7th
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle
C
Some
things are easy to say, yet hard to do.
When
I first started out in business in a leadership role, I really wanted to become
a great leader. I read lots of books and articles on leadership, and all of
them seemed to have a system, a bunch of things to do that would make me a
great leader. I used to write these tips on pieces of paper and tape them to
the walls of my office, or I’d write them on 3 x 5 cards and sort through them
from time to time, to remind me of what I was supposed to do.
But
invariably what happened is that eventually I stopped seeing those pieces of
paper on my wall and stopped pulling those cards out of my drawer, and I went
back to my more established, comfortable way of leading, which was centered
around me and what I wanted to achieve. At least until the next bright shiny
system popped up and I started all over again.
I
thought that if I could just get one or two ideas out of each of them and
changed my behavior a little bit each time, eventually I would develop into the
leader I thought I should be; someone who people would follow, respect and
admire. It was all about how I saw myself, not the people I was leading. I was
always looking for the things I could do to change, the little corrections I
could make to my behavior that would make the difference.
It
was all about me, and it was getting me nowhere. I could never remember to do
all those things, I could never get in the habit of doing them without consciously
thinking about doing them. And it was mentally exhausting. It is so much easier
to just go with my instincts, so much easier to react rather than be proactive.
And so nothing much changed. I had to find a way to start focusing not so much
on the behaviors I wanted to foster in myself as on the people I was leading. I
needed to stop thinking in terms of the things I needed to do and start
thinking about the people on my team.
Jesus
gives us his famous teaching about loving our neighbors today. I think we all
are familiar with this passage. Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. The
Golden Rule. Judge not. Much of what it means to be a Christian disciple can be
found here. These things are recognized as good not just in the world of faith
but in Western society as a whole. They transcend religion. All people think
these are worthy practices. They are great behaviors and if we all just put
them into practice the world would be a better place. They show the loving side
of Jesus, the merciful prophet, the really great guy who is tolerant and loving
towards all. We like this Jesus. We like these teachings. They are something we
can all agree on.
They
fit very well on a 3 x 5 card. They are behaviors we can emulate and strive to
live by. We can practice them in concrete ways. I can lend without expecting
repayment. I can give to the poor. I can try not to be judgmental. See, Lord, I
am giving it my best effort. I’m a good person because I am trying to be good.
All
these teachings of Jesus today seem countercultural and maybe even unnatural.
Love your enemies isn’t the first reaction we have when someone wrongs us.
Giving without expecting anything in return is not a good business practice.
And that don’t judge stuff? If we did that then Twitter would go out of
business. And if something is not natural to do, it’s difficult to do. And if
it’s difficult to do, it’s easy to fail. It takes a bit of mental and spiritual
effort to remember and put into practice.
The
problem is, I think that too often we see these things as part of some
spiritual self-help program. Just like me with my leadership development plan,
we see them as skills to develop, not ways of changing our world view for the
better.
And,
if we see them simply as tasks to complete, eventually we lose interest in
them. We only hear these words spoken every once in a while. We keep the cards
in the drawer, and we do not make them habits, part of our regular, comfortable
way of doing things. How can we make the life giving changes to our lives that
will make us true disciples?
Stop
focusing on the things and start loving the people. We too often these
teachings as being the thing, when they’re not the thing. They only are results
of the thing. They are the things we do because of the real thing.
The
real thing is people.
How
we see people. How we think about people. How we treat people is directly
related to who we think they are and how we see them in relation to ourselves.
The reason we fail so often in living these teachings of Jesus is because we
don’t see people the way Jesus sees them. Jesus did all these things. He fed
the hungry, gave sight to the blind, cured the lame, gave to the poor, came not
to judge but to show mercy. And I bet you he didn’t have to tape a list of these
behaviors on his bedroom wall to remind him and help him get better. He did
them because they were the natural result of how he viewed everyone he came in
contact with. It was easy for him to do them because they were the direct
outcomes of who he is and who we are.
How
many of you have children? As you raise them, do you ever think twice about
feeding them, clothing them, giving them shelter, taking care of them when they
are sick or hurt, consoling them when they are upset? Do you have to put up a
list of these behaviors on the refrigerator next to their artwork to remind you
how to act? Of course not. You do them easily and naturally and without
complaint because you love your children. You want the best for them not
because you want to be the best parent in the world, but because that’s what
love is and what love does. We do these things for the ones we love easily and
naturally, without planning or a second thought.
It’s
because love is focused always on the other, not on the self. I bet you if suddenly
someone in this congregation today suffered a heart attack and collapsed we
would all rush to help. Not because of what Jesus taught in today’s gospel but
because of the concern and compassion we would have for the person suffering.
Because we are Christians and because it is a natural human instinct to help
others. We wouldn’t give it a second thought. At times of crisis or need we
forget about ourselves and instinctually help one another.
St.
Augustine once said, “Love, then do as you will”. You cannot love outside of
God, because God is love. Jesus acted the way he did because he is love itself.
He could not act any other way. We are all called not just as disciples but as
human beings to act out of love for one another. Augustine went on to preach, “If you hold your peace, hold your peace
out of love. If you cry out, cry out in love. If you correct someone, correct
them out of love. If you spare them, spare them out of love. Let the root of
love be in you: nothing can spring from it but good.”
It
really isn’t that hard to live out the teachings of the Lord. Just keep it
simple. Hear the word of God in today’s readings and use those behaviors as
measurements of how well you are loving. Don’t focus on the doing, focus on
love. Get yourself out of the way and stop trying to force your behavior to
change. If you strive to serve others out of love, you will do all those things
Jesus asks of you, and more besides. See others as Jesus sees them, and you
will treat them as Jesus treats them. See each and every person you come in
contact with as having the worth and dignity of a beloved son or daughter of
the Father, and your behavior towards them will follow.
And
the best thing, by focusing on loving others, you will also be loved. You will
get as good as you give.
Give, and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
Maybe we should put that on our 3 x 5 cards
instead.
