Sermon in Minneapolis 12.07.2015

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let us begin with opening prayer.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Today is the seventh Sunday after Pentecost, and the theme for today is the law of love. We heard this morning from the Epistle text for today, and this evening, I'll read from the Gospel text, which I will read according to St. Matthew, which is very similar and almost a parallel to the one that's actually recorded in St. Luke. So Matthew, chapter 5 from the Sermon on the Mount, verses 39 through 42.

As I mentioned already, today's theme is the law of love. And when we think of love, we think of a young man and a young woman falling in love, becoming deeply infatuated with one another so much that they want to live the rest of their lives together, so that they could express this deep passion, these deep feelings of love with one another.

So today's theme is the law of love. So when the theme is such, it is talking about these deep feelings of infatuation and falling in love and getting married and expressing these deep feelings of love with your spouse for the rest of your life. Well, I'll have you know that you're going to be quite surprised what this law of love actually means at its essence or at its core.

The Bible talks about the dual commandment of love. And actually, the entire Ten Commandment Law of Moses can be summarized in two commandments. And the first is to love God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all your might. And the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.

Years ago, during the time of the early church, one wise church scholar was asked that, summarize for me what the law is. Can you tell me what the Ten Commandment Law is summarized in just a few statements? And can you do it standing on one foot? Well, just think if you're trying to stand on one foot and try to recite all these Ten Commandments, if you're not real good at balancing yourself, pretty soon you're going to teeter and totter and pretty soon fall over.

So, he came up with a quick way of summarizing what the entire message of the Ten Commandments is in a few statements. And he said it in a negative form, a negative way. He said, what is hateful to you, do not do to another. So, what is bad or awful or hateful to you, don't do it to another.

Well, isn't this somewhat familiar to a certain rule that we've often heard? It's known as the Golden Rule. And it's not really said in the negative form, but it's said in this way: Do unto others just as you would want to be done unto you.

So, it's interesting to note that this Golden Rule has been used or is found not only in the Bible, but also in many other forms of literature. And there's one group of philosophers known as the Stoics. And I'm sure they're completely non-religious. They are completely un-Christian, but yet they have a deep philosophical understanding of things.

And so they said in this way, reciting what we know is similar to our Golden Rule: And what you do not wish to be done to yourself, do not do you to any other. So, it's almost verbatim what we can find in the Bible and what we know as the Golden Rule.

So, as I said, this one old church father, Hillel, he stated in the negative form, what you don't want done to you, don't you do to someone else.

So, it's one thing to refrain from doing bad things. But then it's altogether another issue to actively do good things. So, it's easier for us to resist from doing bad or evil things to someone else. But it's a little more challenging or much more difficult to, than to do, continually do, nice, good things to other people.

Well, God says in the Bible, and actually it's said in the verses right after our text. And he said, God lets it rain upon the good people, and also he lets the rain fall upon the evil people. He lets the sun shine on the people who are unjust, and he lets the sun shine on the people who are just as well.

So, God doesn't differentiate when he's letting the rain come down from heaven, whether this is a good person, or this is a bad person. This is an evil person, or this is a just person.

Well, the Pharisees in their time had this contorted view of the law of love. And we said that the dual commandment of love is love God with all your heart, but also love your neighbor just as much as you would love yourself.

But the Pharisees came up with this idea that, well, who is actually my neighbor? Well, their fellow Jewish friend only is their neighbor. I don't care about the foreigners. I don't care about those who have a different color skin. I don't care about those who have a different religion or different tenets.

But yet they even had a narrower view of who their neighbor was. It wasn't only their fellow Jewish comrade, but they narrowed it down to only those Jewish people who were Pharisees like them, who were well-versed in the law of Moses.

So only those who were professors like them, only them, they were their neighbors. And they came up with this idea that you can love your friends, but hate, you can hate, you're allowed to hate your enemies.

Well, you're not going to find that statement anywhere in the Bible. You can look as much as you want. Look as you please. But you won't find that statement: Love your friends, but you're allowed to hate your enemies.

Our text began with verse 39, but if we read an earlier verse, verse 38, it says in this way, that you have heard that it has been said. And we can find in the Old Testament in several portions where it has this idea: An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.

