All Saints Sermon 2019: Psalm 149; Luke 6: 20-31
As a pastor, I’m often privileged to preach at funerals for the members here at the church, and a couple of times, I have also preached for members long ago, whom I’ve never met. In each case I listen as the family members tell me stories about this person. Inevitably I learn that sometimes you learn a whole lot more about the person and who they are when the pastor is NOT around. I’ve been privileged over the years to hear about the love of family, the business prowess, artistic creativity, funny stories, skills, and talents of so many members here at FCC Macon and for friends who needed a pastor as well.
In reading over this scripture, I pondered over the stories I’ve heard, the personalities I’ve learned and grown to love, and there was this lingering question: what does it take to have a life well-lived? Now, in the immediate answer, you might say, “Faith! Belief!” And in fact, faith in the Holy One to save and restore is so very important, but what about after that? As we navigate our lives as Christians, how do we end our time here on earth with a life well-lived?
The Gospel for today gives us that very insight. We hear a shorter re-telling of the Beatitudes: God blesses the poor, the hungry, and those who weep (or mourn). We are told that such folks who are poor of suffering in some way will be lifted up. The poor are told the Kingdom of God is theirs. The hungry are told they will be satisfied. And those who weep are told their sadness will turn to joy. This stands in contrast to the warnings just a few verses later. Those who are rich are told that their happiness is only temporary. Those who are proud and prosperous will soon face hunger. Those who are praised should remember that their ancestors praised false prophets.
These words are a reminder to us that faith is meant to lift up the broken, to heal the hurting, to redeem the unworthy, and to seek out the forgotten or excluded. In Jesus’ day this would have been a rebuke to those who were high and mighty and also quite proud of it. There is nothing wrong with prosperity, praise, and success, so long as you are still following Christ and living in Christ’s way of grace and humility. A life well-lived is not measured by success in the world’s estimation, but by the depth of faith in Christ and how that faith is lived here and now.
We see that very notion reflected in Jesus. He could have very quickly and easily redeemed, saved, and gotten the heck out of Dodge. But, instead, Christ spent time healing and helping, rebuking the abuses of the high and mighty, speaking truth, and loving all, but especially the outcast and the stranger. We must do the same. Rather than being caught up in worldly measures of greatness, and success, and power, we must seek to be close to Christ and to live as differently and radically as he did here on earth.
We are warned, though, of the difficulties. The Gospel also tells us that we will be hated, excluded, mocked, and cursed with evil, for the ancient prophets were treated the same way. But Christ tells the disciples to look beyond to the blessings that await, to the joy and the reward in Heaven for those who endure such trouble and heartache. If we are to have a life well-lived, we must be willing to accept that faith is not a cure for all trouble here on earth. Christ did not come to spare us every difficulty, but instead we are given the tools with which to overcome our trouble here on earth. One of the things I’ve learned form all the folks whose funerals I’ve preached is that they overcame their trouble with grace, strength, and tremendous faith in Christ.
Now, it is simple enough for a life well-lived to follow Christ closely, to live humbly, to seek God’s will and way in all things, and to look for joy in the troubling times, but the final part of the Gospel presents us with a real challenge: “but to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies.” I am sure that all who were listening to Jesus caught their breath just a bit. But he didn’t stop. “Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.” Jesus even gives examples: to turn the other cheek if slapped, give more than asked even if your very coat is demanded of you, don’t try to get things back if someone takes them from you.
I’m sure everyone who has heard this or read it had the same collective thought: “I really could have done with out this particular list of stuff.” I suggest, however, that this is what distinguishes us as Christians, not the bumper sticker, the t-shirt, or the facebook posts; but in how we live. If there is nothing about our lives that is different, powerful, and Christ-like, then we have failed utterly. As an example, I think of the recent trial of the young female police officer in Texas who shot the unarmed man in his own apartment. She is white, and he was black. The case was carefully followed all around the country.
At the sentencing hearing, the victim’s brother spoke. He could have easily and justifiably been angry, upset, called for extensive punishment, but he didn’t. Instead he told her that he forgave her for killing his brother. He told her that he loved her just as he would love anyone else, and he wished the best for her. He told her to go to God, so that God can forgive her as well. In the end, he gave her a hug to show that there was love and forgiveness even in the face of tragedy and pain, and even though she had just been convicted of murdering his brother.
All of these lessons are summed up well in the final sentence of the Gospel lesson: do unto others as you would like them to do to you. It’s such an important rule, and it is actually found in almost every major religion around the world: in the Baha’i religion, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Native American spirituality, Sikhism, Taoism and so many others. It is a careful test for us. Before you speak or act, think: would you like this same thing done, said, or acted out to you? If the answer is no, then don’t do it to others.
So what does it take to have a life well-lived? We see in our Gospel that we must seek to humbly and closely follow Christ, we must measure ourselves in the grace that Christ gives and not based on worldly markers of success and privilege, we must love our enemies even as Christ loved and forgave those who crucified him on the cross. And we must remember in all things how to treat others around us: to do unto others as we would then to do unto us. May God give us the strength for our journey here on earth, so that when all is said and done we may have a life well-lived, marked and measured in the grace of Christ.