JULY 20th, 2025 PASTOR DON PIEPER
Jesus' Kingdom Message Matthew 22:33-40; 5:38-48
“GETTING RAD!”
We've been looking at Jesus' kingdom...message as articulated in his sermon on the mount. His introduction features the Be-attitudes and his teaching on being salt and light to those around us. One guy in the back of the multitude there that day couldn't hear so well. “What? What did he just say?”
“He said, 'Blessed are the cheesemakers'” 'The cheesemakers? What's so special about them?'
“Not just them. I think it's a reference to all producers of dairy products....”
No wonder Jesus then turns to the law of Moses and addresses a misunderstanding common among both his followers and his adversaries. Jesus says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)
Jesus proceeds to quote one commandment after another, interpreting each in such a way as to make it clear that noone in the crowd that day is keeping them as God intended. In short, they're all guilty of breaking the law, from the most religious down to the most ungodly. What is Jesus saying? He's saying that as important as living a good and moral life is, no attempts at doing so will ever win God's favor because we inevitably and repeatedly fall far short of the mark.
In verse 38, Jesus turns our attention to the oldest law in recorded history, what which is known as the le talionis, or the law of tit-for-tat, which gave birth to, among other things, slap-stick comedy...
[pics from Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box, Charlie Chaplin & cop, 3 Stooges, Godspell...]
Jesus' teachings are so heartfelt and earnest and yet so radical and counter cultural as well. Even the law of tit-for-tat, the law of an eye for an eye, receives a radical workover in Jesus' teachings...
Jesus says, “You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' but I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him as well.”
(Matthew 5:38-39)
Jesus must be kidding, right? He's having some fun with us here, right? After all, where's the fun in that? Who in their right mind would subject themselves to that kind of treatment?
Certainly we must be careful not to apply Jesus' teaching in a kind of legalistic manner here because that approach is exactly what Jesus took issue with. Jesus is not suggesting that the Christian is to be a proverbial doormat. He himself took issue and confronted the moneychangers in the temple, faced off with the hypocrisy of the pharisees and demanded an explanation when struck by an official of the high priest. Jesus is not advocating weakness nor a new set of legalistic rules, but a new, radical attitude – a love so bold and reckless as to reject every form of retaliation.
Jesus goes on to make what is perhaps the most shocking statement in all of scripture: “You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...” (Matthew 5:43-44)
It would appear that Jesus is asking the impossible. I mean, have you ever tried to apply that? I think most of us prefer to gloss this over. You know, sounds good on paper but it doesn't really work or apply to the situation we're in – to the situation you're in. On the other hand, Jesus also teaches that it's one thing to love those who love you and quite another to love those who push your buttons...!
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Recently I tried to reach my friend in Albuquerque: “Hello, is David there?” I inquired. A man answered: “No, there's noone here by that name. You've got the wrong number.”
“Oh, sorry,” I said. We both hung up and I rechecked the number. “Hello, is David there?”
“Look, I just told you, you've got the wrong number! There's nobody named David here. Why don't you call directory assistance, for crying out loud!” he said as he slammed down the phone.
Ouch. Actually, not a bad idea. I gave that a try and dialed the number. A man answered rather brusquely: “Hello? Who is it?”
I swallowed hard. “Uh, is there a David there by any chance?”
“Look, wise guy, this is the last time – THERE IS NO HEATHER HERE!!” Again, he slammed down the receiver. I was about to give up but then I had a brilliant idea. I waited a few minutes and then picked up the phone and dialed the number again. “Yeah? Who is it?” the man demanded.
“Hi, this David. Have there been any calls for me?”
I can't repeat what was said after that! Question: how is it that a simple misunderstanding so often leads to such tension and open hostility between two or more parties? It is a sad and tragic commentary on the human condition that some of the most spiteful, antagonistic relationships once began as the best of friends! We just keep pushing one another's buttons until he or she who was once a good neighbor, a dear friend or a loving spouse or sibling becomes our worst enemy.
Jesus offers a radical alternative to the vicious circle we so often find ourselves in. Rather than being consumed with conflict we're to be Christians of courage; rather than being consumed with anger seeking revenge, we become contagious with forgiveness, seeking reconciliation.
