First Reading: Jeremiah 15:15-21
15O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach. 16Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. 17I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation. 18Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? 19Therefore thus says the Lord: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. 20And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. 21I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”
Psalm 26
1Give judgment for me, O Lord, for I have lived with integrity; I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered. 2Test me, O Lord, and try me; examine my heart and my mind. 3For your love is before my eyes; I have walked faithfully with you. 4I have not sat with the worthless, nor do I consort with the deceitful. 5I have hated the company of evildoers; I will not sit down with the wicked. 6I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord, that I may go in procession round your altar, 7Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving and recounting all your wonderful deeds. 8 Lord, I love the house in which you dwell and the place where your glory abides. 9Do not sweep me away with sinners, nor my life with those who thirst for blood, 10Whose hands are full of evil plots, and their right hand full of bribes. 11As for me, I will live with integrity; redeem me, O Lord, and have pity on me. 12My foot stands on level ground; in the full assembly I will bless the Lord.
Second Reading: Romans 12:9-21
9Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. 20To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Gospel: Matthew 16:21-28
21Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 24Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Words to Live By
A French writer and historian once wrote, “We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity – romantic love and gunpowder.” Honestly, when I read this, both of these surprised me. However, depending on the news for the day, some folks might be tempted to agree that gunpowder was an invention which has caused problems for humanity. But, why would he list romantic love as one of the worst inventions of humanity?
Generally speaking, the hot summer months aren’t the time of year when people think specifically about love, but with school back in session, our older youth’s fancies turn to thoughts of love, dating, and the future. That said, it might seem strange to hear about romantic love as one of the two worst inventions of humanity. But there is some evidence that romantic love isn’t quite as wonderful as the stories might make it seem. For one thing, there is the terrible divorce rate in this country, which might be seen as the result of romantic love meeting the real world.
During pre-marital counseling, something you know I insist on, one older pastor used to tell the couple that romantic love, the love that is supposed to see a couple through the rough spots, was likely to be quite the surprised the morning after the wedding, when both people wake up with bad breath, mussed hair, and all the other unlovely details of waking up and seeing their partner for the first time without the usual preparations of the day. Seeing their significant other no longer the vision of loveliness, instead, they see them as a person waking up, perhaps even a little cranky until they’ve had that first cup of coffee.
Romantic love faces serious challenges from the real world and all the unlovely details of life. Therefore, it’s possible that elevating romantic love to such a high level may be a contributing factor for many of the problems we see today. Our lesson from Romans today begins with love, not romantic love, but two different kinds of love. And the love St. Paul writes about isn’t the romantic love that was elevated in the Middle Ages. In fact, taking either of these uses of love as romantic love would be very misleading. And beyond this, our epistle lesson for today lists several rules for how Christians are to behave. I’ll even go as far as to say, St. Paul gives us a list that is a sort of “Ten Commandments for Christian living.”
During one of our Bible studies a few years ago, one of the pastors noticed that our Romans reading could be seen as a list of things to live by. Now I entreat you, later today, or over the next week, to look at St. Paul’s words here and see how you would divide up the reading. Our pastors in the group came up with 28 commands, but it’s quite possible that the list could be divided up further. Again, I encourage you to reread our Second Lesson to see St. Paul’s instructions; these are indeed great words to live by. And our reading begins with probably one of the best commands one could begin with. Paul’s amazing list begins with “Let love be genuine.”
In many ways this command of St. Paul is also a summary of the entire list. As one would expect, the word used for love here is agape, a word which is difficult to fully translate. It means love, but that simple word hardly includes everything the word meant when Paul wrote it here. Agape love, often considered the highest form of love, embodies selflessness, sacrifice, and unconditional care for others. Before Christians came along, the word agape was hardly ever used in Greek. Christians took the word over and began using it to describe the activity of God, most particularly to describe the loving action of sending His only Son.
Genuine love, which is held up as the first and most important Christian Commandment, is parallel to God’s love, especially because both are best understood by looking at the actions which spring from that love. St. Paul has probably written more about divine love than any other Biblical writer as well as the nature of the actions that spring from God’s love. Those same thoughts lie behind Paul’s words here. The call to let divine love be genuine is a call for us to let our entire lives be ruled by the model of God’s love for us.
We, as people who live our lives by the example of God’s genuine love, know that this godly love isn’t merely a matter of things to be avoided. Rather, genuine, or godly love, is something that reaches out to help and support and manifest God’s love to the people we meet. As George Bernard Shaw once stated, “The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.” Genuine love is never indifferent. Showing genuine love, sees the best, wants the best, and acts the best for our neighbor.
