On a High and Holy Code of Ethics
February 23, 2025
Traceymay Kalvaitis
Psalm 51:10-12
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.
Luke 6:31-38
[Jesus said,] “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.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
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Today’s sermon is titled On a High and Holy Code of Ethics.
This week we are still in the sixth chapter of Luke and we have the second half of Jesus’s sermon on the plain to consider. You may be more familiar with the sermon on the mount; that is the same set of teachings that is also found in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew, Jesus speaks from the heights; in Luke, the same teachings are offered on the plains. Taking in all these teachings is a lot like trying to drink from a firehose, so I would like to mainly focus on what is the core of this teaching, Jesus’s command to love our enemies.
It is the use of that small 4 letter word love that makes this command seem impossible. In Hebrew there are five distinct words to describe different kinds of love; in Greek there are six. In English, we only have one. To imagine what Jesus might have meant by “Love your enemies,” let’s turn to the Hebrew concept of hesed חֶסֶד, translated as kindness, care, and mercy. With this new understanding, the command does not seem so impossible.
Biblical scholar David Ewant explains it this way: “So when Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies,’ he is saying: Behave toward your enemies in the ways that will create justice, kindness, mercy, harmony, and well-being for all of creation. And do this in a way that is whole-hearted, unreserved, and unconditional. Nothing is held back. There is no hesitation. No calculation of costs and benefits. No expectation of receiving anything in return. No pay offs. There is only total desiring of the well-being of the other for the good of the world. Oddly, this might also mean you might not like the other. You might oppose some of their behaviours. You might even speak and act against some of what they stand for.”**
I’ve been practicing this week on Vladamir Putin. I grew up with an unequivocal understanding that Russia was an enemy of my country. Like many of you, I am sure, I took part in compulsory drills all through school, hiding under my desk as if that would shield me from a Russian nuclear attack. Once Putin came to power, I was old enough to follow his assault on the freedoms of the Russian people, especially his dissenters who one after another disappear, his attack of the press, and his selfish, senseless war in Ukraine. I consider Putin an enemy. I have no intention of “loving” him, but I do see that it is only through goodness and grace that he could change his ways and cease to be a malevolent force in the world. Can I follow Jesus’s command in the way that was explained by David Ewant? Can I desire the well-being of Vladamir Putin for the good of the world, even though I do not like him, even though I oppose his behaviors, even though I speak and act against what he stands for?” I am trying.
Canadian minister, Rev. Leanne Friesen, sought to leave the comfort of her native culture and travel to a place where former enemies were finding ways to co-exist. She traveled to Lebanon. Lebanon is 70% Muslim and 30% Christian. Rev. Friesen wanted to learn from Lebanese Christians how they were living out Jesus’s command to love their enemies. Their enemies are Syrians. Syrians occupied Lebanon for 30 years and there were unspeakable atrocities, as you may imagine. Lebanon regained their independence, but in the past 14 years, the civil war in Syria has sent a flood of refugees into Lebanon. The Lebanese are now faced with people whom they have thought of as their enemies for generations arriving with nothing, hungry, and in great need. Rev. Friesen remembers three Lebanese individuals, in particular, that she met. Their stories of how they have been able to live into Jesus’s command made an indelible impact on Rev. Friesen. These are her words:
“I am ashamed to say that I didn’t really know anything about the hurt and suffering felt by those who lived through this war, and the long term relational pain caused between Syrians and the Lebanese as a result. I heard story after story after story.
A pastor in a sermon told this story: “My father was killed by Syrians.”
A woman told us this: “I stood at gunpoint before Syrian soldiers as I held my baby and prayed for God to take me first.”
A church leader recalled this: “This entire town was under siege by Syrians for 100 days, with no food or medical supplies allowed past.”
Story after story of pain, loss, and grief. With an aching heart I realized I didn’t get it. I never had an enemy like this. I realized yet another privilege that I’ve had as a white Westerner: the privilege of not having real enemies.
That pastor whose father was killed has a church that reaches out to thousands of Syrian families. A few weeks ago he invited a Syrian refugee to the front so he could wash his feet in front of the whole congregation, to remind them what it means to love and forgive. His church has grown from 60 to 900 people and two thirds of them are refugees.
The woman who prayed at gunpoint is part of a church that cares for 500 displaced Syrian families. She has her “own” families that she visits. Every week, she has tea with her enemies – except now, of course, they are friends. She told me recently that learning to love her enemy was one of the greatest challenges she ever faced, but it has brought her great blessing.
In that town that was under siege there is a church working tirelessly to care for 2000 Syrian families. The church started by hoping to help 100 families, but the need grew and grew – so they kept giving. Now, they give out 1400 food hampers every month. They provide diapers, job training, social support.
Turns out I don’t know a lot about loving enemies after all. But after two weeks in Lebanon, I think I know a little more:
I know it is what Jesus called us to do.
I know I am now without excuse.
I know loving our enemies is the way to freedom and wholeness and new life.
I know it is changing things in Lebanon, one life at a time.”***
Friends, we are living in times where we are being told that our neighbors are our enemies, that people on the other side of the political spectrum are our enemies, that immigrants and refugees are our enemies. It’s getting to the point that if someone disagrees with us, we are apt to think of them as our enemy. We as followers of Christ are called to a different way of being in the world. We have been given a high and holy code of ethics that says we are to care for our enemies, we are to “do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return…be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.”
In closing, I want to say thank you for being in community with me. In community, I find the strength and safety to practice a higher and more holy code of ethics. In community, I am reminded that we all make mistakes and we all deserve mercy and grace and forgiveness. In community, with you, I am reminded that all things are possible when God’s love is our guiding force. So be it. Amen.
*https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h2617/kjv/wlc/0-1/
**https://www.holytextures.com/2023/05/luke-6-27-38-year-c-epiphany-7-february-18-february-24-sermon.html
***https://www.christianweek.org/one-loving-enemies/
Pastoral Prayer
God of sunlight and snow, we are here together with all our complexities…our mix of hope and fear, trust and worry, health and illness, acceptance and resistance. Help us, Lord, to bring the disparities of our emotions ever closer together, so that we may move through the joys and challenges of our lives with equanimity, balance, and serenity. We pray your healing presence be with us and with all those in need. May we be ever attune to the ways we can serve, with sensitivity and effectiveness and in the spirit of Christ. This we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
Benediction
I leave you with these words from second Corinthians, chapter 9:
“God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”