Most of us have heard hundreds of sermons, yet would have a hard time constructing a list of even a dozen sermon titles. However, if we compared lists I suspect three would rise to the top as the most frequently cited:
- “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” – Jonathan Edwards
- “I Have a Dream” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
- “Sermon on the Mount” – Jesus
More than centuries and geography separate the two American sermons from that of the Galilean sermon. The American preachers wrote and delivered their own material, while the words placed in the Galilean’s mouth were at the discretion of an editor responsible for compiling the core of Jesus’ teachings in a single sermon.
This morning we consider the final verses of the first of three chapters in the Sermon on the Mount. In this excerpt, Jesus invites his followers to go beyond the cultural and biblical (First Testament) expectations of what it means to be a loving person. Hear these words through the filter of the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) – the mandate that the way of Jesus is always the way of love.
Matthew 5:43-48 (NRSV, italics added)
“You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ — You remember Leviticus 19:18 . . . don’t you? By now you know I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). You must recognize that following me means doing things in a new way.
But (So) I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so 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. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
I expect more out of you. I expect you to bring about God’s realm on earth by treating people the way God does . . . by being and becoming whole . . . By being and becoming fully devoted to loving others. Put rather bluntly: Be perfect therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Note: Written for use in worship at Naples United Church of Christ. The service of worship is constructed around a single biblical text: Matthew 5:43-48.