Reflection on Philippians 2:1-13 (Adapted from a Sermon Preached in 2020)

 

Do you want to know what sounds impossible these days?  Being of one mind.  Paul encourages the Philippians to be of one mind, to be of one accord, and to find themselves in love with one another (and he does not mean romantic love, but the same sort of love that God has for God’s children).  I do not know about you, but I find this to be rather unrealistic in today’s world.  There is just so much dividing the people of our world. 

On the political front, liberals and conservatives are as far from being at one mind about anything as anyone can imagine.  Parents and children have a hard time even having discussions with one another about politics and society.  Where tolerance once stood as a common principle among people of all political persuasions, winning seems to have taken over entirely.

People widely disagree about so many things in our society.  What do we do about the migrants at the borders?  How do we deal with the notion of gender identities?  Do we cut spending in our budgets or retain services for the public good?  Is Modelo really better than Bud Light?

Cats vs. dogs, Star Wars vs. Star Trek, Minecraft vs. Roblox, sports socks vs. tube socks; we are not of one mind about anything.  We probably have never been of one mind, but the stakes seems so high this time around.

But, why?  Why do the stakes seem so high?  Why is it so important that we be right about any of this and everyone else wrong?

In the Bible, Paul seems to think that there are a couple of reasons that we get entangled in this trap of division.  You get a hint of it as Paul’s instructs the church in Philippi:

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests…” 

Selfish ambition (desiring success); conceit (thinking more of yourself than you ought); and loving yourself and paying attention to your own wants and desires rather than turning your attention toward your neighbors; these are all self-focused things.  And, when everyone is focused on themselves, there is little chance that we will be able to be of one mind about anything.  A nation of a million kings is not a nation.  So, what do we do?

Strangely, Paul turns to a song for help.  It is an early Christian hymn.  We no longer know the tune, but the powerful words go like this:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God, 

did not regard equality with God  

as something to be exploited,  

but emptied himself, 

taking the form of a slave,  

being born in human likeness.  

And being found in human form, 

he humbled himself  

and became obedient to the point of death—  

even death on a cross.  

I do not know if you have ever thought about this, but songs are powerful things.  Somehow, songs are able to penetrate deeply into our souls.  They speak to our hearts in a way that nothing else can.  O Holy Night opens me up to the power of the Christ Child every Christmas in a way that no sermon or speech could ever do. 

But, not only that, when we sing them as a group, this might seem obvious, but we are actually doing something together.  For a brief moment in this divided life, we are at one mind as we sing the song.  And, when it is a hymn, we are at one as we sing about Jesus and his kingdom.

So, maybe it is not so strange that Paul uses a hymn as he talks to his siblings in Christ in Philippi.  I assume the Philippians sing along as the person reading the letter goes through the words.  And, what are they singing?

It is a hymn that sings about a man who had as much power as God.  He could create as God creates, he could judge and God judges, and he was able to destroy as God is able to destroy. 

But, rather than seeing the hate and division of the world, and thinking, “It is time for me to take over and take charge,” the Bible says that he “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.”

I will stop right there.  How many of you have ever thought, “If I were emperor of the universe, I would make everyone do this, this, and this, and the world would be a better place.”

The man that Paul and the early Christians sing about has that kind of power.  He could just force everyone to bend to his ways.  He could try to punish his way to a new world.  

But rather than thinking, “It is time to destroy this mess of a world and start it all over again…what about another flood?” he came down from his heavenly heights, and he walked around for a little while on the bloody soils of hate and division.  He allowed his own story to become a part of the world’s story; a story of hate and division. 

Like a slave, forced to gather from the fields, he took into his arms all the hate and division cast his way, and he carried that heavy burden belonging to others all the way to a cross where he was nailed.  Though his arms were spread wide, he never stopped holding onto the hate and division and sin with his hands, and it was still in his grasp when death consumed him.  He died, but so did the hate and division.

This man regarded other people’s lives better than his own…worth more than his own…so, he died that others might have a better and blessed life.  His life was not shaped by his own needs, interests, and desires; rather, he focused on what others needed and took action, even if that meant death on a cross.

