Luke 9:28-43
We continue the Gospel lesson of last Sunday with the rest of Jesus’ teachings in the sermon on the plain, Luke’s parallel to Matthew’s sermon on the mount. Where Jann ended last week … here we begin with the rest of the Plain Talk.
The difficulty in preaching these texts is … no one comes to church on Sunday morning already thinking, “I would really like a challenge today; maybe something along the lines of being asked to love my enemy.” No, most of us come to church already thinking, “I just want to hear a feel-good sermon with a good pat on the back.”
Well, if we’re honest, the history of the church offers many examples where preaching about love and grace is overshadowed by immorality, corruption, and exclusion … especially exclusion. The critics of the church have a point in their assessment that far too often there is a vast difference between what we say we believe and what we actually do. And they are not wrong! The truth is, this teaching, and much of the gospel itself, is hard! What Jesus offers us in this text is not intended to make us feel better or to pat us on the back. What he offers us is the radical yet powerful idea of forgiveness. It runs against our thinking, our inclinations, our desires, and our will. It flies in the face of the very culture in which we live where might is always right! Right?
But despite our failures to live out these instructions in the sermon on the plain, God loves us anyway. Do you know why? Because we have to keep trying to live out the radical faith Jesus demands. The reward is not that our pockets will be full (as the prosperity gospel will have you believe), or our garages filled with several luxury cars, or even great self-esteem. The reward is who we become in the process. We will never love our enemies without an amazing grace that transforms us and changes us, even as we resist. While the gospel is “good news” for us all, it is not always “easy news” for us to follow.
So, what does any of this mean? Well, according to our text, it means that we must go against our gut instincts when it comes to all people … even people we don’t like, who have treated us badly, or who differ from us in any way … as in how they look, or what they believe, or who they love. This text tells us that those differences are precisely why love wins. We must love … not tolerate, not ignore, not shut them out … or, as is happening in our society today, demonize them. But LOVE them!!!
Jesus pushes us to be better versions of ourselves. Why? Because it’s easy to love your friends. They’re already your friends! It’s easy to be kind to people who are kind to you! It’s simple to reciprocate, isn’t it! But love the other? That takes real faithfulness!
Rev. Dr. Debi Powell-Maxwell
3/2/2025
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