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ONEFamily Outreach exists to "Connect Kids to Community and Communities to Kids." Have you considered having a mission week for your church? This is one of my favorite "in-depth" ways of reaching out with the Great News of Jesus Christ. Activities can include:

Interactive and participative praise concerts for children, youth, and families;
Morning staff studies on "Authentic Leadership" and "Building a Culture of Intentional Courtesy"
Brown-Bag Luncheon Studies for your community focusing on our scriptural call to justice;
In-service for your volunteers or teachers on reaching today's youth and families with the vibrant, living, message of Jesus Christ;
Evening parent seminars based upon two of Jerry's recent books: "Significant Conversations: Helping Young People Live Meaningful Lives," and "The Deepest Longing of Young People; Loving Without Conditions."
Local networking with other area groups (secular or faith-based) regarding prevention and intervention strategies for high-risk and incarcerated youth;
Humorous and thought-provoking school assemblies (secular or religious, elementary through high school).

ONEFamily Outreach is primarily supported by your donations and by trainings, workshops, retreats and concerts.

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Kingdom Liberation

Luke 6:27-38

February 22, 2004

Epiphany 7c

Luke 6:27-38

[Lk 6:27] “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [29] “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. [30] “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. [31] “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. [32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. [33] “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. [34] “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. [35] “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. [36] “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

[37] “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. [38] “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” (NAS)

Luke 6:27-28

[Lk 6:27] “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” (NAS)

To you who hear

There is more to the verb “to hear” [GSN191 akouo] than we might see at first glance. Christ intimately shares these Beatitudes—the attitudes necessary to experience the power and glory of God’s kingdom—they are the most earth-shaking, upside-down, approach to living ever stated. It was certainly in contrast to Greek, Buddhist and Confucian philosophies, which focused on self-fulfillment and reciprocal kindness. This was communal fulfillment and radical kindness not as a theory of reciprocity, but as a theory of, “the best way to love God is to love his people.” It certainly was backwards from the Roman culture. And, although the framework of what Jesus said was inherently Jewish in context; it was opposite of Judaism as practiced by the religious leaders.

Jesus preached the most earth-shaking, upside-down approach to living AND heaven ever heard!

Not everyone was ready to hear it; even fewer were ready to heed it. That is the central tenet of this verb that Christ uses when he says, “But I say to you who hear,” [GSN191 akouo]. The verb is not just “to hear” but “to heed.” There can be a radical difference between the two verbs.

Jesus lays out the Beatitudes, but are we ready to go deeper? Are we ready to move from hearing to heeding? Are we ready to have our earth shaken and our world turned right-side up? If so, only then we are ready to embrace the “rest of the story.”

Love your enemies

Here is the revolutionary news; the radical practice that transforms the follower of Christ. This is an important revelation! The attitudinal change happens after we change the way we act, not before. We don’t wait until our attitudes change and then act; we change the way we act and that changes our attitudes!

How then should we act in order to have the radical attitudes of the Kingdom of God?

1. We love [GSN25 agapao] our enemies [GSN2190 echthros];

This is a radical, self-abandoning, love of those who quite literally act hostile to us. I never really understood this until nine males from a gang came with bats and rocks in their fists to beat me up at our street youth center. Actually, seven were kids and two were the adult gang leaders who sent them after me. It is a long story, but all seven of those kids were arrested on unrelated charges within three days of the incident.

Visiting one on one with each young man in the County jail was the most freeing thing that could have happened to me after that threat. That is Kingdom Liberation; the freedom found in forgiving, loving, and abandoning ourselves especially to those hostile to us!

1. We do good [GSN2573 kalos] to those who hate [GSN3404 miseo] you;

Doing “good (or being morally well)” has a grand meaning. It would encompass the terms beautiful, honest, worthy, or virtuous. In other words, our Lord is commanding us to be a role model to those who hate us. When we look into the mirror of this world we see an unblemished image of what we look like. All too often, that is what we reveal to others as well; when they look at us with angry or spite, we look back the same way. With Christ, we are called to act differently. When we look into the mirrored eyes of Jesus Christ, we see ourselves not as who we are, but as the people we could become through his love.

Is that what we reflect to those who hate us? The image of who they could become, do we see the potential of love that is available to them through Christ? That is what we are called—even commanded—to offer.

