Open Hearts, Open Hands
Luke 6:27-36[1]
I’ve mentioned before
our natural human tendency to interact with people who look like us, who talk
like us, and who live like us. If we spend most of our lives in the company of
our “own,” we may feel deeply uncomfortable being around those who are “other.”
In fact, it may be difficult for us to even see them as persons. It’s much more
convenient for us to assume that they aren’t like “us” and to keep our
distance. And that mindset can easily lead us to withhold basic human kindness,
even basic human courtesy from those whom we see as “different.” Because
they’re “different,” they are outside the line that separates the circle of our
family and friends from everyone else. That means we can close our hearts to
them, as well as our hands.
“Charity begins at home,” the saying goes, and
in this culture, many believe that as firmly as they do the Apostles’ Creed.
But there are others who just as naturally want to reach out and give
generously to everyone in need, even those who are different. In Jesus’ day, everyone
knew the “great commandment”: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev
19:18). But for the Jewish people, it meant loving those who were Jewish. The
real truth, however, is that there were a lot of Jewish people who were
excluded from the basic kindness and courtesy of “loving your neighbor as
yourself.” And then there was the whole world of people who were not Jewish! They
believed they were “off the hook” when it came to showing love to the vast
majority of the human family!
Into that setting, our
Gospel lesson for today shows us how Jesus completely redefines what it means
to “love your neighbor as yourself.” He points us to a love for others that
goes well beyond what comes “naturally” for most of us. He knew that we all
tend to love those who will love us back. Things haven’t changed much with the
human family in 2000 years! We still “do good” to those who are “like us.” We still
love “our own.” It’s very human for us to love and care about those who can
love us back. But Jesus pushes us to go beyond a love that is limited only to
our friends and family, only to those whom we see as “like us,” only to “our
own.”
He was really quite
blunt about it: he said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Lk
6:27-28). Now, we know that there is a huge problem with abuse these days,
especially in the home. That’s not what Jesus was talking about. He was talking
about a more general kind of hostility from those who see us as “less than” them.
Even at that, I’d have to say that’s just not the way we live! If someone
treats me in a way that is hateful, I tend to avoid them. If someone “curses”
me, if they hit the right “buttons,” I might get mad and say something not so
kind back. But Jesus said that loving our neighbors means treating even those
who treat us as “less than” as if they were right in the middle of the circle
of those whom we love!
More than that, Jesus
goes on to spell out how to love them: he tells us not to “retaliate” by
responding in kind. Rather, the measure of how we’re to love “others” our willingness
to give freely to them. He not only says, “Give to everyone who begs from you,”
which is hard enough. He goes beyond that and says, “if anyone takes away your
goods, do not ask for them again” (Lk 6:30)! That one pushes all of us! We
believe that our right to our own property is virtually sacred, and we
certainly want to get back any possession of ours that may be taken from us.
Jesus’ teaching about the command to love pushes us far beyond what we would
consider “normal.”
The other side of this
kind of love is just as difficult: “love your enemies, do good, and lend,
expecting nothing in return” (Lk 6:35)! The way Jesus defines love for our
“neighbors,” for our “enemies,” for those who are “different,” is love that
“expects nothing in return.” That goes against the grain of everything we have
been taught. If someone does something nice for us, we feel obliged to do
something nice in return, at the least sending a “thank you” card. That mindset
has been ingrained in the human family for millennia: if we do something good
for someone else, we have a right to expect them to return the favor.
All of this is difficult
for most of us, to say the least. And we might wonder why Jesus defines what it
means “love your neighbor as yourself” in this way. I think we find the answer
when he points to God’s love for us: “he is kind to the ungrateful and the
wicked” (Lk 6:35). We “know” that; we believe that God loves everyone
unconditionally and irrevocably. But where it gets difficult is when we make
God’s love the measure of how we love. Jesus challenges us to “be merciful,
just as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). And that means opening our hearts
and our hands to everyone.
It has been said that
the true test of any people is the way they treat the most vulnerable among them.
There are many among us who naturally reach out to love those who are
“different.” We support ministries for a wide variety of people who don’t “look
like us.” In many cases, however, we’re still taking care of our “own.” Whether
they’re in Haiti or Nicaragua or Cameroon or Kenya, Christian brothers and
sisters are part of the body of Christ and therefore are still our “own”! But
Jesus challenges us to go beyond even that! He calls us to follow him in extending
mercy, kindness, and dignity beyond those who are “like us,” beyond those who
are “our own.” And for those of us who may need a reason to do that, Jesus
points us to the way God loves us, which goes far beyond anything we could
expect or deserve. That’s what it takes for all of us to live as “children of
the Most High”: to open our hearts so that we may open our hands in love,
mercy, and kindness toward all people.
[1] ©
Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm, Ph. D. on 2/20/2022 for Hickman
Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