Rather than lifting up political leaders, or sports stars, or movie actors, or even hometown heroes, the Bible says that we lift high that man; Jesus Christ.  He is the name above all names Paul says to the Philippians.  He is the one that every tongue will confess as Lord.  He is the one worthy of devotion and praise.  He is the one worthy of being followed.  He is the one worth being emulated.  Jesus is our savior.

The Apostle Paul has an idea for us.  Rather than be guided by political leaders or their ideologies, or by the whims of celebrities, or by societal pressures, or even our own whims and desires, the Bible suggests that we live and think with the mind of Christ. 

The mind of Christ did not care about success.  The mind of Christ did not dwell on selfish notions.  And the mind of Christ was in no way focused on “me” or the need to have more and be more.  The mind of Christ did not even focus on making everyone believe that he was right.  Christ focused his mind on obeying and following God, with an eye to saving others.  Christ focused on doing acts of love for the sake of others.  Does this sound familiar? 

This is the Apostle Paul’s way of saying: the primary commandment…the primary purpose in your life is to love God and love neighbor.

Allow yourself to let go of the leaders and ideologies of the world that compete for your mind and for your time.  In its place, Christ will give you his own mind.  It is a mind that offers healing when asked, and shares a meal when needed, and frees those who are captive to whatever holds their lives hostage.  Christ’s mind is full of love for sinners and all who needed such forgiving love…for us who need such forgiving love. 

Sacrificial love is not a task.  Sacrificial love is who Christ has made you as a member of his body.  Your life was made a sacrifice to God and to your neighbor when Christ sacrificed his life for you.  Allow Christ to clear out all of the division, and disagreement, and desire.  Allow Christ’s mind of forgiving love and sacrificial help of neighbor to fill your own.

Reflection on Philippians 1:21-30

 

Imagine that you, like the Apostle Paul, are sitting behind the bars of a cold, stone prison cell, anxiously wondering if you will soon exit the doors as a free man or as a gray corpse.  Will you live or will you die?  The hours and hours of complete boredom will not allow your mind any reprieve from thinking about this; from focusing on the anxiety of the unknown.

I imagine that I would handle Paul’s situation with a less than stellar performance than he.  How many of you have spent a sleepless night of vacation worrying about if you put the ham in the fridge before leaving home?

But, Paul handles this terrible alone time in jail so inexplicably well.  As he considers the two possibilities, being set free from jail or dying, he says, “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you” (NRSV, Philippians 1:21-24).

Just so you really get the optimistic sense that Paul has in this normally anxiety riddled situation, here is a plain language rendering from The Message Bible:

“Everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.

As long as I’m alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I’d choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better. But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it’s better for me to stick it out here” (The Message, Philippians 1:21-24).

Paul’s mind works so differently than mine.  Paul is not full of anxiety; rather he is full of hope, looking to the future no matter what happens.  If he dies, he gets to be with Christ, which he thinks is a really, really great thing.  He thinks that maybe it is even the best thing.  But then, he thinks about his congregation in Philippi, and sees that they need him as they face their own persecutions.  So, as much as it is in his control, he plans to stick around for the sake of the people he loves. 

Can I just stop us right there for a second?  It is like Paul lives in a different world.  I mean, who does not obsess over “the end” when faced with the threat of death?  Who says, “You know what, dying would really be the best thing for me.”?  Maybe, if you are in terrible end-of-life pain you would consider death better.  Otherwise, it seems to me that Paul is living in a different world.  It is like he is the citizen of a completely different reality than the rest of us.  And, Paul agrees.  In fact, he invites his people in Philippi to live as a citizen of that sort of life also.

After-all, the people of his congregation in Philippi have faced life-threatening difficulties and persecutions also.  The entire city was conquered by the Romans and the ancient, ancestral lands of the people was stripped away from families and given to Roman commanders as a retirement gift.  The Palestinians of our time were not the first to face such a stripping away of family lands, nor will they be the last.  The native Philippians were a people who had been pushed down, beaten, and kept in the background of society. This was clear on a daily basis as they walked down the streets, Roman faces turning away as if they were a despicable sight.  Native Philippians were not to be trusted.  They were not Roman citizens. 

