SERMON – Love for the unlovely
A young boy was taught by his parents to pray beside his bed before he went to sleep every night. It became a routine that stayed with him. Later, when he was a man and joined the army, he kept up this practice. However, it wasn’t long before others observed him doing this and he soon became an object of mockery and ridicule in the barracks. One night, as he knelt to pray after a long, weary march, one of the soldiers took off his muddy boots and threw them at him one at a time, hitting him on each side of his head. The Christian said nothing, took the boots, put them beside the bed, and continued to pray. The next morning, when the other soldier woke up, he found his polished boots sitting beside his own bed. It so affected him that he asked for forgiveness and after a time turned to Jesus as well.[2]
If the abused soldier had have retaliated, the situation would have most likely become far worse for him. Retribution only escalates further into a never-ending cycle of violence. Instead, he overcame evil by doing good, and God changed the aggressor’s heart. If we were to search for a modern illustration to Jesus’ sermon on the plain, this would be it.
Today’s Gospel is a continuation of Jesus’ sermon on the plain which we began last week. Today, Jesus begins by saying: “to you who are listening”. Last week where we heard, through his proclamation of blessings and woes, Jesus explaining what the blessed life really is. Those who accumulate material riches, who cling to the things of this world and who imagine that they can do without God and his grace in Christ may be blessed in the eyes of the world but are not blessed at all. By contrast, a person who recognises their spiritual poverty in God’s sight and hunger and thirst for his righteousness has first been blessed by the Holy Spirit to see these spiritual realities. Whether a person is blessed or not is not measurable by what they have, or their life circumstances, but by whether they welcome or reject Jesus—whom the prophets pointed to—and listen to his word.
To those who are listening—to those who have already been blessed with ears to hear—Jesus teaches how his people are to live as children of the Most High in the kingdom he has established which is completely different to the kingdoms of earth.
Jesus begins: “Love your enemies.” Who are our enemies? Scripture tells us that ever since Adam and Eve’s takeover bid in the Garden of Eden, all people, by nature, have hearts and wills set against God. Paul says we too were once enemies of God, alienated from him (Colossians 1:21). It was not while we friends of God but his enemies that God sent his Son to reconcile the world to him (Romans 5:10). Yet when Jesus came to earth in flesh and blood, though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own (that is, God’s Old Testament people Israel) but his own did not receive him.” (John 1:10-11). The human heart was at such enmity with God that his Son was rejected and put to death on a Cross.
Yet to all who did receive him, to all who believed in his name—whether Jew or Gentile—were given the right to be called the children of God (John 1:12). As God’s children we are set apart from the world, and so John writes in his first letter: “Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you” (1 John 3:13). In Romans we hear that the world considers us as little more than sheep to be slaughtered—just as our Chief Shepherd was. Christians have been martyred for confessing Christ throughout the centuries and still are today. Our enemies are not people we have conflict with generally, but those who are hostile to God through unbelief—and therefore, hostile towards us.
So Jesus preaches on how his people are to love unbelievers while we live in a world hostile to Christ and his church. Whereas the world would say people should punish and exact revenge on those who hate us, we are to do good to those who hate us. Whereas the world would say we should curse those who curse us, wish evil upon them and slander and shame them all over social media, Jesus says we are to bless them. Whereas the world says that we should mistreat those who mistreat us to teach them a lesson, we are to pray for them.
Why? Because no one else in the world other than God’s own children would be blessing them, praying for them and doing good for them. Unbelievers aren’t going to be praying for unbelievers. Unbelievers won’t be blessing unbelievers. Unbelievers won’t be doing God’s work towards other unbelievers. But God has chosen us to do this so that they might come to know him through his astonishing love at work in us and through us. In the Gospel according to Matthew Jesus says: “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16).
Jesus says: If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.” Does Jesus mean that we should just let others trample all over us?
I think what is in view here is something more particular than general violence, but more of an insult—remember this is in the context of unbelievers persecuting God’s people—a slap in the face, much like when Jesus was mocked and slapped in the face before his crucifixion (Matthew 26:67-68). Now, a slap in the face would be belittling and rile us up to want to strike back. But aggression only escalates violence. People being king hit on the streets in recent times is a perfect example: different groups trade insults outside of the hotel. The situation quickly escalates, and the retaliator punches the aggressor…who falls, and cracks his skull on the footpath, and later dies. If only the retaliator had have walked away, it would have only been their pride that was deeply wounded. But now, as well as being insulted, they face a manslaughter charge and likely prison time.
