Love Your Enemies and Pray for Those Who Abuse You, Really? Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church On February 24th, 2019 Scripture: Luke 6:27-28, 35-36 “… I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. … Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” We have been hearing about clergy sex abuse on children and on women including nuns in the Catholic Church for some time now. Victims have been blamed, priests have been shuffled, and all too often the church has closed ranks to protect abusers. Just this weekend there has been a Roman Catholic summit on the issue of pedophilia. We will wait to hear of the outcome. Now a similar story of abuse is emerging from the Southern Baptist Convention. Victims have been blamed again. When churches are asked how they have dealt with this situation, they say that the abusers have repented and so the abuse has not been reported. The Southern Baptist Convention maintains autonomy of the local church, as we do in the UCC, and has claimed that this as an excuse for under-reporting crimes. Yes, crimes. And so, I wonder, about today’s passage from Luke and this command to pray for those who abuse you, and to love your enemies, and to forgive all. We hear of priests, ministers and others in authority using this text as an excuse. We see clergy in positions of power put themselves in Jesus’ place, directing victims: women and children, to pray for and forgive their abusers. And, like many others, I am angry and I am upset. And still, Jesus has something to say in our gospel reading for today. Abuse of power is not a new problem. It is addressed in this “sermon on the plain” in Luke. Perhaps what we need is a key to unlock the mystery of what Jesus is saying. And on this unusual 7th Sunday in Epiphany, the Revised Common Lectionary provides us with a story we don’t often read. And is a story of abuse and forgiveness that might provide that key. Do you remember Joseph, son of Jacob? Perhaps you colored his coat of many colors in Sunday School. Joseph is the one who had the wild dreams. He was Jacob’s youngest and favorite child. And also he was a bit too big for his boots. As a result he was abused and then trafficked by his jealous older brothers. Jacob’s family led a nomadic lifestyle and kept sheep in the land of Cana. The brothers traveled far and wide, tending the sheep. On one occasion Jacob sent the young Joseph to check on his brothers who were following the herd. Joseph wandered alone for some distance looking for his brothers. As they saw him coming across the wilderness, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes the dreamer – in his fancy coat – let’s kill him and throw him into a pit, then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams." Before they could carry out the plan, a caravan of traders traveling to Egypt arrived on the scene. The brothers saw a way to get rid of Joseph and make money at the same time. And so they sold their brother as a slave to the traders for 20 pieces of silver. They returned to Jacob with the story that they had found his coat bloody and ripped and assumed that he had been devoured by a wild animal. At first Joseph worked as a slave in Egypt. Then he was falsely imprisoned and attracted attention with his ability to interpret dreams. He was summoned by Pharaoh, who was having troubling dreams. Joseph was able to tell the king that his recurring dream was a warning from God of seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine for the land of Egypt. And so, Joseph was freed from the prison and promoted to be a close advisor of Pharaoh. The seven years of plenty came to pass. The Egyptians stored away grain so that when the lean years began they would have enough in store. Over time, Joseph matured and became more humble. He learned to credit God with his ability to interpret dreams. When famine came, it spread throughout the land. Joseph became governor and was entrusted with control of the Egyptian storehouses. People from all over the known world came to Egypt to buy grain. The famine affected Jacob’s family too, and so Jacob sent his older sons to Egypt to buy grain. They arrive, dusty, hungry and exhausted, seeking relief. They do not realize that they are standing in front of their long lost brother, but he recognizes them. At first Joseph plays with them, like a cat with a mouse. He is in a position of power over them for the first time. And still, he is curious asking whether their father is alive, and whether there are other brothers. He learns that there is a younger one, Benjamin, who has remained at home with Jacob. Joseph holds one brother, Simeon, hostage, so that the others will bring Benjamin to him on the next visit. And then, when they return with Benjamin, Joseph finds way to accuse his younger brother of theft, so that he can keep him imprisoned in Egypt. But the brother Judah challenges Joseph. They cannot return home to Jacob without Benjamin, it would break their father’s heart. He could not bear to lose another son. At this Joseph is finally overwhelmed. He sends away the Egyptians and he is alone at last with his brothers. He breaks down – weeping loudly – and exclaims “I am Joseph.” And, again begs to know, is his father still alive? The brothers are horrified and ashamed. Here they are, confronted by the brother they sold into slavery. And now he is in a position of power and authority. He is in a position to punish them, to seek revenge. Instead he embraces them and forgives them. He assures them that his time in Egypt has been for the best. God has been working through the situation and is still working through them all to preserve the Hebrew tribe. This is the story only Joseph can tell. This is the forgiveness only Joseph can give. Centuries later, Jesus lives in the same land as Joseph and his brothers. Jesus is descended from the same tribe, now known as the people of Israel. The people have experienced much more displacement and disruption over the generations. At the time of Jesus they are occupied by a power even great than Egypt: the Empire of Rome. The people of Jesus’ time are downtrodden by the Roman occupying forces. Both women and men are abused. And so, as Luke tells us today, Jesus comes down to a level place and preaches to the crowds. He does not stand in a position of “power over” but on an equal footing. He tells them that though they suffer now, one day they will be blessed. He tells them that God’s kingdom looks like a reversal of the status quo. The ones who exert power over them will be powerless in God’s order. And then he tells them they are to start living as though God’s order is already happening, because that is how it will be born. He tells them to love their enemies and pray for those who abuse them. He tells them to forgive the debts owed to them by the ones in power. And, here, again he is talking reversal. In the first century culture, nothing is owed to them by people who had power over. The only way to be in debt to another person is to be lower in the hierarchy. The person with greater wealth, authority and power can forgive a debt, if they choose to do so. People with wealth and influence can make loans and give gifts to put a poorer person in their debt. And then they can call in favors when they need them. But it is unheard of for the poorer, less powerful person to forgive. It doesn’t make sense. It makes least sense of all, to do as Jesus says, and to give and forgive without expecting anything in return: no repayment, no social capital. Now Jesus wasn’t a leader in a religious order in which the priest or minister has all the authority and control. He wasn’t telling women and men to forgive because he needed to keep the exploits of the clergy under wraps. He wasn’t protecting an image. Jesus was living out a story of mercy and forgiveness. From the beginning, Luke’s story foreshadows the end. Jesus’ preaching, about the poor and powerless being blessed, and the common people forgiving and praying for their abusers, turns the social order upside down. Forgiving enacts God’s great and boundless mercy in the world, and it also empowers the crowds with the love that Jesus has brought to the world. This is a love that takes Jesus all the way to the cross. And even there Jesus will ask God’s forgiveness for his executioners. And so, this is the story only Jesus can tell. This is the forgiveness only Jesus can give. I cannot tell you, if you are a survivor of abuse, to forgive. Only Jesus can do that. And it will be between you and God, to decide when is the right time for that forgiveness. What I can tell you is that forgiveness and praying for an abuser does not mean that the abuse is allowed to continue. Far from that, praying for an abuser includes praying for their repentance and recovery. Forgiving also means protecting oneself, remaining safe, and preventing further abuse. What I can do is prayerfully consider how I am to forgive those who ridiculed, teased, and manipulated me when I was a child. And I can seek forgiveness, from God, for the children I, in turn, ridiculed and teased. I can release the debts of those who think they “owe me one” and I can give forgiveness, in a heartbeat, to anyone thinks they have something to apologize for. One day, perhaps those children, those women, those nuns will be able to pray for their abusers and even forgive them. Until that time, may those priests and ministers of the church who used today’s text to silence the victims and send them back to situations of abuse, follow the apostle Paul’s directive and “work out [their] own salvation with fear and trembling.” May all God’s people say, Amen
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