But, Paul tenderly and carefully reminds them that they are citizens.  Using his own personal struggles as an example, he shows them that they are a different kind of citizen.  They hold the same citizenship as you or I, and I am not talking about citizenship in our own great nation.  All followers of Jesus Christ are citizens of the kingdom of God.  Paul instructs:  

“Only, live your life (in the Greek – “conduct your citizenship”) in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).

They are citizens of the kingdom of God, where the good news of Jesus Christ is the primary thing about which everyone cares.  It is a citizenship that upholds forgiveness, the care of the poor (even those who have had their family lands stripped away), the concern for those needing healing, shows friendship toward those who are socially unacceptable, and seeks to serve one another through love instead of intimidation or cutting others down. 

It is a citizenship where Christ is present with us whether we live or die.  It is a citizenship that is eternal and cannot be removed.  It is a citizenship where all people in God’s kingdom strive to think and act like Jesus Christ.

But, never forget that thinking and acting like Jesus Christ can get you into very big trouble.  Jesus got a cross.  The apostle Paul was stoned and jailed over and over again for preaching the good news of Jesus, German theologian Dietrich Bonheoffer was put to death for plotting to protect the Jews by ridding the world of an evil man, The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life defending the rights of dark skinned people to exist and flourish, and countless other people have suffered from slander and verbal abuse when they stand up for those who have no voice and have no power.

But, when the values of the kingdom of God are the basis our life together, even mockery and suffering is gain.  How so? 

Suffering for the sake of those who Jesus cares about is proof that you have a thriving life in God’s eternal kingdom.  It is proof that you are one with Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  You are a citizen of the only kingdom that matters: the kingdom of God.

Paul says that God, “has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well” (Philippians 1:28).  Living in God’s kingdom is always a gift and is always a privilege.  Being invited to live as one with the eternal is what it is all about.

Sometimes, people get punished for doing what is good and true in the eyes of Christ, but that punishment does not change the fact that what they did was good and true. 

I just read the story of a lifeguard on the shores of a popular beach.  While staring out at the ocean, someone ran up and got his attention.  Their friend had swum too far out and was struggling to stay afloat.  The lifeguard immediately jumped into action, swam far out to the struggling man, brought him safely to shore, and certainly saved his life.  Everyone thought the man was a hero and thanked him for a job well done. 

Christ is all about salvation, and the lifeguard had become at one with the mind of Christ as he rushed to save that man.

Everyone thought that he was a hero except his employer who promptly fired him the next day.  Apparently, the struggling swimmer was outside of the marked swim area, having swum too far out, and that area was supposed to be out of the jurisdiction of the lifeguard.  The lifeguard was not supposed to venture into those restricted waters.  Swimmers out there were supposed to be left to fend for themselves.

Sometimes, we suffer for doing what is right.  Sometimes, we suffer for being a citizen of the kingdom of God.  But, that suffering just proves that we, indeed, are citizens of a greater kingdom with greater concerns.

“It is a struggle being without a job right now, I am not going to lie,” the former lifeguard stated.  “I still did the right thing, and that guy is still alive.”

I also think of another person, who I care deeply about, who has forgiven a member of their family.  The family member was quite destructive in former years, and the forgiveness was long in coming. 

But, forgiveness has been shown and my friend has devoted themselves to spending time with that family member, helping them as the person’s health deteriorates.  They have shown this family member what the forgiveness, mercy and love of God looks like. 

Unfortunately, it has been at the expense of their relationships with other members of the family.  Other members still cling to their hate, and have stretched their blanket of hate as far as possible so that it covers this forgiving person also. 

The forgiving person is devastated, of course, but they also know that what they have done of good and holy.  They know that they have been invited by Christ to live in the kingdom of God where forgiveness reigns; and that will never change.

As Paul himself says nothing will be able change that fact.  He says in Romans 8: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). 

And, in Romans 14:8, Paul again reaffirms: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

It does not matter if you live or if you die, if you are at peace or if you suffer, you are claimed by the one who will love you through it all forever.  You are forever a citizen of Christ’s kingdom. 

