Podcast link: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/381e0c7c/opposite-day-by-jesus-1262-luke-29
Daily as I write these Morning Briefings, I ask myself, 'what captures the biblical passage? what title will prompt someone to read?' So, after studying the next section of Jesus' Sermon on the Plain, in which Jesus calls us to love our enemies, not once - but twice, I thought, 'I know, I will call this Opposite Day' because Jesus is telling the disciples and those who endeavor to follow Him to do the very opposite of what comes natural to us.
Hold that thought. When my two youngest, Dylan and Danny, were small, a favorite television show of theirs was SpongeBob, Square Pants. (silly just typing it!) Follow my thought though, 'Hey, I remember Opposite Day, a goofy episode about one day SpongeBob and friends said the opposite or behaved the opposite of a normal day. . .' I did a search on 'Opposite Day' only to find out that today, January 25, 2025, as I write is National Opposite Day! What are the odds of that? The tagline for National Opposite Day: The aim of the day is to have fun all day long saying exactly the opposite of what you really mean.1
Spoiler alert: Jesus meant what he said, and it is up to us to obey.
Here are Jesus' shocking words: “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." Luke 6.27-36
We do well to remember that those listening to Jesus that day were oppressed by the Romans, mistreated by the Jewish leaders and establishment. For those of us who live in the West and profess the name of Jesus, we know no such burden. Nonetheless, Jesus' last words here scream loudly off the page at me:
be merciful, even as your Father is merciful
On one of my trips to Israel, one of my ladies fell on Masada (pictured) and needed medical treatment. We took a cab to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem and were triaged, then waited to see a physician. Immediately on my right was a Muslim Arab woman who was by herself and clearly in pain. I turned and quietly asked, 'Might I pray for you?' Her 'no' was swift and angry, though she telegraphed: stay away from me, you infidel; I was the enemy in her mind for sure. Six years later, it still sends a chill down my spine. A year before that, right outside of Jericho, a Bedouin (Arab) man approached the circle in which I stood and asked to speak to my husband. Once I told him he was not there, he handed me his phone and said, 'Call him--I want to buy you.' Yes, a totally different culture--one in which the divides (disrespect and outright hatred) run deep.
And yet, Jesus says, 'lead with love', 'be merciful', 'do to others what you would have them do to you', 'love your enemies'. Who are your enemies? In some cases, they are people who have made you the enemy, when you do not even feel the same. Unfairly judged or treated, it is hard not to respond from a position of hurt. Jesus is clearly teaching, 'take the high road, be kind, reach across the divide and be merciful.'
The other day I was listening to a podcast that included a shocking snippet that embodies Jesus' words so well. After the days of Apartheid in South Africa, there was a move to 'right' the 'wrongs', an establishing of a Truth and Reconciliation Committee. "If someone had committed crimes against someone else, rather than having a blood feud, they had to come in, and sit in a chair in front of those who were abused. They had to give testimony to what they had done that was so obscenely wrong. If the abused victims would forgive them, they were free to go...one time, the victim was an elderly South African woman.
The accused was a burly police sergeant. The audience (the Reconciliation committee) listened in horror as the sergeant shared how he and his man had come to this woman’s home, dragged her husband out, took him in the yard, put a tire around him, and lit it on fire- as she, and her son and daughter watched. They threw the remains of her husband in the back of their vehicle and drove away, only to come back later and do the same to her son.
The committee listened, watched the woman’s face as she heard the awful, awful terror that had happened to her family. When the time came for her to speak, she said, “I want you to know three things. One, I heard every word you said. Two, I forgive you. And three, I have two requests. One, please tell me where you brought the remains of my husband and my son because I wanna put up a marker to remember them.”
“And two, I have a lotta mother love I’ve never been able to share. I want you to become like my son and come to my home once a week so I can love you as my son.”
The police sergeant fainted. Could not imagine anyone with the grace to be so forgiving at something so obscenely wrong."2
Unexplainable mercy and grace. Kindness, love for the enemy.
Was the woman a Christ follower who took Jesus' words literally to her heart? hmmm.
->as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them
->be merciful, especially when it is not deserved
Yes, when Jesus arrived on the scene, he taught a new way, a higher road, and then he embodied it until he drew his last ragged breath on the cross.
In view of this, I shall consider the call to mercy more carefully. Besides, Opposite Day has passed.
Act Justly, Love Mercy.... listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk7llf2LkKc
Praying that Jesus' words change all of us,
Christine
Luke, #29
1 - National Opposite Day - https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/national-opposite-day-january-25
2 - Focus on the Family with Ray VanderLaan https://www.focusonthefamily.com/episodes/broadcast/developing-a-passion-for-evangelism-and-discipleship/.
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