Homily 612 – 14 APE
Holy Transfiguration, Ames, Iowa
September 29, 2024
Epistle:  (170) 2 Corinthians 1:21-2:4
Gospel:  (26) Luke 6:31-36

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God.

In thinking about what we would like others to do to us, we need to be a bit careful.  Christ tells us, “as you would like others to do to you, do the same to them.”

The question becomes:  which you?

Do we recall that ever since the fall of humanity, there have been two versions of us?  The first is who we are today – fallen, selfish, egotistic.  The second is who God created us to be – loving, giving, worshipping.

As Christians, what we are tasked to do since we have been redeemed by Christ, is to pursue Christ, and sacrifice our ego.  In the world, our natural tendency is to try to indulge our ego, satisfy our wants and desires, and to store up things for our use later.  Bird in the hand being worth more than two in the bush, you know.

So when it comes to treating others as you’d like to be treated, it is important for us to think about how we want to be treated.

Before we get involved in too much detail, I don’t think we can go wrong with either of these choices.  Both will involve us giving of ourselves, giving our time and sharing our material things with others.

But – spoiler alert – one of these adds an element that makes it superior.

When we are in the world, when we maybe aren’t pursuing holiness or pursuing Christ, we still want our basic needs to be met.  Hopefully more than our basic needs.  We want to be comfortable, we want help to achieve our goals.  We want to be loved, we want to be accepted.

More than that, we might want to be wealthy.  We may want to be respected, or honored.  We may want power, and authority.  We may desire to control.  And so giving the same to others is the minimum we can offer to others.

We think about this primarily in terms of material wealth, and of kindness, and of compassion.  As children and followers of Christ, what then changes?

Well, we no longer pursue wealth.  We no longer pursue worldly respect or honor.  We no longer pursue acceptance.  We pursue Christ.  We pursue salvation.  What we desire for ourselves are the things necessary for our salvation.

What we desire for ourselves is what helps us crucify our ego, what draws us closer to Christ.  But that may not be the way we should treat others.  This is confusing!

Maybe there is something bigger happening here.  If we go back a bit and put these verses in context, what is Jesus saying?  If we go back a few verses to verse 24, Jesus has just concluded giving the disciples, and us, the Beatitudes.  This is actually the reading for tomorrow, by the way:

Woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets. But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the one who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other cheek. If someone takes away your cloak, do not refuse your coat as well. Give to anyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

We are now beginning to see what Christ is driving at:  Love your enemies.  Treat others with love, with blessings, with prayers to God for their salvation.  Turn the other cheek, and if they take your cloak, give them your coat also, and if they take anything from you, don’t give it back.

That is what we want to happen to us!  We want to be forgiven, we want to be loved.  Even when we harm someone.  We want love and forgiveness, and reconciliation.

Even if you aren’t given love, give love back.  Even if you are cursed, give a blessing back.  As Christ said, love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.

Blessed Theophylact in his commentary on these verses, offers this observation:  “If you want your enemies to be hard, unfeeling, and angry towards you, then be the same yourself to them.  But if you want them to be kind and compassionate towards you, and not to remember wrongs, do not think that it is impossible for your yourself to be the same towards them.

He continues, “if we love those who love us, then we are like sinners, but if we love those who do evil to us – we are like God.”

If we want to be with God, we have to act like God.  God doesn’t have ego.  God doesn’t have unfulfilled desires.  God gives even to sinners and even to the fallen.  So too we can – we must – be like God in how we deal with others.

Now, many people will say, and have said, that this is a recipe for being a doormat.  Well, isn’t that what Christ became?  Voluntarily, by His own choice.  That was the experience of the Cross, the experience of death.  Why shouldn’t we be doormats in service to our fellow human?  What’s so bad about that?

It destroys our ego, after all, and that is the primary thing we are after.  It destroys our attachment to wealth and material goods.  It destroys our illusion that we control things in our life.  It destroys everything that would distract us from God.

On the other hand, being a doormat increases our dependence on God, it increases our contentment with what God has given us.  We can begin to see that the things people take from us as being unnecessary for us.  We didn’t need them.

The only thing we need is Christ.  Our Kingdom, the same as Christ’s Kingdom, is not of this world.  The things of this world will pass away.

So it’s ok – be a doormat.  Be generous.  Be loving.  Be kind.

So that in the end, we can be holy.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, One God.  Glory to Jesus Christ.