This is Paul’s basis for hope.  This is the warm truth he clings to while facing a possibility of death after sitting in a cold prison cell.  And, it is the truth that Paul hopes we, the readers of his letter, will cling to as well.  He hopes that we too will cling to Christ and his kingdom.  He hopes that we too will agree that this is the highest goal.  He is convinced that it is in Christ only where life and salvation is found.

Reflection on Matthew 18:21-35

 

For Jesus, forgiveness is not something you do; forgiveness is a way of life.

You might not have ever considered this before, so I will say it again.  For Jesus, forgiveness is not something you do; forgiveness is a way of life.

Here is what I mean.  We have certainly all had the experience where someone (like a coworker) does something to you, like taking and eating the last piece of sour milk chocolate cake in the break room fridge which was saved especially for you.  They say, “Oh, I didn’t know that was yours.  I’m sorry.”  And, you forgive them because, well, we are supposed to forgive, right?

But then, it happens again.  This time it is the soda that had a sticky note with your name on it.  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was yours.”  And, you assume that the sticky note merely fell off, so you forgive them again because, well, we are supposed to forgive, right?

But, then the cookie incident occurs.  This is the incident where the designer cookie, from the bakery, literally has your name embossed with icing across the top.  Further, the Styrofoam container has your name written in pen, pressed down into the foam, making a lasting impression that generations from now will still be able to be read by our children’s, children’s, children when excavating the landfill.  “Oh, this guy must have had some sort of celebration.  His name is right here.” 

Yes, it is right there, but this forgiven, “co-worker” somehow is not able to see the “lasting for generations” indentation in the foam, nor can they see the name that they are literally putting right into their open mouth.  They eat your cookie, you finally flip your lid, and now you have to make a visit to the lovely people in Human Relations.

I get it.  The first time, I am supposed to forgive, because we all make mistakes.  Heck, I will even grant forgiveness a second time because, well, sometimes we just did not learn from the first time.  But, the third and fourth and fifth and sixth and seventh times; we have to forgive all of those as well?

Peter must have had a coworker steal some of his icing embossed cookie because he comes up to Jesus right after Jesus teaches about how forgiveness works in the church and Peter says what we all want to say to Jesus: “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” (Matthew 18:21).

Peter is being really generous here.  I am at my end after three food stealing offenses… I mean, I am theoretically at my end after three food stealing offenses, because, that story was definitely not about me.  But, Peter gives the offender seven tries to get things right.  Seven times, Peter forgives the offender.  I wonder if he must have someone in particular in mind?  But, seven times!

In Peter’s world, that is the end.  Seven is a whole and complete number is Peter’s world.  God created and rested in seven days, and it was at an end. 

For Peter, needing to ask for forgiveness seven times is plenty of times.  If a person is still sinning after seven times, they have proven, without a doubt that they are a complete…not nice person.  I was never very good at swearing, not even as a teen.

For Peter, after seven times, it is fine to take a rest from the person.  It seems holy even; baked right into the fabric of existence.  God rests on the seventh day, after-all.  After sever times, it is fine to just step away and relax Peter assumes.

Unfortunately, for Peter, Jesus has the power of the number seven on his side also.  In Leviticus 25, in the laws that God handed down to Moses we hear:

“You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the day of atonement—you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family” (Leviticus 25:8-10).

Now all of you know that I am not very good at math, but what I do know is that there are a lot of sevens in there and they all point to forgiveness.  They do not point to giving up on people.  Again, I am no good at math, but these combinations of sevens seem to be pointing to things like the Day of Atonement, when observant Jews seek forgiveness from God and a new start in life.  These combinations of sevens also carry us to the year of jubilee when debts are mandated to be forgiven by God and people are set free. 

Seven is a number of forgiveness; not a number symbolizing giving up and taking a vacation.  Seven is a number that offers a new start, a new creation, not the closing off of possibilities. 

If seven in the Hebrew world has a sense of being whole or complete to it, and it does, then it appears that wholeness and completeness has everything to do with being forgiven and given a fresh start. 

In God’s mind, you are not whole and complete until you are forgiven.  You are not whole and complete until forgiveness is a part of who you are.  Forgiveness is not something you do; it is who you are as a follower of Christ.  When the gift of forgiveness is poured into you by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, you become forgiveness.

