Pastor: Paula Hemann
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Luke 6:27-38
Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025
Sermon by: Paula Hemann
Swimming Upstream
Suffering is a great grace the soul becomes like the Savior, is suffering, love
becomes crystalized, the greater the suffering, the purer the Love.
Today in Genesis we hear the moment where Joseph, who we know suffered much
at the hands of his brothers, finally reveals his identity to his brothers, who had
previously sold him into slavery, and assures them that God used their evil actions
for good, allowing him to save their lives during a famine by bringing them to
Egypt; essentially, it's a powerful moment of reconciliation where Joseph forgives
his brothers and emphasizes God's sovereignty over even the most difficult
situations.
Today our reading in 1 Corinthians focuses on the nature of the resurrection body.
The passage explains that the resurrected body is a transformed, spiritual body,
different from the earthly body, and necessary for entering God's kingdom.
Epiphany is a season of revelations and manifestations. These words of Paul to the
people of Corinth call on them to ponder the ordinary experiences of life to
understand the hidden things of God. How do you understand the hidden things of
God. We as God’s children are moved to know the realm of God in all its
dimensions, and today Paul encourages us to think about the differences between
seeds and the plants they produce, or about the impermanence of flesh and
blood.
Yet Paul speaks of another image available to us, the image of God, not
disintegrating into dust but steadily enduring with vibrancy, fullness, and
even glory in the realm of Christ. For Paul, our bodies bear traces of the dust
that we are and the dust that we will be. We labor within those limitations.
But we also have available to us a realm of God in which we aren’t stuck with
those limits. We can become, in Christ, a revelation, a manifestation of God’s
hidden possibilities, lying within us, waiting to grow into life that death can’t
end.
How do we see ourselves as we are?
Salmon and Steelhead Trout are what scientists call anadromous fish. This means
that they hatch in fresh water, then swim to the ocean to live out their lives, then
return once again to fresh water to spawn. When the tide turns, they literally swim
upstream against the current to reach their spawning grounds. This strong
instinctual behavior to swim against the flow is driven by their need to
reproduce.[1]
That drive to reproduce is also the key to how we carry on our faith. We have an
astute old saying in our language. Its origin is unknown, but it goes all the way
back to the time of the Romans: “Only dead fish go with the tide.” Sometimes, in
order to reproduce –whether fish or faith –you must swim against the tide.
What does that mean for us? Well, according to our scripture for today, it means
that we must go against our gut instincts when it comes to people we don’t like,
who have treated us badly, or who differ from us in any way, shape, or form, and
we must LOVE them.
Not tolerate them, ignore them, shut them out, or worse, demonize them, but
LOVE them.
If you think that Jesus pushed us in uncomfortable ways in the past, I think you'll
find this current challenge of his a real doozy!
But Jesus has a point, doesn’t he? He says, well, gosh people, it’s easy to love
your friends. They are already your friends! Even the gnarliest of folk love their
own friends!
It’s easy to be kind to people who are kind to you! It’s simple reciprocation, right?
And sure, it’s easy to make a loan to someone, knowing and expecting to get it
back. Easy peazy. All good here.
But Jesus says, that’s not discipleship. That’s just the general consensus that
everyone can subscribe to. But discipleship is hard.
Discipleship goes beyond reciprocation. It does the really hard thing that no one
else has the courage to do.
Disciples of Jesus love people that are really HARD to love.
They are kind to people who aren’t kind to them.
They loan and give to people without expectation of return.
Why? Because that’s what God would do, he says.
Now listen to this line, cause I’ll bet we like to gloss right over this one:
[If you do this], you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to
the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.
What did he just say?
God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Whoa.
Weren’t we expecting God to …like…..smite them or something? Strike down the
wicked? Send to the fiery flames? Cut them off? Judge them as harshly as they
have behaved?
But this is not the vision of God that Jesus teaches.
Jesus assures us, in his “God with us” best and truthful voice, that God is much
more merciful than we like to imagine.
Certainly much more merciful than we like to hope for.
Isn’t that the story of Jonah? It sure is.
