Love your enemy...

Sermon preached on Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Year 2, Proper 6, Tuesday, Mass: Psalm 51:8-13, 1 Kings 21:17-29, Matthew 5:43-48

A good portion of what our Lord teaches can be viewed as a commentary on the Lord's Prayer. Or, from a different pespective, the Lord's prayer acts as a concise summary to everything that Jesus taught.

In Today's Gospel Jesus reminds us that we are not only called to love our neighbors, but also our enemies. The people who with hate me, insult me, offend me, rip down or destroy the things that I love; anyone that might in any way be thought of as an enemy....In addition to my family, my friends and those who agree with me Jesus reminds me I am to love all of my enemies as well.

Often I am sure that my first instict is to try to get back at my enemies, but the words of our Lord remind me that this instruction is no different than the Lord's Prayer which Christians pray whenever they gather together. We prayed it noonday prayer. We will pray it during the Mass today, and many of us will pray it several more times privately or in services throughout the day. Every time we pray the Lord's Prayer we ask our Father to forgive our trespasses and our sins, just as we forgive those who tresspass and sin against us.

At the heart of Christian faith is the revelation of God as our Father. God isn't just my friend and my companion, in fact he isn't even my Father... he is our Father. He is Father to the whole world and through Jesus we have all been made his sons and his daughters. Just as God offers the marvelous gift of creation to everyone - the good and the bad, the just and the unjust - as the sun shines down on all of us, so too we are all called to offer the love that the Spirit has filled us with to everyone regardless of whether they are our neighbors, friends, or enemies.

Today and every time you pray the words of the Lord's Prayer pray for strength not to forget those who sin against you, nor only to forgive those who sin against you, but to love those who sin against you as your brothers and sisters in Christ.