2. We bless [GSN2127 eulogeo] those who curse [GSN2672 kataraomai] us;

In the last lesson we reviewed the word “blessing” in depth. In fact, there are two words for blessing that Luke reports Christ using in his version of the “Beatitudes Raw.” The first term is circumstantial; “Blessed [GSN3107 makarios] are you who are poor [v 20].” The Greeks would use this term to say; “The gods have smiled on you.” It is more akin to luck or a favorable situation.

In this text, Luke quotes Jesus as using a different term for blessing [GSN2127 eulogeo]; this term means “a good report,” like a eulogy or a summary of one’s life or accomplishments. On the other hand, when someone curses [GSN2672 kataraomai] us, it literally means to defecate on our name, to “doom” us. Those are pretty strong words!

What does Jesus do when the Romans have driven nails through his flesh? He pleads with God, “Forgive them; they know not what they are doing!” He knows that the Father is standing by with armies of angels holding heaven’s rage in check. As we desecrate our Lord’s body through sin, he responds with endless love.

Is that our response to desecration? Jesus is telling us; “This is the way to Kingdom Liberation! This is how to be free! Not by cursing those who curse you - but by blessing their name.” To bless, to remember their goodness and to praise them out loud! Who would have thought that was the way to freedom?

3. We pray [GSN4336 proseuchomai] for those who mistreat [GSN1908 epereazo] us.

When we pray for someone it literally means that we are “forward willing” their life. We enter so deeply into another person’s situation that we put all of our will, all of our desire, into deepening their relationship with God. We not only want the best for them, we are willing to put our lives and reputation on the line to seek the best for them. We are pleading to God on their behalf. Yet, even more, it is as if we were saying: “God, I will put my reputation on the line for this person,” and isn’t that what Jesus did for us?

Yet, for whom are we to be willing to put our reputation on the line for? Not just those who have a good reputation already, but, those who have a bad reputation and even those who “despitefully use” or “file a false law suit” against us. This is what it means when Jesus says, “For those who mistreat [GSN1908 epereazo] us.”

Can you imagine that? Someone files a false lawsuit against us, they are proven in court to have lied, but we say; “Your Honor, I know this person has done wrong, but release them into my care. If they continue to break the law, I will take total responsibility. You can punish me!”

That, my friends, is what Jesus did. That is what he says we must do to receive to Kingdom Liberation!

What kind of system is this? How radical could this Gospel be? This is liberation? This is freedom? This is salvation? Yes, yes and YES!

Kingdom Liberation frees us from our hatred. It frees us from our anger. It frees us from our pettiness and our sin. Kingdom Liberation opens up the power of heaven and rains down joy upon us the abundant joy that increases with every person that we forgive, love, and to whom we bring dignity. These are not just Beatitudes, they are Radical Attitudes, they are repentance—reopening—metanoeo [GSN3340], a new, higher way of intimately relating to God on all levels. “Meta,” means beyond and above, “Noeo” means knowledge, but not “head knowledge,” the kind of knowledge that God speaks about when, Jeremiah 1 he says, “Before your were formed in the womb, I knew you.” This is the most intimate knowledge, and that is the kind of relationship that our God wants to offer us. These attitudes are beyond and above anything that we could ever imagine.

Radical, liberating, freeing salvation; Kingdom Liberation!

Luke 6:29

[29] “Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

The other also

Once again let us make a comparison between the Beatitudes as recorded by Matthew and those given “in the raw” by Luke. Here is a great example of how the Gospels are complimentary. Here is Matthew’s version of the same reading:

Matthew 5:39-42

[Mt 5:39] “But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. [40] “If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. [41] “Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. [42] “Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” (NAS)

This fuller version provided by Matthew gives deeper insight into these verses. What we have here are the three major rules for how a Roman soldier could treat an indigent native in an occupied country. Who would be more hated than these foreign demons (except their lackeys, the tax collectors)? Can you imagine what Christ is asking of his fellow Jews? When you are conscripted, give twice what is asked of you. Jesus is telling them to use their persecution as a witness to God’s graciousness.

Can you imagine what Christ is asking of us; the Beatitude People?

Let’s take a deeper look, one that requires knowledge of these soldier’s laws. A soldier could force me to carry his pack one league, he could use my outer cloak for that distance if he needed to, he could slap me with his right hand if I needed correction. However, the law was also clear in this: If I was forced to take one step further than a Roman mile, give more than just my cloak, or if the oppressor hit me with the left hand, those were criminal offenses and the soldier would be lashed. At that moment the soldier was in danger of breaking the strict Roman laws of indenture. The moment I took one extra step; the soldier would be begging me to take off his pack!

