1 John 4:19-21
19 We love because God first loved us.
20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen.
21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.
Matthew 5:43-48
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be children of God. who causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your God is perfect.
19 We love because God first loved us.
20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen.
21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.
Matthew 5:43-48
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be children of God. who causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your God is perfect.
Reflection
If someone says they love God but hate their brother or sister, they are a liar!
And it doesn’t matter who the “they is, and it doesn’t matter who the brother or sister is. They are liars!
Wow, strong language, isn’t it! You can’t love God and hate someone at the same time.
Well, it seems to me you can say you love God and it seems to me you can hate all kinds of people – people do it all the time - people of faith do it all the time! Our problem is: this is not where our faith calls us to be.
John is very explicit- he doesn’t mince words- you cannot hate people and love God. The hate gets in the way, it steals a piece of your heart and soul and hides it from you so that you can justify to yourself why it is ok for you to hate someone or to hate a group.
You know you can justify it all you want to yourself but the idea that you can hide it from God? Well that’s exactly the kind of pride that Jesus fought against with the Pharisees.
They were the ones who were looked up to by others and they kind of revered themselves for following the Law to the letter - (they were not really well known for their humility). They held themselves to a very high standard and judged others by that same standard. Jesus calls these same Pharisees, as good as are, to come out from under the yoke of the Law, he calls them to the love of God.
Jesus called his followers to walk on a narrow path. A road difficult to walk on because it is identified with love and through love. John echoed that call – love your brothers and sisters, for we are all God’s children. We are all held and embraced by God’s love. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa puts it this way:
“We are made for goodness. We are made for love.
We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness.
We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know.
We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders.
All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God's family.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Now for Desmond Tutu to be saying this is no easy thing, he has not lived an easy life, he has seen heartbreaking suffering, he has sat and listened to people from both sides of the Reconciliation Process in South Africa, and yet he lives and breathes with an abiding hope that Love is so compelling, so powerful that it really changes the underlying dynamics of relationship.
Jesus talked about the all encompassing nature of Love – agape. The kind of love with which God loves creation. The kind of love with which God loves us. The God who created us, loved us into being! And as I understand it “God doesn’t make junk!”
From the very beginning the Christian message has been and is founded on love. Not an easy throw away line “we love you” because it makes us feel good and we can pat ourselves on the back and go around living the same way we have always lived.
It is a much harder path than that. It is a love that claims loving your brother and your sister means loving those you don’t especially like, it means loving those you really don’t like, it means loving your enemy!
Now, Jesus had a lot to say about loving your enemy, well maybe not a lot; but what he did say was quite explosive. I mean, generally, enemies are the people you are supposed to hate. We hate Nazis don’t we, we hate skinheads, we hate well it seems there are all kinds of people that it is socially acceptable to hate.
Then there are the people who have wronged us, the people who have encroached on our sense of well being, the people who don’t think like we do, don’t vote the way we want them to, the people who are wrong headed and obstinate and why not just hate them and blame them for everything that is wrong in the world?
Let’s face it people are doing awful things the world over – doesn’t it just make sense to hate them, to call them the enemy? It’s their own fault.
And yet - in our scriptures today both Jesus and John couldn’t be any clearer. We are called to love. God’s love for us is a never-ending act of grace. It is a gift. And it is for everyone!
Jesus says: “Love your enemy.”
I don’t believe it was one of these speeches that made Jesus popular. It probably had listeners scratching their heads and thinking this guy is one of those long-haired sandal-wearing love freaks.
“Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” Those who threaten you, those who make you uncomfortable, those who make you afraid.
Love your enemy! Is that really the side we want to be on? Is this the road we want to be on? Is this what we signed up for?
After all, how often do we pray for our enemy in church, in the prayers of the people - no we pray for those we love, we pray for those we don’t know, we pray for the unfortunate and the downtrodden, those deserving of our care and attention. So what does it mean to pray for people who wish me and others like me harm? What did Jesus mean by praying for those who persecute you?
Love your enemy. Love those who are different from you. Love those who stand up for different things. Love those people whose story threatens to make your story look a little different than what you’ve believed all these years. Love those who walk another path and right here their path crosses ours and we are all at the crossroads! Again?
We’ve been here before and thought that was it. Got that out of the way, it’s going to be taken care of, not a problem any more! Move on down the road.
I think that is the way we have dealt with people who are outside our sphere – Indigenous peoples, Residential school survivors and their descendents, people of colour, immigrant populations, homeless people, people with addiction problems, the LGBTQTS communities. Solve these problems, check the little box off – on to the next problem calling out for our attention.