The second in Paul’s list of Christian Commandments complements this theme: “Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.” Far from being indifferent, this is an active approach to living. More than mere lip service, Paul here uses very strong words. The word translated as hate appears only here in the New Testament. It’s a very strong word, which means more than merely hate, it’s more on the order of revulsion or to abhor. Not a matter of saying the words, or simply expressing a distaste for, it’s taking an active stance against what is evil and uniting with what is good.
The term “hold fast” used here means to adhere strongly, also has a translation which isn’t used in many texts, but one which is reminiscent of what Paul is saying. The word can also be translated as, to be glued or bonded together. More than simply hanging on, Paul is reminding Christians of the need to bind ourselves to the good, to cling to the good, or to literally become a part of what is good. Next in St. Paul’s list is an extension of binding ourselves to good, is to love with mutual affection.
The first thing that comes from binding ourselves to the good, is to “love one another with mutual affection.” This time the word translated as love is one which is more familiar to most people – philao. While this word is also part of the word that is more familiar as the name of a city, Philadelphia, it’s also the Greek word that describes brotherly love or affection. Rather than the divine love that underlies the entire Christian life, this word embodies the idea of a deep affection for a brother or a sister, and in the New Testament, primarily an affection for a fellow believer.
Most congregations have, at some point or another, faced issues of conflict. The conflict can come from many sources, and there are usually people who ask something like, “How can this happen in the church?” The answer is clearly that it can happen because the church is full of sinful human beings, and conflict often occurs when people gather together. Clearly, conflict in congregations isn’t a recent phenomenon.
Based on Paul’s writings, we can reasonably suspect that Paul’s comment, coming first as the result of gluing ourselves to the good, comes from a person that dealt with conflict in congregations and from someone who recognized the danger of such situations and the best way to deal with and prevent such situations. This is not to say all conflict in congregations will be entirely avoided. In fact, some conflict can even be healthy if dealt with properly. Remember what Bernard Shaw said, “The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that’s the essence of inhumanity.” Healthy and respectful debate can be beneficial.
North Sea fishermen often face a problem. When they have a large catch of herring, the fish can become sluggish and lethargic and lose most of their value. To resolve this problem, the fishermen will put a couple of catfish in the tanks to keep the herring stirred up so they flourish. It’s likely that congregations can similarly find a few people who challenge the easy assumptions and remind the congregation of some hard facts, facts that are important to the on-going life of the congregation. But even a congregational catfish is still commanded to fulfill the injunction to “love one another with mutual affection.” Another extension of loving with mutual affection is to “Outdo one another in honor.”
The remaining items in the list continue to clarify the way that Christians are to live, particularly together. However, outdoing one another in showing honor sounds a little foreign to most people, but it seems that Paul is using this fanciful way to remind Christians of the importance of humility. A noted scholar was once approaching the podium when a loud round of applause broke out from the audience. The eminent scholar immediately stepped back to allow the person following him to step up and accept the honor being done to him by the audience. It was simply impossible for the scholar even to consider that the applause might be meant for him.
Next in Paul’s list is, “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit.” Christianity is, or should be, an enthusiastic adventure. When Paul wrote to the Romans, being a Christian wasn’t always the safest religion to choose. For many professing Jesus as Lord created problems in both their personal lives as well as their public lives. For the Christian, it also meant the possibility of death as it did for Paul himself. Only those passionate about their belief and witness were able to stand the persecution.
Today it seems that a passionate level of participation has diminished greatly, and the fact that Paul includes such a comment in this list indicates that a passion for God was something people in his day could have trouble sustaining, just as some people have problems with passionate Christianity today. Maybe this is why the next command on his list is to “Serve the Lord.” While this sounds like the simplest command on this list to understand, it’s one that presents a different problem.
In ancient times, when scribes copied the New Testament, they regularly used abbreviations to make the work go faster. One system of abbreviation commonly used was dropping the vowels from words, much as written Hebrew does. From this system of abbreviation, there are two possible words that could be found here, one meaning Lord, the other meaning time or opportune time. Read this way, Paul is saying serve the time or seize your opportunities.
Looking back, it’s easy for us to see the chances and opportunities that have been presented to us, and to rejoice over the ones that were seized and that led to great results. It’s also possible, if less easy, to recognize the opportunities that were lost because they were ignored. So, read either way, this text can be understood as embodying a central truth about the Christian life. Love the Lord, or carpe diem, seize the day, when considering that this list can be seen as virtuous for a Christian. Next St. Paul directs us to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering.”