Perhaps no one understood the force behind these statements of Jesus than one small Hindu named Gandhi. It became the basis of his peaceful defiance of England and it broke the back of English colonization. It was these principles, established by Jesus and practiced by Gandhi that formed the framework of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s civil disobedience actions for human rights. They were the bedrock of movements by Francis of Assisi, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Lech Walesa, Cardinal Karol Woljeta and so many other true practitioners of the Beatitudes in the Raw. These beatitudes of Jesus Christ have rocked the world by the few people who have practiced them since the time of Jesus Christ.

What does that mean for us though? Do we find ourselves daily at a crossroads of national or global importance? Well, yes!

Every one of God’s children has a destiny they are called to fulfill. Yet, most of the greatest acts of mercy and justice never make the “national” scene. Mercy and justice, lived out in faithful humility [Micah 6:8], are rarely attention-getters on the front page news nor should that ever be our intent. Our media is stimulated by controversy and oddity. Our work is usually below their radar screen (and that is good).

Our work is to bring Christ to the vulnerable, to teach and model the radical liberation of the raw beatitudes. To offer strength to each other as we bear oppression’s load “one step beyond a Roman mile.”

Luke 6:30-35

[30] “Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. [31] “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. [32] “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. [33] “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. [34] “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. [35] “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” (NAS)

“Love your enemies”

Most non-Christian authors focus on verse 31 and discuss the similarities between Jesus and other religious leaders: “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.”

Yet, this is only where Jesus starts! The depth of Jesus’ radically different message is found instead in verse 35: “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.”

Jesus takes the Golden Rule and calls it rusty medal. He says; “Even sinners love those who love them.” Our Lord takes, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and instead says; “Love like God loves, love like I love you.”

Our reward, he says, is great when we love “ungrateful and evil men” because that is the love God shows to us. We are the “ungrateful and evil men” that Christ came to redeem.

The Prince of Peace lays forth three attitudes of the Beatitude People:

1. Give [GSN1325 didomi]: To everyone who asks without expectation of return;

This term for giving [GSN1325 didomi] is much closer to “pour yourself out” or to “give yourself totally away”; it would mean freely passing on not only your possessions but giving of your very self. We are to live our lives completely “for-giving” not “for-taking.”

2. Love: Your enemies [GSN2190 echthros] without expecting them to treat you any differently;

This was a command so far beyond the comprehension of the people of that time that most of Christ’s disciples would be aghast at this statement. However, one must question whether we can understand because of the vast differences in our culture. I know that some of my readers (from such places as Rwanda or Zimbabwe) might comprehend this statement because a critical to its interpretation is personal knowledge of persecution. In our US culture, we consider it persecution when someone pulls out in front us in traffic or scrapes our SUV with their shopping cart at the mall. For these disciples, persecution was when a tax collector knowingly charged you more than you could afford and took your children or wife as payment. Persecution was having a family member taken into custody without reason and never seeing them again.

Christ was telling his apostles to love the people who did this to them! How can we even relate? The most serious charge against the United States church today could well be that we are seduced by a silent persecution of consumerism and rampant individualism. We are the people that Christ says “woe” to: “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full [v 24].” We have chosen to be comfortable in the midst of poverty. We have chosen to live extravagantly in a world of starving children. Without consciously considering it; our spending habits, our desire to guzzle gas and consume grossly creates a huge imbalance in this world that we must defend. This is the “silent seduction” that Thomas Merton call the sin of our time. It is a corporate sin that we support with lines of credit that are overreaching not only our means - but anyone’s sane means. Indeed, our greatest enemy is internal - not external. We are comfortable with the imbalance - we are accepting of the status quo. Though we pity the poor - we will not simplify our own needs to assist them.

3. Lend [GSN1155 danizo]: To those who could never pay you back;

How does this mesh up with the statement; “The Lord helps those who help themselves.” What investment school teaches this kind of banking?

Actually, there is one - and it is one of the most successful banks in the world. It is called the Grameen National Bank of Bangladesh and their small business loans have a 85% repayment rate. Why? A number of reasons:

· Grameen Bank focuses on a community and loans to small groups (usually four women) who work together to qualify for a loan.