Well, let's just find one example from Exodus chapter 21. It's also in Leviticus, and it's also in Deuteronomy. But let's just find this one in Exodus chapter 21, verse 24, and see exactly what it says.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, burning for someone who burns you. If one strikes you with a wound, you strike back and give them one wound. If one beats you once with a whip, you whip them back one time with a whip.

This sounds quite cruel. And actually, this is one of the oldest laws that exist that can be found in society, in the world. One of the very first laws that came into existence. That seems rather cruel. If someone strikes you, you strike back. If someone knocks a tooth out of your mouth, you strike and knock one tooth out of their mouth. If one hits you in the eye, you strike them back and hit them in the eye. Equal retaliation.

It sounds cruel, and it sounds merciless. Well, actually, this was a law, a merciful law, even though it doesn't sound like it.

Well, how can it be a merciful law? Well, just think of tribes way back when who were undisciplined and uneducated, and they lived according to their own whims and wishes.

And, for example, there's two enemy tribes who are at odds with each other. And a person from one tribe comes and hurts someone from the other tribe. Either hurts them very severely or even hurts them so severely that he kills that person from that tribe.

Well, the opposing tribe would often come back and not only look for that one who struck one from their tribe, but they would go after every single one in the opposing tribe, in the enemy tribe.

Well, this law that we just quoted that's found in scriptures actually puts a limit on retaliation. That opposing tribe didn't have reason or wasn't justified or allowed now to come back and strike every member of the opposing tribe.

They could only strike back at that one who inflicted the damage. And they couldn't beat that person to a pulp. If that person struck one from their group once with a whip, they were only allowed to strike back with one whip lash and no more.

So you can see there were limits on retaliation. An eye for eye and no more. A tooth for tooth and no more. A wound for a wound and no more. If you were burned by an ash, you were only allowed to burn back with equal punishment.

So as I said, one of the earliest laws in society are now were based upon this law. But now, no individual could meet out this punishment. But this punishment was written into the codes of law and that it was only allowed by the courts to do this punishment and our police force today are basically their laws and their rules are founded in somewhat in some ways upon this ancient law.

So only the courts and the police of society are able to inflict or pass on such punishment.

So Jesus here says, and this is from his Sermon on the Mount, but he changes this concept or idea. You have heard said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you.

So now he's changing it from giving limits of retaliation to non-retaliation altogether. And he says in this way, I say unto you that do not resist evil. Do not fight back when someone is doing evil to you.

And the Apostle Paul also says a very similar statement in Romans chapter 12. He says, repay no person evil for evil.

Just before this red portion, Jesus is giving a new or a deeper meaning to the law of Moses. Jesus says, you have heard said, thou shalt not kill.

Well, for us, what does it mean to kill and to break that commandment? Well, first of all, it comes to our minds and thoughts is taking the life of another person.

Well, Jesus says, you have heard said, thou shalt not kill, but I say unto you, whoever has an angry thought or says an angry word to another person, they have already transgressed that commandment and in their heart killed that person.

So, Jesus is now throughout this especially fifth chapter in the Sermon on the Mount is changing our thought world, our thought pattern in a very dramatic way.

And he is now using three different examples.

So, he said, I say unto you, not deny for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but that you do not resist evil or don't fight back when someone is doing evil unto you.

And I was going to give an example. But whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek.

So, if you're standing face to face with a person, you're looking eye to eye to each other. So, where's the right cheek of the person that I'm facing? Well, the right cheek is on this side.

So, how would, if I'm going to smite him on the cheek, how would, if someone's going to smite me on the cheek, or I was going to smite that guy on the cheek, how would I do it? You would have to reach across, take your hand back, and swing and hit that person on the right cheek, and you would hit them with the back side of your hand.

And according to the rabbis, it wasn't as bad to hit a person with your open palm of her hand, that would be hitting that person on the left side of the cheek, but then to hit that person on the right side of the cheek, standing face-to-face, you would hit them using the back side of your hand, and that would be double insulting.

It's a terrible, much more terrible insult to hit a person using the back side of your hand on their cheek.

And I know someone would hit me on the cheek, whether it was open hand on the front side or using the back side, I know I'd be filled with anger in a hurry. And I know I would have thoughts of retaliating, I'm sure.

So, what does Jesus say? But whosoever shall smite you on the right cheek with a backhanded swipe, just turn your other cheek to him and tell him hit that one as well. Meaning complete non-retaliation.

