The Waiting Game: Sermon 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Sermon 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

Preaching Paul

Brad Smith

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

The name of my sermon this morning is The Waiting Game. I hate waiting. Whether it is in line at McDonald’s, the grocery store check-out line, or at the doctor’s office I do not like waiting for my turn. Perhaps it is because I am an only child and I was never forced to take turns and so I never really learned patience. I am the most impatient person I know. This is something that I have worked on and prayed about everyday but it does seem to stick. We do a lot of waiting as Americans. Even with our high technology and our instantaneous communication abilities we still are forced to wait. I noticed something the last time I had to wait at the doctor’s office. My doctor is a family physician taking care of both adults and children. The waiting room was divided into two sections one for adults and the other for the kids. The adult side had the typical leather chairs and tables with copies of Newsweek, Field and Stream, and Sports Illustrated. But the side for the kids was altogether different. There were toys, Legos, stuffed animals, and other things to occupy the kids as the waiting. It struck me because the kids did not sit idly by to wait the time; they were in constant action.

Advent is a time when we remember and celebrate the waiting for the return of Christ. Many churches have turned Advent into a sort of pre-Christmas time, but this is not the true meaning. In Advent, we remember and celebrate the fact that we are Advent people, meaning that we are people waiting for the return of their Savior. As Advent people we cannot, we must not spend our time idly standing by waiting for the return of Christ. We, like the children in that waiting room, must be always moving. We must be dynamic in our faith until the day that our waiting is over.

What can we do? How to we play the waiting game until the not yet becomes the right now? Paul gives us some answers in these verses from 1 Thessalonians. Paul is trying to sustain the church in Thessalonica. He writes to this community of believers in his absence to aid in the maintenance of the community. Maintaining a church, a community of believers demands proactive steps. Pastors and lay leaders cannot simply react to events and crises, but we must take preemptive steps in maintaining community cohesion. We talk a lot about growth in the Church. No matter what denomination or non-denomination you find yourself in I guarantee that the subject of church growth will come up sooner or later. However, we cannot focus so intently on church growth that we neglect church maintenance. I am not speaking about the physical building. Instead I am referring to creating and maintaining community cohesion.

As Paul concludes his letter to the Church of Thessalonica he provides the church with actions to take as they wait for the return of Christ. The first action is to rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances. This sounds like a simple action to take. Rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances this sounds easy, but it is not. The two words that make this task difficult are “always” and “all”. This means giving thanks and rejoicing wherever we are and in whatever situation we find ourselves and our situations are not always moments of joy and thanksgiving. I don’t have to tell you that we live in a broken world. I don’t need to tell you we live in a world where unnecessary wars are being fought and people are dying needlessly. That we live in a world where 30,000 children die everyday not from war or disease but from hunger. I don’t need to tell you that we live in a world in which we are poisoning God’s own creation. I don’t need to tell you that we live in a world where people are abused and exploited because of their race and culture. I can go on and on because the list is seemingly endless.

The question before us then is how do we rejoice, how do we give thanks in the midst of this broken world? How does one who lives in the slums of South America, Africa, or Asia give thanks and rejoice? How does one who lives under a bridge in the cold and rain in Nashville, Tennessee give thanks and rejoice? We rejoice and we give thanks in all circumstances and situations because we have HOPE. We have hope that this world is not the end. We have hope that those who hurt others will not have the final say. We have hope because one day injustice, violence, and hatred will cease to exist. We hope because one day pain and suffering will end. We have hope because love will ultimately prevail. Until that day comes, until our Advent becomes the present we have hope and that is why we can rejoice and give thanks.

Our hope is not static or inactive. On the contrary, the hope that we have demands action. The love and grace that are the source of our hope requires a response. Our hope is so great that we have no alternative but to act. Paul tells the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing. We use that verse a lot in the Church. What does it mean to pray without ceasing? I think that Paul meant that whatever we do in our lives we should do prayerfully. But what does it mean to act prayerfully? I believe in means that before making a decision, before taking actions we should ask “are my actions furthering the Reign of God or are they hindering it?” “How will my actions today help to build the Reign of God on this earth until the return of Christ?” We should also ask “am I helping or hurting my community by engaging in this behavior?” To pray without ceasing means to prayerfully think before acting. Remember that Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God and all things will be given to you. John Wesley put it another way in his General Rules of the Methodist Church, when he said “Do all the good you can.”

