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NRS Matthew 5:38 "You have heard
that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39
But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the
right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you
and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces
you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who
begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. 43
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your
Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and
sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you
love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax
collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and
sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the
same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
I once heard a story of a carpenter, a
man who was well respected in the community and his field. One day a man came
to him and asked him to build him a house. They discussed the floor plan, the
materials to be used and the price. The man told him that money was no object
and he wanted the best house that the man could build to be built. After
several weeks of negotiation, they came to an agreement of what was to be built
and the carpenter began his work. About a week into the project, the man told
the carpenter that he was going out of the country for several months and that
he trusted the carpenter to do the best job he could do. Several weeks into the
project, the carpenter needed to order more materials and he thought to
himself, well you know if I get the good stuff but not the best stuff, I can
make more money on this job and nobody will ever know. So into the walls went
the second grade lumber, the ½ inch sheet rock instead of the ¾” stuff. The
stairs became pine instead of oak; they were going to be carpeted, who would
know. And so on and so on until the house was finished. When it was done, just
as the man had said, he returned and brought the man his money. They walked
through the house and sure enough, the man did not see the inferior lumber or
sheet rock or paint. So it came as a real surprise when the man turned to the
carpenter and said these words. You know, he said, I have watched you for some
time and have come to respect the work that you have done for people. When you
could have cheated them, you did not. So I said to myself, I should reward this
man. And so here, take the keys to this house, your house, with the best of
materials. It is a gift.
We need to become
like Christ. Jesus spent His life showing love for the people of Israel.
Whether we are involved in benevolent ministries, healing ministries or focused
on eradicating hunger, poverty and addiction, we need to become Christ for the
world. That means not only speaking the language of Christ, but living our
lives as Christ did for each other. Christ commanded us to love God with all
that we are and to love our neighbors in that same way. The parables of the
Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are stories that reach into our hearts and
tug at us in special ways when we focus our lives on discipleship. When we become
more like Christ it requires us to allow others to see God in every action,
word and deed that we do each and every day.
Our scripture
today is a scripture of hope and love. It comes from a caring and loving Lord
who desires in us that we find the kind of love for each other that God has for
us. A love that knows no boundaries and no limitations! A love that does not
know hate and anger! Where can we find such love is the question that is asked
of us and so often we ask ourselves? What does it mean to be Jesus? What does
it mean to imitate Jesus? Well we must answer the first question before we can
answer the second.
Jesus is the
personification of God, the human source of who God is and what God envisioned
us to be. Jesus, while the son of God here on earth, is the piece of God sent
down to the earth to restore the relationship, to renew the wisdom and
understanding and to provide the example for us of God’s love for the world.
The prophets foretold of Jesus, hundreds and thousands of years before he came.
The world waited for him to come and the Hebrew community looked for him among
every prophet. John the Baptist was asked if he was the one who had been
foretold and he told them that he was not fit to tie his shoestrings. When we
follow the story of Jesus we see a man who turned his world upside down. He
taught about loving one another and serving one another. He talked about
prosperity being the wellness of the community and not the individual. He
showed us that it means that you give all of yourself when you feel this love
for one another.
I think about
a town not far from here that lost more lives per population in one day than
many cities lost in an entire war. I am talking about sacrifice that means
giving one’s life for another, for an ideal or for love. When we experience
this kind of sacrifice we are changed forever. I can only imagine what it must
have been like to be a disciple of Jesus while he lived, to hear him, to see
him and to be in his presence. If we understand the biblical story correctly
then we know that we all live in his presence in spirit and that he is here
with us right now. What does it mean to be Jesus?
It means that
the essence of perfect creation is living among us. It means that God’s love
and grace are extended to every person that comes into the presence. It means
that compassion and caring are lived out in the healing, teaching and feeding
of people. These are the stories of Jesus.
What does it
mean to imitate Jesus? It means that we spend our lives trying to become the
human that Jesus was. When we achieve this state of living, we will find
ourselves working toward focusing our attention on the world around us rather
than the world within us. The author Matthew shares what Jesus said He expects
of us if we desire to imitate Him. To have compassion and sympathy, to be of
the same mind, having the same love and being in full accord with the will of God
in everything that we do. What that means in real life is that we focus our
lives on unselfish behavior without ambition that the world tells us is most
important. In our world today we have been taught to focus on our success and
to achieve that success at any cost. What Godly behavior means is that we
achieve success by allowing God to direct our lives and whatever God wants for
us is what we accept and find joy in. When we walk with God we never consider
ourselves as better than anyone else. One of the truths of the world today is
that as humans, we almost always judge others by our own standards. If we are
Christian then we see those who are not Christian as somehow inferior.
But when we
truly walk with God, then we see everyone we meet for the unique human being
that they are. And we see them as having gifts and talents that God gave them.
And when we gather together in this community of accepting people, we achieve
so much more for the community than our peers who focus on themselves. When we
walk with God we focus on the interests of others rather than ourselves. When
we do that, we involve ourselves in community, sharing in ecumenical endeavors
and assisting wherever your talents may lie.
Jesus did not
live to glorify Himself; rather, he continually showed us how to be subordinate
to the Father. Rather than chose the role of King, Jesus chose the role of
servant and that is the example that He set for us. The scripture tells us that
He chose the role of servant and emptied Himself completely to the cross, even
unto death itself. We are often faced with the concept of giving everything to
God. What does it mean? It means that you live a life in such a way that the
only thing that matters is God. Homes don’t matter, money doesn’t matter, and
even human relationships may not matter as much as the relationship with God
matters. I suspect that most Christians do not understand this important
concept.
When we see
that Jesus gave up everything for God, then we understand that we are supposed
to do the same. But it doesn’t mean that you must sell everything you own, turn
away for everyone you know and walk with God. Rather it means that you must
have a willingness to do whatever God asks of you. Abraham was willing. God
asked him to sacrifice Isaac and Abraham set about the path of doing just that.
But God never intended that Abraham would be required to do so. He simply
needed to know that Abraham was willing to place his total trust in God.
What kind of life
do you want for yourself? One where God is absent? Or do you desire that God is
first in your life and that others become more important than self? Do you
desire to walk in the image of the man who showed us what righteousness means?
The choice is yours! We must choose to imitate Christ in our own lives, caring
for others first and sacrificing to place them in positions of abundance. We
must learn to be Christ to the world in order that we can live out the vision
of bringing God to people and people to God.
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