First United Methodist Church
September 29th, 2024
Rev. Lauren Hall
Do Unto Others: An Introduction
A few years ago I heard a TED talk that really made me laugh. The speaker shared a conversation he had with another person on an airplane. After sharing about his own work and all the great things his organization was doing, this person asked the speaker where he worked. The speaker, a pastor, thought for a moment and then replied that he worked for a global enterprise that has outlets in nearly every country of the world. He said, “We have hospitals and hospices and homeless shelters. We do marriage work, we’ve got orphanages, we’ve got feeding programs, educational programs, and we do all sorts of justice and reconciliation things. Basically we look after people from birth to death and we deal in the area of behavioral modification.”
The other guy was impressed, and he asked for the name of this amazing organization. The pastor smiled and replied, “I work for the church.”
Let us pray:
We don’t normally talk about the church in business language, but one of the things we have to take seriously is that we are not an isolated institution with a self-focused mission. That’s how businesses like McDonalds and Walmart operate.
As followers of Jesus, we are a part of a global enterprise, and it doesn’t really stop there, because we are also a part of an intergalactic organization since it includes everyone who has gone before us. So when you look at this organization called the church, you begin to realize that it is involved in almost every area of life and it is unlike anything else you could possibly compare it to.
One of the things that makes Christians unique is that Jesus calls each one of us personally to carry out his mission, which is to share the good news about the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is where God is revealed to us in love. Again and again, Jesus calls us to love one another “in the same way that I have loved you.” And this kind of love can challenge us, especially in the world we live in today.
So take a moment to digest all that. Breathe. Now, when you think about the reality of Christ’s mission, how might God be calling us to respond to the passage we read today?
We’re finishing up James this week, and James encourages us to bathe ourselves in prayer. Prayer is powerful and it acknowledges we have a God that we can communicate with. According to James, if all of life were to be held before God in prayer, what an amazing world this would be. Realizing this can be difficult sometimes, especially when the world we find ourselves in is riddled with realities that don’t always seem like we are getting answers to our prayers.
So again, we go back to Jesus. James received his direction and insight from Jesus; therefore, so should we. Our gospel has us wrestling with two major concerns – an inward one and an external one.
The first is focused “inward” on the members of Christ’s body itself: “no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me.” Christians have a tendency to worry about whether they are keeping the message of the Gospel pure. Think about Christmas. We want to keep the “Christ” in Christmas, while a lot of people only want to think about the gifts and the celebrations. It is important to be clear about where our hope rests, but at the same time, we need to listen to Jesus and recognize that “whoever is not against us is for us.” This, I think, releases us to partner with persons of other faith traditions (and even of no faith tradition) on common causes like caring for the needy, ending malaria, feeding the hungry, advocating for just government, and so forth. Anyone who is not against us in our work of embodying the kingdom and reign of God that Jesus proclaims is a potential ally, regardless of whether they are United Methodist or not.
The second part of this teaching is more external and invites us to explore in a different light our “external” relationships:
There’s a lot going on in this passage, and it’s hard to put it into context because it hardly seems to fit the narrative thus far. Jesus switches, it would seem, from answering the disciples question about who is with them and who is against them to the issue of making it difficult for the most vulnerable to stay within the new community he is forming.
But maybe it’s not that much of a stretch after all. In the earlier conversation, Jesus was talking about the importance of looking for allies everywhere, being willing to side with anyone doing God’s work. Why? Because the work of the kingdom matters.
Here, he is still talking about the kingdom movement, about how incredibly important it is. It’s devastating to think that Jesus is telling us to tie a millstone around our necks and drown ourselves if we do something that causes someone to seek love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control elsewhere. That’s a serious consequence!
Participating in the kingdom Jesus proclaims is of such importance that we should get rid of anything that keeps us from it. Hands, feet, eyes, whatever inclinations or habits or actions that may keep us from participation in the new community Jesus forms must be put away. All will struggle, Jesus promises, but not all will endure.
Do we take Jesus’ movement and kingdom that seriously?
The consequences may seem extreme – the systematic amputation of parts of our body – and this is intentionally ridiculous. Think about it. Getting rid of one foot, hand and eye leaves a member of the pairs still intact, and these, too, will, no doubt, later lead the person into sin, as well. Amputate your remaining limbs, and pluck out your second eye and soon you're a blind and limping believer.
Jesus knows how silly this sounds. He has made it clear: Temptation and evil come from within. The hands, feet and eyes are directed by an inner will and spirit, and any restorative and redemptive activity must begin there — in the heart. Jesus already said, "For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come." (Mark 7:21) So, Jesus is not recommending surgery in any real or physical sense; he is demolishing our feeble excuses, and points us, instead, to the need for "inside out" renewal.
And so this leads us to where we are going – to our next sermon series – Do Unto Others. In this series we will consider ways that we might foster kindness, compassion, humility, respect and love in our very divisive world right now. We will be taking our cues from Jesus and a whole host of prophets who came before him as we seek to thrive spiritually in our own lives and in the world we live in.
Last night when we took over 20 teenagers from our church and the Church of the Brethren, and their friends to the Niles Scream Park, we reminded them before we left that not all people respond to fear in the same way, so it would be important to be respectful and not make fun of a person who may react differently than they would. I had to check myself for a moment, because I started to say, “Do unto others as you would have done to you,” but I realized that some kids don’t mind being teased, so instead I instructed them to “Do unto others as Jesus would do to you.” This, perhaps, is advice that would benefit all of us. Let us pray:
Prayer: Dear God, when we look at the people around us, help us to see friends, colleagues, and partners rather than adversaries or enemies. Renew our commitment to you and keep us from all that would distract us or others from perceiving your mercy and grace. Empower us to join all those working for the good of your people and the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Invitation to Discipleship
As you go about in the community this week, may God show you the way to Do Unto Others.
May the Christ whose Light is the Center of All-That-Is ground you in the assurance that no one is outside of love.
May the Spirit show forth through you in extraordinary acts you never imagined you had the power to achieve.
And may you know the peace that surpasses all understanding, especially when it is difficult to understand. Go in peace.
