Luke 6:27-36
Extreme Love
[Please contact me at kerry.n.haynes@gmail.com for sermon outline in Word.]
Today’s passage is a tough one; that’s why I chose it, so I could better understand it myself. Is Jesus saying we are to give in to bullies? Is he taking away our right to self-defense? Is the battered wife just supposed to “turn the other cheek?” Absolutely not! Jesus never advocates violence. In the gospels, you always see him reach out for the little person: the abused, the neglected. So what is he talking about here then?
Luke records today’s hard teachings as part of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Plain.” This passage is very similar to the longer “Sermon on the Mount” found in Matthew’s gospel. Luke has left out some of the Jewish-specific teaching, since he is writing more to non-Jews. Both sermons—in Luke and Matthew—are probably themes Jesus hit on often over his three years of public ministry.
On your outline are three lessons that grabbed me in this challenging passage. See what you think. First, Jesus tells us to...
1. Love the unlovable
He starts off by saying, ““But to you who are listening I say...” He wants to know if we’re really listening. He’s going to give a hard command. It’s not always easy to follow Jesus. Here’s what he says: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (vv. 27-28)
What??? That is the opposite of what I want to do! Why on earth would I want to love my enemy, to do good to those who hate me, to bless those who curse me, to pray for those who mistreat me? Well, for now, consider doing it because it shows you’re really listening to Jesus. You’re really trying to obey him because he knows what is best for you. It’s an act of faith. I’ll show you another reason later. But shouldn’t it be enough to say, “Because Jesus said so, I’ll try it”?
This is taking the high road. It’s choosing to show love—the sacrificial action kind of love we talked about a couple of weeks ago in 1 Corinthians 13—to show that kind of “agape” love to people who don’t deserve it. This is some extreme love!
In verses 32-34, Jesus makes the point that everybody loves those who love them. Everybody is kind to people who are kind to them. Everybody loans money when they know they’ll be paid back full with interest. That’s the world’s way of doing business. But, if you follow Jesus, he’s calling you to a higher way.
Thursday was a hard day this week in my VA job. I was trying to push through a last-minute, down-to-the-wire action for one of our new employees, and I hit a brick wall. Several folks across HR and Fiscal said it can’t be done, even though other VAs were doing it. At the end of the day, I was so angry and frustrated I started thinking, “Bunch of bureaucrats! They don’t really care about Veterans or chaplains. They just care about their nice little job.” And I started villainizing them in my mind, which is what I tend to do with someone I’m angry at. And then this passage came to mind. I had been studying it all week. And I had to say, “God, help me. Help them. And help me get off my high horse of judgment and somehow love these people, who are probably trying to do their job the best they know how and keep us all from doing something illegal.” I did something biblical, because Matthew’s parallel account says to love your enemies and pray for them (Matthew 5:44). Praying helps you to love them. And my whole attitude began to change. (By the way, even though the action didn’t go through, I’m not done yet. I have to find out how those other VAs got it done. And I can do so much more effectively as I work on loving my “enemies.”)
Love the unlovable, and then, #2,
2. Give up your right to get even
This is where we get to “turning the other cheek.” Jesus says, in verses 29-31,
“If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” (vv. 29-30)
He is talking here about giving up our rights: particularly the right to get even. The slap on the cheek in Jesus’ day was more emotional than physical. It had nothing to do with physical violence; it was all about public embarrassment. The Jewish custom was to lightly backhand someone in front of a crowd. It was considered a putdown, a public insult, a shaming, a character attack. And Jesus says, “Take it. Don’t respond; just take it. Give them the other cheek as if saying, ‘I’m refusing to answer your insult. I refuse to engage.’” Someone once said you don’t have to accept every fight that’s offered. Sometimes it’s better to just walk away. And that takes a special kind of strength.