There is a flip side to that coin. Wesley said before doing good to do no harm and avoiding evil of every kind. Before we can avoid evil and do good we must know the difference between the two. We must know the difference by praying and acting prayerfully and by educating ourselves on the overt and covert evil in the world. We have to educate ourselves and see what seemingly benign actions we take everyday can adversely affect someone else. We have to take care that our actions, our purchases, or our speech do no harm to others. However, our responsibilities do not end there; we must also stand up and speak out against the evil we find in the world. We must be the ones to stand up for the least of these. We, as Advent people, must give a voice to the voiceless and a helping hand to those who need it. We have to stand for what is right and work to change what is wrong. This is what helps build and maintain community. Paul likened the Church community to the human body. This is a good analogy because what happens to one part of our body affects other parts. If our back hurts it has an adverse affect on the rest of our body. If one member of the Body of Christ suffers we all suffer with them. We are connected waiting for the coming season when the hope that we cling to becomes reality.

We are living in our own waiting room here in this world. One the one side we can be stagnant, just simply existing. We can be just going to through the daily motions and waiting for the inevitable end of life. We can be like those on the adult side of the waiting room just waiting the time. Or, we can be like the children in constant action. We can be living not just existing. We can be living each and everyday for God until that day comes when we are rewarded and reunited with those we have lost. We can be active in our faith; working until our last moments for God’s kingdom.

We are Advent people this means we are waiting for something greater. We are also Resurrection people that means our hope; our future is secure by the love and power of God. As Colin Greene says we are between the already and the not yet. Christ came down and became human that is the already. Christ promised that he will come again that is the not yet. Christ died upon the cross of Calvary that is already. Death is something that we also will not escape, that is the not yet. But Christ rose from the grave, defeating death that is the already and we will share in the Resurrection of Christ and live forever in peace and in love that is what is coming. We will dwell with God as friend with friend. That is the not yet. Our hope lies in the not yet, but we trust that the Advent will one day become the present.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Giving Thanks: Sermon Luke 17:11-19

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that evolution had created. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!" he said to himself. As he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to look, he saw a 10-foot tall grizzly bear charging right towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing, He ran even faster, crying in fear. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.
At that moment, the Atheist cried out "Oh my God!” Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don’t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?"
The atheist looked directly into the light "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.
The light went out. The river ran again. And the sounds of the forest resumed.

And then the bear dropped his right paw. Brought both paws together...bowed his head and spoke: "Lord, Bless this food which I am about to receive, for I am truly thankful."

Once again we come to the holiday season. It is amazing how quickly this year has flown by because it seems only yesterday it was last Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving holiday in this country began as a celebration at the end of harvest time. The farmers and their families would celebrate and be thankful for a bountiful harvest. Thanksgiving has become synonymous with the pilgrims being rescued from starvation by the surrounding native tribes. The first national thanksgiving proclamation was issued by the Continental Congress in 1777. The first presidential thanksgiving proclamation was given by President Washington, in 1789 he offered thanks “for the many signal favors of Almighty God”. The tradition continued off and on until President Lincoln called for a federal holiday on the last Thursday in November and a thanksgiving proclamation has been given by the President every since and in 1939 President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the fourth Thursday in November to be Thanksgiving day and it was approved by Congress in 1941.

Things have changed someone here in the year 2007. Often we here people facetiously refer to Thanksgiving as Turkey Day, because turkey is traditionally served. We have a tendency to secularize everything in this country and so any mention of giving thanks to God might go against the PC agenda. Thanksgiving is not just a national holiday it is a Christian holiday, it is a time of gathering together with friends and family, it is a time to break bread and share food together, and it is a time to offer thanks and that makes it essentially Christian in my book. However, as Christians we should not limit our thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday in November but offer it to God each and every day.