We treated it like this is our road (say our narrow path of love or Christian road ) and other people are travelling on distinct other roads but the picture Jesus and John gives us says the road is a lot wider than we imagine – all God’s children on are this road – we are not at an intersection; the road is just really big and all these others are here too.
That’s why we pray for them, that’s how we pray for them. No conditions, no strings, they do not have to become worthy of our attention and prayer – they are loved by God and because God loves us just as we are, we are called to love others just as they are.
So we pray for them just like we pray for everyone else but first we have to see them as human beings, first we have to see them as our neighbour, first we have to see them as our brother, our sister, first we have to see them as children of God.
First, we have to see them as hearts beating and wanting to be loved, as tears shed and unshed and wanting to share their love, as people who are beloved by God.
God’s love is a gift – a true gift – no strings, no conditions, no expectations – no ifs - no buts – pure grace – pure love.
I think that is what made Jesus so adamant with the Pharisees who were so insistent on the Law, so hobbled by the Law, that they couldn’t love what God loved – people.
Love is what we can’t buy our way into, we cannot good deed our way into it, we cannot pressure our way into it – God’s love was- and is – and will be. God’s love surrounds us with grace, and love becomes the whole basis for loving others.
So that it doesn’t matter who our brother and sister is – it doesn’t matter who our neighbour is - those we like and love, those we dislike, those we’d rather not spend time with, those we, for our own well being, cannot spend time with. That is whom we are called to love.
And our faith, our rituals, our songs, our prayers, our communion embody our understanding that love will be the spiritual force that unites us, not only as a Christian community, but unites us sister to brother, neighbour to neighbour, human being to human being.
As Christians we are called to live in a certain way, to exist in a certain way, to be in relationship in a certain and that way is called Love.
It doesn’t mean you have to agree with everyone or anyone- you do not have to agree with me, you do not have to agree with each other, you don’t have to agree with everything a certain group says, you don’t have to wave flags, you don’t have to sign a petition– march in every march – join a demonstration - that is not what love is about. Love is about being yourself and somehow allowing other people the space to be themselves.
Love is about being able to see other people with empathy and compassion.
God’s love that blesses us and everyone is like the sun that rises and the rain that falls never knowing worthy or unworthy, everyone is a child of God. And this love is the reason we can go out from this community to be a blessing in the world.
Sharing a love that has been graciously bestowed on us, growing love within our hearts and minds and souls, loving our enemies, praying for those who make our lives difficult, caring for our neighbours, walking a path of love that will bring hope, love and peace into a world that sorely needs it.
If someone says they love God but hate their brother or sister, they are a liar!
And it doesn’t matter who the “they is, and it doesn’t matter who the brother or sister is. They are liars!
Wow, strong language, isn’t it! You can’t love God and hate someone at the same time.
Well, it seems to me you can say you love God and it seems to me you can hate all kinds of people – people do it all the time - people of faith do it all the time! Our problem is: this is not where our faith calls us to be.
John is very explicit- he doesn’t mince words- you cannot hate people and love God. The hate gets in the way, it steals a piece of your heart and soul and hides it from you so that you can justify to yourself why it is ok for you to hate someone or to hate a group.
You know you can justify it all you want to yourself but the idea that you can hide it from God? Well that’s exactly the kind of pride that Jesus fought against with the Pharisees.
They were the ones who were looked up to by others and they kind of revered themselves for following the Law to the letter - (they were not really well known for their humility). They held themselves to a very high standard and judged others by that same standard. Jesus calls these same Pharisees, as good as are, to come out from under the yoke of the Law, he calls them to the love of God.
Jesus called his followers to walk on a narrow path. A road difficult to walk on because it is identified with love and through love. John echoed that call – love your brothers and sisters, for we are all God’s children. We are all held and embraced by God’s love. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa puts it this way:
“We are made for goodness. We are made for love.
We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness.
We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know.
We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders.
All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God's family.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Now for Desmond Tutu to be saying this is no easy thing, he has not lived an easy life, he has seen heartbreaking suffering, he has sat and listened to people from both sides of the Reconciliation Process in South Africa, and yet he lives and breathes with an abiding hope that Love is so compelling, so powerful that it really changes the underlying dynamics of relationship.
Jesus talked about the all encompassing nature of Love – agape. The kind of love with which God loves creation. The kind of love with which God loves us. The God who created us, loved us into being! And as I understand it “God doesn’t make junk!”
From the very beginning the Christian message has been and is founded on love. Not an easy throw away line “we love you” because it makes us feel good and we can pat ourselves on the back and go around living the same way we have always lived.
It is a much harder path than that. It is a love that claims loving your brother and your sister means loving those you don’t especially like, it means loving those you really don’t like, it means loving your enemy!