When you stop and think about it, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering” are two statements that reverse each other. Within the Christian family it’s easy to rejoice at the good news of another. It’s also fairly simple to join in empathy with others who are suffering. These reactions are natural and present everyone with opportunities to share with others in times of great joy or in sorrow. And while the basic instinct to share with others is present in everyone, as Christians we need to be attentive to nurturing the tendency to rejoice and be patient, helping it to grow into the strong ability to be helpful to others in both times of joy and sorrow. Next Paul tells us to “Persevere in prayer.”
It might be a surprise to find prayer listed so far down this catalogue of Christian Commandments. It could be that this lowly placement is a result of Paul’s assumption that prayer is such a central part of a Christian’s life that it needed only a passing reminder to persevere in it. Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once said, “I am not going to pray for you. There are certain things a man has to do for himself. He has to blow his own nose, make his own love, and say his own prayers.” We are entreated to join with our fellow Christians in prayer. Remember Jesus said, “where two or three are gathered, I am with them” (Matthew 18:20). Paul certainly shared this perspective when he urged his listeners to persevere in prayer. And so should we; we should be praying with our fellow Christians who persevere in prayer. Next on St. Paul’s list is to “Contribute to the needs of the saints.”
I guess it shouldn’t surprise us to find a comment about our tithe and offerings in a list of Commandments for Christians. Sadly, there are those who think the only purpose of the church is to collect money to ensure that the congregation continues to exist. But Paul isn’t particularly concerned with the survival of this or that particular congregation. Paul understood the church as the entire body of Christ; thus he’s pointing out the need to contribute to support the needs of the whole church. In his time, this was largely a matter of collecting funds to support the widows and orphans in Jerusalem who were the responsibility of the Christian congregation there.
Again, Paul isn’t focused on the local congregation itself, but on the needs of the greater ministries of the church. The same is true today. Contributions to support agencies such as Dallas Christian ministries, Disaster Response, ministries and missionaries both here and abroad, are all important. Often, in this world, it’s only the church that provides for the poorest around the globe. St. Paul is calling us to consider the needs of the entire church and support those ministries as God blesses us. This of course goes hand in hand with, extend Hospitality to strangers.
Extending hospitality to strangers in our day and time can be difficult. Today, the stranger among us could be violent, ill, addicted, or something else. Hospitality sounds like it involves inviting people into our midst, either into our homes or into our church building. And it does. Because of our wariness, we would rather downplay, or perhaps even ignore, this command and not be involved with it. But we can’t.
It’s unfortunate that the modern world seems to have heightened our concerns about these issues and greatly reduced our willingness to extend hospitality to the strangers we find around us every day. Perhaps such concerns are not completely new or limited to the modern world. It’s okay to exercise caution, but we’re still commanded to show hospitality. It is possible to understand the remainder of this lesson as a further comment on how we’re to go about extending this hospitality, especially in the face of the dangers that increase our natural reluctance. Thus, Paul encourages us to “live peaceably with all,” at least as far as it is possible.
Living peaceably with all means we cannot return evil for evil. Instead, we’re commanded to do what is noble and just. This sounds like a nice idea, but in reality, this is a difficult command to follow. Our natural tendency when wronged is for each of us to get even. All of us want to exact revenge. But Jesus also dealt with this when He commanded us to turn the other cheek. In Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus even went further when He instructed, “You have heard that it was said, ‘an eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:38-42). This leads us to the last command I want to highlight today; we’re entreated to overcome evil with good.
I can’t help but think St. Paul was thinking of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount when he wrote this final command in our reading for today. Paul, in an amazing burst of insight and humanity, tells us that, “by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” Paul didn’t write this meaning that this is our form of revenge. Rather he’s stating this as a fact. In Paul’s understanding of human nature, he says Christians have a better way, a way that helps us to resist evil, to prevent being overwhelmed by evil, and finally to overcome the evil that tempts us, a way to hate evil and hold fast to what is good, as he commanded early on in his list. Paul is telling us to overcome evil with good. The result is that our kindness will have an impact on those who hold ill will for us. Think about it, it’s hard for someone to have ill will for someone who only wants what’s best for them and has their best interest at heart. We’re being told here to live peaceably with all.
None of what Paul is commanding us to do in our reading for today is easy or simple, but it is what we’re called to do and how we’re expected to treat others. This is the way that Christians live, and it’s how we let the divine love of God show through us to the world. Earlier, I mentioned that I came up with a total of 28 commands here in our reading. Again, I challenged you to go home and see how many you can find in this list. Today I only covered 12 in Paul’s list. I encourage you to go home and reread this passage and then begin to follow these instructions each day. This may be a very difficult list to follow; however, it is a list of things we should be doing as we live out our lives as Christians.
Amen.