Radical and Challenging Ways of Living

Reading Colossians 3: 12 – 17

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

¹ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³ For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

¹² Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Gospel Luke 6: 27 – 38

Love for Enemies

²⁷ "But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³² "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Sermon

2 readings about how we ought to live.

Colossians: having brought out implications of dying with Christ (Chapter2) Paul now spells out consequences of living with risen Christ. Our concern should be with things above rather than things below.

To the Galatians, Paul wrote “you have put on Christ” like a sort of garment. Here Paul exhorts us to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

By comparison, in Luke’s gospel I read part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Plain . Opposition to his mission looks certain. Yet he preaches to a great crowd of disciples in the presence of a multitude of people.

Before delivering the sermon he spends all night on a mountaintop in prayer to God. The words he spoke are much more radical than the dictates of the law, or any moral or ethical code known up to that point.

The golden rule was common enough – do unto others as you would have them do unto you – but the lasting and unique impact of Jesus’s teaching came not in a high moral tone but in his overriding concern for Love.

The attitude demanded of us is nothing short of a total response to God’s call which had not been expressed that way before.

Love extends not only to friends and family but to our sworn enemies too. The command to turn the other cheek sounds familiar enough to us today, but which of us could do it when our faces are burning, our pride is hurt, and every instinct tells us to retaliate?

If someone steals your mobile phone, would you run after them and offer your credit cards too? If someone asks you for a loan and you know they will never pay you back, will you give them the money anyway?

How hard is it not to judge, when you know someone has done you wrong? How hard is it to give freely to anyone who asks you for something, and not ever expect it back?

Put in these terms, suddenly the Sermon on the Plain sounds horribly modern, challenging and counter cultural in our modern ‘Me me’ age. But that’s what Christ taught, brought up to date.

So before we all dismiss his words as irrelevant and hopelessly impractical, ask yourself how the great multitude who first heard it would have reacted. Would the man who had only one coat readily agree to give it away and freeze that night? No doubt he would think up all sorts of reason not to do so, just as we will.

The fact is the message is the same, 2,000 years ago or today. Radical. Challenging. Hard. But clear. There’s no doubting what Jesus said, and we would do well to meditate upon it.