Our story today from Luke is one of healing and thanksgiving. Within this story lie two things we should be thankful for each and every day not matter what condition we find ourselves. The story is about ten lepers who are seeking healing from Jesus. Their first step was to approach Jesus and this is the first thing we should be thankful for. That is we have a Savior, a God that is approachable. We have a God who cares about our needs and is open to hear our prayers. The lepers took a big chance in approaching Jesus. This was a big no-no in this day and time. In fact, lepers were supposed to stray away from people and if anyone came near to them they were to cry out “Unclean, unclean!” as a warning. Perhaps they heard about Jesus’ previous healings of other lepers. Perhaps they heard about the kindness and mercy Jesus showed to others and it gave them the courage and the hope to break this social taboo.

Do we bring our troubles to Christ? Do we come to the feet of Jesus like so many have done before or do we try to work through things on our own? Too many times we feel as though we can do things on our own and we don’t need ask God for help. I remember a couple of years ago I was putting together a bookshelf. I wanted to do it by myself. I spread out the pieces and grabbed my screwdriver and set to work. My mom came by and said “let me help you” “No, I can do it on my own.” The work became harder and harder and I was getting more and more frustrated until I just shouted out and threw down my tools. I finally had to ask for help and we finished the project. Now if I had simply accepted the offer for help in the first place I would have gotten the thing put together quicker and easier and I would not have gotten frustrated and angry.

We sing the song, “What a Friend we have in Jesus.” What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. We give thanks because we have a Savior and a God that is not just a Creator and a Sustainer, but a friend we can come too anytime, anywhere.

Not only does Jesus hear our prayers, but Jesus also works to solve our problems. Jesus helps us in our time of need and prescribes solutions to our problems. However, the solutions are not always what we expect. Jesus tells the lepers that approached him to go show themselves to the priest. Wait a minute that was something that was done after the healing. Those lepers must have looked down at their rotting flesh and thought Jesus was crazy. Aren’t you supposed to wave your hand and heal us? However, something inside them told them to do as Jesus said. Luke says that it was only as they walked to the priest that their skin was healed. They had to have faith enough to follow the instructions no matter how silly it seemed at the time.

This reminds us of Naaman in the Old Testament. Elisha told him to wash seven times in the Jordan River and at first he wouldn’t do it because it seemed to far fetched. It required something of him. The solutions that Jesus provides us are not always easy. Sometimes they require life altering changes. We must have faith enough to follow the prescription. We go to the doctor when we are sick. The doctor might give us a prescription to take in order to heal us. We take the prescription to Walgreens or wherever and have it filled. But if we don’t follow the doctor’s directions we will never be well. If we take too much medicine we might get sicker than we already are and if we don’t take the medicine at all we will never get well either. Jesus will offer us a prescription to heal our problem. We must have faith enough to follow the directions. We give thanks that God cares enough for us that he gives us a plan for healing.

Finally, we give thanks for the final outcome. After the lepers realized they had been healed only one, a Samaritan, came back to thank Jesus. Why was he the only one? Perhaps, it was not his custom to show the priest the healing as it was for the Jews. Perhaps, the others just expected the healing and so no need to be thankful for it. Perhaps, they felt as though it was owed to them. We cannot take the blessings in our lives for granted and everything that we have is thanks to God. The blessings we have are uncountable. They are as numerous as the stars in the sky and there are new things each day that should evoke our thanks to God.

Thanksgiving is a time of remembrance and thanks. We remember the things that God has blessed us with and we offer thanks. It is good to do this and before you sit down Thursday to your turkey and dressing and pumpkin pie, I hope you will take the time to offer thanks to God. However, let us not limit our thanks to one day a year. Instead, let us remember to give our thanks to God each and every day. God listens to our needs and response to our prayers. Sometimes in ways that are confusing and mysterious, but if we have faith enough to follow the prescription then perhaps we can have a healing as well.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Questions That Bother Us So: Sermon Luke 20:27-38

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

Life is full of questions. For example, if a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages? Would a fly without wings be called a walk? Can you be a closet claustrophobic? If the funeral procession is at night, do you drive with your lights off? If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound? When companies ship Styrofoam, what do they pack it in? Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all"? Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food? And finally why do they report power outages on TV? These are, as Jimmy Buffett would say, the questions that bother us so.

