LOOKING FOR
LOOPHOLES
One day Abraham invited a beggar to his tent for a meal. When Abraham began giving God thanks for the
abundance of food, the man began to curse God, declaring that he could not bear
to hear God’s name. Seized with
indignation, Abraham drove the cursing beggar out of his home. That evening when Abraham was saying his
night prayers, God spoke to his heart,” Abraham, the man you sent away from
your tent today, this man has cursed and reviled me for fifty years, and yet I
have given him food to eat every day. And
you Abraham!! Could you not have put up
with him for a single meal?" The
profound revelation here is: not only our neighbor folks, God is telling
us we must also love those who hate and curse God.
We just celebrated St. Valentine's Day, so l thought this is
a good time to hear this simple but profound message from God – love each other.
Love each other - not with the love that depends on chemistry, or mood, or feelings - not with a the love that depends on the behavior
of others either, but love each other with the kind of love that Christ refers
to in today's reading from the Sermon on the Mount. You know the kind of love I mean - it is the love that goes beyond emotions
and yes even what sometimes seems to go beyond the letter of the law. It is a love that contains the Spirit of what
God wants for us, it a love that compels us to feed the hungry, to heal the
sick, to morn for those brothers and sisters who are spiritual poor in our
midst, to be an example of God’s grace to in the world, offering peace where
ever war rages, at home, in family, or out in the world. It is
a love that values others, regardless of who they are or what they have or have
not done. This is not a suggestion folks,
it is what Gods is asking of us.
I recall reading that someone once caught WC Fields { a
confirmed atheist} reading the Bible. "What
are you doing?" asked the person.
"Looking for loopholes.", growled Fields. With God’s unconditional love my friends -
there are no loophole, no escape hatch, no clauses that say that God’s love can
be revoked if this or that condition is not met. Love is total - it is unconditional - or it is not love at all. Think of the words of Jesus we heard in the
reading this morning. They were words
addressed to a people used to compromising –
to altering love's demands as they are found in the law of God so that those
demands would be easier to fulfil. If
love is not working in your life these days may you consider this? We have heard from the Law of Moses “thou shall not murder - but Jesus said, if
you are angry with your brother or sister - you will call judgement upon
yourself and your punishment will be self-inflicted ." "You have heard the Law of Moses say
“thou shall not commit adultery”, but Jesus tells us that everyone who looks
with lust at another has already committed adultery. You have heard the Law of Moses say ,” thou
shall love your neighbor”, but Jesus tells us to love our enemies. and pray for
those who persecute us..." Did you know that persecute means to show
predigest, malice, or to harm one with words or physical violence. There are no loopholes to be found in Jesus'
words--- No compromises, No deals, No escape hatches. Jesus love is totally and
completely unconditional.
What Jesus does is crystallize the issues involved in
loving God and our neighbor so that we
can know - without doubt – just where
we stand, and exactly what we need to strive for. Folks! Think about where you stand for a
minute - Think about how you love others and ask yourself - is my love up to
the standards set by Christ? Is my love
truly unconditional??? . If love is not working in your life these
days may you consider this?
- If you haven't killed someone - who have you called a fool, an imbecile, a no
good for nothing? What emotion did you pour
out upon a loved one, or a stranger when you became angry with them? - If you
haven't committed adultery - and felt good about this - consider what your eyes
dwell upon or what your mind has wanted-- Or consider who holds a grudge
against you because of something you did or didn’t do, - something for which
you have not apologized for - When was the last time you unjustly criticized someone
or expressed your dislike for a person because of their position in life. Perhaps these are poor examples - but for most
of us, we love only those who appear to love us - and even then we are not sure about our friends or family at times.... We greet those who greet us, We do good to
those who do good to us, We lend to those who will pay us back, We welcome those who welcome us. As for everyone else - well - if asked, most of us have a REASON!! for what we do, and
an EXCUSE!! for what we do not do. What
we must strive for as Christians, NO!!
I will go even farther than that, what
God’s commands from us, is to break through the limitations of our excuses, destroy
all reasons that we might offer to treat one person as less than another and to
enter into relationships with each other that are based upon our equality
before God.
An old pilgrim was making his way to the Himalayan Mountains
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