Context for "Wandering in the Widlerness" (WitW):
I returned to Bethany and Hopeville to walk with the congregations through Lent. I often say Lent and Advent are my favorite times of the liturgical year, so I felt incredibly blessed to experience these two seasons with the congregations. I based the series around Jesus's trial in the wilderness Luke 4:1-12 to really dig into what Lent means in our lives. Since the two congregations were still without a pastor, I tied these themes to their present circumstances. However, partway through the series, the war in Ukraine kicked off with Russia's invasion. I was tempted to scrap the series and preach directly about the atrocities Russia was committing. However, when I looked back at the texts I had chosen, Luke 4:5-8 already had a good word prepared. Sometimes a Pastor needs a reminder to trust in God's word, and this was one of those moments.
The path of Christ calls to each one of you. As Christians, we embrace a life, the life of our savior, recognizing it is eternally relevant and more liberating than any event or update that has been or may be. Everything begins and ends with Christ. In this Lenten season, as we transition from Christ’s journey in the wilderness, to the beginning of his ministry, we have a rare opportunity to be reinvigorated by the example of one who laid the foundation for our best lives. That message starts with most perplexing direction, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 2bless 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.”
Why should we love those who hate us or surround ourselves with anyone who does not embrace or love us for who we are? There is a short answer and a long answer. Put simply, everything that goes wrong and has gone wrong can be attributed to choosing the well-trod road, rather than the one lined with brambles. There is no Hell beyond Earth. God’s Kingdom fails to come when Their children fall into the trap of embracing Hell on Earth. Like frogs who fail to leap to safety because they are tricked by the slow increase of water going to a boil, too often the corruption of this paradise is accepted as normal, as “just the way things are.” Yet, it was not made that way. And doom is not what God has in mind.
If we wait for Jesus to come again or give up on the hope of God’s kingdom in the here and now, we sign and seal the fate of all who come after us and those who yearn for justice now. Ironically, many forget, no matter when Jesus came, like the prophets before him, few would recognize him, but many would hate and hurt him. Let me be clear with this, since we Christians have a bad habit following the example of Pontius Pilate, washing our hands and avoiding blame for Christ’s death. We have all added a thorn to Jesus’s crown at some points in our lives. But all are forgiven. All is forgiven. Thou we stray, God’s grace and compassion know no bounds. Yet forgiveness must not be mistaken for an acceptance of injustice or a slip into complacency. The beauty of love, the enormity of a forgiveness we cannot earn compels us to soften our hearts and do the radical work of learning to love and live with any we would seek to avoid.
When we harm or hate any of God’s children, we become another bystander in the endless lines of those who believe another is the problem. Failing to realize no one person or group can bear responsibility for our collective sins. The stain of our collective sin has long ensured many know Hell, rather than the Heaven that can be. Yet today is not a day of judgement. And neither is tomorrow. Do not despair, feel singled out, or isolated. Come closer to the warm flame of community so you may be restored by that holy meal that remakes the world through the body and blood of our Lord. This is a call to joy, a call to awaken to the fullness of life, to come into communion with Christ and your neighbor.
When God does not snap Their fingers and fix everything overnight, too many assume the world is about to end or nothing is going to change. There is significant power in certainty or resignation. As a preacher, I admit to a deep frustration with all those who have enriched and empowered themselves proclaiming the end of the world, because the arrogance of our own perspectives makes it too easy to believe the world must end in our times. Or it is all for nothing if everything does not change before we die. It is no wonder prosperity gospel and apocalyptic preaching attract the masses, while main line churches struggle to hold on to life. Truthfully, it is harder to live than it is to die. It is harder to fight for change that does not come overnight, than for the Spirit to wash through the land and only spare those with marked doors. We must not confuse human impatience, resignation, and patterns of brutality with Jesus, because that is exactly why Jesus’s life has gone largely ignored, save for the power to cite his name to rally the troops or box in the community.
