MORECAMBE PARISH CHURCH 30 Oct 2016
ALL SAINTS DAY
Luke 6: 20 - 31
Introduction
Ok we’re going to start with
a quiz. Which of these phrases are from Shakespeare and which from the Bible?
(Shakespeare died in 1616
which means he was around when the King James Bible was published in 1611. They
have both come into our language and conversation and stayed.
Put your hand up if you think
it’s the Bible / Shakespeare
A man after his own heart 1 Sam 13: 14
Cast thy pearls before swine Matt 7: 6
I must be cruel only to be
kind Hamlet
All they that take the sword
shall perish by the sword Matt 26: 52
Neither a borrower or a
lender be Hamlet
Do to others as you would
have them do to you Luke
6: 31
You should all have got that
one right, we’ve just had it read to us! It is quoted often by people who don’t
know if it comes from Shakespeare or the Bible, because it’s so good.
Luke’s Beatitudes
Jesus had the most amazing
way of seeing through to the real point of a matter and expressing it in the
most pithy, memorable and often surprising way.
These verses for instance,
which we know better probably from Matthew’s version, are so full of a profound
understanding of human beings and how societies work; they are so appealing and
yet so uncomfortable and radical.
Is this what a SAINT looks
like, on this All Saints day?
Poor, hungry, weeping,
excluded, reviled, defamed on account of the Son of Man (v 20-22). Like so many
in our world – they are the ones, Jesus says, who are blessed.
And is this God’s verdict on
all who oppress the poor?
(v 24 – 25)
woe to you who think you’ve
made it through wealth and don’t share it,
woe to you who are full of
yourself,
woe to you who laugh and sneer at others’
misfortune?
Woe to you when you live only
for the approval of others
It’s all going to get turned
upside down.
It is very difficult to get
away from the fact that Jesus is making a political statement here. His
congregation were the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed and he wanted to
give them hope, not false hope, but real hope that things would get turned
right way up. You will be filled, you will laugh and rejoice and leap and dance
v 21 & 23, he promises.
But Jesus says to those that
listen, v 27, you have a responsibility in this: “ love your enemies, do good to those who
hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” which is summed up in v 31: “do to others as
you would have them do to you”
In between (v 29 – 30) Jesus
gives some examples of how that might be worked out, which would have been
obvious to those who heard him at the time but which perhaps need explaining
today.
Turn the other cheek
V 29 If anyone strikes you on
the cheek, offer the other also. Matthew is more specific – “the right cheek”.
OK Mike I’d like you to come
and strike me on the right cheek. I’ve asked Mike because I know he’s not a violent
man!
How are you
going to do it?
Mike: Either with my left hand, or
back-handed.
But in the Jewish Law the
left hand was only used for unclean tasks (you may know or I’ll leave it to
your imagination!) So this aggressor
must have used his back hand.
And the back hand was (and
is) not to injure, but to insult, to humiliate, to degrade. It was not
administered in those days to an equal, but an inferior. Masters back-handed
slaves; husbands backhanded their wives; parents their children; Romans
backhanded the Jews. The whole point was to force someone who was out of line
back into place.
So, Jesus says, “if anyone
strikes you (with the back hand to humiliate you), turn the other cheek”. The people Jesus was talking to were used to
being degraded and he says, refuse to accept this kind of treatment anymore. If
they backhand you, turn the other cheek.
And if I turn to you the other cheek
Mike – what are you going to hit me with? Right fist
The left cheek offers the
perfect target for the right fist but only equals fought with fists.
So this was an act of
defiance – it said to the slave master or the Roman oppressor, “I am your equal.
I’m a human being just like you. I refuse to be humiliated any longer. I am a
child of God.”
What Jesus is saying loud and
clear to the poor and excluded and reviled is: don’t co-operate with anything
that humiliates you. Stand up to your oppressors, assert your humanity. BUT don’t
treat the oppressor in the way he treats you. “Do to others as you would have
them do to you”. Find a different way of being which is neither being a victim
or being violent.
Give away your shirt
It’s the same principle with
the next phrase:
“from anyone who takes away
your coat, do not withhold even your shirt.”. This would mean stripping off all
their clothing and standing there naked. (We are not going to have a
demonstration!)
Imagine the guffaws this must
have evoked from Jesus’ congregation. We think it’s funny, so did they but they
were also aware that for the Jew it was shameful; any kind of nakedness was a
taboo. In effect the man is saying “you want my coat, here, take everything.”
Imagine him walking away with
nothing on. His friends and neighbours would be aghast – ‘what happened to you?’
They would be outraged by him being so degraded. The point was made – ‘we can’t
put up with this humiliation any longer’.
But, Jesus says, in your
resistance: “Do to others as you would have them do to you”. *
Conclusion
We can read through the
gospels and see how Jesus lived out these principles. Always resisting violence,
but never submitting to the bully (Matt 26: 52, John 19: 11).
This is what it means to be
disciple of Jesus, a Saint. Do you remember the drama about our Patron, St
Laurence which Brian wrote and we enacted a few years ago? He was a saint who
followed Jesus in non-violent resistance – there are many.
And I believe this is the
invitation of Jesus to all of us; “find a different way of being; let my life
be in you and I will give you what you need to be neither violent nor a victim”,
“do to others as you would have them do to you”, and you will be blessed.
*Taken from : ‘The powers
that be’ Walter Wink p 102 - 5
- Sue Kiernan, Reader at Morecambe Parish Church
- Sue Kiernan, Reader at Morecambe Parish Church
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