The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany

February 23, 2025

Luke 6:27-38

Epiphany Moments—

Love Your Enemies; Overcoming Evil with Good!

27“But tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Don’t get mad— get (you fill in the blank). (Blank) is a dish best served cold. Did you have any difficulty filling in those blanks? I’m going to guess that the answer is— No. If someone does something to hurt us our natural inclination is to find a way to “get even” with them. As we grow a little older, as our inclination to “get even” with someone matures, we realize that if we wait to “get even” with someone who has hurt us, if we keep our desire for revenge in check until they are not expecting it, that can bring even more “satisfaction” to our old sinful nature.

The desire to “get even” with someone, the desire for “revenge” comes all too easily— sometimes even for us, the children of God. Someone at school is being mean to us and we try to think of a way to get them in trouble. A co-worker has fallen into the habit of taking credit for what we have done, and we look for a way to embarrass them in front of others— especially the boss.

While trying to “get even” with someone and while seeking “revenge” on someone does indeed come naturally to our old sinful nature, neither one of those attitudes is acceptable to our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To help us embrace the attitudes and the actions our Savior expects from us, today let’s focus our attention on this Epiphany Moment— Love Your Enemies; Overcoming Evil with Good!

Our text for today is a continuation of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In that sermon Jesus draws a very clear contrast between those who are “blessed” and those who are “cursed”— from God’s perspective. Jesus then makes it very clear that what He is about to say is intended for a very specific audience. That’s why our text begins with the words, “But I tell you who hear me.” That could also be translated as, “But I am speaking to those who are understanding me.” Jesus knew that among the “large crowd” of people who had gathered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, not everyone who was “hearing” His words was “understanding” His words. It’s no different right down to this very day, is it. Those who do not believe and trust in Jesus as their Savior may indeed “hear” Jesus’ words, but they do not “understand” them. In fact, there are those who “hear” Jesus’ words, but they flat out reject what Jesus is saying. Even we need to be very careful that we don’t just “hear” Jesus’ words and let them go in one ear and out the other. We want to “listen” to Jesus’ words. We want to “understand” Jesus’ words. We want to consciously apply Jesus’ words to our own heart and to our own life.

When we are “listening” to Jesus’ words what will we strive to “understand” and apply? Look at what Jesus says to us, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Now we see exactly why Jesus is speaking to those who love Him and are willing to “listen” to Him! The natural reaction of our old sinful nature is to “hate” our enemies, not “love” our enemies. The natural reaction of our old sinful nature is to do something that will harm those who “hate” us, not do something “good” for them. How is this even possible? It’s only possible, my friends, when we are “listening” to Jesus and striving to “understand” what He reveals to us!

When our hearts have been warmed by the agape love of our God, when we realize what God’s agape love led Him to do for us (Pointing to the cross)— yes, even while we were still His enemies— that agape love will be reflected in both our attitudes and our actions. Even those who consider us to be their enemy, need to be able to see and to hear how our hearts have been changed by Jesus’ love for us as we strive to reflect His love to them.

In the very same way, when someone “curses” us or when someone “mistreats” us our natural reaction is to throw it back at them even harder! But stop to think about it, my friends. That’s not what Jesus did when people “cursed” at Him and mistreated Him and that’s not how Jesus wants us to react. Jesus wants us to react by speaking words of “blessing” to them— wishing them well and asking God to bless them. Jesus wants us to pray for them every time we kneel down and talk to our heavenly Father.

Right about now someone might be thinking to themself, “Okay. I will strive to do this, but if they cross the line and actually do something against me, then no, I won’t allow that.” That’s why Jesus says to those who are “listening” to Him, to those who are “understanding” His words, “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.”

Our automatic reaction to these words might be one of shock. Let someone hit me and don’t hit them back? Let someone take my things and don’t demand that they give them back? How is that possible? Two things. First, we lift up our eyes to the cross. When we stop to remember the beating, the mocking, the scourging, and the crucifixion that Jesus willingly endured for us, then whatever we might endure as His disciples pales in comparison. Second, we peer into the empty grave in the garden. Whatever earthly possessions we may or may not have can’t even begin to compare to the eternal riches that Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead guarantees to us! Someone may indeed take away some— or even all!~— of our earthly possessions but they cannot take away the glorious treasures that Jesus has stored up for us in His heavenly home!

Now things get even more interesting! Look at verses thirty-two to thirty five. When we are “listening” to Jesus’ words we hear Him say to us, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full.”