That's example one.

And then example two. If any man will sue you and take you to court, bring you to the court of law and take away your coat.

So, in the Jewish culture, people had two layers of garments. They had an undergarment, which was a robe, an underlayer, which they called a coat. And then they had an overlayer, which was called a cloak.

And now the outer garment, the cloak, was very, very important. And the cloak was the clothing for a poor person, especially during the daytime.

But then when the sun began to set, you go into the Middle East and the sun sets and it becomes very cold at night. It's very hot during the day, but it's very cold at night.

And so this outer garment, which was the cloak, was the protection from the sunlight during the daytime, but then also the source of warmth, and also used as a pillow at night.

And there was a Jewish law that if you borrowed or even took someone else's cloak, the outer garment, you had to, you absolutely had to return that cloak by the time the sun sets, because it was an absolute necessity for that person during the nighttime.

They needed it for their protection, for their comfort, and for their bare necessity.

And so Jesus says in this way, if any man will sue you, and bring you into the court of law and take away your coat, which is your undergarment, which isn't as important, but I'm sure important, don't only give them your undergarment, but give them your cloak as well, which was an absolute extreme necessity.

So what was Jesus actually saying here? In a way, if we can think of in a metaphorical way, Jesus said it's better to be stripped down naked than to be involved in a fight.

Kind of, if we would interpret what Jesus was actually trying to say and bring it down to its bare bones.

So what Jesus was trying to say is, don't trade a blow for a blow, an insult for an insult, or an injury for another injury.

But then Jesus goes on and says a third example. And whosoever shall compel you to go one mile, don't only just go one mile, but go the extra mile. Go a second mile.

Again, it's very important to understand the Jewish culture and traditions that were happening in the culture at that time.

Remember that the Jews were under the Roman Empire and they were actually under the submission, in submission, or under the rule of the Roman people.

So the Roman soldiers, when they saw a Jewish traveler, and a typical Roman soldier would have a heavy backpack they have to carry and their necessities and their weapons and so on and so forth, and if you walk mile after mile after mile and carry a heavy backpack it gets burdensome.

And so they had the right to go up to a Jewish person.

So a Roman soldier sees a Jewish person and he says, carry my backpack. I'm tired, you have to carry it for me for one mile.

Now a Jewish mile is a little bit shorter than our American mile today, but nevertheless it's a long mile.

And so the Jew would have to submit to the command of the Roman soldier and take that person's heavy backpack on his shoulders and walk one mile.

And all the roads there in the society at that time had mile markers or they had yard markers. So you could count off the number of yards and you knew exactly when one mile was up.

And they had to go one mile and no extra. Once that mile was up they would say, drop the backpack off the shoulders and they'd say to the soldier that sorry, my duty is up, I don't have to carry it, not one more foot. Sorry, you can't force me to carry it any further.

We remember when Jesus was condemned to die on the cross, Jesus had to carry his own cross.

And as he was carrying that cross, that cross was so heavy that he fell to the ground.

He had already been beaten and smitten and scourged and Jesus didn't have the strength to carry that cross anymore, so he fell flat on his face on the ground.

And what they did is they actually found a person from the crowd whose name is Simon of Cyrene, that you have to come, and the soldier requested that Simon carry that cross of Jesus, apparently, one mile and no further.

So that was the Roman law at that time.

And so Jesus says, and whosoever shall come to you and say, carry my backpack, my burden, one mile, and you carry it, and one mile is up. Jesus said, don't only carry it one mile, but go onward and carry it a second mile as well. Don't stop at one. Go on and carry two.

So, what does this mean to us? Well, we said that the Pharisees had this miscontorted view of the law of love that love your friends, so love your neighbors. So this is like going that first mile. Now we're obligated to go no further.

So what does it mean now to go the second mile? It means not only love your friends, but now the second mile is to love your enemies as well.

The second mile gets much more difficult, doesn't it? Or I Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that bless those that bless you.

Well, that's easy. If someone's a friend to me, it's easy to be a friend to them. That's going the first mile.

What does it mean to go the second mile? It means to bless those who are also cursing at you. It's much more difficult to go that second mile, isn't it?

Or what about a second, a third example? Pray for those who are praying for you.

Well, it's easy to walk that first mile. What does it mean to walk that second mile? Pray for those who despitefully use you. Much more difficult it is to continue that second mile.