Nope. Jesus is perfectly clear.
As disciples, we are to do the opposite of what our culture would do, the
opposite of what we as humans might be expected to do –we are to love those
who sin, those who seem ungrateful, those who reject us, those who even seem
to us to be wicked. For that is our job. It’s basically Discipleship 101 in the Jesus
Book of the “Way.”
And guess what….I don’t have to tell you….Jesus’ challenge is not easy.
So, what do you do when loving is difficult and forgiveness feels impossible?
Well, our scripture today leaves us with a few clues.
I like to call it Jesus’ “Big 7”:
1. We must treat every human being with due respect and to see them the way God
sees them, as a person of worth, created by God. 2. We must “do to others as we would have them do to us.”
3. We must be thoughtful, not reactive.
4. We must be forgiving, not condoning.
5. We must learn in our lives to go from coping to capable.
6. We must affirm that love is a commitment, not a mere response.
7. And if all of that fails….we must remind ourselves that “measure for measure”
is real, and it gets us nowhere.
Sometimes, especially in the contentious waters of our current culture, we must
widen our lens.
Instead of seeing sharks, rays, and eels, we must merely see fish, all swimming
together in God’s great ocean of a world.
We must hold our judging eyes and remember that we all wear “logs.”
The moment we can see someone as a fellow human being with fears, anxieties,
doubts, assumptions, experiences, hopes, and dreams, we have hurdled over
our greatest log.
When we “demonize” others, we take away their humanity and view them as
“objects” that are wrong rather than “subjects” of interest.
We are to “be curious, not judgmental.” Learn about someone with differing
views. Blood after all must be thicker than water.Can we really hope for the best for our neighbors and friends?
Even if their success appears to us unfair or opposed to what we hope for them or
ourselves? How “selfish” are we really?
Can we practice our listening skills and truly hear what our neighbor is saying and
why without simply reacting.
For reactions are common.
They generally lead to further reactions, which then escalate into unhelpful verbal
attacks.
Listening however is a seldom praised enough skill that can allow us to
acknowledge our differences and still love our bond as friends, neighbors, and
fellow human beings.
Listening can be our greatest sign of respect. Not only that, listening is a great diffuser. And one of our best loving responses.
Now comes the really hard part. We can be forgiving while still not condoning.
We don’t need to agree with someone or be in their shoes to let them walk.
Forgiving does not mean that what someone has done to you is ok.
Forgiving them does not mean you are agreeing with their vitriol or “letting them
off the hook.”
It does mean that you will no longer hold onto the fishing lure that keeps your
mind and heart bound to them hook, line, and sinker.
Most often, our emotional anger, hurt, and feelings of betrayal come from our
need and desire to change the person who harmed us –to make them see our
way, to make them love us back.
Sometimes, you have to let them go.
It’s the loving thing to do.
Because true love is a one-way commitment.
It being returned is not a given.
As long as you keep someone bound to you, that person will control your
reactions.
The moment you let go of your anger, you have been set free.
When you can love without expecting love back, you are free to set a boundary
that will make sure that they can never harm you again.
This is called taking the reins into your own hands.
No longer must you simply cope with a bad relationship or toxic culture.
You can become capable of “loving them enough” to let them go.
Because love is a commitment.
And while a two-way covenant is God’s holiest vision for our lives and
relationships, loving is not dependent on being returned. Everyone who has
teenagers knows this all too well.
And….Jesus tells us….if all of this great wisdom is not enough to help us be the
kind of disciples who can navigate the currents of culture wisely and
reproductively –there’s always the Jewish concept of “measure for measure our
conception of “karma.”
Trust me, he says, what you do will come back to you. Behaving badly never
benefits anyone in the end. But love well –and you’ll be surprised at the abundance
of life that comes swimming your way!
For many right now discipleship may be the hardest thing you will ever undertake.
Loving in the face of dissension may feel like you’re struggling to swim upstream.
But remember –that’s what disciples do. They swim when others give up.
They reproduce love under the uncommon circumstances.
May your greatest desire, your most driving instinct as a disciple of Jesus –be
above all… to love. Amen
