Hinde Street Methodist Church
Sunday 19th February 2017 10am
Call to worship
Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
Psalm 119: 33-34
Collect
God of pardon and deliverance
your forgiving love, revealed in Christ,
has brought to birth a new creation.
Raise us from our sins to walk in your ways,
that we may witness to your power,
which makes all things new;
in Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.
Leviticus 19: 1-2, [3-8], 9-18
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
[3You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
5When you offer a sacrifice of well-being to the Lord, offer it in such a way that it is acceptable in your behalf. 6It shall be eaten on the same day you offer it, or on the next day; and anything left over until the third day shall be consumed in fire. 7If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination; it will not be acceptable. 8All who eat it shall be subject to punishment, because they have profaned what is holy to the Lord; and any such person shall be cut off from the people.]
9When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.
11You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. 12And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13You shall not defraud your neighbour; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a labourer until morning. 14You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling-block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
15You shall not render an unjust judgement; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour. 16You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbour: I am the Lord.
17You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. 18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.
Matthew 5: 38-48
38‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” 39But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
43‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.”44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Sermon
Did you know that yesterday marked the final day of ‘random acts of kindness’ week?
Nor did I.
I found out about it on Thursday from the Connexional newsletter.
So I logged on to the‘random acts of kindness’ generator.
‘Post a kind note on a classmate’s locker’, it instructed me.
I don’t have classmates.
Or lockers.
But I sent a kind email to a colleague instead.
I hope that counted.
On Thursday, when I signed up, 12,360 random acts of kindness had been registered on the website.
By this morning: 16,063.
The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation invites us to step out of our normal comfort zone, and to be kind to strangers.
In a random way.
Not because they deserve it.
Not because we expect the favour to be returned.
But simply because it makes the world a nicer place.
In today’s two readings, we see something of the random acts of kindness which are the flavour of the kingdom.
But in fact they are not random at all.
They writers of Leviticus and of Matthew’s gospel are both clear that our behaviour should reflect the nature of God.
And not just our top level behaviour.
Every detail of our ordinary, everyday lives.
And not just for one week a year – stepping out of our normal, grumpy, selfish comfort zones.
But all the time.
Day after day.
In our reading from Leviticus, the Lectionary advises us to leave out verses 3-8.
It’s about meat from sacrifices at the Temple.
But we don’t do that kind of thing any more.
No animals are harmed in the making of Sunday worship.
And it’s about how long you can keep this meat before you have to throw it out.
That sort of thing is printed on the door of my freezer.
It’s a bit boring.
And – to be honest – I don’t often look at it!
Much better to focus on the following verses.
Our notions of social justice.
The way we treat the poor, the refugee, those on the edges of the field, on the margins of society.
The way we value those who live with disability.
But omitting those other verses leads to a certain loss of meaning.
Because God cares about the whole of our lives.
God cares about how we order our society.
God cares about how many unaccompanied child refugees we allow into the country.
God cares about cuts to welfare benefits.
God cares about reduced budgets for those with health problems.
God cares about the minimum wage.
But God also cares about the minutiae of our lives.
What we eat.
Who we eat with.
Whether we can be trusted to speak the truth.
Whether we share gossip on Facebook.
The language we use to describe our fellow human beings.
Because, no, this is not random.
Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them:
You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
This isn’t just for the priests.
For Moses and the other leaders.
It’s for everyone.
For everyone to reflect the nature of God.
Do this because I am the Lord.
And I am holy.
This is the refrain that punctuates all these commands.
The pulse of holy living.
Matthew offers us an even more radical interpretation of the Levitical rules.
Don’t just do justice.
Do extravagant generosity.
But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
We have had many debates in the WLM about giving to those who beg.
Is Jesus suggesting that we drop all that careful thoughtfulness, all those nuanced responses, and just hand over a fiver to that guy in Marylebone High Street?
Just because he’s there?
The thing is, it’s not about the rules.
I remember a poem my father used to recite.
The rain it raineth every day
upon the just and unjust fella
but more upon the just, because
the unjust hath the just’s umbrella.
Wryly amusing.
Just the kind of thing my father enjoyed.
But Jesus is not wryly amused.
He is saying something far more radical.
44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
God loves each person.
Unconditionally.
Not because they behave well.
Not because they do a random act of kindness every day for a week in February.
But because they are God’s creation.
God’s children.
God takes evil seriously.
And so should we.
But evil is not ultimate.
The kingdom of God, which has begun to break through in the life of Jesus, embraces the enemy.
Defeats evil with love.
And we are called to act out of that security.
That we are loved.
So our response to others – powerful others like the guy who strikes us on the cheek, or the Roman occupier who requisitions us for service – and needy others like the beggar who wants a handout – our response, whatever it is, should not be out of self-protection, not be out of what’s fair or unfair, not be out of the rule-book, but should be out of love.
It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think it through.
It doesn’t mean we can’t be nuanced about what is needed.
But whatever our response, it comes from love.
48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Of course we are not perfect.
And we are not meant to take these commands literally.
But we must take them seriously.
They point us to the reality to which we have committed our lives.
They point us to how the just are to live in an unjust world.
You can fight injustice – but you can also humour it, play with it, give it far more than it asks for.
That’s a way of undermining its power.
In the end, what matters is that we orientate our lives towards the God who has redefined power in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus.
It’s not just random.
It is at the heart of our faith.
And it’s not just this week.
It’s until God’s kingdom is as real on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.
1