Love isn’t Fair

A sermon preached at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Mason, TX.
The lectionary readings for All Saints’ Sunday are here.
(And some notes for those who are reading this: St. Martin’s is affectionately known as the ‘dog church’ welcoming our canine friends into the worship space. They are an inclusive congregation and following the sermon, the congregation engages in ‘holy discourse’ about the readings and sermon!)

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Good Morning!  What a pleasure it is to be with y’all today at St. Martin’s.  I would have brought my dogs but like most clergy kids, they do not always behave well in church, or anywhere for that matter.  They aren’t mean dogs, they are more what I call “aggressively affectionate”.  They would insist on being everyone’s best friend whether you want them to be or not.  

I guess you could say they love unconditionally, its just that they force you to receive it, which I’m not sure really lives into the ‘unconditional’ part.  But I do believe that God gave us dogs to remind us what unconditional love is, just in case we didn’t get the message or forget from time to time what our ancient faith stories teach us about love.

In our gospel reading today, Jesus offers us perhaps the most famous of his teachings: “do to others as you would have them do to you.”  Every known religion in the world has some form of this statement and in it’s simplest understanding it can appear to be a statement about fairness.  But it follows on the heals of some statements that don’t sound very fair, at least not by the world’s standards.  

In God’s Kingdom, the poor, the hungry, the sad, and the marginalized will receive what they need and those who lack nothing will feel like they are being mistreated because others will have what they view as theirs alone.  God’s Kingdom won’t feel fair to those who are used to taking what they want at the expense of others. 

But Jesus goes on to say even more challenging things.  Loving enemies doesn’t seem fair, doing good to those who cause us harm, blessing those who curse, and praying for those who hurt us, none of this feels fair.  Because it isn’t.  Life in God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-Heaven isn’t fair.  Life in the Kingdom is about Love.  

Love, as Jesus shows us how to love, doesn’t seek to be fair.  Love is compassionate and humble and seeks the well-being of all.  But, neither is Love passive.  When Jesus says to turn the other cheek, he isn’t telling us to be doormats.  In the culture of Roman occupied first century Palestine, a slap was a derogatory gesture done only to those beneath your station and there were societal standards as to who you could slap openhanded or backhanded.  To offer the other cheek means to stand face to face with the one who harmed you as their equal. It was a statement that you will not cower nor will you sink to their level of violence to retaliate.  

By offering your other cheek or giving more than what is taken, you are undoing cultural oppression and breaking the cycle of revenge and retaliation.  You are living in the Kingdom economy of love, compassion, and forgiveness.  This is true Kingdom justice because holding those who want to harm or abuse us accountable is the most loving thing we can do because love works to end harm and abuse. 

Living into the Way of Jesus isn’t passive victimhood but courageous action that shows the true power and nature of love.  Love can only grow when we give it away.  Love can’t be hoarded or withheld or taken or even returned.  Love can only be given.  And the more we give it the more we have to give.  Listen to that again – the more love we give the more we have to give.  It isn’t ‘the more we receive’ because Love isn’t transactional.  I can only give love and you can only give love because if I do loving things for you with the expectation that you will do them for me, that isn’t love, it’s reciprocation.  

The world says to only love if you are loved in return, to only be kind to those who are kind to you, to hate your enemy and seek revenge, to take what we want and protect what is ours.  The world says love is earned or deserved.  Jesus shows us in flesh and blood that love can only be given away.  

When we live this life in a way that gets us all that we want regardless of what other’s need, we get what we want.  

When we seek to use all the we have and all that we are to build up God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven, we get what we want.  

When we do to others as we would have them do to us, we are loving our neighbor as ourselves.  We want for our neighbor what we want for ourselves.  To love our enemies means we want for them what we want for ourselves – life in God’s Kingdom-on-earth-as-in-heaven.  And when we let love guide what we do, we bring glory to the God who made us in love, for love, and to love. 

In our baptismal vows and we are reminded of who and Whose we are – the people of God’s Kingdom, here and now in Mason Texas. People who with God’s help proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ,  who seek and serve Christ in all persons, striving for justice and peace, and respecting the dignity of every human being.  

We join with all the saints who have come before us in these ancient vows that provide the pathway for following Jesus in the Way of Love.  Amen.