Sunday Musings
Love your enemies and don't forget to shame them (appropriately) in the process, says Jesus.
TODAY IS THE SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
We’re nearing the end of Epiphany. The light has dawned, the new creation invites. Lent will ask us to choose — will we side with love or not?
This Sunday’s reading poses the question of who we love. Faith would be ever so much easier if Jesus hadn’t said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
Welcome to some of the most misunderstood verses in the entire New Testament.
And don’t be part of that misunderstanding: Jesus is not calling oppressed and abused people to be doormats.
For more than two months, people have been asking me, “What are we going to do?” — How are we going to respond to this authoritarian takeover of the government?
In today’s Luke passage, Jesus gives a crystal clear answer to that question. Because — guess what? — the question of how to live in a corrupt, dictatorial society was central to his ministry.
Even when they hate you — even when the wicked do everything they can to enrich themselves and rob others — you are love them. Love your enemies.
Is that unsatisfying? Does it make you mad or uncomfortable? Maybe at first glance. But maybe his words hold surprisingly subversive wisdom for now.
Make sure to scroll through the entire newsletter today. Don’t skip the short video in the middle of the musing — it is a key part of my reflection today (if you don’t have time to watch the entire thing, watch it through the first example regarding turning the other cheek). There’s also some gorgeous poetry and a spiritual exercise called visio-divina (“holy seeing”) related to the gospel reading at the end — as well as an important Action Point.
Luke 6:27-38
Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 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."
It is of the utmost importance to remember the verses that precede this week’s text. The two passages are of a single piece.
Last Sunday, the lectionary gave us Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. Unlike the author of the Gospel of Matthew, Luke places Jesus’ most famous sermon on a plain, in a level place. The geography is vital to the story. Jesus models and speaks of the social relationships that mark the Kingdom of God — where hierarchy is banished, and human solidarity replaces any and all arrangements of supremacy and inequality.
Luke’s Sermon on the Plain records Jesus’ central teaching in the Beatitudes:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets."
"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation."Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry."Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep."Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets."
I love the woes. Whenever I hear them, I think: Go get ‘em, God. Get even with the oppressors and abusers, all those pompous people who look down their noses on the rest of us, who take from us without conscience, who treat their ‘underlings’ like dirt.” I want revenge.
And I’m more than happy with the idea that God will get even with those whom I believe deserve it. A vengeful Messiah is exactly what I hoped to see when the Kingdom of God arrived. Peace through retaliation. A new Golden Age baptized in recrimination, inaugurated by quid pro quo, whose culmination is reprisal.
But, before I can finish my inner exaltation of revenge, Jesus continued, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you….”
Hey, Jesus! Wait a minute! Why are you pouring cold water on my fantasies of retribution? Isn’t this the Kingdom of God? Tossing my enemies — your enemies — into the lake of fire?
What do you mean “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…”?
You want me to listen to that? I’m so much happier listening to my heart-desire’s to get even with those I hate.
No teaching could be more significant. The politics of the United States is now an overt politics of revenge — a politics that is supported by the majority of white Christians in this country — and a politics that claims to be (re)creating a Christian America.
Yet revenge is utterly, completely contrary to the central vision of Jesus and the Kingdom that he proclaimed. I’ll say that again: REVENGE IS CONTRARY TO THE GOSPEL.
These two passages from Luke rip the veil from the lie. Any political or social movement based on revenge violates the clear teaching of Jesus Christ himself.
So, what do those of us who are appalled by the depth and breadth of the current political abomination do?
Jesus said: Love your enemies…turn the cheek, give your cloak, go the extra mile.
Does that mean we give up and give in?
Absolutely not. It means we get smarter about the tactics of love.
Instead of explaining how we go about this in my own words, I point you to the following short video from Walter Wink (d. 2012), produced a couple of decades ago. I couldn’t express this better than he did. Watch it. The video is part of my musing today — and I’ll be using its insights in my own sermon at church.
You will understand Jesus’s teaching entirely differently.
In the video, Wink used the parallel Matthew version of this teaching, also found immediately following the Beatitudes, in Matthew 5:38-48.
Walter Wink’s video does two things.
First, it helps us to understand what the passage really teaches. Instead of doormat theology, Jesus proclaimed that love reveals truth. In each of these examples, practicing love for one’s enemy demonstrates something of God’s intention for humankind: to live nonviolently, forgive debts, and serve others.
