Epiphany 7 C + Love and resistance + 2.23.25
M. Campbell-Langdell
All Santos, Oxnard
(Genesis 45:3–11, 15; Ps. 37:1–11, 39–40; 1 Cor. 15:35–38, 42–50; Luke 6:27–38)
Last Friday at the pantry we had an interesting visitor.
There was a gentleman in the patio and one of our pantry leaders, Vern, went to
tell him that it was his turn next in line, only the fellow wasn’t there for
the pantry or somehow got mad, and what ensued was him hitting Vern on the back
with a t-shirt and then swearing at him when he said he had to move on. I
joined Vern in coaxing the man out of the gate, as did Ana, but he was
unfortunately quite riled up. At one point he tried to kick Vern and we had to
call the police, which is definitely our last resort. But we also told him:
“You are better than this!”
When he left (before the police arrived as they were short
staffed), I realized that the same phrase “you are better than this!” is what I
have been wanting to say to some of the leadership in our country right now.
At the same time, I had to check myself, because I felt a bit
smug with this guy. He seemed totally high and part of me wanted to judge him
for that. But I don’t know his story. I wondered, how can I encourage the best
from others and myself without smugness?
Alene and I have a practice when folks cut us off in traffic.
Rather than raising a certain finger, we bless them. At its worst, it is the
same smugness in action, but at its best it is my way of praying that they
don’t hurt themselves or others in their big hurry to get wherever they’re
going.
But I think also not holding smugness in interactions like
this reminds each one of us that we are all sinners. Jesus says “even sinners
love those who love them,” and that is true of all of us if we are honest.
Because we are all sinners. I think remembering our own sinfulness and
struggles to improve ourselves is important in communicating across difference
because it allows us to be humbler. In the dignity index, a tool used for
communication across difference, it says that the highest level of
communication comes from this mindset: “I can see myself in every human being,
I refuse to hate anyone, and I offer dignity to everyone.”[1]
This story we read today from the book of Genesis always
moves me. Because you will remember that Joseph is basically thrown away by his
brothers for being different and because his father seems to love him in a
special way. So when Joseph sees his brothers again, he has been through quite
the journey. And he doesn’t automatically forgive them but makes them go
through a bit of a test to show that they have grown personally. But he always
remembers their dignity as human beings and ultimately forgives them, and his forgiveness
doesn’t just affect them, but many others. We hear:
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come closer to me." And
they came closer. He said, "I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into
Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold
me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life (Genesis 45:4-5).”
And it is true. Joseph’s revolutionary method for storing
crops in the good years, as well as the foresight God gives him to do that,
keeps not only Egypt but the surrounding nations alive through a devastating
drought. His forgiveness for his brothers, and his willingness to be used by
God, leads to the benefit not just of his family but of all the people in the
region. It leads to the survival of the people of Israel, our spiritual
ancestors.
So you may say that forgiveness, and being willing to be used
by God for good even when you have been mistreated, saves lives. But just as
Joseph tested his brothers, this always goes hand in hand with seeking God’s
justice. It goes hand in hand with love.
Love is a topic here in Luke. But it is not a passive,
lovey-dovey, Valentine’s Day card kind of love. It is an active love. Jesus is
asking something hard. To not just live with or tolerate your enemies but
somehow to love them. I think in today’s language we might use the words
respect and dignity. Over and over again, as certain groups have been slandered
lately, I have heard the echo of our baptismal covenant in my head: “we respect
the dignity of every human being.”
But back to Luke. In Luke, Jesus is advocating nonviolent resistance as a form
of love. Offering the other cheek, as you may have heard before, required an
attacker to demean themselves or another by either using the hand they use for
the restroom – taboo- or changing their posture to treat a person like an
equal. Jesus says love of enemy doesn’t mean rolling over or putting up with
abuse, but it means telling them through their actions “you’re better than
that!” To truly love someone that the world would make our enemy, we must be
willing to stand and speak our truth.
When we do that, doors open to something other than the
physical world. Our salvation calls through the open door. The grassroots
organizing movement calls this calling someone in rather than calling them out,
and it is powerful. We can access our higher selves when we invite each other
to go deeper and do better.
Not everyone will do this. Some will laugh in our face, or spit. Some folks we
can only urge down the road a bit. But some will have their lives changed by
Jesus and in so doing change our lives, too.
Towards the end of the controversial recent film on Dietrich
Bonhoeffer (“Bonhoeffer,” 2024), there is a moving communion scene in a
schoolhouse before Bonhoeffer’s death. A guard who has been watching the
Lutheran pastor all along comes in to receive communion alongside the
prisoners. Bonhoeffer welcomes him, and you get the feeling that that moment
may have been one of the most important in the whole film- because it is the
saving of a soul.
We can always pray for that kind of conversion in others,
knowing that we cannot go into conversations expecting that but knowing that
part is God’s work, and ours is just to do our best and encourage the best in
others. In the meantime, remember this in the time when evil seems rife in the
world.
Do not fret. Keep loving, resisting, and forgiving as
appropriate (and as balanced with an openness to God’s justice). Be better and
exhibit what a friend this week called the “golden grace” of this passage with
others. So that we can all remember that the lowly will possess the land
eventually, as our psalm promises. We will prevail. We just have to be patient
and proactive, not letting any evildoers kill our joy.
Amen.
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