Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

We are all unique so preparing a sermon which hopefully will speak to something within each of us is quite a challenge, but we also have several things which help us whether we are giving the sermon, or hearing it. The first of these is that we should be coming to church with the intention of deepening our relationship with God, so we are actively seeking Him and wanting to learn more about Him, at times this means asking questions and more often listening for answers. The second thing which helps us is that God is actively seeking us, listening to us and speaking to us in various ways, this could be through the kindness somebody shows us, the opportunities we have to show kindness to others, or through the sacraments and worship of the church and of course God speaks to us through what is written in the Bible.

The Bible speaks to us on numerous levels as I hope to demonstrate. This is a reflection of how the words of Jesus can speak personally to each one of us.

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Luke, this is part of Jesus teaching called the “Sermon on the Mount” which includes the Beatitudes - “Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God, etc” (Luke 6:20-27). I would like to draw attention to some of the words of Jesus in this reading. He asks “If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you?, there are several references to “credit” – which means somebody owes you something, usually money, and to lending, when you lend something you own to somebody else for an agreed period of time before its returned. These are all terms often used in connection with money. You may have heard it said that “Jesus taught more about money than anything else”.

Think of the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant who having been forgiven a large debt goes after another servant who owes him a smaller amount demanding payment, or the Parable of the Talents where some of the servants entrusted with their masters money invest it and finish with more money than they started with while another wastes his money by burying it in the ground so what he had is worth the same as when he started, or the Prodigal Son who wastes a huge inheritance and is reduced to poverty. Is Jesus giving financial advice when he tells you to “lend expecting nothing in return”? If your mother or father, brother or sister, a friend, your grandparents or a stranger asked to “borrow” £20 from your pocket money, would you be willing to “lend” it “expecting nothing in return” (meaning that they might not pay you back)? You might want to think carefully before you answer that question…

The statement that Jesus taught more about money than anything else is not entirely true. There are lots of references to money in Jesus teaching, but there are also references to eating and drinking. There is a difference between giving people advice on the best way to invest their savings and teaching about the use of money and using money as a means of teaching about something else. This doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t have important things to tell us about the use of money, but it’s not the primary focus of his teaching. Jesus is not giving advice to shepherds about what to do if they lose a sheep in the Parable of the Lost Sheep any more than he is giving advice to farmers about the best way of planting a field in the Parable of the Sower,

The central focus of the teaching of Jesus is God and the Kingdom of God which is contrasted with our fallen values and the values of earthly kingdoms and rulers. In the verses we have heard we can learn, if we are willing to do so, the characteristics of justice which belong to the Kingdom of God and its righteousness which we are to live by and which are can be summarised as follows: “As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them?” (v.31), justice is impartial, no one group of people, no nation, race, class of people is to be favoured over another, we should care for and do the right thing for all regardless. It is costly –“do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return” (v.35) A price may have to be paid and doing justice may be uncomfortable.

God has given us so much and most of the time I am ungrateful or careless and fail to acknowledge my debt. If we recognise something is wrong, and we are able to take action we should take action. It is selfless, driven by a love of God and our neighbour “Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked” (v.35). Finally it is driven by compassion and founded on God and His righteousness “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (v.36). This is not only the teaching of Jesus about the characteristics of divine justice; these teachings are also shown in the reality of Christ on the Cross.

So in addition to asking how do each of us answer the question: If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Jesus is also teaching about the Kingdom of God and the contrast between divine justice and what passes for justice in our fallen world. There is something we can all learn, whether we are the youngest person present or the most profound theologian, if we are willing to deepen our relationship with God and our neighbour. May Our Lord who is “kind to (us) the ungrateful and the selfish” enable us to “do good and lend, expecting nothing in return” and to be merciful as he is merciful, amen.

Given by Subdeacon Jacob