There are differences of opinion about what Jesus meant about the coat and shirt. Some believe he was referring to a loan that was sealed with the outer coat serving as earnest money. Jewish law of the time required it be returned by sundown, to ensure the person didn’t get cold (Exodus 22:25-27). Others think Jesus was talking about theft, that he was saying to go above and beyond by offering the thief more than they took from you. Both examples suggest a shocking kind of love, that goes further than required in the situation.
And then Jesus tells us to give without expecting to be repaid. Our family learned a while back to give gifts, not loans. If someone returns the money or the object, then we can be pleasantly surprised, or suggest they pay it forward to someone else in need. Otherwise, we would get so mad when a neighbor didn’t return a tool, or a relative presumed on our generous financial loan. And getting mad and bitter and resentful is not healthy!
Then Jesus gives the key to it all: what we call the Golden Rule. He says in verse 31, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Jesus wasn’t the only one to preach along these lines. Other rabbis talked about not hurting others, since you don’t want to be hurt. Other cultures and world religions have similar edicts. But all of these are in the negative: “Don’t be mean to others, because you don’t want them to be mean to you.” Jesus takes it a step further: he moves to the positive: “DO to others as you would have them do to you.” You’re not merely restraining yourself from poor behavior; you’re intentionally pursuing good behavior, because you know that’s the way you would want to be treated.
Back in March 2005 Atlanta-area resident Ashley Smith was taken hostage in her own apartment by Brian Nichols, who had just shot and killed a judge, court reporter, and deputy as he was brought to court for a rape charge. A few years earlier, Smith’s husband had died in her arms after a knife fight. She told the killer she was raising her five-year-old daughter alone and needed to go soon to pick her up from a church AWANA group. But before that, she asked permission to read, and she read to the gunman her daily devotional from Rick Warren’s book, “A Purpose Driven Life.” She talked to him about how God cared for him and didn’t want him to hurt or kill any other people. She said his life mattered to God and that God probably wanted to use him to witness about God to others in prison. He eventually released her to get her daughter, and he surrendered to authorities. That is extreme love! [http://www.bpnews.net/20340/hostage-reads-purposedriven-life-to-alleged-atlanta-killer]
Love the unlovable, and give up your right to get even. Why? Because Jesus said to. But also because that’s the way God has treated you! And that brings us to #3,
3. Treat others how God has treated you
Jesus says, in the last part of verse 35 and verse 36, if you do these things—choose to love your enemy and let go of revenge...
“Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (vv. 35b-36)
It doesn’t seem fair, does it? Evil people get God’s favor, too. They prosper. They seem to get away with stuff.
But also pause and realize that God favored us when we were so evil. Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” WE were ungrateful and wicked. (On some days, we still are!) Bob Goff says, “Grace never seems fair until you need some.” And we all need some! To become a believer, you need some. And then every day you need some. None of us can love our enemies on our own strength!
Consider our Savior, our supreme example: hanging from a cross, suffering for a crime he didn’t commit, Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” Let’s ask for God’s help for this kind of love.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your amazing love. You loved us in our greatest lostness, and wooed us to yourself, to bring about new life through your son Jesus Christ. Thank you for Jesus modeling extreme love for us. Father, we cannot do this without your help. This week, as people are mean to us, as people set themselves up as our enemy, help us to consider how much you love them, and to love as you do, as an act of faith, in Jesus’ name, amen.
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For welcome time:
Bumper stickers:
“Love your enemies...nothing annoys them so much!”
“Love Your Enemies…But Keep Your Gun Oiled”
I heard about a pastor who was preaching on loving your enemies. He took a poll of the congregation, saying, “Raise your hands if you have lots of enemies.” A few hands went up. Then, “Raise your hands if you have just a few enemies.” A bunch of hands went up. Then he asked, “Raise your hands if you have no enemies at all.” An old man in the back was the only one to raise his hand. The pastor said, “Mr. Jones, what is your secret to having not a single enemy?” The old man stood up and said, “I outlived all them SOBs!”
Luke 6:27-38
Love for Enemies
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
