Looking Ahead to February 23, 2025 -- 7th Sunday After Epiphany

The Scripture Reading this week is Luke 6:27-38

The Sermon title is Go Beyond.

Early Thoughts: When would you go the extra mile? What prompts you to do that little bit extra? Why would you do more than was asked or required?

There is a lot in these few verses from the Sermon on the Plain (or the Level Place) and all of it it pretty darn challenging. Over and over again Jesus challenges us to go beyond what we might consider normal expectations:

• love our enemies
• turn the other cheek
• give your shirt in addition to your coat
• lend without expecting it back
• don't judge others

The most logical piece in the whole passage seems to be the Golden Rule -- "Do to others as you would have them do to you." (which has equivalents in many other traditions) but even then I suspect most of us do that out of self-interest where Jesus would have us do it more because it honours the other person first.

Why does Jesus push us to go beyond what seems sensible? I think because we are called to live into a renewed earth and heaven. We are called to live as transformed people, living by the values of God's Reign instead of the values of a 'fallen' humanity (I do wrestle with the image of humanity as fallen but I have to admit it does seem to describe us in many ways). In those values extravagant love seems to be the guiding principle.

Still it goes against the grain. The instructions here seem to make us very vulnerable -- though the more I think about it the more I wonder if a willingness to be vulnerable is a big part of the transformation Jesus invites us into. Certainly they raise up a totally different set of values and priorities.

Throughout the Gospels Jesus offers us a challenge. Jesus consistently challenges us to be transformed, even (or perhaps especially) when it is uncomfortable. The world is changed when people choose to change the world. Going beyond the bare minimum, living out a different understanding of what is possible, being vulnerable for a higher purpose is a much more loving way to do that than using violence to force others to follow our path. A cynic might see Jesus calling us to be a doormat in these verse. But I think something more revolutionary is in the offing.

What will help us go beyond expectations and live into the new heaven and the new earth?
--Gord