Love Your Enemies

Greetings. Gospel from the sixth chapter of St.

Luke. The epistle from the second Corinthians.

Very brief, very powerful. They're related in

my mind, and I hope to show you that very briefly

as well. The Lord's words, as he spoke to the

crowd gathered there on the plain. He gave a

sermon on the mount. That's in Matthew. He gave

a sermon on the plane, not the airplane guys,

just like, you know, a flat space. They didn't

have any airplanes then, just so you know. Imagine

the response of the people there listening to

Jesus. I think much more loaded than our own

response. We've heard these words so many times.

Love your enemy. Lend without expecting anything

back. Do good to those who don't do good for

you. Imagine the people there under the occupation

of the Romans, before that occupation of the

Greeks, before that occupation of the Babylonians,

the Persians, the Syrians. How do you think they

felt? Like, Jesus, we really love you, but now

what you're saying is impossible. And it is impossible

from our human point of view, from our human

action, from our human emotions and abilities.

It is impossible to do what Jesus asked us to

do. Lend to those from whom you hope to receive.

Big deal. Banks do that. Sinners also lend to

sinners. In other words, unbelievers, they do

this. But love your enemy. Do good and lend,

hoping for nothing in return. And your reward

shall be great. You shall be called the children

of the highest. For God is kind. to the unthankful,

and to the evil. It's impossible to do what Jesus

said unless we are children of the Most High.

This is where I think the epistle can help us.

St. Paul says we have this treasure, this light

of Christ, which reveals the glory of God, of

Jesus Christ, within our heart. We have that

within us. He says, This treasure in earthen

vessels that the excellency of the power may

be of God and not of us. We have this treasure

in earthen vessels. I know someone who's taken

a pottery class. Now, to do pottery, it takes

some finding to... looking to find someone to

teach you. It's something artistic. It's something

beautiful. Something we value. St. Paul is not

using the word, the phrase, earthen vessel in

that way. In ancient world of St. Paul, pottery

was utilitarian. We might compare it to, I don't

know, going to the grocery store and you get

a plastic bag or a paper bag. You put stuff in

it. The ancient world, archaeologists have shown

that the ancient world is full of pottery shards

all over the place. They were used also for writing.

They didn't have paper sometimes, and paper was

extremely expensive. They'd take shards of pottery

and they'd use it to write, scratch things on.

It was... It was expendable. It was breakable.

It was not precious. It's found in the trash

all over the place in the ancient world. So when

St. Paul says, and he's telling us, that the

light of God, his love, his glory, the gospel

message is in us, I think you all know we are

broken. We are broken people. We fall into sin.

We do things that are against our nature. We

have feelings and impulses that we regret. We

have all kinds of problems. We are just a broken

vessel. But the glory of God can even shine in

that, St. Paul is saying. And when things are

difficult, it shines even more. There was a gentleman

outside with his, I guess, a two -year -old on

the swing set on the playground playing before

liturgy for a good hour. So gentle. So engaged

with his two -year -old. So loving. and warm.

It really touched me. He's sitting up there,

this six -foot -five man, and playing with this

little two -year -old boy. And I'm thinking,

that's how God treats us. He wants to embrace

us and engage with us, be gentle to us. He does

that. And when We live our lives, we barely pay

attention to that. That fact of how gentle and

loving God is for us. And even playful. And then

difficult times come to us. Sicknesses, sorrows,

troubles of all kinds. We must do what St. Paul

does, what he says. This has got to be our attitude.

St. Paul is saying when things are rough, When

things are dark, the power of God is in us. We

are just the earthen vessels, but the excellency

is of him. He says, we're troubled on every side.

We're not distressed. We have the power of God

and the glory and his love within us. We are

perplexed, but not despairing. Because we have

the love and glory of God within us. We're persecuted,

but we're not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed.

Why? Because we always bear in our body the death

of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is our life,

because he rose from the dead. And St. Paul says,

and you will also rise. So we don't despair.

If this light is within us, if the gospel life

is within us, we've been given the glory of baptism

and chrismation, communion, the liturgy. Certainly

all this is not an opiate for the people, something

fuzzy spirituality. No, it takes some effort

on our part. Despite the difficult things of

the darkness of the world around us, St. Paul

is saying to his Corinthian church, look at me,

brothers and sisters, and all the things that

have happened to me. It shows you I'm a real

apostle because God has not abandoned me despite

any of that. How does this relate to what Jesus

says? Well, if the excellency of the power is

of God and not of us, then we have this gift,

this light, not to hide away, not to be fearful,

not to retreat in disgust from the things of

this world. Let thy light so shine before men

that they may see your good works and glorify

your God who is in heaven. If indeed this glory

is in our bodies, how can we not then follow

the Lord's command to love our enemy, the person

directly opposed against us? It might not be

somebody you know even, but somebody that wants

what's worst for you, your demise, to harm you.

When the world meets a Christian, When the world

meets a Christian man or woman or child, the

world has the right to expect someone out of

the ordinary. Because if we affirm what the Lord

teaches, if we follow the one who loved to the

end and loved us before we could love him and

went to the cross out of love, saying, Father,

forgive them. then the world expects something

different from us. Mercy. Goodness. God's love.

I can't pat myself on the back for being decent

to those that love me. Although sometimes it's

a little hard for them in my case. I should be

falling down before the Savior. asking for mercy

and strength to love those who do hate us Christians,

who disregard us or oppose to us. It's so easy

to point fingers at individuals or groups, organizations,

easy targets, who celebrate beliefs and behaviors

contrary to what Christ tells us. I can't say,

well, I go to church. I'm a good person. That's

not going to work at the judgment seat. Maybe

that would be enough if we were part of a religion

that only called for superficial decency and

did not condemn self -righteous judgment, but

just looked at the outside. That's not the case

for Orthodox Christians. God really does call

us to become holy and loving because we are his

temple. We have the glory of God within us as

a vessel so that the excellency of the power

may be of God and not of us. We're to be merciful.

We're to be perfect like our Heavenly Father.

We're to be, if it's true, that we're created

in God's image, then we are to be partakers of

his. Let's not be scorekeepers, brothers and

sisters, about those who oppose us. You forget

all that. You press forward. When you're troubled,

as St. Paul says in Romans, you go to the gospel

because it's the consolation of the Christian.

May our Lord be glorified and may he send his

love to each of us. so that as we struggle to

keep his commandments, repenting often when we

don't, we may be then filled with his grace,

and then the world will meet a Christian and

know something different than what I thought.

This would be a revelation to a lot of people.

To our Lord be glory, honor, and worship, now

and ever, to ages of ages.