There are, however, more serious questions that plague our minds. What will happen tomorrow? How will I change in 5 years? But probably the most important and most puzzling question of them all is what happens when we die? Humans are unique because we are aware of our own mortality and it is something that we become more aware of as we grow older and when our friends and family pass on before us. This is a question that thinkers, theologians, scientists, and philosophers have debated and discussed for thousands of years. The Bible does provide us with hope. As Christians, we trust in the hope that through Christ we will live again. Through his resurrection we will have our own. However, the specifics are often vague and confusing. We see glimpses of the afterlife in Daniel and the Revelation of John, but they are mostly symbolic and they still leave us with questions, what will heaven be like? Will I get to see those that have gone before me? These are the questions that are still in our minds.

It is ok to question. It is in our nature as humans to question the things around us and to question what people tell us. We are inquisitive creatures. It is even ok to question our faith. Sometimes we go through times of trial and turmoil that cause us to question what we believe. God understands this I believe. God knows that sometimes the reason things happen seem unclear and the future may even seem uncertain. God also understands we question his essence and his presence in our lives. Sometimes we just can’t help to ask the questions. However, when we ask questions of God we should make sure that they are questions worth answering.

Unlike the Sadducees, their question in our reading from Luke is not one of curiosity and wonder, but of deceit and trickery. To understand this we need a little background on this Jewish group. The Sadducees were descended from nobility and the priestly groups and they believed in a strict adherence to the Torah or Law of Moses. This is the first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible that is also known as the Pentateuch. They believed that this and ONLY this was the true word of God. The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection after death because there is no mention of it in the Torah, only in the later writings in the Hebrew Bible do we see mention of the resurrection. They came into disagreement with the Pharisees who did believe in a resurrection.

So as the Sadducees were questioning trying to bring Jesus into their controversy by asking him a trick question. Their question was about the Levite law that said if a woman is widowed without a child the brother of her husband would take her as a wife. In the example they give Jesus this happens seven times so the widow had seven husbands. In the resurrection whose wife would she be? This is a trick question obviously because they didn’t believe in the resurrection to begin with.

In this version from Luke, Jesus does not rebuke this Sadducees for asking the trick question like he does in Mark’s gospel. Instead Jesus goes right to work answering this trick question. Jesus speaks about two ages, the present age and the age to come. The problem with the Sadducees is that they only see the present age. Their focus was on this age with all its laws, regulations, and traditions. They had no belief in and no concern for the age to come. Jesus on the other hand focused his entire ministry and preaching on the age to come which he called the Kingdom of God. Jesus focus was not in this age, with its war, violence, oppression, and injustice. Instead he chose to focus on the bright beautiful future in the age to come. The Kingdom of God is a post-resurrection age meaning that in order to enter it one must go through a transition which is death. This age is one of peace and love. The Kingdom of God is all about justice and equality and this is where Jesus focused his mind and ministry. Jesus’ purpose was to open the gates to this new age so that all of God’s people could enter into it.

So what is the answer to the question? Jesus told them, in the age to come people will not marry or be given in marriage. What does this mean? Will we not be reunited with the loved ones from this age? Will we not recognize those we knew in this life? In the time of Jesus marriage was different than it is today. Marriages were often arranged, sometimes when the people were only children. Marriages sometimes meant peace between two tribes. Almost always, it meant the exchange of money and property between the families. Most importantly marriage meant the continuation of a bloodline. Marriage meant procreation and the survival of the family, often more than it meant two people who had fallen in love.

Jesus equates the lack of marriage with the fact that in the next age death is not a reality. Death has been conquered and eliminated. Therefore there is no need for new generations and in the eyes of the first century Jew there is no need for marriage. If marriage meant procreation and procreation is not needed in the kingdom of God then marriage is necessary.

This only answers part of the question. What about the relationships we have here on earth? I do not believe that God, who is a God of relationships, would dissolve the relationships we have created here on earth. However, the relationships we have will change. In the next kingdom, we will all be children of God, our relationship with God and with each other will change dramatically. We will have the same closeness we have now with our spouses with everyone. The love that we have for our loved ones here will be commonplace in the age to come. Marriage is not needed because we will love one another deeply as God loves us now.

