Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, 02/23/2014

Sermon on Matthew 5:38-48, by David H. Brooks

So, the terrible snow and ice storm that kept so many indoors for several days did also bring some pleasures with it. Movie marathons, for instance, where you set yourself up in front of the television (as long as the power holds out) with as much food and beverage as you can stand and watch movies until your eyes bug out. It doesn't matter what: war movies, romances, gangster flicks, bad films from your favorite decade. The bad film category can always get a debate going: I tend to throw my weight into bad 1980s films, and I am of the firm opinion that the best of the worse is the terrible and therefore wonderful movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. In a nutshell, two high school misfits pass their history exam with the help of a time-traveling individual who comes from a future society that is based on the witless wisdom of these same two misfits.

Trust me, it's hilarious.

But it is the misfits' parting line to their protégés of the future that sticks with me to this day: Be Excellent to each other.

It is a call to holiness out of the mouths of two California slackers.

Jesus also issues a call to holiness in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount. Having pressed the point in his comment about how his followers would need to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, here is a place where he brings it into sharp focus. How does one respond to acts of evil? The ancient wisdom to which Jesus refers is recognizable to us; the way to respond to threats is to be threatening, the way to answer force is with force. Ensure your safety by taking care of those who take care of you, and deal harshly with those who deal harshly with you.

Of course, we also recognize the wisdom Jesus gives us; now 2000 years old, we have processed our Lord's wisdom as applying only (or at least especially) to those that we call holy, saintly. They-we assume-have the "whatever" a person needs to respond to provocations and threats with extra cheek. More seriously, we assume that the extra the saints have is available only to a few, and not to all of us. It is too much, we think, to live life assuming that God is at work in us, that we can treat everyone that we meet as if they were kin, as if they were family.

But that is the push that Jesus has made over the course of his teaching. As we have listened over these last weeks, Jesus has led us inexorably toward one conclusion-everyone we meet is equally dependent on the God who causes rain and sun and all that is contained in life to fall upon everyone equally, and we, who are called to be salt and light, bearers of God's message, witnesses to God's loving work, should recognize everyone as equally in God's debt, as equally in God's care.

This is where Jesus wishes us to lead us, his disciples. Think hard on that word disciple: we are students, learners, men and women growing-but toward what? What are we becoming? As you think back on your life as a learner, you realize that the true goal of any learning is to become like those who are teaching you; learning is about becoming like the teacher, a master of the knowledge, a master of the skill. The church fathers wrote much of this, that Jesus entered into this life, becoming what we are, so that he might make of us what he is.

Now this process is more than simply a matter of training; the core of this great exchange, this great becoming is that Jesus gives to us the thing we do not have, the thing we could never get-his life, his love, his grace, his mercy. The great exchange is found in the cross, where our Lord bears all that has come from the long human history of trading out hateful blows for eyes, teeth and more. But from that event, Jesus breaks the boundary of death that would say we could never be more than small creatures of hate and spite and despair, and gives to us his own life-breathes on us the breath that is life.

He gives to us. Giving is part of our Lord's nature, it is a part of God's nature. God is generous. It is a part of who God is-he would not be God if he were not so very generous, so very gracious. It is a part of his perfection-and Jesus uses that word in the way that means nothing is missing, everything that is needed, necessary and essential is there. My grandmother made perfect biscuits-and by that I don't mean that each one was precisely the same size, shape, or weight, but that they smelled right, they tasted right, they melted butter and held preserves the way a biscuit should. They conveyed her love, they were her way of being excellent to others.

And so Jesus tells us, we who have been brought into the Kingdom of God, we give, we love, we see as God sees because it is who we are---who we are becoming. We breathe the breath of God and we are more the men and women we are meant to be. We chase after Jesus, and we love the world as he loves it. We place our lives in God's care, and we find we have that "extra" with which we can be generous.

Be excellent to each other, just as God is excellent to everyone!

The Rev. Dr. David H. Brooks
Ebenezer Lutheran Church, Columbia, SC USA
E-Mail: Pr.Dave.Brooks@zoho.com

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