Flashes of Lightning from the Kingdom to Come: Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Week 4

The Rev. Tommy Thompson
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
19 February 2017

Today the night time thunder storm that Jesus’ sermon is continues.   Each section being a flash of lightning from the kingdom to come illumining an otherwise treacherous and dark path, giving us a glimpse of the future in the present, albeit for only a moment.  It is this eschatological tension that necessitates Jesus’ words that at times, seem utterly impossible.  The reason it sounds so impossible is because it is an ethos unlike anything we have seen or heard. Jesus sermon from beginning to end, presents the way of God’s kingdom, which goes against the grain of the ways of this age that is passing away.

If it were an already realized kingdom, then it would not seem so foreign and impossible.  If it were strictly a kingdom which is to come somewhere in the distant future, then there would be no need for such urgent proclamation.  This kingdom Jesus came to proclaim is not just here already and it’s not just coming in the future.  It is meant to be both here right here and now and coming in fullness in a future that only God determines.  We might call it an ‘already but not yet’ kingdom.  It’s like a train that is both here and still coming at the same time.

To live as one of the baptized, a disciple of Jesus Christ, means that we have aligned our lives with the future reality of the kingdom that Jesus continues to reveal to us in the present circumstances of our lives.  The future world is meant to clash with the old through faithfulness to Jesus Christ in this world which engenders new creation from the old with more and more following Jesus toward the future way in the present until the future comes to full fruition.

So, as we’ve been invited for these past few weeks, remember, God does not expect any of us to master all of this immediately in the here and now.  Jesus’ words are meant to challenge each and every one of us, no matter how long we have been following him.  There are no masters of the sermon on the mount.  It is constantly a challenge for us all who are still enslaved to the old even as we live more and more into the new way of grace.

So, as we continue our trek through the dark thunderstorm, the flashes of lighting reveal more and more the path to the future, bringing us closer and closer to our destination.  The first bit of lighting flashes,  “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.”

The way to the future means to live as citizens of a kingdom where there is no place for revenge.  Once again Jesus steps up the old commandment.  An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was not necessarily meant to call for revenge but to protect from extreme measures of revenge.  An eye for an eye meant that if you and a member of another clan or family were out working in the forest and you accidentally put the other clan member’s eye out, you were protected – the most they could do is take an eye, but no more, or a tooth, if that’s the injury you caused.  This law was purely to balance the scales of justice and not to let them fall too much to one side or the other.  But Jesus takes it even further.  Do not even seek justice on your own.  Be merciful.  Trust in the judgement of God.  If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other and let them strike it as well…This may not make a whole lot of sense to this world that is passing away, but like St. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, it isn’t meant to:  “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.”  Emphasize mercy and leave justice to God and by doing so, you will be living into the future kingdom where there will be no need for such revenge.

It doesn’t take long after the first flash of lightning dissipates into the dark night before the next one strikes, illumining the path once again. “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?

Love your enemies?  But we’ve been taught to curse our enemies, to care only for those who are like us – of like mind…This is a tough one today just as much as it must have been in the first century world.  It was hard for a disciple of Jesus to hear this and then somehow learn to love the enemy – most especially those who occupied the land they lived in!  And it is just as hard today.  We live in a nation that is as divided as it has ever been.  Red vs. Blue.  No matter what you say, someone is going to figure out a way to label you on one side or the other.  Sometimes there seems there is no way to a middle ground.  The best we can do is stay away from one another or just avoid talking altogether about anything other than the weather.  But the kingdom that has come and is coming shows us something else – Love not just those who are easy to love – those who look and think like you, but most especially those with whom you are at odds.  I don’t know about you, but I often fail when it comes to Jesus command. Which is why I love this prayer offered by theologian Jurgen Moltmann:

PRAYER FOR ENEMIES (inspired by Matthew 5:43-48, Luke 6:27-38, Romans 12:9-21):
Heavenly Father, we call upon you in Jesus’ name.
We come with empty hands.
We have not been able to love our enemies.
As a rule we have never even seen them.
We have avoided them.
When we saw them, we felt only fear and anger, not love.

So we come to you, not as the children of your love,
but as the enemy of our enemies,
beseeching you for ourselves and all the others;

Bless those who curse you,
do good to those who hate you.
Forgive us for what we have failed to do for our enemies.


You lead us out of the constriction of fear
and out of the prison of hate,
into the wide space of freedom.
Let us see your sun,
which rises upon the evil and the good,
and rejoice in its warmth, together with our enemies.  Amen.

Such love is the only way to the fullness of the kingdom to come. And the good news is the one who preaches has proven it.  Jesus did not just speak these words – he lived these words.  Jesus turned the other cheek, he went the extra mile.  His life emphasized the mercy of God, God’s way of bringing justice through selfless, other-centered vulnerable love.  When we sinful human beings, the enemies of God, threw our best punches at God, God loved, and love won.  What constitutes the kingdom of God and the church who is the sacrament of this kingdom on earth is the mighty resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Vulnerable love for the enemy in the form of the cross has trampled down death by death.  Evil could not hold down love.  God’s love which brought all into creation has now redeemed the creation which had become enslaved by sin to death.  To live in the new world is to be awakened by love to love.  Such a life will be against the grain, because in the midst of a world that is still becoming, such a life has begun to live into it’s proper telos / aim in the world.  Which is why Jesus ends this section with words that seem even more impossible to us with this last flash of lighting:  “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The word perfect here is not meant to point us to moral perfection…like hitting the moral bullseye every time…no God is not so much concerned with how many times we hit the bulls eye.  The word here comes from the Old Testament use of the Hebrew word tamim.  It means wholeness/completeness, and is associated with the purpose of a thing.  If I tell you that this ink pen is perfect, it is because it is living up to it’s created purpose which is to write.  Our wholeness as human beings is to be like our Father – to be his children.  And children reveal their parents.  People have told us all before, “you’re just like your daddy…your mother.”  We are perfect / whole / complete in this world when we are just like our father – our heavenly father.  And we know what God is like by looking at Jesus who is the Son of God, who has revealed him to perfection.  You are a living your purpose as a human being when you love with the other-centered, self-sacrificial love of Jesus Christ.  It happens in this world, here and now.  It doesn’t wait until the kingdom comes in fullness. Yes, we will be most complete then, but right now, every time we love with the love of Christ, we are perfect, complete, as our Father in heaven is perfect/complete.

There is yet another flash of lightning to illumine our path towards our destiny before we are sent back into the world to live Jesus' words: when love once again takes on tangibility as the bread and wine we offer to God in thanksgiving becomes for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ – love that we can hold in our hands – love that we consume, love that then consumes us.  Come to this table with your eyes wide open, receive love and be love and may God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.