(An aside: remember that Jesus just said that peacemakers, those without means, and those who are persecuted are blessed — each of the “action examples” in this follow-up passage is a practical illustration of those poetic blessings. The two sections are a single lesson.)
Second, Wink’s video reminds us how much of Jesus’ ministry wasn’t just preaching. Jesus performed the Kingdom of God in addition to speaking about it.
Every good writer follows a dictum: Show, not tell. My job isn’t just to tell you something or introduce you to a brilliant idea. My job is to show you what is true and beautiful through words. I’m not an encyclopedia or a website (I like both, by the way) — those are resources of “telling,” i.e., “informing” people about something.
Writers, storytellers, preachers, and teachers inform. But good ones do something else — they show the larger truth around facts or an idea. Word-crafters reveal implications, motivations, and possibilities. Our job is to take others into the truth, encourage listeners to find themselves in a story, to inspire and motivate others not only to know about a thing but to be changed by entering into it. We aim to show, not tell.
Jesus was a master at showing, not telling. Yes, he told people about the Kingdom, about blessings, and about love. But then he took the story one step further and enacted it — he told and then showed.
That’s the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. That’s Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. Jesus told his followers about blessings and woes. Then he showed them — in these practical, everyday examples of how to behave under oppression — how to love those who hate and curse them. He showed how to live a blessed life.
Preaching does tell. But it must show.
* * * * * *
Mainline Christians, liberal Christians, the “nice” Christians, have for far too long lived inside our heads. We thought that a good sermon was the point, that simply telling the gospel from a pulpit or listening to a preacher repeat what Jesus said was enough. That “telling” was the totality of proclamation.
But telling the Good News is only the beginning. It must also be performed. People need to be shown the truth of the thing.
Jesus spoke about truth and love and justice all the time. But does anyone honestly believe that he would have been remembered for two millennia without the follow-up performance? Without turning water into wine? Without healing the sick? Without stilling the sea? Without a great catch of fish? Without washing the feet of his friends? Without feeding the hungry? Without turning over tables? Without forgiving the criminal who hung next to him at his own execution? Jesus showed a different way until he gave up his last breath.
Words matter. But showing makes the point.
You might not like the idea of performing the gospel. For most mainline types, it conjures that worst fear of all — entertainment in church! We can’t have that! Performance means “fake.” It means screens in the sanctuary! It means guitars in church! Lord have mercy! Performance is undignified! God wants our minds to be transformed and our churches to be respectable — not theater. (An aside: “theater hatred” is one of the least-noticed moral hangovers from Puritanism.)
Yes, Jesus wants literate disciples. It is good to understand the meaning of scripture, the textual background, the historical context, and to live a life informed by thoughtful reflection. To know about God, about goodness, about mercy, or about love.
But knowing about stuff isn’t enough to change the world. We have to feel and do it.
We live in a performance-driven culture. You may like it or not. But this is how people communicate and motivate.
The Beatitudes aren’t just lovely poetry, an intellectual puzzle, or comforting words. They are a call to get out and live in such a way that love shames those who are oppressing the blessed — to humiliate all those acting against God’s dream for humanity. That includes the wealthy who steal from the poor, extortionists, those who take bribes, anyone who steals food from the hungry, people who take pleasure in the pain and suffering of others, those who work against peace and justice, the persecutors of God’s beloved children.
Mainliners often say to me, “But Jesus isn’t political! He never said anything against the Romans!”
I don’t believe that’s quite true. He did — but we often miss it because we don’t understand the text. But, even if he didn’t say it overtly, even if we don’t have a single recorded “political” word from Jesus, we still have the record of his actions. And what did Jesus do? He loved his enemies so much that he publicly shamed them through his actions — he was ruthlessly loving toward every tax collector, local collaborator, low-level imperial flunky, Roman soldier, corrupt clergyman or religious authority, Pilate, Herod, and even Caesar himself.
Jesus performed the Kingdom of God on the Mount, in the Plain, on the Sea of Galilee. In the temple. At dinner tables. Among children, for those disfigured by disease, for the outcast and oppressed. All these people liked what Jesus said — telling them about the Kingdom was certainly interesting.
But they followed him because they loved what he did. Doing what he taught — especially in his glorious, often funny, always unexpected public takedowns of those who were destroying their faith and their society — thrilled crowds. When Jesus showed the Kingdom, they cheered. They became his disciples. They followed, listened, watched, and learned. Many kept following. And, even after the Romans scared them off by killing Jesus, they overcame their fears and showed up again — insisting that their Teacher was alive and demonstrating to the world what resurrection really meant.
