There’s always a catch, isn’t there? It seems like Jesus is giving us a handy dandy step by step outline for how to handle conflict. First …try to resolve it one on one (you know…without whining to everybody else first and bad mouthing each other). Always the right move. Then…if that doesn’t work…get someone else to help you sort it out…just one person, to help you listen better to each other. To keep you both accountable. Seems smart. Then, if things are not resolved..bring it to the community. Not to shame…but to restore relationships. To heal. And finally, if there is no reconciliation — no acknowledgment of how we have hurt one another, no seeking of forgiveness…then you go ahead and treat them like a Gentile and Tax Collector.
And there’s the catch. Because Jesus hangs out with Gentiles and Tax collectors…he goes to their houses and eats with them. He befriends them and includes them as part of the family. Jesus loves them just the same as everybody else. They are his neighbors, his community, his peeps.
Love your neighbor as yourself…that’s the word of God for us this morning. And who is my neighbor? The Gentile. The Tax Collector. The Samaritan. The person who infuriates me. The person who has said hurtful things. The person whose life choices baffle me. The person who doesn’t look like me, doesn’t think like me, doesn’t believe like me. Love your neighbor….and remember that love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love seeks reconciliation when it is possible. And when it isn’t? Loves cares about them anyway. Love still looks out for their welfare. Just because the relationship isn’t what it was…doesn’t mean that their lives don’t matter. That they aren’t still part of our family. Love knows we’re still connected….all of us…no matter our differences.
These past weeks, we’ve seen that kind of love lived out writ large. We’ve seen love that looks like firefighters and rescue workers and neighbors…who forget about differences…and simply lend a hand. Who are there for eachother when disaster strikes. Who don’t let their differences keep them from being kind. Who hold each other up when they are weary. People like the undocumented immigrant who was electrocuted while attempting to save people he didn’t know (and who probably didn’t think he should be here). People like the “Mattress King” in Houston, who opened their businesses and sacrificed their inventory to offer shelter to strangers. People of all stripes who offer water and food and labor and prayers. Who realize that caring for others is part of who we want to be…even if it costs us. We’ve see than love that realizes we’re connected…no matter what has happened between us. We still belong to one another.
I read a post yesterday by Glennon Doyle, one of the many folks who evacuated Florida this past week with her family. She wrote:
Irma is going to hit Florida tonight. By all accounts, it’s going to be bad. People will get hurt. Some might die. Homes built out of love and sacrifice will be destroyed. The waters will rise.
And.
It will also be good. People will help each other. Doctors and nurses will risk their own lives to heal their neighbors. First responders from all over the country will rush toward the destruction to save strangers. People will be gentle with each other, feed each other at shelters, hold each other’s babies, cry together. Folks will be especially tender with children and the elderly. Nobody, but nobody will ask about each other’s politics. None of that will matter in the wake of Irma. You’ll see. We will remember that we belong to each other. It will be terrible. And it will be beautiful.
Florida: The waters will rise, but so will we.
First the pain. Then the rising.
Our family is praying for your families. God, help us be each other’s shelter through this storm.
Yes, that, my friends, is what is at the heart of our scriptures this morning. This morning is about the rising…it’s about the best in us that seeks to love our neighbors. The best in us that seeks reconciliation with those who have hurt us…with those we separated ourselves from. And the best in us that sets aside our differences, even when we cannot be reconciled..to join hands together anyway…to help those who are in need…to weep with those who weep…and to rejoice with those who rejoice.
This morning is about the beautiful fact that we belong to each other…and, that in our togetherness, Jesus is present. Where two or more of you are gathered, Jesus says…I am there.
Jesus is present…in what happens between us…in how we talk to one another. In how we treat one another. Jesus is present in relationships. That is the holy work…the heavenly work .. God is doing in us. In our binding and our loosing…Jesus is present with us. In our reaching out when people are in need and our letting go of resentments that hold us captive…Jesus is with us. In our forgiving of those who hurt us and our remembering to be gentle with those who have been hurt….Jesus is with us. In our speaking up to confront evil and our listening to the stories of those who we do not understand…Jesus is with us. In everything we do that binds us together, and loosens the grip of hatred and fear… In every act of kindness…In every hand held and tear shared…Jesus is present. God is with us. Immanuel.
This is the gospel, my friends….in a world where we are constantly bombarded with messages about all the important things that we should be doing…that we should be accomplishing… that we should be achieving….
In a world that is so concerned with always being “right”…and showing others how “wrong” they are…
In a world where lines are always being drawn…about who is in and who is out. Who belongs and who does not. Who wins and who loses ….
In a world where we will screw up and where we will hurt others just as we have been hurt…
In a world where we sometimes don’t know what we should be doing or how to do it…
Jesus simply says…I am there. With you. With all of you. Together. As you face the demons and weather the storms that continue to rage.
And you don’t have to get this right…or be right. And you won’t be perfect. But don’t give up. Just keep loving the best you can. Just keep loving EVERYONE…the Gentiles and Tax collectors, too…the best you can. And know that Jesus IS here. In the midst of Harvey and Irma, in the midst of wildfires and earthquakes and floods, in the midst of heartbreak and loss and dissension and conflict…Jesus is here. And new beginnings are possible. And love wins. Because it’s stronger than you think. It’s the power of God.
Amen.
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