Jesus goes on to say the God is God of the living not of the dead. God is about life not death and God is of the present and future not of the past. As I said before God is a God of relationships and we can trust that the relationships we have here in this age will only grow and deepen in the age to come.

Some time ago, there was a comic strip in Peanuts that showed Lucy in her psychiatrist booth. She is trying to analyze Charlie Brown. She says, "Charlie Brown, life is like a deck chair." "Like what?" "Charlie, have you ever been on a ship when the passengers try to open up one of those chairs so they can sit in the sun? Some of them place their chairs facing the rear so they can see where they have been. Some of them face their chairs forward so they can see where they are going." "On the cruise ship of life, Charlie Brown, which way is your deck chair facing?" Here is a great question for all of us this morning. Which way is our deck chair facing? Are we looking to the future or holding on to the past? As Christians our hope is in the future, in the age to come.

What is heaven like? What will the kingdom of God look like? How will we dress and what will we look like? These are all questions we all have thought about. We don’t have all the answers. The writers of the Bible use symbolic language and metaphors to describe what they saw heaven to be. Perhaps that is because our feeble minds cannot begin to comprehend the fullness of heaven. We write hymns about heaven and we even put our imaginations into art and film. One day the fullness of God will be known to us. One day we will see the heavenly gates open up and those who have gone before us will be there to greet us. One day we will have the victory in Jesus. Amen.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Could You Love Osama?: Sermon Luke 6:27-36

Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.

Some of you looked at the title of this week’s sermon with some curiosity or perhaps some apprehension. The title of this week’s sermon is Could You Love Osama?, and no it was not a typo. There is no doubt that Osama Bind Laden is public enemy number one. He is the mastermind of the horrible attacks of September 11^th and many other terrorist attacks around the world. He is number one on the FBI most wanted list, and his name and likeness has become engrained in our conscious. I chose this title because Osama Bin Laden is a name that stirs hatred in the hearts of many people. This question points deep within the heart of the Christian life. Jesus calls his followers to love their enemies. It is one thing to speak of this in the abstract, but it is another to put a name and a face to that commandment. Then the commandment ceases to be “love your enemy” and it becomes “love Osama Bin Laden.”

Is this kind of love attainable? Are we as human beings strong enough to love a mortal enemy? Are we able to love someone who does us such harm? Could we love someone who murders a loved one, or a child? These questions are extremely difficult to examine. Love your enemy is closely related to the second of the love commandments love your neighbor because some of our neighbors are inevitably our enemies. John Wesley called the perfect love of God and neighbor Christian perfection which comes at the end of sanctification and he also said that no one, not even himself had attained perfection in this life. Even though it is probably not attainable does it mean that we should not even try? No, Jesus did not give teachings lightly and Jesus would not challenge us if he did not want us to work toward this goal.

If we are to work toward this goal we must understand the difference between love and hate. Because our choice to either love or hate comes with consequences that we must understand. Why do we hate? This question was a topic for a forum at Vanderbilt Divinity School a few weeks ago, and as I looked at the flyer the answer to the question came into mind. It is easier to hate than it is to love. People hate because it is much easier to find fault with a person than it is to accept them despite their faults. People hate one another because of who people are and what people do. People hate others because they ARE of a different race, ethnic group, culture, nation, political ideology. People hate because others ARE something that they are not and that causes tensions and even fear and fear leads to hatred. People hate others because of what they do. People hate those who commit crimes against them, either to their person or to their property. People hate others because they cheat the system and they receive things they do not deserve. It is easy to hate someone because they look or act differently. Love on the other hand requires something more from us, but more on that later.

