A Dramatic Sermon Embedded in the Overall Narrative
Narrative time has slowed right down almost to a halt for this extended sermon by Jesus. Yet the drama is only heightened by the content and style of Jesus’ teaching.
Its content is radical, subversive, counter-cultural, surprising.
Its style is dynamic and dialogical: pronouncement of controversial (almost farcical! again, theo-comedy) blessings and woes followed by imaginative instruction for a number of real life scenarios and questions that get his hearers thinking about the motives and implications. All this eventually leads into a series of stark and memorable pictures that lead to soul-searching contemplation that calls for decision and action.
‘Jesus’ mode of presentation certifies that his message is not simply one of prescriptive morality, as though he were telling people how they should or should not act. Rather, he is asking people to accept an inversion of the world order, to agree with him that the world order has been inverted, and to act accordingly.’ (Green, 272)
So even though the flow of events is halted for the moment, Jesus’ teaching only heightens the engrossing drama of the Gospel of Luke. The large tracts of teaching throughout Luke’s Gospel are an important part of his portrait of Jesus. They are part of the overall work of art that builds up to show us just who this Jesus is and why we should place our unreserved faith in him.
27a
Do We Have Ears to Hear?
Jesus addresses himself to ‘you who hear’ – will we be counted among them? Have we accepted his topsy-turvy vision of the world from the previous passage? Then we are blessed by the gracious preparatory work of the Holy Spirit to have ears to hear Jesus (‘ears you have dug for me’ as the psalmist said), our hearts are ploughed up and ready to receive the seed of his word that we might grow thereby.
This is the Wisdom of God, in person, to teach us the way of life. If the world is the way Jesus says it is, how then should we live?
27b-30
The Shape of Lives Formed By Jesus’ Vision of the World
If the world is really like Jesus says it is in his pronouncement of Blessings and Woes, then the lives of those who follow him will take the shape he indicates here. Again, we see the radical and counter-cultural nature of Jesus’ kingdom ethics:
| Love | Your enemies |
| Do good to | Those who hate you |
| Bless | Those who curse you |
| Pray for | Those who abuse you |
| Give to | Those who take from you |
Cover up the right or left side of this table and ask yourself what you would really naturally want to put into the other column:
Who do you automatically want to love, do good to, bless, pray for, and give to?
What actions and attitudes automatically come to mind when contemplating your enemies, those who hate you, curse you, abuse you, and take from you?
Do you see how challenging, radical, and, ultimately supernatural and this must be?
This is not a nice, sweet ethic that’s for twee do-gooders. This is the gritty stuff of costly Redemption in a Fallen world.
(Inasmuch as you may have indeed actually felt an impulse to fill in the opposite columns with what Jesus does, that is then simply an indication of the degree to which already the Christ-Spirit and kingdom-ethic are at work in your heart and life. Humbly rejoice and thank God for this gracious sign of his redemption in your life!)
We Feel It Is Right In Our Bones, Yet Humanly Impossible
On the one hand we can see how radical and subversive this is because Jesus’ teaching is so ‘wickedly’ counter to our sinful impulses.
Yet, at the same time it feels intuitively right, doesn’t it, to we who are as persons made in the image of God—and image that is, no matter how marred, ineradicable by his grace. We just know there is something good and beautiful and right about what Jesus is calling us to here.
But even as we sense its rightness, we feel strongly its impossibility. Humanly speaking.
Oh, we may blithely and naively imagine we can set out to live by this ideal with a reasonable measure of success. But is that genuinely realistic? Can we do this from the heart as a true disposition and disciplined habit?
I can’t imagine a love harder than what Jesus is calling us to here. Jesus’ love ethic is the thing I find most radical about following him as his disciple. If you don’t… maybe you haven’t really taken him seriously and tried it?
‘For Nothing Will Be Impossible With God’
As with the topsy-turvy foundation to these kingdom ethics that we looked at in the previous passage, so here too we must ask: what could possibly make such an upside down, humanly impossible thing realistic?
Remember what the angel said to Mary when she asked how the impossible could possibly come true?
Again, God must be real and good and gracious and wise and powerful and on the move on our behalf in the person of his Son, Jesus, in order for this ethic to make any sense.
Consider this carefully: If there is no reconciling God who is ‘making all things new’, who will usher in ‘a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells’, who is ‘coming with his reward’, then, in all honesty, this is probably not how humans should handle destructive relationships with one another.
The Future Kingdom of God Breaks Into Now
This ethic requires us to genuinely live by faith in a God who, in his justice and love, will put all things right in the end. And it requires us to rely on the power of his Spirit to live this way with hope for his shalom in the end.
