The
Face of Jesus
E.C. Andercheck
February 19, 2017
Awaken Us O Lord, My Rock and My Redeemer. AMEN
Today’s
Gospel message is important, because it is so very central to the
building up of the Body of Christ. Loving your enemies is a message that I
believe our polarized nation needs to hear today it is a message that every Christian,
in fact, every American needs to receive.
It
is hard to imagine a time when we were more polarized, more separated from love,
more divided from one another, more separated from Jesus. It is hard to imagine
a time when we were more committed to hating our enemies, or more committed to
building our lists of enemies, or more blind to the face of Jesus!
In
today’s Gospel Jesus says, But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for
those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven. Listen
to that second part again, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
Jesus does not merely suggest that we Love our enemies. He makes Loving your enemies
a requirement for being a child of God.
The Gospel message continues for he
makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous
and on the unrighteous. Nowhere does Jesus say our Father in Heaven wants us to
make a list of our enemies. Jesus is saying that the Father in Heaven touches
all of His children, the sun and the rain reach all, and so must we.
Let
us consider another very polarized time in our history, the Civil Rights Movement
in 1957 when Martin Luther King Jr. engaged America with the idea that the
civil rights movement should be driven by the Christian
ideal of loving enemies.
This was also a time filled with Hate
and polarization, this is taken from Martin Luther King’s message on Loving your Enemies “Now I know not everyone is going to like you,
they may not like you because of the way you walk or the way you talk, they may
not like you because of the brightness of your skin, or because of the darkness of your skin. They may just not like
you, but that doesn’t mean you must hate them, because then they will just hate
you, and the universe of Hate will just grow and grow. Some Person must have enough religion
and enough morality to cut off the hate and interject the strong element of
Love within the very structure of this universe.”
A
minister at American Baptist College in Nashville Tennessee kept a bumper
sticker from the 50s on her door, it said “I am pretty sure that when Jesus
said Love your enemies, he didn’t mean kill them”.
What
did he mean for us to do about enemies? Now, I am pretty sure
he
didn’t mean hate them, or smile at them and gossip about them behind their back,
or exclude them from your groups. It is human nature to be drawn to or away
from certain people. It is of human nature not to love all. It is of divine
nature to love all.
We know
Saint Paul’s church at Corinth suffered Divisions. in I Corinthinians 1:10 Paul
said, “I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
all of you agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and
the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there
is quarreling among you, my brethren. What I mean is that each one of you says,
“I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I
belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided?
Sociologists tell us that Americans are
more divided on Sunday Mornings than any other day of the week. During a hospital
Pastoral visit this past week I was asked to explain why “those Catholics worshipped and Prayed to Mary”.
I answered by saying part of the Rosary’s Prayer Hail Mary, “Holy Mary, mother
of God Pray for us Sinners now, and at the hour of our death” This is a Prayer
not to, but through Mary asking her to Pray for us, to intercede on our behalf.
Even revering The Mother of God is sometimes
taken to divide our denominations.
Jesus called for us to be one. In the
Gospel of John Jesus said, “I do not pray for these only, but also for
those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as
thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (Jn 17:20–21).
Let
us look at another time and place for the Virgin Mary’s story to surprise us. It
is from the Traditional Islamic Story of the Negus of Abyssinia, “In the early
7th Century, a Christian King Negus Ashama ibn Abjar ruled the Kingdom of Axum, a
land also known as Abyssinia, part of modern-day Ethiopia.
Some of the pagan
leaders in Mecca had begun to persecute Muhammad’s followers. The Muslims were
mocked and assaulted, others had their businesses boycotted and some
were imprisoned in chains. Those who had no protection fled for refuge to
Abyssinia where they had heard of the famed mercy and equity shown by this King
Negus.
When the Meccan
persecutors found out about their flight from Arabia, they sent representatives
to appeal to the Negus for their return, sweetening their appeal with gifts for him. They
raised the issue of differences between the Muslims and Christians regarding
the nature of Jesus. The Meccan persecutor’s spokesman tried to use these
differences to convince King Negus to ally with the Meccans in persecuting the
Muslims.
But the king was a wise
and fair man. Instead, he invited the Muslim followers of Muhammad, to speak
again. They responded by quoting from The Holy Qur’an,
“He
said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure
boy." She said, "How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and
I have not been unchaste?" He said, "Thus [it will be]; your Lord
says, 'It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign to the people and a mercy
from Us. And it is a matter [already] decreed.' So she conceived him, and she
withdrew with him to a remote place."
(Surah
19 verses 19 -22 the English translated commentary)
“It is said that, after this reading the Negus
cried, and picked up a thin stick and said, “I swear, the difference between
what we believe about Jesus, the Son of Mary, and what you have said is not
greater than the width of this twig.” He then refused to turn over the Muslim
refugees and returned the gifts that the Meccans had hoped would sway his
judgment.“
Our stories
and traditions do not need to divide us, but they can be sources of unity to
build church upon, if we can focus on the humanity we share in common, rather
than focusing on that which divides us.
In todays Epistle Lesson, Saint Paul
warns the Corinthians to
avoid the traps of their secular world, Do not deceive yourselves. If you
think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that
you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
Saint Paul goes on to show us how to think of church building,
“For no one can lay any foundation other
than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ” Jesus gave us
a very certain foundation for church, it is Love. It is with the tolerance that
this Love demands that we might see the face of Jesus in every enemy we encounter.
I will close by sharing a Favorite image of Church: It
is part metaphor and part not, it is an image of a complex place and a diverse
community, a City of God. Written by a Benedictine Monk, Father Cyprian Davis, the
70th African American Ordained a Catholic Priest, author of The
History of Black Catholics In the United States, and my spiritual director until
his passing last year:
“I
like to picture the Church as a very large family living in an ancient,
rambling old house with solid foundations, enormous apartments, and a jumble of
architectural styles that somehow never clash. Enormous cellars, musty
libraries, huge fireplaces, grand staircases turning into narrow twisting
ladders and sometimes disappearing all together, bricked-up windows and
doorways barely masking the sound of unseen voices on the other side,
meandering corridors, lofty ceilings, narrow cubicles, secret passageways,
gorgeous chandeliers, and marvelous frescoes partly discolored, all of this
together found in this old house. Somehow we all live here, some are here whom
we do not see, some we see but we cannot reach, some are lost and we do not
know how to reach them. But this house stands, for it was built on rock.”
LET US
BUILD THE CITY OF GOD.
E.C. Andercheck
The
Epistle
1
Corinthians 3:10-11,16-23
According to the grace of
God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone
else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For
no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that
foundation is Jesus Christ.
Do
you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If
anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is
holy, and you are that temple. Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you
are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,
“He
catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again,“The Lord knows the thoughts
of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast about human leaders.
For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or
life or death or the present or the future-- all belong to you, and you belong
to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
The
Gospel
Matthew
5:38-48
Jesus said, “You have
heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say
to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right
cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat,
give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the
second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who
wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall
love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your
Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and
sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who
love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than
others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your
heavenly Father is perfect.”