Hate does not solve problems it only creates more problems. Imagine hate raging out of control like the wildfires in southern California. The firefighters would not pour gasoline on those fires in order to put them out. So we cannot hope to combat hatred with hatred. Hate only breeds more hate. I think about a boy who had an abusive father. His father would drink and physically and verbally abuse him and his mother. The boy grew to hate his father with passion. As the boy grew older he clung to his mother, whom he deeply loved, and the relationship grew stronger. His mother died suddenly and the boy, who had grown into a man, could not force a tear to fall. He was living on his own away from this family, but he still had a searing hatred for his father. Until one day his father died. At the funeral the man could not hold back his tears and those who looked at him could not believe what they were seeing. The man did not cry at the loss of his father, but because he had lost of the object of his hate. He no longer had the focus of hate that had controlled his whole life. This is the danger of hatred.

Hate only destroys it can never create. Hate destroys nations through war. Think of how many conflicts have taken place because of the hatred of one to another. Hate destroys relationships because of jealousy, anger, and violence. Hate destroys communities through fear and mistrust. However, hate is more than something done to another. Hate also deforms the hater. Hate changes people for the worse. It causes bitterness and resentment. It causes people to hold grudges and poison their souls with unforgiveness. So many times it is the person who hates and not the object of the hatred that receives the most damage. We must remember that hatred will eat us alive like a virus and it can spread to those around us like a virus as well. No wonder Jesus warns us against taking this road towards destruction. Jesus knew what people who hate are capable of because he became a victim of fear and hatred. This is why Jesus urges us toward the way of love which is according to Paul the “more excellent way.”

The kind of love that Jesus talks about is the love the Greeks called agape. I have talked about this often and so I will not go into details, but agape is the kind of love that God has for us and the kind that God wants us to have for one another.

When Jesus told the people to turn the other cheek, many took it as a sign of passivism or even weakness. However, it takes far more courage to love someone, especially someone who does you harm than it does to hate them back. The kind of love that Jesus is talking about is revolutionary in nature and it is very active. People in Jesus’ time had never heard of such a love. Love your enemy, give more to those who steal from you. This kind of love was unheard of in those days and even today that kind of love is rarely seen. This kind of love cannot come from human means. Our minds cannot even conceive of it. It comes from God. God blesses us with this kind of love and shows us a more excellent way of life.

This kind of love is also redemptive. It can change lives. Remember a couple of years ago there was a shooting in an Atlanta courthouse and a prisoner, who had killed many people, escaped. The prisoner broke into the apartment of a young woman who was getting ready for work. He threatened her and in all likelihood was going to kill her, but instead of hating the man she showed him kindness and love. She did what most of us would think is impossible. She loved the man who was going to be her murderer. The love she showed that man created redemption within him and he later turned himself in with no more bloodshed. Love can redeem any person, even someone as evil as Osama Bin Laden.

Love is sacrificial. It requires something from us. We have to give of ourselves in order to love someone. We have to accept the faults of others in order to love them. We give of ourselves to those we love. Jesus shows us the ultimate example of sacrificial love when we willingly gave himself to be crucified. Jesus gave his very life so that those he loved could have life with him in eternity. Love’s reward is not always immediate. Those you show your love to might not return that love to you. In fact your love might be return with hatred. Return hate with love is not immediately satisfying. I’m not going to lie, it feels good to hit someone back or tell someone off when they do it to you first. It feels good when the bad guy gets blown up at the end of the movie. We have to remember, however, that that feeling is only temporary and the long term effects are far worse than the immediate satisfaction. Our final reward might not come for awhile, but it lasts eternally. Love will last forever and when we dwell with God we will dwell in love. Our reward for living one another in this world is to dwell in God’s love forever.

So this brings us back to the original question, can we love Bin Laden? Let me makes some things clear. Loving our enemies does not mean that we do not hold them accountable for the harm they have done to the innocent. It does not mean that they should not be punished for their crimes. It does mean that we do not sink down to their level by destroying them as they destroyed us. If we show love to our enemies perhaps we can see redemption for them as well. Wouldn’t that be the greatest show of God’s redemptive power if Osama Bin Laden understood his wrongdoings and submitted to the love of God? With love there is always a chance for redemption and change. We are called to love our enemies and it is not easy and we might not make it to that level of love, but it does not mean we should not try.

Let us pray…

Grant, O Lord,

that what has been said with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

and that what we believe in our hearts we may practice in our lives;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.