Sermon for Easter IVB 2018 Will We Choose Love?

Transcription

1 Sermon for Easter IVB 2018 Will We Choose Love? Earlier this week, I watched the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and I can t stop thinking about it. I didn t really know much about it I did know it was about a mother seeking justice for her murdered daughter that seemed like such a straight forward plot for a movie, but the characters and the storyline of this film takes you to unexpected places throughout. It would be a great film for a group discussion but the language and the violence in the film which I did not expect is certainly not for everyone. The edginess of this film caught me off guard. And, as I said, you think you know where things are headed but then suddenly you are off-road in unexpected territory. The film begins with the grieving mother, Mildred played by Frances McDormand renting three billboards just down the road from her house with messages shaming the local police chief, Willoughby (played by Woody Harrelson), in hopes of galvanizing the police department into action to solve the rape and murder of her 19 year old daughter. Instead she merely irritates the well-loved police chief and infuriates Dixon a rather dim witted, bigoted police officer with anger management problems. Tension escalates. Anger begets more anger and the violence escalates accordingly Dixon and Mildred would probably tell you their anger was righteous because of the love they have for those they are defending and seeking justice for. 1

2 But in the end they are both forced to address the deeper issues inside them that fuel their actions (and even their words) Not to mention that they are confronted with unintended consequences, their assumptions, misunderstandings and things that are just not under their control and may remain a mystery to them... at least in this life. And yet, in one brief but moving scene, two men find themselves sharing a hospital room. One was injured when he was thrown out the window. He realizes that his roommate, suffering from burns, was the man a police officer who threw him out the window. Rather than attack this man physically or even verbally he brings him a glass of water. A sign of compassion, of healing, even... forgiveness. I don t want to do a spoiler alert. However, I will say that an important character dies halfway through the movie, leaving beautifully written letters to several other characters. It s a stretch, I know, but the letters are almost epistles, in their beauty and their ability to cause a change of heart in Dixon and Mildred. I would love to have a copy of the screenplay if for no other reason than to read these letters. Despite the dark, violent world of Ebbing, Missouri, the letters eventually become a catalyst for unexpected reconciliation and hope. The film doesn t end with a tidy resolution... but it does seem to point to a reckoning that justice is not brought about by eye-for-an-eye violence, and anger however righteous it is leads us astray and does not honor those we love. You could say that this film shows that despite everything, reconciliation is possible. Conversion is possible. 2

3 In fact, one character has a kind of dying and rising that caught me completely off guard. Oh... and did I mention that the film begins on Easter Day? I don t think that was an unimportant detail We know love by this, that [Jesus the Christ] laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. Meditating on the words of this 1 st century epistle a letter written so many thousands of years ago, I wonder if they can be for us a catalyst for unexpected reconciliation and hope... can the words of our Lord from the gospel of John cause a change of heart in us such that we cool our righteous anger at others and seek, instead, to die to ourselves and rise to love as Christ first loved us. I wonder. We so often think, though, that love like anger is about emotions, feelings and words. There is nothing wrong with those things. They are a legitimate part of love. Certainly we all want to be told that we are loved. We to feel that warmth, security, and tenderness that comes with love. At some point, however, love, if it is to be real, must become tangible revealed not only by words and feelings but by actions. Love is known in action. So what does this have to do with Easter, resurrection, and the Good Shepherd? Everything. 3

4 It has everything to do with Easter, resurrection and the Good Shepherd. God s love for humanity became tangible in the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, our Lord. In Jesus the Christ, God enacted love. The actions of God in the Word made flesh show us God s love. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. Love is known in action. The same test applies to our love. How do others know what is in our heart? It is by our actions. Just as God s love is known to us through the visible action of Christ, so our love is known to others through what we do. For Christ, love is lived; and how we live is always a choice. It is a choice driven by our recognition of, compassion for, and willingness to do something about the live and needs of another whether they are in our own families, this congregation, on the other side of town, the other side of the state, the country, or the world. We cannot claim to believe in Jesus if we are unwilling to lay down our life for another, regardless of who they are. If we believe, if we have faith, we will love. If we do not love, neither do we believe. Whenever we lay down our life die to ourselves for another, we proclaim that resurrection is not just an event in the past. It is a present reality, not just an historical remembrance. Laying down our life makes Jesus resurrection tangible and real. 4

5 The only reason we can ever lay down our life for another is because Jesus first laid his life down for us. We should speak the words lay down our lives with awe. Usually the only time we hear these words is to praise the sacrifice of a soldier who dies to save others, or perhaps to speak of rescuers, first-responders, who die while attempting to save others from a burning building or from rising waters. It is the often surprising action of extraordinary self-sacrifice that is the test of love. What John s first letter seems to be telling us is that for Christians, self-sacrifice should be ordinary, not extraordinary. John exhorts us to lay down our lives not intending to give a grand challenge for martyrdom but as an everyday commandment for all of us ordinary Christians. The Christian life is a life laid down for others, a life built on self-sacrifice. The opportunities for a laying down life kind of love are everywhere. You don t have to go far. They are the family and friends we see everyday. They are the people of this congregation and of this town. They are the strangers who pass through our lives. They are the anonymous ones talked about as issues of poverty, homelessness, hunger, and victims of violence, injustice, racism, sexism, and war. And, yes, they are also our enemies. The opportunities for laying down life kind of love is not just circumstances. They are people, human beings created in the image and likeness of God. 5

6 We need only to be present, open our eyes, listen, and pay attention to know how and where love asks us to lay down our life for another. But a laying down life kind of love means we will have to change our usual routines. It will mean that we need to suffer God to guide us when we are angry about injustices so that we do not compound them with more injustices of our own and all the unintended consequences that they bring. Circling back to the film Three Billboards... a word of truth is spoken halfway through the film that, if taken to heart, could have spared a lot of needless suffering Hate begets hate. Anger begets more anger. And we could also add that, fear begets fear. It becomes an endless cycle of retaliation, acting out, and violence that almost never achieves any measure of justice. We need to pray for the faith and love we need to stop the cycle of injustice and abuse. Faith and love keeps our hearts open to God and to the other. So, a laying down life kind of love means we will have to change our usual routines. It is no longer business as usual. The life and well being of the other now sets our agenda, guides our decisions, and determines our actions. That sounds a lot like how the good shepherd lived and died. Laying down our life, is not, however, the end of life. It wasn t for Jesus, nor will it be for us. It is, rather, the beginning of a new life, a more authentic life, a life that look a lot like Jesus life. 6

7 True, just as in the film Three Billboards, our life stories often bring us down roads we never expected or even wanted to travel. All along the way, we will have choices to make in response to circumstances and the people who meet or challenge us along the way. Will we meet them motivated only by anger, vengeance or fear? Or will we choose to respond with self-giving love as Christ commanded us in a life that mirrors his example. Such a the life is one in which we hear the voice of the good shepherd call our name and we follow where he leads. Call it what you want Easter, resurrection, the good shepherd it s all the same, a laying down life kind of love. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit he has given us. 7