We saw a film a while back based on a true story called, The Vow, involving a young couple who'd been married a short time when they're involved in a car accident resulting in her losing all memory of him – how they met, they're marriage, etc. As events unfold she discovers the reason she had separated herself from her family prior to meeting her husband is that her father had an affair with her best friend. Eventually she resolves to do things differently this time and decides to forgive her father. As we watch the two embrace, her husband tells us about how certain moments in life not only have a lasting impact on our lives but they serve to help define who we are.
Even still, how can we come to love those who hurt us, even deliberately so? Jesus suggests three ways we can actually learn to love those who hurt us. First, is through radical action. In Luke's account Jesus elaborates: I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.
(Luke 6:27)
Acts of kindness and thoughtfulness have a way of disarming, even transforming, a potentially explosive situation. Ever see the Christian film, Fireproof? In it a fireman's marriage is on the rocks and his father passes on a book to him full of good advice including encouraging the reader to choose to do one extravagantly kind and thoughtful thing every week for his/her spouse. The fireman is told that if he waits to do such things when he 'feels like it' he's at risk of never doing them at all. We disarm anger and hate when we do the unexpected – when we treat them with radical kindness.
In 1983, before the Iron Curtain was lifted, throngs of Polish protesters filled the streets. One day Jerzy Popeliuszko, a 35 year-old priest whose sermons had electrified Poland, was found floating in the Vistula River with his eyes gouged out and his fingernails torn off. Some cried out for revenge - An eye for an eye... But later when his flock hit the streets, marching past the Communist Party's offices, they were holding banners that reflected their chant: “We forgive you...! We forgive you!”
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Their actions reflected their priest's main message: “Defend the truth. Overcome evil with good.” In the end it was precisely this spirit of prevailing grace that caused the godless regime to collapse. How do we love our enemies? “Do good to those who hate you!” (Luke 6:27)
Second, Jesus says to “Bless those who curse you.” (Luke 6:28) That goes against our natural instincts as well. Normally if someone inflicts an injury we're inclined to ratiliate with angry words or actions. To do so brings a sense of vindication, but never reconciliation. By doing so we must ignore the teachings of Jesus who clearly urges us to resist our 'natural inclination' and seek 'supernatural intervention' by seeking Christ's help to go the extra mile and give to those who ask for help.
(Matthew 5:41-42)
In the words of wise King Solomon: “a gentle response turns away wrath.” Or in the words of Bambi's little rodent friend, Thumper, “if you can't say something nice, don't say nut'in at all.” Jesus goes beyond both and urges us to actually bless those who curse us! What might that look like for you?
Thirdly, Jesus tells us to love our enemies by praying for them: “I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
(Matthew 5:44)
German pastor and Nazi resister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, put it this way: “Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)
The amazing thing about praying for those who purposefully seek to hurt us is that God works on two fronts simutaneously. He creates opportunities for the person in question to see the error of their ways and initiates a change of heart within the person who prays. I don't know how many times I've sensed the nudge to pray for someone I was at odds with and experienced a softening of my heart and along with it, the supernatural peace of Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit brings.
Such peace comes to those who open themselves up to the radical ways and love of God by actually praying for those who hurt them. Few have embraced this truth more fully than did Martin Luther King, Jr. Once when preaching in Birmingham a white man rushed the platform and attacked King, pummeled him with his fists. His supporters leaped up and surrounded the attacker but King yelled out, “Don't touch him! We have to pray for him!” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
One of King's friends was John Perkins who was brutalized by police for his involvement in the civil rights protests. Driving past the jail and courthouse where four years earlier he'd been beaten within an inch of his life, Perkins made the following observation...:
“That time was, without a doubt, my deepest crisis of faith. It was time for me to decide if I really did believe what I'd so often professed, that only in the love of Christ, is there any hope for me or the world. I began to see how hate could destroy me. In the end, I had to agree with Dr. King that God wanted us to return good for evil, not evil for evil.
'Love your enemy,' Jesus said. And I determined to do it. It's a profound, mysterious truth, Jesus' concept of love overpowering hate. I know its true because on that bed, full of bruises and stitches, God made it true in me. I got a transfusion of hope. I realized anew that hatred paralyzes life; love releases it.” (John Perkins)
Jesus' message was clear. If you love those who love you, what's the big deal? Who doesn't do that? But if your love for others is as extraordinary and radical as God's love for you...the world will sit up and take notice! Only in the love of Christ is there any hope for me, for you, or the world around us!
When in doubt, love radically, recklessly even, as your Father in heaven radically loves you!