The Gospel for October 2, 2004
Luke 6:27-38
‘But I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To anyone who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek as well; to anyone who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from someone who takes it. Treat others as you would like people to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to get money back, what credit can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ‘Be compassionate just as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap; because the standard you use will be the standard used for you.’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study
"For even sinners do that much."
For a first century Jew, this is a radical departure from "an eye for an eye." If YHWH is going to be kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, how then are we to act -- in opposition to the Most High?
There remains some of that tit-for-tat mentality, in typical (if we dare to use that word about Him) Jesus irony: the standard we use will be used on us; so, the level of analysis has been removed from action, to the consequences of actions.
A Reflection
My favorite mental experiment is straight from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: "What Happens Next?". Fred Rogers would often set up a simple experiment, and at the crisis point of the action, would stop the action and ask that question.
My two young sons would often get it, but sometimes not, just as we often do something and get a totally unexpected consequence; we engineers, when we talk about how business people and sales people (and politicians[!]) act, often refer to the "law of unintended consequences." We humans don't even understand why we ourselves react the way we do, often, and are really puzzled at how others act, even when we're trying to be nice.
I think what Jesus is telling us here is that we can hold ourselves individually to a high standard of love, mercy, and compassion towards others, and let the chips fall where they may. I'm not talking "tough love," I'm talking unconditional love.
A Collect
Grant, Almighty God, that we, who have been redeemed from the old life of sin by our baptism into the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, may be renewed in your Holy Spirit, and live in righteousness and true holiness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
8:24:11 PM 
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