· The Grameen Bank focuses on relationships;

The Grameen Bank trains the small group in developing a business plan that can be readily implemented. Each of the participants is dependent upon each other for continued funding.

· The Grameen Bank encourages continued interdependence;

Loans from the Grameen Bank average $300 per participant. The loan is given to one person in the group at a time. As soon as the first person begins to pay back their loan; the second person can receive their funding. This continues until all participants have received their funding. Once all members have begun paying back the initial round of loans; a second round of funding becomes available to the group in like manner. They are interdependent from the get-go. They study together, their funding is linked together. They have a total interest in making sure the other’s succeed in their plans and they live in the same community.

This is Kingdom-Investing; pouring money into people who work together, support each other and lift each other out of poverty. One of the reasons that the Grameen Bank focuses on women is that they find that a woman puts 70 percent of her income back into the family while the man does just the opposite. This program has lifted thousands out of the quagmire of poverty in the years of its existence and has grown beyond to boundaries of Bangladesh as a model of healthy self-sustenance.

Alternatively, we teach the poor to be reliant or employees at conglomerates that won’t employ them beyond part-time so they can pay minimum wage and offer no health benefits.

Kingdom-Investing works! I have used it myself in outreaches to impoverished women and to incarcerated and street youth.

Kingdom-Investing takes more than throwing money at old solutions that don’t work. It takes - more than anything else - time. It takes time to get inside the cycle of poverty and the system of poverty and empower the impoverished - rather than just pitying them. This is the investment Christ wants us to pour our lives into, to pour in all of our creativity, these are the lives Christ wants us to pour ourselves into. This is “Beatitude-nal Investment.

Luke 6:36-38

[36] “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Here is where Jesus lays out the greatest news of joy. Joy that is immediately accessible, joy that is incomprehensible and joy that is radical. Beatitude Joy! Jesus makes the components of the “attitudes” of the joyful life plainly available to all who “heed” his words:

1. Be merciful [GSN3629 oiktirm--on] just as your Father is merciful;

The term for mercy means to be compassionate - of one feeling. Even simpler, it means to have a tender heart. Allow your heart to be broken with tenderness and you will know the joy of God.

2. Do not judge [GSN2919 krino] or condemn [GSN2613 katadikazo], instead pardon [GSN630 apoluo] and you will be pardoned;

It boils down to this; we will be judged as we judge others. Do we want to be judged by the law or by love? We will be judged by how we judge others. Do we want to live by mercy or by self-righteousness? We will be judged by how we judge others. Do we want to live our lives giving away forgiveness or gathering up the times that we have been offended?

Kingdom liberation, beatitude fulfillment is available in total personal abandonment of my self-righteous and total embracing of Christ’s gift of salvation. As Francis of Assisi would pray: “My dearest God who are You? And who am I but your useless servant?” In the total abandonment of my pride and hubris I will find the total fulfillment of Christ’s beatitudes.

Jesus says that only if I judge others will God condemn me, only if I damn others will God damn me but to the extent that I pardon others - free them fully, release them, dismiss them or pay their ransom - will I be fully pardoned. Is there any judgment I want to hold on to that will get in the way of that freedom? Is there any anger or pride for which I would exchange my freedom?

“For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

“Give, and it will be given to you.”

“Give…”

The Gospel of Jesus Christ boils down to this word. Not just love - for love can be passive or selfish. Yet, “Give,” is the act of love with no boundaries.

“Give…”

The term in Greek for give [GSN1325 didomi] is one of the most frequently used words in the Gospels. It meant to minister, to grant power, to suffer for and to yield to. It was also a word for being “given a great challenge” and herein is the greatest challenge. To live a continuously giving life until one flows like Living Water, like Jesus Christ, a never-ending stream of power (meaning, ability and strength).

And here is the most radical of all the Beatitude concepts; in giving we receive. Not just a little; but imagine the kind old man who used to fix and ice cream cone and push each scoop to the bottom of the cone and heap it all over the top and it would melt all over your hands because you couldn’t lick it fast enough. That is God.

Jesus is saying to his disciples (the one’s who had given up everything to follow him); “You can’t out give God!”

“Remember what you saw this day? The power flowing out - the healing of paralytics, demoniacs, epileptics, the blind, the lost, the dying. Remember all that you saw today? Would you rather go back to fishing? Would you rather go back to tax collecting? Which one shout of joy would you trade to return to your old, comfortable existence?”