That’s the power of show, not tell. That’s the power of performance. That’s the power of acting out relentless love. Love your enemies. Jesus said it; Jesus did it. A few years later, the Apostle Paul would remind his readers: If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. By doing this, you will pile burning coals of fire upon his head. (Romans 12:20)
That’s how you treat your enemies. You don’t seek revenge or threaten them with the FBI or send armies of trolls after them. You don’t threaten to ruin their lives or careers. You don’t take pleasure in seeing them frightened or suffering. Christians love their enemies and invite them to dinner. In public. By making a big deal of it. By turning the other cheek, by disrobing, and by breaking the law with goodness and mercy. Just like Jesus said.
That’s not doormat theology. That’s great theater.
* * * * * *
What are we going to do? About MAGA? About the cruelty, greed, and moral corruption that now rules the United States? About similar movements sweeping the globe? These religious and political authoritarians are performing their beliefs in public every hour of every day. They don’t hesitate to show you exactly who they are or what they plan — they glory not in love but in self-aggrandizement and sadistic control. They deceive through performance; they’ve taken center stage and are acting out their fantasies of the world they envision. A world of anti-love. A world of woe for everyone but themselves.
Performance isn’t the problem. Human beings love a good show. It is what they are performing that’s the problem. You know it if you’ve turned on the news for even a minute — it is a telethon of evil meant to terrify and cow you. You can control people through theater. Ask Hitler about this.
We need to put on a different show — the love and mercy show.
Don’t seek vengeance. Don’t join the retribution tour. Help your friends get off that bus. Maybe even stand in front of some buses.
Don’t give in to injustice. Don’t be taken in by evil’s show.
And don’t be a Jesus doormat. Love isn’t about giving in. It is about going beyond. Embrace the tactics of Jesus — the tactics of relentless love.
Luke ends with these words:
“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.”
Imitate the merciful God. Not revenge-seeking tyrants. Your reward will be great. That’s a promise.
LENT AT THE COTTAGE
Ash Wednesday is March 5. The First Sunday of Lent is March 9.
On the Sundays of Lent, Sunday Musings will continue as usual for the entire Cottage community. They are always free and open to all subscribers — and can be widely shared.
During the weekdays of Lent, we’ll focus on the “W’s” of spiritual resilience that I first shared in the post, “What Are We Going to Do?” Sundays will pick up the same theme. BUT — there will be additional posts, devotions, and interviews during the week for paid subscribers.
I host paid subscriber seasonal events to create a smaller, more intimate experience for folks at the Cottage. The smaller circle isn’t intended to be exclusive. It allows some readers to go deeper together.
You can become a paid subscriber for Lent by clicking the button below to see the options:
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LENTEN SERIES AND CANNOT AFFORD IT, please email us HERE. We have never turned away anyone who wants to join but has not the means to do so.
INSPIRATION
Oh, we fear our enemy’s mind, the shape
in his thought that resembles the cripple
in our own, for it’s not just his fear
we fear, but his love and his paradise.
We fear he will deprive us of our peace
of mind, and, fearing this, are thus deprived,
so we must go to war, to be free of this
terror, this unremitting fear, that he might
he might, he might. Oh it’s hard to say
what he might do or feel or think.
Except all that we cannot bear of
feeling or thinking—so his might
must be met with might of armor
and of intent—informed by all the hunker
down within the bunker of ourselves.
How does he love? and eat? and drink?
He must be all strategy or some sick lie.
How can reason unlock such a door,
for we bar it too with friends and lovers,
in waking hours, on ordinary days?
Finding the other so senseless and unknown,
we go to war to feel free of the fear
of our own minds, and so come
to ruin in our hearts of ordinary days.
— Rebecca Seifert, "Love my enemies, enemy my love"
“We all have a part in shifting the story.”
—Joy Harjo, 23rd US Poet Laureate
There is, in an overfull classroom,
a woman teaching not only history,
but compassion. There’s a barista
making hearts in the foam
of every cappuccino she serves.
There’s man helping another man
on crutches as he struggles to cross
the icy street. There’s a library room full of women
chanting about praying for their enemy.
There are students raising money
to help those with breast cancer and AIDS.
Two girls are laughing for the joy of laughing
’til their faces are tear-streaked
and their ribs and bellies are sore.
There’s a poet who pours courage and music
into every word she shares with the world.