For Jesus, forgiveness is not something you do; forgiveness is a way of life.

Jesus said to Peter that you do not forgive, “seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22).

“Seventy-seven times;” where have we heard that number before?  The first time we hear that in the Bible is way back in Genesis, coming out of the lips of Lamech, who is Cain’s great, great, great grandson.  But, if you know his story, he was not that great.  You see, after Cain murdered Abel, Cain worried that he would be murdered himself by others out of fear and revenge.  The Lord shows mercy on Cain and gives him a mark of protection, telling Cain that God will avenge anyone who tries to murder him.  I guess that you could say that the Lord forgave Cain in a big way.

Here is the twisted part.  You would think that having that sort of radical forgiveness shown you would filter down through the generations.  And, if you thought that, you thought wrong.  That is not the way the human mind works.  Instead, of Cain’s great, great, great grandson being a really forgiving guy, he too murders someone, refusing to forgive that person, and then says, “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:24).

Lamech believes that he does not need to forgive.  He believes that he can murder in revenge and can generally be as rotten as he likes because God will cover for his crimes seventy-seven times. 

And, though God is that forgiving, even willing to go to the cross and die because God is that forgiving, Lamech has totally taken the forgiveness given to Cain and his descendants by God and twisted it terribly.  Lamech lives a life of corruption rather than a life of forgiveness.

Jesus takes Lamech’s story and updates it for his audience.  Jesus’ story is about a slave who needs to repay his king a lot of money.  He owes the king so much that the only way to settle the debt would be to sell the slave himself, his family, and all that the slave owns.  The slave falls to his knees, begging for more time to pay all his debts.  In response, the king forgives the man all that he owes, and the king even sets him free. 

The man is freed and forgiven!  Freed and forgiven.  That sounds like a good sermon title.  We are like the slave, freed and forgiven!  It preaches.

Now, you would think that the slave would be very generous and forgiving after such a radical outpouring of forgiveness upon him.  But, as you already know, that would be a wrong assumption.  The man refuses to forgive people who are indebted to him.  The king is furious and punishes the man for his lack of forgiveness, and Jesus concludes that those of us who have been forgiven must “forgive [our] brother or sister from [our] heart” (Matthew 18:35).

Like Lamech, the forgiveness had not become a way of life for the slave.  Rather, some sort of cold, hard-heartedness had become his daily response to others.

For Jesus, forgiveness is not something you do; forgiveness is a way of life.

Have you ever just sat and stared at something for hours on end until you finally see something new that you have never seen before?  Maybe, it is a painting in which you see a small bird feeding its young after years of the painting collecting dust on your wall.  Or, maybe you see a hidden joke in the background of a movie only after the seventy seventh time of watching it.

Well, that is what happened to me as I stared at this scripture.

“How often should I forgive?" Peter asks.  “As many as seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:21-22).

I thought to myself, “Jesus tells Peter to forgive seventy-seven times.  Jesus tells Peter to do this.”  And, then it just occurred to me that Jesus actually tells Peter to do this. 

What I mean is that Jesus actually expects Peter to try forgiving seventy seven times.  We all know that Jesus is saying that we must always forgive other people, but what if Jesus is also saying, “Peter, actually try forgiving seventy seven times.”  In other words, do it so much that forgiveness is no longer a thing that you are told to do, so you do it.  Rather, forgiveness becomes a part of who you are.

And, that got me to wondering, “Well, I wonder just how many times someone needs to do something for it to become a habit?”  So, I looked it up.  Do you know what number psychologists who study this sort of stuff came up with after extensive study?  Sixty-six days.  To make something a habit, you need to do it an average of sixty-six days.  This explains so many failures in my life.  Gym membership anyone?

But, look!  Again, I am not great with math, but sixty-six seems to be pretty close to seventy seven, with a little buffer in there to account for the average.  What if Jesus actually wanted Peter to shoot for forgiving seventy-seven times, so that forgiveness becomes a part of who he is?  What if Jesus actually wants us to forgive seventy-seven times, so that forgiveness becomes a part of who we are, and it begins to show up in our everyday lives as people of God?  What if Jesus actually wants forgiveness to come as easily to us as it is to Jesus, who forgave those crucifying him on the cross, and forgave the world through his death and resurrection.