Jesus’ kingdom ethics require a supernatural realism. Or, more accurately, a theistic realism. (‘Supernatural’ can imply powers other than God.) Our belief and hope in ‘something more’ (beyond what we see in a fallen world around us) can’t simply be theoretical or ‘mystical’ in an otherworldly sense. We have to actually trust that God’s reality is pressing in on every side, supplanting and transfiguring mere human reality. His good and holy and beautiful reign that he will usher in for eternity at an undisclosed time in the future is already breaking into history now. This is the kingdom of God.
Jesus is saying that God is already enacting these reversals in the coming of Jesus as we’ve seen in Luke’s narrative so far. This is the way things are. This is the way things will be. Forever.
We are being invited to be willing participants. We are being warned that to ignore or fight against this (one in the same) is the path of doom and destruction. We are being encouraged and promised that to join in with God’s gracious revolution is the path of reward and joy forever.
29-30
Cheek, Cloak, Begging, Stealing
Jesus gives us down and dirty details!
Cheek other cheek also
Cloak tunic also
Beggars/Takersgive and don’t demand it back
The slap is a slap of rejection:
‘Jesus’ point is that even in the midst of such rejection, we continue to minister to others and expose ourselves to the threat of rejection. The ministry of Paul among the Jews in Acts is a clear example of such love. Love is available and vulnerable, subject to repeated abuse.’ (Bock, 124)
Jesus was struck in the face in rejection. So was Paul. It was all part of bringing the gospel to rebels and they endured it for God’s glory and love of the lost.
In the face of rejection we continue to face it.
It is the same with the cloak:
‘The point is that one should not seek revenge but remain exposed and be willing to take even more risks… In the face of such hostility, the call is to keep loving the enemy.’ (Bock, 124)
In giving or being taken from:
‘Disciples should be marked by a genuine readiness to meet needs… Resources are not to be hoarded, but generously dispensed… In the case of theft, there is to be no pursuit of retribution. Such self-denial is the essence of love. The consummate example is the cross. Jesus gave to those who had taken.’ (Bock, 124)
Unimaginable?
Now, perhaps one of our first thoughts here is about whether we should do this in truly and longstanding, ongoing abusive situations or where we are only enabling someone to continue to harm themselves and others.
These are certainly legitimate questions and concerns. But it can be telling if we focus primarily on this.
In sympathy with and obedience to Christ our imagination should soar in a different direction first. What if we could do this! This impossible thing.
What would it look like to love this way? How it would change the world!
Concretely, what are the situations where I could begin to learn to enact this ethic? Where and to whom can I be loving and doing good and blessing and praying for and giving in the name of Christ?
Who are my enemies that I may love them and how? Concretely, in actions, not just thoughts or words.
I wonder if it is only after our hearts have stirred with this kingdom vision and we have set out to live this way with all our might and have stories to tell of success and failure – only then should we really be asking the tough questions of how to do this in a responsible way that doesn’t enable oppressors and needlessly harm ourselves.
Never forget that Jesus literally lived this out. He is the one we’ll have to continually look at for our truest model.
31
The So-Called ‘Golden Rule’
Ask yourself sincerely: how do I wish everyone would treat me? More specifically, what if I were this person or that person in those circumstances? How would I want to be treated? Then, go about treating people in the way you would want to be treated in their situation.
Without thought to reciprocity! That is Jesus’ uniquely genius use of this old maxim. This ‘Golden Rule’ ethic is rooted in God’s character and redemption (as the following verses show).
It is not merely a calculating way to get everybody to equally give and receive—‘a circle of exchange that turns gifts into debts that must be repayed [sic]’ (Green, 273).
We are being called to love, do good, pray, and give regardless of the ungratefulness or hatred of those we thus serve and bless.
32-34
Thinking through the implications
Jesus, as usual, asks us questions that provoke us to think this through.
These questions are quite clever in the moral context Jesus is subverting.
In an ‘honour culture’ of reciprocity (you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours), to love those who love you and do good to those who do good to you and lend to those from whom you expect to receive would indeed benefit and credit you.
Jesus is asking them to think again about these practices from the perspective of his kingdom vision. In that scenario, if you do the conventional thing then ‘you have received your consolation’ (6:24). But if you instead follow his ethic of enemy-love, in his scenario ‘your reward will be great… it will be given to you. Good measure…’ etc.
35
Divine Loving, Blessing, and Giving
I love to love those who love me and be good to those who are good to me. But there is nothing divinely supernatural about that in a fallen world.
(Note that all this follows on from v. 22.)