And another woman hears those words
and thinks, “Me. That poet is talking to me.”
This is how we change the world one kind act,
one true word, one long laugh at a time. Because
now, that woman is ablaze with wondering:
What is my part in shifting the story?
— Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, “Even in a Time of Intolerance”
OPPORTUNITIES
TWO EUROPEAN PILGRIMAGES IN 2025
I’ve been invited to lead two wonderful retreats in Europe this year.
The Cottage isn’t sponsoring them — rather, two great organizations have asked me to accompany them on these journeys. And you are invited to come, too! The France pilgrimage focuses on history as a spiritual practice; the Ireland retreat on story-telling and peacemaking. You need to reach out to them via the links provided for further information.
I’m excited about both. And, I want to extend a special invitation to my Canadian friends who are currently boycotting visits to the United States (I get why; I’m so sorry) to consider joining one of these groups. Check with the hosts about Canadian exchange rates, etc.
Chartres, France: June 2-6, 2025
RETRACING OUR PATH: THE SPIRITUAL PRACTICE OF REFLECTING ON HISTORY WITH DIANA BUTLER BASS HOSTED BY LAUREN ARTRESS. A labyrinth pilgrimage at Chartes Cathedral.
Ireland: September 8-15, 2025
IRELAND RETREAT with northern Irish writer and peace activist Gareth Higgins and North Carolinian chaplain and spiritual director Brian Ammons, with guest co-facilitator, Diana Butler Bass.
IMAGES OF PERFORMANCE: A VISIO DIVINA
In closing today, I leave you with two pictures of public performances this week. Both depict powerful white men making a point about how they understand society and politics. As you look at the images, ask yourself what values the actor holds, what the person hopes to accomplish, and what the image says about their beliefs? They are also interesting images of differing visions of masculinity. What is your response to these pictures? Which image is closer to the Gospel? To today’s texts?
The first is of Elon Musk at CPAC in Washington, DC, where he bragged about destroying the government by waving a chainsaw and proclaiming his own political power — all while praising an authoritarian leader from South America. According to observers, this moment received a wild ovation from the large crowd.
This second image is of Chris Kluwe, a former NFL player, who spoke out in protest of a pro-MAGA sign being installed in a library in Huntington Beach, California. After an impassioned speech, he engaged in an act of non-violent protest, was arrested, and was physically removed from the city council meeting. You can read the story HERE.
It is easy to be grateful when things are going our way.
But to exercise the mental discipline to be grateful in the face of setbacks, I have found, is one of the great experiences that gives you that resilience and the opportunity to see your life, to see your community and the world much more broadly, and to keep going.
— Hillary Clinton
Do not fret yourself because of evildoers;
do not be jealous of those who do wrong.
For they shall soon wither like the grass,
and like the green grass fade away.
— Psalm 37:1-2
ACTION POINT
Now it is time to call your representative and senators and tell them to get Elon Musk’s DOGE out of Social Security. Nothing scares Congress as much as ANGRY SENIORS. (Well, angry billionaires scare them, too. But there are more of us!)
Use the 5 Calls app (5 Calls has other important action points) or call the Congressional switchboard directly at (202) 224-3121. Call REPUBLICANS. Don’t think they aren’t hearing you. They are.
Elon now has full access to your retirement fund. And he’s not telling the truth about the data. Yes, there are people who seem to be more than 100 years old. But that’s for a very particular reason. The software program that runs Social Security puts in place-holder dates (of more than 150 years) for recipients and future recipients whose birth or death dates aren’t known. Eighty and ninety years ago, it wasn’t uncommon for someone to not have their birthday recorded in some official record.
If your friends or fellow church members believe or are spreading this falsehood, please share this story: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-security-doge-100-150-year-olds-cobol-elon-musk/
Even Trump’s newly appointed Social Security director is trying to correct what both his boss and Musk have repeated. Trump and Musk will use this misleading information to cut benefits. I’m not kidding you and not trying to scare you. But you must speak up now. Seniors are being targeted by Musk. If you are a pastor with older parishioners, you’ll want to keep on top of any developments regarding Social Security and Medicare. Both will have a direct impact on your people and your congregation.
Diana...I realize you are too humble to seek compliments or credit for what you give us through The Cottage. But I want to thank you for all the hard work you are devoting to offering us ideas and guidance in this difficult era. Bless you for caring so much,
I really don’t get how people could think Jesus wasn’t political. Jesus’s message is radical, at odds with the status quo, and that is inherently political.