Are We Listening?

 

 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.

Judging Others

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Today's Gospel passage is full of "opposites", e.g. "do good to those who hate you", " love your enemies""lend without expecting to be paid back", be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful",  all things that go against "common sense" or "good business."  Why is Jesus demanding so much of us? It seems he wants us to move up a peg or two or more from the behaviors that flow from  from our weakened human nature resulting from the Fall in the Garden. These commands of Jesus reverse the effects of Original Sin and put us back on track again.  Do we hear him speaking to us?  Are we listening?  Yes, that is the question, not just physically hearing or reading these words, but actually hearing them with our hearts and changing our behavior as a result?  That's the other half of these challenges, the most difficult, and yet, the most rewarding. Let us take time this Lord's Day to sit with them,  absorb them and eventually incorporate them into our daily dealings with each other...

Bro. Rene