I was blessed this morning when one of our mentors said to the group in one of our jail studies; “I remember when Jerry first asked me to come into the jails on Monday nights. This is going to sound so shallow! I actually had to pray - I didn’t want to miss my Monday Night Football; sitting back at the end of the day in my easy chair with the channel changer. Now, I feel so foolish - there isn’t one day that I would trade for that old life.”

Are you ready for that ice cream cone? Then give! Are you ready for eternal joy to start now? Then Give!! Are you ready for Kingdom Liberation? Then GIVE!!!

“Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

About the Author

Jerry Goebel has worked with youth and young adults for over thirty years. Twenty of those years have been spent focusing primarily on reaching out to at-risk youth on the streets or in the juvenile court system. Jerry developed ONEFamily Outreach, which trains mentors to work with disconnected youth (incarcerated youth, youth in recovery, and youth who are expelled from school). Jerry travels extensively to teach adults how to become more effective in empowering young people to become a positive influence within their communities

To contact or book Jerry for a presentation in your area write or call:

Jerry Goebel

ONEFamily Outreach

jerry@onefamilyoutreach.com

http://onefamilyoutreach.com

(509) 525-0709

Other Works by Jerry Goebel

Weekly Gospel Study based upon the Lectionary Cycle (membership, by donation)

To subscribe, go to: http://onefamilyoutreach.com

Jerry began these studies when he was a missionary in the Yakima County Jails. The focus of these in-depth commentaries was to provide knowledge about Jesus Christ, his culture, and his language, but also to reveal the compassion of our Lord and our call to discipleship. A very important aspect of this study was to provide practical applications for the readers as well as challenge them to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

Youth Curriculum Accompaniment to the Weekly Gospel Study (membership, by donation)

To subscribe, contact: jerry@onefamilyoutreach.com

Every week, Jerry takes a group of adults into the local County Juvenile Detention Center to lead “Significant Conversations.” Though this outreach is part of the public education component of the detention center the material is based upon values found in each week’s reading. Each session has a brief overview of the topic followed by a series of strength-based, open-ended questions, that help the young person move the values from their hearts to their minds, and finally to practical application. Whether you work with young people or adults, in a secular or faith-based climate, the principles used and the topics chosen will have an impact on the people you see.

The Deepest Longing of Young People: Loving Without Conditions $14.95 (paperback)

To order, go to: http://www.smp.org/ItemDetail.cfm?ItemNum=3823

This book is a faith-based overview of the needs of young people in a culture that has a difficult time understanding the difference between performance-based approval and unconditional dignity. It is a scriptural framework for engaging a young person in a healthy adult relationship in today’s society.

Significant Conversations: Helping Young People Live Meaningful Lives $14.95 (8.5 x 11 inch spiral bound with printable worksheets)

http://www.lulu.com/content/486979

Significant Conversations is a workbook for adults who want to have a meaning-filled relationship with a young person. There are 14 conversations in this workbook and each section includes an adult overview, a youth overview, and an opportunity to “expand your emotional vocabulary.” Finally, each of the conversations ends with strength-based, open-ended questions that deepen the impact of the topic and a weekly calendar that identifies opportunities for applying the topic to one’s life.

Is There Hope For Me Now? $8.95 (paperback with writing space for journaling)

http://www.lulu.com/content/495682

This book is actually for young people who are going through a rough time. It helps them to work through some critical issues by journaling about such important matters as their emotions, forgiveness, choosing a healthy self-identity, and creating a positive vision for their life.

Musical Collections $12.95 (CD’s, each with 15 original works by Jerry Goebel)

To subscribe, go to: http://onefamilyoutreach.com/bookscds.html

Jerry’s career began in the late 1970’s when, as a teenager, he left home to begin a musical career that has lasted three decades and spanned the world. During that time, Jerry received five popular music awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers as well as being nominated for two Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association.

Copyright Notice

Scripture Quotations noted from NASB are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD VERSION of the bible. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

The New Testament Greek Lexicon based on Thayer’s and Smith’s Bible Dictionary plus others; this is keyed to the large Kittel and the “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” These files are public domain.

The Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon is Brown, Driver, Briggs, [DFF1] Gesenius Lexicon; this is keyed to the “Theological Word Book of the Old Testament.” These files are considered public domain.