Father, thank You for Your influence upon today’s sermon. I knew You were with me as it came together, and I could tell by the looks on faces that You were speaking to people in our services. May Your word bear much fruit! Amen.

Luke 6:27-31(<<click to read the passage)

I tell you; I have some of the most heinous crimes committed on my bus. And it may surprise you, but they occur on my elementary route!

Several times a week I will have students come up, usually kindergarteners or first graders, and tell me that – brace yourselves! – “So-n-so is looking at me!” I’m sorry, I hope that wasn’t too upsetting for you! Or maybe they were called a name – and we’re not talking anything gross or degrading or inappropriate. They might be called “silly” or even “cute”. I had one kindergartener at the beginning of the year – and I can’t remember the harmless and somewhat complementary name that was used – but she was put out and told me several times about it!

Now, many we see these interactions as cute and funny but for some of the students, It can be pretty traumatic! Many are still navigating the pathways of social interaction – what is appropriate and what is not. You can tell that some have certain boundaries that are adhered to in their home settings – and they attempt to hold other children to the same boundaries usually without much success – and others have almost no boundaries whatsoever!

Of course, adults don’t have any issues, do they? Yeah, right!

In this passage from Luke’s Gospel Jesus is admonishing his listeners to do some pretty difficult things.

    • love your enemies
    • Do good to those who hate you
    • Bless those who curse you
    • Pray for those who hurt you
    • If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also

If I suggested these things to my kids, how do you think they would respond? Would they thank me for the opportunity to do so? Or would they look at me like I was crazy?

And, honestly, wouldn’t we respond the same way?

I have to admit, reading through those words for this first time as I sat down, my reaction to them was on the edge of saying, “Yeah, right!” And I can’t even tell you how many times I have read these words and heard these words and taught these words. But isn’t that the knee-jerk reaction to those kinds of things?

So, how do we even begin to tackle these assignments? For starters read through those verses from the Amplified Bible.

Love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, [make it a practice to] do good to those who hate you, bless and show kindness to those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever strikes you on the cheek, offer him the other one also [simply ignore insignificant insults or losses and do not bother to retaliate—maintain your dignity].

Once again my Life Application Study Bible notes are spot on!

Jesus wasn’t talking about having affection for enemies; he was talking about an act of the will. You can’t “fall into” this kind of love – it takes conscious effort. Loving our enemies means acting in their best interests. We can pray for them, and we can think of ways to help them. Jesus loves the whole world, even though the world is in rebellion against God. Jesus asks us to follow his example by loving our enemies. Grant your enemies the same respect and rights as you desire for yourself.

Remember, if we are striving to be a citizen of God’s kingdom, it is upside down compared to the kingdom of the world. It may not be easy. If fact it may not do a bit of good, from a worldly perspective, to do what Jesus has commanded but…it might surprise us how it does impact others. And it will surely impact us.

How many situations in life would be diffused if we would turn the other cheek and love and bless and pray? Only God knows…but we can, too, if we will obey.

Feb 9th, 2020, Sun, 12:54 pm