Jesus is making the point that we are not to take matters into our own hands, relying on aggression to right a wrong, but place them in God’s hands. Then we cannot be charged with any wrongdoing, and in so doing we have loved our insulters and aggressors, who have no case against us. Similarly, if someone were to attack us and take our cloak, Jesus says do not withhold your shirt as well.
Now, what’s that all about? In Jesus’ day, cloaks were quite valuable—they were used as collateral for taking out a loan, but a principle of care was to return the cloak to its owner in the evening, for coats were needed to keep warm while sleeping (Exodus 22:25-27; Deuteronomy 24:10-13). In the context of persecution, it is possible that Jesus is addressing a situation of exploitation where Christians were being threatened for their coats, which were used to access cash but never returned. In Matthew 5:38, Jesus talks about the Old Testament Law—‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’. This was designed to put a ceiling on escalating wrongs. If someone had suffered loss they could only extract the equivalent from the person who had wronged them, and that’s all. But Jesus flips this completely. If a person has their coat taken, it would be better for them to give away their shirt as well. Why?
Jesus wants to protect his disciples’ souls from damage. It is better to suffer loss in body and in goods, than one’s soul to be consumed with avenging a loss and our hearts filled with evil. The parable of the farmer and the fox shows us that retaliating on those who have done us wrong can easily and quickly backfire, so that we end up heaping even more harm on ourselves. Jesus says: “For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” We lose less by letting our things being taken wrongfully than we would with a heart set on vengeance to right our wrongs our way. God will deal with our enemies. But even if those who sin against us escape justice from earthly courts, there is no escaping God’s justice when he comes again to judge the world and set all things right. So as God’s people we are to forgive and wait on God and let him bring justice.
If we are to love our enemies, how much more our brothers and sisters in Christ! Yet so often we treat our brothers and sisters as the enemy. Jesus’ sermon are words of wisdom for life, no matter how hard it might seem for his people not to forgive. His people are not to retaliate with hurtful words of their own, not to rely on violence to right a wrong, and not to turn to courts to settle a matter—especially in the family of believers!
Holding on to bitterness actually takes far more energy than forgiving. Harbouring bitterness, and avenging a wrong takes a much greater toll, as bitterness and anger eat away at us inside like a festering wound in our heart, and the action we initiate brings more problems upon ourselves. When we are in this situation, we are under spiritual attack, for the Devil would want us to listen to the sermon from the world’s pulpit, rather than the word of Christ. In Ephesians Paul said:
“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbour, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:25-32).
Being kind only to those who are kind to us, loving only those who love us, looking after the interests of those who look after ours is no different to how unbelievers live. It is the natural way of “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. But God gives us a super-natural (that is, above natural) way of relating with others. He did not just give us concepts and principles, but he gave us his own Son. God did not try to get even with us and make us pay. It was when we did not love God that he showed his love to us. It was when we did not do good that God showed his goodness and mercy to us. It was while we were sinners; while we were enemies of God, that God mercifully opened the storehouses of heaven and poured out his riches for you, sending his own Son into a hateful and hurting world, paying our debt of sin for us, reconciling us to God with a price our bank accounts could never afford. And so his Son shed his own holy and precious blood.
Jesus practices what he preaches. This Lord Christ was persecuted for you. He turned the other cheek when he was struck and slapped before the High Priest (John 18:22) for you. He was publicly humiliated, having his clothes taken by the soldiers before they crucified him (John 19:23-24) for you. It was Jesus who prayed for his enemies: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34). That is where God’s Kingdom of grace ruled over sin, death and hell for all, and for you.
And his Kingdom of grace has come to rule in your hearts. For all who are baptised in Christ have been clothed with Christ. Your Father in heaven did not just lend Jesus to you. You have been united with him through water and the word, so that the Christ God gave to the world he has freely given to you, forever. You are his and he is yours. He has covered you with his own robe of righteousness, to cover all your sin and shame. And by his mighty death and resurrection power at work in you from the day you were born again with new hearts to love and serve, may you and I love like the soldier in the army barracks. May we love like Christ, as children of the Most High—so that all may see our good works and join with us in giving glory to our Father in heaven. Amen.
[1]I have adapted this from Aesop’s Fable of ‘The farmer and the fox’, at FableReads: https://www.fablereads.com/en/fable/the-farmer-and-the-fox last accessed 8:50pm 21/2/2025
[2] Michael P. Green, ed., Illustrations for Biblical Preaching: Over 1500 Sermon Illustrations Arranged by Topic and Indexed Exhaustively, Revised edition of: The expositor’s illustration file. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989).