Remember when Abraham, he, first of all, he grew up in Haran. Well, where was he born? Secondly, he moved to Haran and he was there for a period of time.

And then he was commanded by God to leave your family, leave your homeland, and leave everything behind and go to where I tell you to go.

Abraham and Abraham didn't know where he was going. He didn't know where he would have to stop. He didn't know if he would ever see his family again, relatives again, homeland again.

So he was going that second mile, we could say, and he just obeyed God, and he did what God told him to do.

How about Noah? For 120 years, he was building that ark on dry land, far away from any big body of water.

And for 120 years while he was building that ark and he was preaching the gospel of God's kingdom, people were mocking him and ridiculing him and making fun of him and wondering what he's going to do with that big ark in the middle of the continent on the middle of dry land with no water nearby.

So Noah basically accepted, received that ridicule and continued to follow the command of God. Difficult as it was for Noah.

How about Moses? Moses grew up in the house of Pharaoh, which is equivalent to a king. He grew up in the king's palace and he had a great education and he was living in the midst of splendor and all kinds of good high standard of living and it came that point in time when Moses needed to make a decision.

Is he going to stay and continue this lifestyle or is he going to receive and accept the shame that the people of Israel were accepting and so on and so forth.

He gave it all up, all of those outward goods and nice things that he could have had, but he followed the people of the Lord and he suffered the ridicule that the people of Israel were experiencing.

Why? Because he looked forward beyond the border of time and he looked at that crown of glory that not only awaited him, but all of the people of God, the children of God.

God.

So, what does it mean for us to go that extra mile? Our instincts would be to, if someone strikes us, strike back. If someone does something bad to us, we want to get even with that person.

Or, if we experience some hurt or harm, we have this instinct to want to settle the score with that one person.

So, Jesus is teaching non-retaliation. Basically, swallow your pride and abandon your own self-interest. Be slow to anger, but be quick to forgive.

And so, some of the verses at the end of this chapter are, give to him that asks you, no, you have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.

For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, he sends his rain upon the just and also on the unjust.

But then he says, for if you love them which love you, what's the big deal there? There's no reward in this. Do not even the publicans do the same.

And if you salute your brethren, only your brethren, your friends with those who are friends with you, what do you do more than anyone else? Don't even the publicans do the same?

Be therefore perfect even as your father, which is in heaven, is perfect.

President Lincoln, before he was president, was campaigning to become president. And during the time of campaign there was one person he was campaigning against, whose name was Stanton.

And during that campaign, time of campaign, his opposing candidate was very mean, very cruel, and said awful things about Lincoln, who was eventually president of the United States.

And Lincoln had the saying that win over people who are evil toward you, win them over with love.

And so President Lincoln eventually became president, and now it's time for him to select his cabinet members.

And he's looking for one person to fill this certain cabinet position.

And he tells the rest of his cabinet members that I am going to choose Stanton to be my cabinet member in this position.

Can you imagine the person who was the meanest person during the campaign time against him? Spoke evil of him, and spoke awful of him, and just treated him badly.

And the rest of his cabinet members were abhorred, astonished, that why would you choose this person who treated you so wrongly and so badly?

Lincoln was firm, and he said, this is the best person to fit the jar.

And we know that eventually President Lincoln was assassinated, and his presidency ended early, and who was the person, after President Lincoln had passed away, who spoke most highly and held him in highest esteem?

None other than cabinet member Stanton.

He won over his former enemies, with love.

There's a story that happened in Finland years and years ago, and there was a preacher brother who lived in southern Finland, and there was one person in that community who often spoke terribly about this minister, and believers in general, and especially about this minister.

And lo and behold, this minister was on a speaking trip in northern Finland.

Then he came to this lumber camp, so this was decades and decades ago, and one of those common places to have lumber camps.

And we know the crude lifestyle that people often lived in, in lumber camps.

They would be away from the rest of society for months at a time, and then when they received their paycheck, they would come to town and live an awful, awful life, just wasting their paycheck that they had received from six months of earnings.

But anyways, this old preacher brother came to this lumber camp, and the believers, there are some believers in that lumber camp, knew that he was a minister and told him to keep services.

So not only did the believers come to the hearing of the word that evening, wherever they were gathered, but many times unbelievers came as well.

