a sermon on extreme love
Seventh Sunday after EpiphanyTexts: Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 | Psalm 119:33-40 | 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 | Matthew 5:38-48
todaylater in this servicewe will pray for eighteen peoplewho were killed this past weekdue to gun violence within our city.eighteen people.just let that number sink in for a moment.most of those killed were in their teens or early twenties.many of the murders occurredwithin these last few days of unseasonable warmth.that is a trend in this city:when the days and nights are hotwhen holidays —even ones as seemingly benign as presidents day —bring people to the streets —violence is soon to follow.
three of the people killed this week —kanari gentry-bowerstakiya holmesand lavontay white jr. —were children,caught in the crossfirethat has become synonymous with the names of places such aswest englewoodaustinnorth lawndalechicago’s south and west sides.they were playing in schoolyardsor riding in the back seat of carswhen their lives were taken.a twelve year oldan eleven year oldand a two year old —and their families left behind to mourn.
i begin today’s sermon with this informationbecause i can’t help but read our gospel text —one that calls us to “be perfectas our heavenly parent is perfect”and recognize that the community we are a part ofcouldn’t be further from perfect.
i read a sentence like“if someone strikes you on the right cheekturn the other also”and i can’t help but hear itthrough what i can only imagine to be the griefthat the parents of kanari, takiya, and lavontay are feelingand think to myself
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO TURN THE OTHER CHEEK???
when innocent childrenand womenand menare shot and killed on their own blocksand in their own schoolyards,what does it mean for their families to turn the other cheek?when the police department in our own cityis under investigation for prejudice against minorities,what does it mean to not resist an evildoer?when laws are enacted to implicitlyor explicitlyallow for oppression against peoplebased on gender, religion, race, sexuality, or ability,what does it mean to go the second mile?when people living in povertyor without access to affordable housingor in neighborhoods filled with violence —when they are refused resources for finding a way outby those elected and charged to serve them,what does it mean to love your enemy?
what does it mean.but even more:how can we be asked to do such a thing?
february is black history month,and in this time of national turmoili often find myself lookingto the esteemed african american public theologiansthat came before me,who spoke on these same issuesand fought these same battlesand asked these same questionslong before i was asking them.
one of the texts i often revisitis rev dr martin luther king’s“letter from birmingham jail”written in 1963.it was a response to a public statementpublished in the local newspaperby eight alabama clergymen.they had seen dr king’s nonviolent protests in birminghamas agitation from an outsider,inciting violence,and so they cautioned dr king that litigation in the courtroom,and other conventionalthat is, easier,methods of justicewere more advisable toward the ends he was pursuing.obviously, king was having none of that.
after being arrested,a friend smuggled to him a copy of the newspaperand in the margins of the clergymen’s statementhe wrote, without any resources,not even a bible,one of the greatest defenses of love and justiceto be written during the civil rights movement.even if you haven’t read the letter in its entiretyyou might recognize a famous line from the text:“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”from there, dr king continues:“i cannot sit idly by in atlantaand not be concerned about what happens in birmingham”he says.“we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality,tied in a single garment of destiny.whatever affects one directly,affects all indirectly.”
in his letter from birmingham jailmuch like jesus does in todays readingfrom the sermon on the mount,dr. king outlines his theology of love.for kinglove means actionlove means fightinglove means standing up to those who would knock you down,it means sitting down for thosewho tell you to stand up and give your seat over to a white person,it means refusing to wait for those who tell you that the slow march of courtroom litigationis the one true path to justice.as you read this letteryou can feel dr. king’s impatience,his utter bewilderment and disappointmentat his own colleagues’ inability to understand what,for him,was the ultimate message of jesus christ.“was not jesus an extremist for love?”he asks,before referencing some of the gospelthat we read today:“love your enemies,” extreme.“bless them that curse you,” extreme.“do good to them that hate you,” extreme.“and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” extreme.this love is extreme not just in the sense that it is radicalbut also in the sense that it goes beyond:it goes beyond loving just your neighbor,and it goes beyond the common laws of the daywhich called for retribution and retaliation;what was called the lex talionis.“you have heard that it was saidan eye for an eye” —if someone does evil to youit is your right and responsibility to retaliate in like fashion.“but i say unto youdo not resist an evildoer”do not retaliateagainst those that harm you.instead“be perfectas your heavenly parent is perfect.”
it’s easy to hear these wordsand take them as an impossible directive:how can we be perfect?i meanwasn’t that the point of jesus in the first place?to die for our sake because we can never achieve perfection?