Furthermore: ‘Love is expressed in doing good—that is, not by passivity in the face of opposition but in proactivity: doing good, blessing, praying, and offering the second cheek and the shirt along with the coat.’ (Green, 272)
A Reconciling Family Ethic
Jesus is calling us to not just perform a ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ cultural ethic, but something more like the generosity among a good family. It seems to be a reconciling ethic that blesses the undeserving and thereby draws them into healthy relationships in replacement of unhealthy ones.
‘Jesus refutes one form of reciprocity in favor of another… Jesus rejects the life of obligation and debt (see… 4:18-19). In its place he first posits a generalized reciprocity, the sort of open-handed sharing characteristic within families, and urges that actions typical among kin and friends be the norm for interaction with all persons. But he also envisions a form of ideal benefaction: give to others without expectation of return, and God will give to you.’ (Green, 270)
Looking to the Real Reward
Expect nothing in return for the good you do to other people. What should we expect then?
We look to God for our reward directly from him (cf. 6:23-24). And it will be a great reward! And it begins with being children of our heavenly Father and having a character like his!
The Absolute Root of Jesus’ Kingdom Ethics—the Character of God
All this ethic is rooted in the very character of the almighty Creator God!
What is the mysterious, transcendent God like, in his essence?
He is kind and merciful, even to ‘the ungrateful and evil’!
Indeed, isn’t that where the gospel comes from? Why would all this costly forgiveness and pardon and reconciliation and new life be on offer if it weren’t for a God who is Holy Mercy (as we saw in previous passages—e.g. 1:49-50; 2:11, 14, 30-32; 3:6 [‘all flesh’]; 4:18-19, 21; 5:8-10, 13, 20, 31-32).
Think again of the above table, but now put it in terms of God and Jesus:
GOD/JESUS
| Loves | His enemies |
| Does good to | Those who hate him |
| Blesses | Those who curse him |
| Prays for | Those who abuse him |
| Gives to | Those who take from him |
Indeed, this is one of the attributes of God, Jesus, and the gospel that has gripped Luke the Gentile, the outsider to God’s covenant who has been graciously brought in to the feast of the Father’s love, into his house and his family forever. He never ceases to delight in highlighting it throughout his two-volume epic.
‘Luke unmistakably roots all expected behavior firmly in the character of God… in redefining the world for his followers, potential and actual, Jesus posits as its foundation his image of God as merciful Father… a base on which he can draft the character of his followers, character that will manifest itself in the demeanor and practices here described.’ (Green, 271)
Discipleship – Learning to Love Like God Loves
This is the call to discipleship! To love like God loves! It’s the most radical thing in the world and requires total faith and the power and grace of God. As we look to, worship, adore, admire, love, praise, delight in, trust, and obey this gloriously good God we are graciously changed into his glorious likeness by his Spirit over time, to be completed in eternity.
Observe the second table and simply admire and rejoice in God’s profound goodness! This will change you over time!
We have to realise we are the recipients of this divine, gracious enemy-love. We are the hating, cursing, abusive takers that God has loved and done good to and blessed and prayed for and given to without demanding back. We must see all this supremely expressed in the person and work of Jesus, whom Luke is portraying at length for us.
‘This is the nature of the Great Benefactor: he gives even to those who, by their ingratitude and wickedness, portray themselves as his enemies… just as God is active graciously and creatively to bring redemption—so should his children be merciful.’ (Green, 274-75)
36
Family in Adam, Family in Christ—‘the politics of Empire is sabotaged’
In this vision all human beings are seen as children of God, in the image of God, blessed by his generous Fatherly love (cf. Acts 17:28-29) and we are being called to treat one another as family under God, even though we’ve made one another and God into enemies.
‘The Empire was an intrusive, suffocating web of obligation, with resources deployed so as to maintain social equilibrium, with the elite in every village, town, city, and region, and of the Empire as a whole given esteem due them in light of their role as benefactors. If God, and the not the emperor, is identified as the Great Benefactor, the Patron, and if people are to act without regard to cycles of obligation, then the politics of the Empire is sabotaged.’ (Green, 274)
We are family in Adam first. (It is admittedly a very dysfunctional family!)
By receiving God’s grace we become a renewed family in Christ.
The family of Christ reaches out to its family in Adam with compassionate, redeeming love inviting them into the forgiveness and reconciliation of the redeemed community.
When we live this way, we’re the children of God actually behaving like ‘sons of the Most High’ as we ought! We become like Jesus—Luke 1:31.
So ‘promise and identity merge… God will reward our love, and our love will reflect our identity as God’s children.’ (Bock, 126)
Works Cited:
Darrell Bock, Luke
Joel Green, The Gospel of Luke
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone
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