For Jesus, forgiveness is not something you do; forgiveness is a way of life.  Forgiveness has been poured into our hearts by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that it might become a part of our every finger, toe, eye, and lips.  What if the world was full of people for who revenge and self-preservation is not a part of who they are, but rather forgiveness is a part of who they are in their everyday lives?

For Jesus, forgiveness is not something you do; forgiveness is a way of life.  So, go ahead and try it.  Try to forgive seventy-seven times.  Actually, keep track.  Be who you were created to be when you were forgiven and made a new person in Jesus Christ.

Reflection on Matthew 18:15-20

 

Jesus does not give up on us. 

That is the impression I get when I hear the steps that Jesus tells us to use when someone who follows Jesus has done something wrong or offensive to us.  Jesus says that we need to first go to that person and point out whatever was wrong or offensive.  If that does not work, go confront them with another person or two.  It that does not work, let the church (a lot more people) engage in the problem.  And, if that does not work, finally you get to treat them as you would a Gentile and a tax collector.  We will get into what that last one means in just a little bit.

But, as you see, Jesus has a whole list of things to do in order to make things better between two people.  And, Jesus’ list makes me wonder if Jesus understands how people actually function. 

In my experience, when someone has wronged me, my action plan does not really bear much of a resemblance to Jesus’ plan.  Here is my list of steps: 

1.    Do not talk to the person, so as to punish them with the weight of your silence.

Who goes and talks to the person, Jesus?  Is it not better to simply ignore them and allow the problem to simply go away?  Besides, if we ignore first, the person may bend and buckle under the weight of our non-interaction.  But, if that does not work, there is step two: 

2.    Talk about the problem to someone who is not the person. 

I cannot tell you the amount of times a third party, who has nothing to do with the situation, has enthusiastically taken my side after I have told them what has happened.  There is nothing better in the world.  Why talk to the person when you can talk about the person?  And, if the conversation is over a martini and some cheese, even better.  You have no idea how good and freeing it feels to talk behind someone’s back and let it all off of your shoulders.  But, if that does not resolve things, there is step three: 

3.    Get even more people mad at the person.

Do you know what is better than having one or two people joining with you in your anger?  Having a whole community join with you in your anger!  There is nothing like the bond that forms between people when sharing hatred for a measly soul.  Now, I know most of us do not work with hay, so this part of the step might require a special purchase, but pitchforks work marvelously with this step.  The person will never cross you again.  And, if even this step does not work then try this one last thing: 

4.    Convince everyone to write them off as a person.

I cannot express to you just how effective can be this action.  When the waitress at the restaurant refuses to bring out the correct pie for this person, mixed with the clerk who cannot get the till to ring up the product for this person and this person only, combined with the DMV worker whose computer always goes down when this person arrives at the window, this problem child will soon find another community in which they can live.  It works every time.  Just treat them like dirt and they will crumble apart like dirt.

As good as this approach feels, and as much justice as it seems like is being served; I just want to point out one thing: at no point in this course of action does anyone even come close to participating in a little thing called love.  Of course, love is not the point in this course of action.  Hatred and anger is the food being devoured.  It is a messy meatball of hatred and anger that starts to roll and pick up more people along the way, until someone, or everyone, is destroyed in the process.  Certainly, the targeted person is destroyed.

Here is the problem: sometimes we end up destroying someone who did not even deserve the punishment.  How many people have ended up with life sentences for crimes that they did not commit, all because the hatred and anger was allowed to grow? 

How many best friends have ended their relationships all because there was a simple misunderstanding and no one even tried to check to see if there was any truth to the accusations? 

How many people who desire nothing but forgiveness have been denied that sort of love because the path of anger and hatred is so much easier than trying to love and forgive? 

How many families and friends and communities have been fatally torn apart because of a refusal to let the anger subside?

There is a reason that Jesus teaches that we cannot continue to be angry.  Jesus teaches in Matthew 5:22:

^“But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Now, when Jesus talks about being angry here, he is talking about being continually angry.  He is talking about feeding the anger and growing the ball of anger and hatred. 