Now, Jesus had a lot to say about loving your enemy, well maybe not a lot; but what he did say was quite explosive. I mean, generally, enemies are the people you are supposed to hate. We hate Nazis don’t we, we hate skinheads, we hate well it seems there are all kinds of people that it is socially acceptable to hate.
Then there are the people who have wronged us, the people who have encroached on our sense of well being, the people who don’t think like we do, don’t vote the way we want them to, the people who are wrong headed and obstinate and why not just hate them and blame them for everything that is wrong in the world?
Let’s face it people are doing awful things the world over – doesn’t it just make sense to hate them, to call them the enemy? It’s their own fault.
And yet - in our scriptures today both Jesus and John couldn’t be any clearer. We are called to love. God’s love for us is a never-ending act of grace. It is a gift. And it is for everyone!
Jesus says: “Love your enemy.”
I don’t believe it was one of these speeches that made Jesus popular. It probably had listeners scratching their heads and thinking this guy is one of those long-haired sandal-wearing love freaks.
“Love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” Those who threaten you, those who make you uncomfortable, those who make you afraid.
Love your enemy! Is that really the side we want to be on? Is this the road we want to be on? Is this what we signed up for?
After all, how often do we pray for our enemy in church, in the prayers of the people - no we pray for those we love, we pray for those we don’t know, we pray for the unfortunate and the downtrodden, those deserving of our care and attention. So what does it mean to pray for people who wish me and others like me harm? What did Jesus mean by praying for those who persecute you?
Love your enemy. Love those who are different from you. Love those who stand up for different things. Love those people whose story threatens to make your story look a little different than what you’ve believed all these years. Love those who walk another path and right here their path crosses ours and we are all at the crossroads! Again?
We’ve been here before and thought that was it. Got that out of the way, it’s going to be taken care of, not a problem any more! Move on down the road.
I think that is the way we have dealt with people who are outside our sphere – Indigenous peoples, Residential school survivors and their descendents, people of colour, immigrant populations, homeless people, people with addiction problems, the LGBTQTS communities. Solve these problems, check the little box off – on to the next problem calling out for our attention.
We treated it like this is our road (say our narrow path of love or Christian road ) and other people are travelling on distinct other roads but the picture Jesus and John gives us says the road is a lot wider than we imagine – all God’s children on are this road – we are not at an intersection; the road is just really big and all these others are here too.
That’s why we pray for them, that’s how we pray for them. No conditions, no strings, they do not have to become worthy of our attention and prayer – they are loved by God and because God loves us just as we are, we are called to love others just as they are.
So we pray for them just like we pray for everyone else but first we have to see them as human beings, first we have to see them as our neighbour, first we have to see them as our brother, our sister, first we have to see them as children of God.
First, we have to see them as hearts beating and wanting to be loved, as tears shed and unshed and wanting to share their love, as people who are beloved by God.
God’s love is a gift – a true gift – no strings, no conditions, no expectations – no ifs - no buts – pure grace – pure love.
I think that is what made Jesus so adamant with the Pharisees who were so insistent on the Law, so hobbled by the Law, that they couldn’t love what God loved – people.
Love is what we can’t buy our way into, we cannot good deed our way into it, we cannot pressure our way into it – God’s love was- and is – and will be. God’s love surrounds us with grace, and love becomes the whole basis for loving others.
So that it doesn’t matter who our brother and sister is – it doesn’t matter who our neighbour is - those we like and love, those we dislike, those we’d rather not spend time with, those we, for our own well being, cannot spend time with. That is whom we are called to love.
And our faith, our rituals, our songs, our prayers, our communion embody our understanding that love will be the spiritual force that unites us, not only as a Christian community, but unites us sister to brother, neighbour to neighbour, human being to human being.
As Christians we are called to live in a certain way, to exist in a certain way, to be in relationship in a certain and that way is called Love.
It doesn’t mean you have to agree with everyone or anyone- you do not have to agree with me, you do not have to agree with each other, you don’t have to agree with everything a certain group says, you don’t have to wave flags, you don’t have to sign a petition– march in every march – join a demonstration - that is not what love is about. Love is about being yourself and somehow allowing other people the space to be themselves.
Love is about being able to see other people with empathy and compassion.
God’s love that blesses us and everyone is like the sun that rises and the rain that falls never knowing worthy or unworthy, everyone is a child of God. And this love is the reason we can go out from this community to be a blessing in the world.
Sharing a love that has been graciously bestowed on us, growing love within our hearts and minds and souls, loving our enemies, praying for those who make our lives difficult, caring for our neighbours, walking a path of love that will bring hope, love and peace into a world that sorely needs it.
