7 Epiphany/Year C Sermon
February 20, 2022
Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-12, 41-42; Luke 6:27-38
Opening Prayer: Holy and gracious God, I give you thanks for this day, and for the opportunity to gather with others to praise you, to pray, to sing, to hear the word of God. I pray that all of our ears and eyes and hearts and minds may be opened to hear what the Spirit is saying to us this morning and to help us understand what is being asked of us. This we pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, the One who strengthens us with love and compassion to go out into the world to love one another in all the ways and places we are called to go. Amen.
Today’s gospel is a continuation of Jesus’ sermon on the plain that we heard last week…Jesus is on a roll with his difficult teachings. And as I mentioned last week…Sometimes Jesus’ teachings sound poetic and lovely, and we have no trouble connecting with the message he is trying to get across to His listeners. But other times, his teachings are quite simple and direct…and not so lovely sounding…and they don’t always leave much wiggle room for interpretation. But, we as human beings, have some pretty strong minds and wills…so we are quite adept at filtering out what we think He is saying, and finding creative ways, to dismiss some of his more difficult teachings, as only pertaining to certain people, in certain times, and in certain places.
Our brain’s default, is often to “hear” and “see” what we already know…and feel comfortable with…So, I do think our challenge…in learning new things, considering and accepting new teachings…does call for us to pray to God, to open wide our eyes and our ears…and especially our hearts and our minds…to consider these uncomfortable teachings...these basic and direct teachings that Jesus is longing for us to understand.
Let’s take a look first, at the reading from Genesis this morning… We may be shaking our heads in disbelief, wondering, how in the world could Joseph ever return to his family, to his brothers who did the unthinkable, first plotting to kill him, but then decided instead to sell him into slavery… and the brothers also caused years of deep heartache and suffering for their father, lying to him and telling him that his son Joseph was likely killed by a wild animal. And how unthinkable, or impossible, that Joseph not only returned to his family, his brothers…but he forgave them…he chose to love them again…having been sent by God to return to them to save them from starvation and poverty…Imagine having to forgive and love and bless the very people who abandoned you and cut you off from your livelihood? Difficult, very difficult to imagine…yet with the love of God poured into Joseph’s heart…we saw how that was possible…Joseph had mercy upon his brothers, forgave them, making room for love to reconcile and heal their family.
Jesus’ sermon on the plain in today’s gospel is equally hard to digest. As if the Blessings and the Woes that Jesus spoke about last week were not confusing enough. Today, he is tackling the very uncomfortable topics about loving your enemies, and forgiveness …
These are some pretty basic, no-frills, direct words from Jesus today. Difficult to digest. Hard to make sense of. Easier said, than done.
Difficult, hard, uncomfortable…yes…but they need not keep us from striving to understand and striving to live into the live-giving ways of God, made known to us, through the love and compassion, and the difficult teachings and witness of Jesus Christ. For this love is the greatest gift given to us and for us…a gift given to strengthen us to be a people filled with love and compassion for those difficult and uncomfortable moments we are often faced with, when struggling to love and forgive one’s enemies…and when we struggle to see where we ourselves are in need of that same forgiveness and love too…
…..This gift of love, this way of love, this difficult teaching of Jesus, has been offered up for us, as a way to help us transform this world, as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry often says, from the nightmare it sometimes looks like, into the dream of God, a family of God, where we love one another, forgive one another, share all of our resources and gifts with one another: with all that we have, and all that we are…so that this dream of God, the peace and the love and the joy and the mercy and the justice of God…would someday come to be in all its fullness …here on earth, as in heaven…
Our 1st step in approaching something difficult can begin in such a simple way: with stillness and trust…
The psalmist tells us today: put your trust in the Lord, take delight in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord, be still before the Lord…and wait patiently for him…If nothing makes sense today…don’t give up…
Begin again tomorrow morning, or as you get ready to close your eyes at the end of the day… put your trust in the Lord, take delight in the Lord, commit your way to the Lord, be still before the Lord…and wait patiently for him…for God’s mercies are new every day… begin again and again with asking God to open your ears, eyes, hearts and minds to hear what the Spirit is trying to teach you about the healing power of God’s love and compassion…and then go…knowing that you are strengthened by this love and compassion to transform the world around you!
Lift Every Voice and Sing II - #176 An Evening Prayer
Recording of An Evening Prayer can be found HERE
1 If I have wounded any soul today,
If I have caused one foot to go astray,
If I have walked in my own willful way,
Dear Lord, forgive!
2 If I have uttered idle words or vain,
If I have turned aside from want or pain,
Lest I offend some other through the strain,
Dear Lord, forgive!
3 If I have been perverse, or hard, or cold,
If I have longed for shelter in the fold,
When thou hast given me some fort to hold,
Dear Lord, forgive!
4 Forgive the sins I have confessed to thee;
Forgive the secret sins I do not see;
O guide me, love me, and my keeper be.
Dear Lord, forgive!
Amen.
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, Alaska