On the surface those words are easy enough to understand. Jesus reminds us that if we do nothing more than what the “sinners” are willing to do, then we are no different than the “sinners,” that is, we are no different than those who not believe and trust in Jesus as their Savior. Think about it. Sinners/unbelievers who hate their enemies, will love those who love them. Sinners/unbelievers who curse others and hit others, will do good to those who do good to them. Sinners/unbelievers who have no problem taking something that belongs to someone else, will lend to others— if they are sure that they will be paid back. So how is a child of God any different from the unbeliever if they love only those who love them but won’t love their enemies? Or how is a child of God any different than the unbelievers if they do good only to who do good to them but refuse to do good to those who curse them or hurt them? And how is the child of God any different from the unbelievers if they lend only to those who can pay them back but refuse to share with those they know will never be able to repay them?

All of that is very logical and very easy to understand. Where this comparison gets “deep” is when Jesus says, “What credit is that to you?” A more literal translation of this would be, “What grace, what charis, is that to you?” Purely by the charis, purely by the grace of our God we have been “credited” with the holiness and the perfection that Jesus won for us on the cross, the holiness and the perfection that sets us apart as being different from the unbelievers. God’s grace, God’s charis leads us to think differently, to talk differently and to live differently from the unbelievers. If we do not, if we do not think differently and talk differently and act differently from the unbelievers amongst who we live, if people are not able to see and to hear how God’s grace, how God’s charis has changed our heart and is transforming our lives— then we have a problem. It is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Jesus helps us to address that problem when He says to us, “But love your enemies, do good to them and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Notice how Jesus once again encourages us to be different from the unbelievers. As we strive to be what God has called us to be we have the joy and the confidence of knowing two things. First, we have the joy and the confidence of knowing that our “reward will be great.” Is this a “reward” that we are trying to “earn” by how we live here on this earth? No, of course not! That would contradict everything the Bible teaches us! This is the “reward” of God’s “grace.” This is the “reward” that Jesus promises to give to us in Revelation 2:10, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” This is the “reward” that Jesus describes when He says to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). Secondly, as we strive to be what God has called us to be, we will have the joy and the confidence of knowing that we are the children of the “Most High” God. We are members of His heavenly family! (Pointing to the cross)

As children of the “Most High God” we have been given a pattern, an example to follow. That example is none other than our heavenly Father Himself. Our heavenly Father is “kind”— even to those who are unthankful for all that He has done for them, even to those who continue to sin against Him. The heavenly Father’s “kindness” is seen in the way that He continues to provide them with physical blessings even though they don’t appreciate it. Remember how Jesus Himself says concerning the heavenly Father, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). Because this is what our heavenly Father does for everyone — including us!— we strive to follow His example: “Be merciful, just as your heavenly Father is merciful.”

The goal of being “merciful” just as our heavenly Father is “merciful” enables us to properly understand the closing verses of our text. First, Jesus says, “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” If we were to take these words out of context— as so many people do!— then we would be able to make the argument that we are never to judge anyone at any time for any reason! Is that what our Lord is telling us here? Hardly. To give people the impression that they can do whatever they want to do and believe whatever they choose to believe would be mocking the Lord who knew that each and every violation of God’s holy will is so serious that only the holy precious blood of the Son of God was sufficient to pay the debt of our sin. (Pointing to the cross)

What Jesus is telling us here is that under the umbrella of “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” anyone whose sinful pride leads them to think that they have an inherent right to judge others and to condemn others has lost sight of what a terrible sinner they are! Left unchecked that sinful pride will result in our own judgment and our own condemnation at the hand of the “Most High God”! Being “merciful” just as our heavenly Father is “merciful” will motivate us to lead a person to the foot of the cross and share with them the forgiveness that God so richly showers on us!

Being “merciful” just as our heavenly Father is “merciful” will also enable us to rejoice in Jesus’ words, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Stop and think about all the wonderful blessings our heavenly Father continually gives to us— not only physical blessings but especially spiritual blessings! God’s blessings to us are so overwhelmly abundant that we can’t even hold them all! And the more we give those blessings away, the more we share them with others the more God continually pours into our lap! Even if we tried— we could not outgive God!

Did you notice that there was one verse we skipped over? It’s verse thirty-one, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This is commonly known as: The Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is simple and it is powerful. Before we react to what someone has said or done to us, before our old sinful nature has a chance to fill us with a desire to “get even,” or to plot our “revenge,” before any of the things that come so naturally to us have an opportunity to take place— we close our eyes, we take a deep breath and we listen to our Savior as He puts His hand on our shoulder and says to us, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Or in other words: Love Your Enemies; Overcoming Evil with Good!

To God be the glory!

Amen