, “The New Daily Study Bible, The Gospel of Luke”, pp. 93
[14]
Barclay, William, “The New Daily Study Bible, The Gospel of Luke”, pp. 94
[15]
Cf. John 6:60
[16]
Gerhard Ebeling, Luther: An Introduction to His Thought (Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1970), pp. 111.
[17]
Norris, Sean, “An Introduction to the Law and Gospel”, Modern Reformation,
Essay, 1 September 2010, https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/an-introduction-to-the-law-and-the-gospel
[18]
Norris, Sean, “An Introduction to the Law and Gospel”, Modern Reformation,
Essay, 1 September 2010, https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/an-introduction-to-the-law-and-the-gospel
[19]
Norris, Sean, “An Introduction to the Law and Gospel”, Modern Reformation,
Essay, 1 September 2010, https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/an-introduction-to-the-law-and-the-gospel
[20]
Norris, Sean, “An Introduction to the Law and Gospel”, Modern Reformation,
Essay, 1 September 2010, https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/an-introduction-to-the-law-and-the-gospel
[21]
Norris, Sean, “An Introduction to the Law and Gospel”, Modern Reformation,
Essay, 1 September 2010, https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/an-introduction-to-the-law-and-the-gospel
[22]
Matthew 5:17
[23]
Norris, Sean, “An Introduction to the Law and Gospel”, Modern Reformation,
Essay, 1 September 2010, https://www.modernreformation.org/resources/articles/an-introduction-to-the-law-and-the-gospel,
Gal. 5:1, John 19:30
[24]
Sermon by Jim Hazelwood in Potsdam, NY, exact date not recalled
[25]
Romans 5:1
[26]
Luke 6:22-23
[27]
Hebrews 1:9
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