Sermon reading Romans 12.9-21
Marks of the True Christian
9 Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10 love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ 20 No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will hear burning coals on their heads.’ 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
SERMON: LET LOVE BE GENUINE.
Let love be genuine.
If we were to brainstorm what love looks like there, I think we would all agree that love needs to be genuine. Honest, sincere, heartfelt and deep. Just read St. Paul letter to the Corinthians chapter 13 and it defines what love is and isn’t; 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love is genuine or it is not love.
If we go to our personal lives, we can each recall how love manifest itself in our lives in so many ways: the romantic love that might have changed from the rosy falling in love, to a stabile faithful love; the parental love that began the moment we laid eyes on our children and continues through every season of theirs and ours lives: the love of family, parents, siblings, aunt, uncles, cousins – the love of amily is truly diverse, challenging, foundational and complicated but still one of the most genuine loves in our lives: the love of friends that lifts and sustains us, the love of pets that truly is genuine and uncomplicated when your dog greets you with a wagging tail and loving eyes whiter you were gone 20 minutes or 20 days.
Let love be genuine.
Genuine love is what we live by and hope for and long for.
We listen to love songs, we read novels about love, we listen to stories about finding love and we come to church and are reminded again and again that love is the greatest of all. “Now faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love.” As St. Paul concludes his masterful chapter 13.
The reading and sermon text this morning is from St. Pauls’ letter to the first Roman Congregation. A sincere letter of encouragement, of teaching and of theology. And chapter 12 is mostly a straightforward set of instructions for a good Christian life. Instruction for a life in a Christian Community. Based on genuine love.
Love one another, persevere in prayer, practice hospitality, bless and embrace those who offend you or even persecute you, live in harmony and humility, live in peace and do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. That is love speaking.
St. Paul echoes the teachings of Jesus about loving our enemies and turning the other cheek to those who have done us harm. Though these teachings have become a foundational ideal of our Christian Ethics, Jesus did actually not invent them: they grew from well-loved passages of Hebrew Scripture e.g., Proverbs 25: “If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat; and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink; for you will heap coals of fire on their heads and the Lord will reward you.”
Well, in our long list of genuine love, I don’t think that we got “heaping burning coals on someone’s head.” A notion is found both in the Proverbs and in Paul’s letter.
Many commentators have struggled to explain the image, reaching for examples of literal burning coals on literal heads. Perhaps the proverb invokes an old obscure Egyptian repentance ritual? Or perhaps ancient neighbors might have supplied fire starters inconvenient head to carrying cases?
What on earth has burning coal on the heads have to do with love?
Maybe we must go back to the word genuine again. Maybe we don’t need to stretch our imagination to figure out some kind of weird historical precedent to understand the image of burning coals on the head.
Because frankly: we have all felt them!
We have all experienced that hot discomfort of realizing we were wrong. We have all felt the distinctive fiery squirm when our own pettiness contrasts with another’s graciousness.
We call it “burning guilt” for a reason.
Brene Brown tells us that guilt is a productive emotion. Yes, it is deeply uncomfortable, but it also drives us to change for the better. When we feel guilty, we are more likely to consider the experiences and emotions of others – and more likely to change our own future actions, aligning them more closely with our values.
It’s fair to hope for change from those who have hurt us.
We could try to create guilt in our enemies by berating or lecturing them, but that would be more likely to generate irritation than eagerness to change.
Alternatively, as in the proverbs, we could move forward in extravagant kindness, trusting the power of our deeds to generate a holy fire in those around us, trusting in the spirit to do the work of transformation.
As NAtalie Wigg-Stevenson writes about this scripture passage in Sojourners: “ My sister once told me that I have a superpower: when someone is getting under my skin, I can turn itaroudn by being so nice that I wuickly get udner theirs instead. That is actually biblical, I recall responding. Paul says that is we are supernice to people who annoy us, we are bascilly pouring hot coals on their heads, Plus, God’s going to avene us anyway.”
As so many times before I turned to Eugene Peterson translation to listen to Paul’s word new:
Romans 12.9-21 The Message
9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
14-16 Bless your enemies, no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobody; don’t be a great somebody.
17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
So let love be genuine. Let it be generous and gracious. Just at God’s love for you and me is genuine, generous and gracious. In that light and through that love we might love and live. Amen.