Sunday, June 15, 2008

Pentecost 5A

Romans 5:1-8

 

WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS

 

In 1915 Lawrence of Arabia was journeying across the desert with a company of travelers.  They were almost out of food and water.  They had their hoods pulled over their heads to protect them from a stinging sandstorm.

 

Suddenly, someone asked, “Where is Jasmin?”  Someone else asked, “Who is Jasmin?”  A third man explained, “Jasmin is that yellow-faced man from Maan.  He murdered a Turkish tax-collector and fled to the desert.”  The first man observed, “Look, Jasmin’s camel has no rider.   His rifle is strapped to the saddle, but Jasmin is not there.”  The second man speculated, “Perhaps someone has shot him along the way.”  The third man offered, “He is not strong in the head; perhaps he is lost in a mirage.   He is not strong in the body; perhaps he has fainted and fallen off his camel.”  Then the first man said, “What does it matter?  Jasmin was not worth ten pence.”  And all the company of travelers rode on—that is, all except Lawrence.

 

Lawrence turned his camel and rode back the way he had come.  Alone, in the blazing heat, at the risk of his life, he went looking for Jasmin.

 

After riding for more than an hour, he saw Jasmin hunched up against the sand.  He was blind and going mad with heat and thirst.  Lawrence lifted him up on his camel, shared a few precious sips of water with him, and slowly plodded back to the company.

 

When Lawrence along with Jasmin rejoined the company, his fellow travelers looked in amazement.  “Here is Jasmin,” they said.  “Jasmin, not worth ten pence, saved by Lawrence at his own risk.”[1]

 

This story of Lawrence of Arabia saving Jasmin is a parable of how Jesus gave himself to save us from our sin.  We are accustomed to thinking of Jesus as our savior and our friend.  Two of our most beloved hymns are “Beautiful Savior” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  We forget that it is “while we were yet sinners,  Christ died for us.”  As Paul points out, sinners are, in effect, enemies of God.

 

On Tuesday, in a freak June blizzard, a hiker lost his life on Mt. Rainier.  According to national park officials, “he lay in the snow and used his body’s warmth to save his wife from the 70 mph winds.”[2]

 

We can understand a husband giving up his life to save his wife or a parent sacrificing for a child or a friend losing his or her life for a close friend or soldiers dying for fellow soldiers in the heat of battle.  “Perhaps for a good person,” asserts Paul, “someone might actually dare to die.”  But it much harder to comprehend Lawrence of Arabia risking his life for a runaway murderer.  And it is even harder to imagine dying for an enemy—someone who has turned against you.

 

That is precisely what amazes Paul about the death of Jesus.  Jesus dies for the ungodly—those who have turned against God.  “While we were enemies,” Paul explains in Romans 5:10, “we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son.”

 

One of the reasons diplomatic relations are so difficult to establish between nations, especially hostile nations, is that no one wants to take the first step, no one wants to act unilaterally, no one wants to risk seeking reconciliation and then having it backfire.

 

God, however, takes the first step.  God is not afraid to act unilaterally.  God is not afraid to take a risk and seek reconciliation with us.  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  We were not required to get our act together in advance.

 

For Paul the reality that Jesus died for us while we were yet sinners, while we were enemies of God, is the supreme manifestation of the love of God for us.  It is one thing to be loved when we are at our best.  It is another thing to be loved when we are at our worst.  Loving people at their worst, loving people who have turned against us, loving our enemies—such love is hard to understand.

 

Therefore, whether we deserve it or not, whether we feel worthy of it or not, we are loved by God.  Christ’s death is the proof of that love.  As N. T. Wright affirms, “what God did, freely and gladly, demonstrates a love far beyond anything human love can attain.”[3]

 

The only fitting response to such unmerited love is a deep, deep sense of gratitude.  God hopes this gratitude will manifest itself in love toward our fellow human beings, especially those turned against us.  God places a high premium on reconciliation.  God is passionate about changing hearts and minds and overcoming enmity of human beings toward God and toward one another.  N. T. Wright asks: “How might God’s reconciling action in Christ become the ground and model for the reconciliation of human enemies?”

 

Jesus’ death for the ungodly reveals that in a sinful world the cost of reconciliation is a willingness to show love even for our enemies.  In Romans 12:14 Paul writes: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”  He goes on to assert in Romans 12:19-21: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, `Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’   No, `if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

 

Note Paul’s concern that we not be overcome by evil.  When revenge grips our hearts and souls, then evil has the upper hand in our lives.

 

Paul is not suggesting that we let the forces of evil run roughshod over us.  Evil needs to be resisted.  But the motivation to resist is not revenge.  To return evil for evil is like pouring gasoline on a campfire.  The situation is likely to blow up in our faces.

 

An eye for an eye will never lead to peace.  As Gandhi once said, “an eye for an eye and the whole world will be blind.”  Gandhi was inspired to a great extent by Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:43-44: “You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  Jesus adds in Matthew 5:46-47: “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?”

 

Make no mistake: loving enemies is not for the faint-hearted or the weak-minded.  That is why such love must be grounded in God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.  Our hearts and minds must be gripped by God’s reconciling love if we are to participate in reconciliation.

 

Now some may dismiss this talk of loving our enemies as impractical or idealistic.  But perhaps we need to consider the alternative.  Is it practical for two human beings in a conflicted situation to seek revenge?  Is it practical for warring nations to destroy one another?  Is it practical for warring factions to rip a nation apart in civil war?

 

Gandhi was being utterly practical when he said, “An eye for an eye, and the whole world will be blind.”  God was being utterly practical when he sent Jesus to die for us while we were yet sinners.  God fully realized he was not dealing with ideal human beings.  God dealt with actual human beings, people who were sinners, alienated from God and from one another.  Reconciliation was not going to happen if God waited for real human beings to achieve some ideal.  Reconciliation was not going to happen unless God acted decisively to transform real sinful human beings.

 

We will never be reconciled with anyone unless we realize we are dealing with real human beings with all their shortcomings.  We will never be reconciled with those we are at odds unless we are willing to pay a price for that reconciliation.  If we only love those who love us, what reward will we have?

 

Loving our enemies is never easy.  It certainly was not easy for God to love us, while we were yet enemies.  Indeed, it cost God his son.  In loving our enemies where do we begin?  A good place to begin is where Jesus suggests—by praying for them.

 

A fitting response to God’s unmerited love for us would be for the people of St. Andrew to pray unilaterally for our enemies on a daily basis.  Take time to make a list of enemies.  It could include someone who has turned against you or from whom you are estranged.  It could include enemies of our nation or of our community of faith.  Once you have a list pray for your enemies each day for at least a month.  See what happens.  It will take time.  It may seem odd at first.  But surely that is a small price to be paid compared to the price Jesus paid so that we could be reconciled with God.  Never underestimate what God can accomplish through people gripped with the truth that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

 

In his name, AMEN.