And lo and behold, one of the listeners that were in the services that evening was that man from his own hometown in southern Finland, who often just mocked and ridiculed and spoke evil of this preacher brother.

So what did this preacher brother do when he saw this man from his own hometown from southern Finland?

He went straight up to him and he said that, I see that when you're having to push these logs into the water and it was probably springtime and the spring thaw was just happening and it was icy cold water and he just had cardboard boots, which the poor had at that time.

And so the preacher brother said that, aren't you cold when you have to wait in that icy cold water and push those logs around and get them going down the stream?

And he said, I'm terribly freezing cold.

He said, it's almost unbearable.

And the preacher brother says, well, look at these nice boots that I have. My wife just borrowed from me before I left on this trip and he said, when I'm looking at your boots, they look awful.

He says, here, have my boots.

And so that person who actually ridiculed this preacher brother pulled off his cardboard boots and lo and behold, his socks were full of holes.

And the preacher brother said, I see you have terrible socks full of holes. Here, I got a brand new pair of socks here. Take my socks as well.

And I hope these will help you when you're doing your work.

He kept his services and the preacher brother returned back home to southern Finland after completing his circuit wherever else he went.

So he's back home and going to bed at night and they're actually in bed and they hear a knock on the front door.

And the preacher brother tells his wife that, can you go see who's at the front door?

And the wife says, I'm not going. It's middle of the night. Who knows who's there?

So the preacher brother himself gets out of bed and goes to the front door and opens up the door and there's that man who was at that lumber camp who actually lived in his own community here in southern Finland and often just mocked him and ridiculed him and spoke evil of him.

And he says, I came with one purpose only.

He says, that deed that you did to me, I who have did so much evil to you and you responded with such an act of kindness, he said, that melted my heart and it touched my conscience so much that I come here with one question, one question alone. Can I have my sins forgiven?

And of course it was a pleasure for that preacher brother to preach the forgiveness of sins to that neighbor.

And when he was in that lumber camp that evening, actually his text was, if they pour coals on you, let me see, if they speak evil of you, return with kind words and in this way you pour heavy coals upon your head.

If they curse you, bless them and so on and so forth.

We remember when Jesus was hanging on the cross and actually what led up to this point and we've actually already alluded to it already is Jesus had been beaten and he had been smitten and people had mocked him and ridiculed him and now he was living the last moment of his life.

There he was hanging on the cross and I'm sure his face was puffed up with all the swelling when people had to beat him with their fists and I'm sure there was wounds in his face where the strike marks had cut open marks, wounds in his face and the crown of thorns had pricked holes on his forehead which were dripping blood onto his forehead and duck.

And Jesus turns to those soldiers, those who were his enemies, those who had mocked him, hurt him, ridiculed him and he says out loud, he says a prayer, Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing. They don't realize even what they are doing.

Imagine at that moment of trial, persecution and ridicule to respond to such evil with such words of kindness. Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

It's just like Stephen when they were casting stones upon him and he was about to die under the raining of stones. Stephen prays, Father, don't even count this charge as sin on their account in the books of heaven.

Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

So, we're talking about going the first mile, not only the first mile but going the second mile.

Jesus went that second mile.

And when Jesus is talking about going that second mile, he means to do it even joyfully and not with contempt and anger and dissatisfaction.

And how did Jesus go that second mile? On your behalf and on my behalf.

No greater love does anyone have than this, than to give their own life on behalf of another person.

This is what Jesus did on our behalf.

No greater love can anyone have than to actually give their life on behalf of another one.

So, brother and sister, this evening, I'm sure it seems very difficult.

We carry our own flesh and blood and we would like to strike back an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and a wound for a wound and a burn for a burn.

Jesus is not only saying, limit your retaliation but have complete non-retaliation.

Bless those that curse you.

Pray for those who do evil against you.

We don't find that strength of our own selves. At least I don't of my own self.

It's only found through the power of God, which is in the power of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.

So even this evening, even though we feel unsuccessful and poor and wretched and sinful in many ways, you can, just as you are, just as you find yourself.

Uplift your heart to believe sins forgiven in Jesus' name and blood.

Only through the power of the gospel will we be lifted, carried, and brought one day to our heavenly home.

Can I also hear that gospel for my own self? I desire to believe.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, Amen.