Prayers have not gone unanswered. God has not been silent. In the tradition of God’s chosen, no amount of straying can sever connection from God. God’s forgiveness and love are infinite. We are made in the image of God, as beautiful and powerful in our individuality, as in our communities. Heaven on Earth is found when our calls to God bring us together. When the world hurts, when God’s chosen cried out for salvation, God gave them Their Son so they might know life and fullness, no matter how much they suffered. That hope did not die when it was nailed to the cross and humiliated with a thorny crown. The weapon of death, the tool of the oppressor, offered the final victory for all who see strength where others see weakness.
But God did not stop there. While God sent Christ so all may know the world that can be, a love and life so perfect none can deny the example of one who overcame every stumbling block our ancestors tripped over and we continue to hit. God sent each of you here as a blessing to a world that is fuller, more whole because of you. Therefore, when we hear this call to love one another, starting with those who hate us, rather than love us, we do so remember none are distant from the love of God, or the love that can be.
Although Christ was destined to die, we cannot forget he was killed because he said things that were hard to hear and even more difficult to put into practice. When the people around him were ready to rise and overthrow the brutal Roman empire, Jesus confounded his followers by loving and connecting with those who were supposed to be enemies. He visited the tax collectors who sold out their own people to become rich off a rigged system. He praised the compassion of a Centurion, an officer from the state that occupied stolen land. He forgave and healed those who broke the Law, questioning rigidity of Sabbath practices that valued compliance over care. Finally, from the very start of his ministry, he instructed his newly recruited disciples to fashion their love and ministry out of engagement with those they hate or dislike, rather than those we loved them. This lesson, of love for one’s enemy, is Jesus’s most potent lesson. Yet, it is also the least enacted and the hardest to understand.
Love is not ignorance. The love Christ draws us to is a radical awareness of the chasms that loom before us. Love is not acceptance of the worst in people. It comes despite it. Hear this call knowing that you save yourselves when you embrace this love and, in doing so, break the cycle. It is safe to hate one’s enemies, those one disagrees with or, most tragically those who have done great physical, emotional, and mental damage to another. This love is a two way street. Christ is not calling us to be martyrs, to be abused and misused by those who mistake kindness for weakness. Christ calls us to live.
Christ is offering all an escape to a better life, to a resilience that might preserve our faiths rather than have them dashed upon the rocks whenever something bad happens. We turn to love so we might not become hate. We turn to nonviolence, so the actions of our fists are not returned to us with interest. Most importantly, we turn to empathy so, although we might be frustrated, bitter, confused, or despondent when faced with the ill actions of others, we never forget our capacity to be in their place. Can we truly say you would not be capable of great evil if we were in desperate circumstances or raised differently? Think of all those in the world who have never been told, “I love you,” have never had a good meal, who seem to have the greatest misfortune brought upon them. If our hearts soften, we lose the righteous anger of judgement, the certainty of being right. This is not helplessness, weakness, or complicity, it is the first step to becoming the solution. If we think of those dearest to our hearts, our love remains, even when they fail or frustrate us. How can that love be applied to those who offer less sweetness?
We come here knowing or suspecting the difficulty of the road that lies before us. God has given you the strength to hold the pain of the world in your hearts, but do not let yourself become a martyr or be overwhelmed. For God brings fullness to life. And when our cups overflow, there are others to absorb your spillover. We do not just follow a savior who died, we follow one who taught us to live. If dark clouds come over your mind. If the rush of anger or despair overwhelms you. If pain, illness, misfortune, or oppression seem to have become your lot, remember, God is Lord of love and as children of Love, peace, joy, hope, and love are your inheritance. So, if any come to the altar wondering why some seem to inherit more while others receive less, know it unnatural and ungodly for a few to prosper while many suffer.
Arise! Awaken! Feel the firmness of the earth beneath your feet. Let that match the firmness of your convictions. Look the softness of an infant’s hands and the brightness of a toddler’s smile. Let your heart match that softness and your job that brightness. Look to the example of Christ and begin your ministries. Do not look to the end, for what may be, or what has been known. Live in the now, in the great vulnerability of community that can only thrive if we are together.
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