Sunday Homily - February 24th, 2019 - Who Is My Enemy?
The Betrayal of Christ Icon
I.
Who is your enemy?
And no, this isn't a hypothetical question.
It isn't a thought project.
I'm being serious:
Who is your enemy?
Enemy,
according to the dictionary, can mean a few different things.
One definition is, "a thing that harms or weakens something else."
"Laziness is the enemy of progress," for instance.
Laziness, of course, being seen as something that harms or weakens progress.
Another definition of Enemy is, "a hostile nation, including its armed forces and citizens."
This could be something along the lines of,
"Nazi Germany was the enemy of England and the United Kingdom in WWII."
And then there is a third definition,
and it is actually the primary definition of Enemy for the Cambridge Dictionary:
"A person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something."
[all taken from dictionary.com or from dictionary.cambridge.org]
The first definition,
"a think that harms or weakens something else"
is relatively easy to deal with,
as most things that harm or weaken can be impersonal forces,
like rust corroding metal, or procrastination being the enemy of the college student.
Trust me, I battle the fell foe of procrastination every day of the week!
The second definition,
"a hostile nation" is also easy to explain, but it is WAY more complex than may be apparent.
It is super easy to demonize a military, a people, and a nation
that is at war with you.
It is effortless for us to look at rival nations,
such as China or Russia
as our enemies,
even though, I would wager that NONE of us actually consider the elderly grandmother
of a Chinese or Russian foot-soldier our mortal enemy, right?
The reason it is so easy
is that we are talking about the concept of the NATION of China or Russia,
and often not remotely considering the husbands, wives, women, and children
within the countries themselves
who are opposed to their ruling parties in government.
But now we are going to get personal.
Because the third definition?
The third way that Cambridge Dictionary describes the word Enemy?
It describes an enemy as a person: a personal enemy,
"one who actively is opposed or hostile to someone or something."
And folks, this is where we need to think about our beginning question again:
who is your enemy?
Because, I'm going to wager, you actually had a person's face come into your mind
when I asked this.
Full confession, I sure did.
I had a flesh-and-blood,
human face and body materialize in my head,
an actual person who I consider my actual enemy,
someone who actively is opposed to what I stand for and the values I have.
And that person isn't an impersonal object,
like procrastination.
That person isn't a disembodied force,
such as Russia or China or the U.S.
That person was a person.
Who I consider to be my enemy.
Who I can't stand thinking about.
That person, friends,
and the person that came to your mind?
That is exactly the person that you have been commissioned this morning
through the holy words of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
that is the person whom you have been called to pray for and to love.
II.
The sermon that we all need to hear this morning,
the words that give us all life,
the words in which God actually reveals to us what love looks like,
is what we all, me included, need to hear this morning.
"Jesus says,
"I say to you that listen,
Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you,
pray for those who abuse you.
If anyone strikes you on the cheek,
offer the other also;
and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
Give to everyone who begs from you;
and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
If you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love them.
If you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
to receive as much again.
But love your enemies,
do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.
Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High;
for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked (boy howdy!)
Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged;
do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.
Forgive, and you will be forgiven;
give, and it will be given to you.
A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap;
for the measure you give will be the measure you get back."
III.
We as Episcopalians are very very good at asking, "Who is my neighbor?"
and listening to the words of our Lord when it comes to the Good Samaritan.
But, what would it look like for us to ask a different question?
What if we went from this place rather than asking, "Who is my neighbor?"
we instead asked, "Who is my enemy?"
Because, guess what y'all:
you are called to love your neighbor and your enemy.
You are commissioned to actively love those who can't stand you,
who actively seek to defame you,
who can't say a kind word to you.
You are called to love your enemy with the same unconditional love as God does,
because God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked!d
I'm going to go out on a limb
and perhaps jump off the deep end here a little bit.
What do you think would happen if we as Christians started to love our enemies
just as much as we love our neighbors?
We would turn the U.S. upside down.
We really would!
Facebook, Twitter, social media
sites that feed off of discontent and outrage
wouldn't know what to do with Christians anymore
if we actually did what Jesus told us and loved our enemies!
Where would huge online corporations begin to put their dollars
if we as Christians stopped pursuing anger and outrage
and instead started taking our enemies out to coffee at the Midnight Oil?
Politicians would not know what to do with us Christians
if we actually lived into the love and respect that Jesus calls all of us to!
Can you imagine a world in which Democrats and Republicans
or the Tea Party, or the Green Party, or the Libertarians
could no longer harness anger and outrage in Christians in order to demonize each other?
Politics in the U.S. would be so strange if we loved our political enemies
and prayed for those who curse us, wouldn't it?
Christian denominations, even! What would become of the 20,000 Christian denominations
in the U.S. if we started to love our institutional enemies like Jesus Christ commanded us to?
Let's face it: we don't even know what that would look like, do we?
What would happen if we weren't Baptist, or Methodist, or Episcopalian, or Roman Catholic,
but if all of a sudden, we were just "Christians"?
I know I know, it is scary to even talk about what would happen if we actually loved our enemies.
It is scandalous to even consider whether loving our enemies with as much passion
as we love our neighbors, our friends, our family,
will even work out.
What if we actually sent an Easter Card this season
to that one person who you can't stand?
What if we got a pastry from Wildsweet Williams
and brought it to that one family member that no one likes and who likes nobody?
What if we stopped buying in to what society tells us about Millenials or about Baby Boomers, or Generation X or the iGeneration?
What if we stopped treating each other as if what the news outlets
tell you about Millenials and Boomers are true
and instead, you know, actually talk to each other
And love each other for who they actually are!
once said,
"I really only love God as much as the person I love the least."
"I really only love God as much as the person I love the least."
What if we lost our minds, y'all,
and actually loved God so much
that we began to love our enemies?
I have no idea.
But what I can tell you
is that the world would never be the same.
In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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