"Turn Your Cheek and Be a Temple"

2-23-14 (Epiphany 7A)

Sermon Texts are: 1 Corinthians 3:10-23; Matthew 5:38-48

Turn Your Cheek and Be a Temple

Many of us probably remember the news coming out of South Africa in the 1990’s - Apartheid crumbling.  Mandella freed.  It was the start of a new day for South Africans and the world had been watching with bated breath.  Many, especially those who had previously been in power in South Africa, were worried: what would this new integrated South African government look like?  What would happen in the transition now that a people who had been formerly stripped of all power were now among the ones responsible for setting a course for the future of their nation?

It would have been easy for the government to completely turn the tables, for the people to begin enacting “victor’s justice” upon the ones who had been their oppressors.  In fact, history had shown that this was exactly the kind of thing that was about to happen.  They’d seen it done at Nuremberg after World War Two.  There had been horrible crimes against humanity committed in Africa - why wouldn’t a wounded people seek out their own “eye for an eye?”

But something different happened - in the midst of the negotiation process, people on both sides began to discuss amnesty.  The voice first came from those who had been in the parties of power - they insisted on an amnesty guarantee before they would give up their powers.  But rather than simply amnesty for every single individual being granted, the parties realized that there needed to be a process of reconciliation rather than retribution.  And as a result of this compromise, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was born.  It was chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and composed of members appointed by every political party in South Africa.  People from all sides came before the commission to tell their stories and to seek amnesty in the crimes for which they had already been tried.  It wasn’t a trial for new crimes, but an opportunity for people to come forward, to be heard, to tell the truth, and to seek reconciliation.  And so people from the apartheid government, victims of abuses, and members of protest groups came forward to tell their stories and to be heard - and the entire nation heard them.  The committee meetings were open so that the entire world could know what happened and learn from it.  For the first time in international history, a commission was created that allowed both victims and perpetrators to find a ground upon which they could agreeably move forward in the spirit of community.

It runs completely counter to our instincts as a nation - even as human beings.  Our gut reaction is to retaliate, to seek to even the score wherever we can.  If someone hits us, every fiber of our being screams to hit them back.  And as Jesus points out even in his sermon, this was even the law found in the Torah.  Throughout various portions of the legal sections of the Old Testament, there are very particular instructions and punishments listed in order to keep the peace and order of the community of Israel.  The laws created for a balance among people when serious injustices were committed: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, even a life for a life.  These laws were set in place to create peace, to give order to the natural urge to seek revenge, and to provide a means for justice to be served.  They were created to stem further violence and keep situations from happening where one person killed another over a black eye.  And yet these laws were also for very specific situations - men who caused a pregnant woman to miscarry, false witnesses who acted out of malice toward another person, or men who kill other men intentionally.

As we approach this text, however, we should also continue to let Jesus’ words ring in our ears from the last few weeks as he continues to build on his teaching - Jesus has come to fulfill the law.  And in fulfilling the law, Jesus is showing us what the kingdom of heaven looks like - it’s not just a community of people living according to a certain set of laws, but a people living in a completely different mindset - one of loving God and loving one another.  Yet again, Jesus encourages the people of God to a higher calling; to a way of thinking that is set directly opposite to that of the rest of the world.  In coming to fulfill the law, Jesus points to a Kingdom in which there is no more need for such specific and balancing laws because the balance has already been made and this new Kingdom is one in which love is the central guiding principle.  Rather than simply stemming the threat of escalating violence, Jesus proposes that violence itself be replaced and eradicated through love.  It's an idea that echoes in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Last week, we looked at what I think are some of Jesus’ most difficult words to hear - but the words of today's passage don't seem that hard to hear at all.  And maybe that should scare us more.  It’s easy - very easy - to hear Jesus tell us to turn the other cheek, to love our enemies, and to pray for those who persecute us, to give to those who beg of us.  It’s easy to sit and nod our heads as we hear these so very familiar words.  But it’s so much harder to actually put them into practice.  We hear the news about shootings and kidnappings and our first instinct is to cry for blood - we watched the reports coming in detailing every moment of the Boston Marathon massacre and felt the anger at the men who would perpetrate such acts - it’s easy to feel justified in such anger, to even feel a sense of satisfaction when the one was shot and to cry out later for the other’s execution.

But what would it look like if we really and truly loved the people we consider our enemies?  What if, instead of praying for swift retribution, we prayed for the people - not just the ones hurt and lost, but the ones who did the hurting, as well?  What if, instead of hoping how much the other party would realize how wrong they are, we started hoping that we could find ways to reconcile and work together again?  Or what if, instead of trying to pass laws that help us ensure that we don’t have to deal with people who differ from us and from our way of life, we put that same amount of time and effort into truly understanding them as brothers and sisters, creations of the same God who has created, called and redeemed us?  

I once heard a pastor speak about what his ideal of heaven looked like, and it was an image I will never forget.  He said that when he gets to heaven, he hopes that the first person he meets isn’t some famous person from history or some long lost relative, like many of us might say if we were asked.  Instead, he said that his most fervent prayer was that the first person he meets in heaven is his worst enemy.  That, he said, would be the thing that made him happiest to see, because it would mean that God’s grace extends even to the people that he thought were those who deserved it least.

So then… what would it look like for the church to live with that kind of outlook?  How much more powerful does the Gospel become when we free it from our own judgments, our own determinations of who is worthy and who is not? And what could come as a direct result of our giving ourselves over entirely to that kind of Kingdom mindset that hopes to see our enemies in paradise because we truly love them?

This is the kind of idea that Paul has as he reminds the Corinthians that they are God’s temple - we, the church, are the body of Christ, built on Christ as our foundation.  And Paul warns us to be careful how we build upon that foundation of Christ - what we choose to do, or not to do, as Christians and as members of the church, determines what kind of temple we are.  And the kind of work that we do is going to be tested.  What kind of temple have we built as the church for ourselves?  Is it the kind of temple that genuinely invites people to come and worship, joining with us in a deep and intimate relationship with our God?  Or is it a temple that ends up shutting others out, that turns people away in its ugliness?  Will it hold up to fire, to trials and testing, or will it be reduced time and again to its foundations?  This is our task, to continually strive toward building a temple that directs pure and true worship toward God from all whom we encounter. And it is a task that we are empowered by Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit to do, precisely because we are Christ’s: called, equipped, and loved by God in Christ that we may show that love to others.  May that work that we do in Christ be always evident, and acceptable in God’s sight.  To God be the Glory.  Amen.