when i hear these words, however,i don’t hear them as a command.requiring us to be flawlessin the same manner as god.no,i hear it as a blessing.as a reminder.in the original greekthe word used here to mean “perfect”can also be used to mean “complete”or “whole.”what jesus tells us, thenis that we are wholewhen we performextreme acts of love.
and in case you think this extreme love is also impossible,we already know we have this capacity to love —leviticus reminds us:“you shall be holyfor i the lord your god am holy”we already have the love of god within us;all that’s left to dois to put it to work.
as we finish this series of readingstaken from christ’s sermon on the mountit’s easy to seethat this has been the message all along.jesus has been reminding usthat we have heard things said in a waythat asks us to resistto refrain from doing something evil:don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t swear.we hear this repeated in leviticus as well:don’t steal, don’t defraud, don’t hate.resist the evil.resist the evil.
now christ tells us not to resist the evildoer.instead, we are to act.we. are to do, but differently.blessed are the peacemakers jesus says.not the peacewatchers,not the peace ~meh~ ers,not the peace sit around and wait for it to come to me ers.no.we are to be active in our endeavors to make peace.we are to be vigilant in our efforts to create love.
and again, from last week:let your word be yes, yes or no, no.be sure not to mince words,but whatever you dodo not remain silent.
that evil that emerges from beneath the woodwork —it thrives in darknessand lays in waituntil the opportunity arisesfor it to destroy the foundation of this temple.that evil,that rotwill not go away by simply leaving it in the dark.and it will not go away if we allow ourselves to retreat into darkness alongside it.the rot of evilneeds light, air, warmthlovein order to be overcome,for us to keep this foundation intact.
elie wiesel,the author and holocaust survivorwho passed away last yearonce said that“the opposite of love is not hate,it’s indifference.”and i tend to agree.evil doesn’t thrive within hate.evil thrives withindisinterest, inaction, unresponsiveness.that is what i hear when jesus saysdo not resist the evildoer —do not simply put up your defenses,do not simply stop your ears.instead — LOVE. ACTIVELY.
it’s not easy to reach out to that relative on facebookwho likes to get into political arguments with us.it’s not easy to ask them what is important to them.it’s not easy to make an effort to understandwhat life looks like from their perspective inside this temple.it takes work.
it’s not easy to greet peoplewho are not our brothers and sisters,to love those who actively do not love us.to go the extra mile when we’re so tired from running this first one.to give up also our cloakafter just parting ways with our favorite coat.to offer our one remaining, unbruised cheekto be struck by the systems that abuse our communities.and yet we pick ourselves back upand destroy those systemsthrough our extreme acts of love.
it’s not easy to be sureif the love we show is right,or if the time is right to show it.and our own expectations of perfectiontend to cripple us and prevent us from showing it at all.but as dr king reminds us in his letter,“we must use time creatively,”that is, to actively create love,“in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”this kind of love is not easy.this kind of love requires work.and the work is never finished.
we are not being held up to an unreasonable expectation.we have not been given an ultimatum.
we have been handed a blessing.we have been reminded of who we are.because you are holy, you can be whole.because you are loved, you are able to love.
love is the foundationof this temple that we inhabit.and paul reminds usthat in this templeall things: life, death, present, futureeach otherit all belongs —we all belong —to us,to one another.we are already complete,perfected,whole.and in order to remain wholeas god is wholewe must love even those who would tear this temple down,we must resist those systems that would tear us apart.
cornel west,another african american theologian has said“justice is what love looks like in public.”the prophet hosea tells us“hold fast love and justice.”love and justice.the two are inextricable
to lovein the extremeis to resist injustice
"it is love that will save our worldand our civilization”says dr. kingin a sermon he gave in 1957on the same verses that we’ve heard today.“love will save our world”he says“even love for enemies.in the final analysis,love is not this sentimental something that we talk about.it’s not merely an emotional something.love is creative,understanding goodwill for all humanity.it is the refusal to defeat any individual.”he continues:“when you rise to the level of love,of its great beauty and power,you seek only to defeat evil systems.individuals who happen to be caught up in that systemyou lovebut you seek to defeatthe system.”
resist the evil.do not resist the evildoer.
love is the resistance.to loveto show loveto actively love those who would do evil unto youin the name of the system they represent —or those caught up in the systemwith no means of escape —or those children of God destroyed by the systemsby no fault of their own —to love themis to resist.
if we are to be holylet us seek to be whole.and if we are called to lovelet it be in the extreme.