All of us get angry.  That is just being human.  We get angry and then after 20 minutes of stepping away from the situation, the anger subsides.  You cannot stop becoming angry.  Jesus is not talking about that.  But you certainly can stop the ball of anger and hatred that slowly includes more and more people from growing.  A better translation of what Jesus means is: “If you are continually angry with a brother or sister…you too will be liable to the hell of fire.”  That is what Jesus is trying to say.  Creating a life of anger and hatred is creating a life of hell, for both you and the person you have grown to hate.

We too easily give up on other people, but Jesus does not give up on us.  Jesus went to the cross in order to save us from eternal anger.  Jesus pulls us up from the grave and brings us into new life after a life of darkness.  Jesus does not give up on us. 

God is a God of mercy.  God is a God who forgives and gives second chances.  God is a God of truth and love.  God is a God whose Spirit gives us the power to forgive whoever we want whenever we want. 

Jesus does not give up on us, and, Jesus hopes and prays that we will not give up on one another. 

So, rather than following my course of action, as great as it is, Jesus has another course of action that we can try.  And, it looks a lot like going to the person who hurt you or offended you.  Because, how can two people possibly forgive each other if they are not even willing to talk? 

Jesus does not give up on us.

Now, if the person does not see how they wronged you, if they just dig in their heels and justify themselves, then Jesus urges us to try again.  We go and talk with them with one or two other people along with for support…to be calm middle people.  Maybe, a small group of trusted friends will be able to help resolve the situation in a way that looks a lot more like love than hatred.

This is how alcohol and drug interventions work.  The family gathers with the person and lets them know that they are loved and that they have a whole support network of people who can help, if they can just admit to themselves that they have a drug or alcohol problem.  This is all done so that the person might think to themselves, “If all of these loving people can see my problem, maybe, just maybe it might be true.”  The person is going to need all the forgiveness they can get to turn things around, and they literally see those forgiving faces standing nearby.

Jesus does not give up on us.

And, if this fails, you do the same sort of intervention with the whole church.  The whole church gathers with words of truth, love, forgiveness, and support.  And, if this still fails to turn the person to seek forgiveness, then Jesus tells his followers to treat the person “as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

Did you notice how Jesus just does not give up?  Did you notice how Jesus tries over and over again to allow forgiveness to shape the person?

I know, I know.  Some of the cleverest of you are thinking, “But does not Jesus give us permission to give up if they do not turn from their ways?  Jesus gives us permission to treat the person ‘as a Gentile and a tax collector.’” 

It might appear that way, but never forget that Jesus does not give up on us.  Maybe, we give up on Jesus and the ways of his kingdom, but Jesus does not give up on us.

And here is my proof right from scripture.  I ask you, “Upon whom does Jesus want us to focus our ministry?”  Jesus does not ask us to spend all of our time with the righteous, the rich, the well balanced, and those who are friendly to us.  In fact, there was this one time where “many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with [Jesus] and his disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’”  Jesus replies, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matthew 9:10-12).

Sometimes, I wish that Jesus would have focused on only those who are good.  Once when my dad, who was a pastor, was having disagreements with certain disruptive members of his congregation, he was offered, as a joke, to buy a nearby church that had closed.  “That way it would be your church,” he was told. “You can invite only the people you want to be in the pews!  Plus, the building is cheap!” 

As enticing as the offer was, and it was enticing, the idea was not Christian.  The idea looked nothing like the church of Jesus Christ.

In the kingdom of heaven, Jesus never gives up on us.  When Jesus tells us to treat someone who has fallen away from all that is loving and good, Jesus is not telling us to push them away as if they were a cancer, instead Jesus is asking us to invest more time into their lives, so that they might learn again what a life of being loved and forgiven might look like. The cross of Jesus is the symbol that reminds us daily that Jesus does not give up on them, and Jesus does not give up on us.

Jesus does not give up on you.  You are a child of the most high.  You too can face the truth without a need to dig in your heels.  Jesus died for you, and for me, and we can rest in the truth that Jesus forgives us.  Jesus does not let us go.  Jesus does not give up on us.