Love That is No Hyperbole A sermon on LUke 14:25-33 and Philemon 1-21 Is it me, or does Jesus sound just a tad cranky this morning? I mean, really! If you don’t hate your father and mother, your wife or husband, your children – and even life itself, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus. This is where the biblical literalists can get themselves in big trouble. Because Jesus is not speaking literally. He is using hyperbole. Hyperbole: a gross exaggeration – not meant to be taken literally – but used to make a point. I know all about hyperbole. My father was a master of hyperbole: “Tianne (I went by Tianne when I was a child), if you and your sister don’t stop fighting, I will ground you both until you are 35!” “If you don’t pick up your room, I will take all your toys and give them to someone who will appreciate them!” I really wish I could remember what it was my Dad and I were arguing about one night when I was in high school and what it was he said, but I do remember my response as I fled up the stairs: “Daddy, you are a hyperbole.” Hyperbole: An exaggerated statement not meant to be taken literally, but meant to be taken very seriously indeed. According to Cindy, I do exactly the same thing with Aidan. Well, I come by it honestly. And I do recognize a hyperbole when I see one. There have been more than a few Christians who have turned their backs on their families in order to follow Jesus. The most notable one is St. Francis, who was born into a wealthy family in Assisi, Italy, in the eleventh century. Francis heard Jesus’ call to leave everything behind and follow him and took it literally. He started giving his money and his possessions to the poor. His father dragged Francis before the local magistrate, demanding that Francis repay him for what he had given away. Francis’ response was to give back to his father everything that he had given him – money, jewels and even the clothes on his back. He stripped them off right there in court, gave them to his father and walked out stark naked. Now that was a hyperbolic action! It was outrageous, but Francis was very serious about renouncing his wealth and his family. He understood that nothing, absolutely nothing, should hold us back from following Jesus. Not too many people are called to a life of absolute poverty for the sake of Jesus, but every single one of us is called to take Jesus’ words, if not literally, then very seriously indeed. And Jesus warns us that following him will not be easy. It will put us at odds with our surrounding culture that obsessed with the accumulation of possessions. Count the cost, Jesus tells us, as carefully as a builder estimates the cost of a building to see if he can actually afford to build it. As carefully as a general planning to go to war determines whether or not the cost in terms of money and personnel will be too great before the fighting starts. (Something our government ought to try!) Following Jesus will put us at odds with the prevailing values of our society, where “buy more, spend more and get more” is the expected way of life and doing whatever it takes, no matter what the cost to self or others, no matter whether it is right or wrong, no matter who you step on, rules the day. Jesus calls us to be counter-cultural: to speak a word of love to a world filled with strife and division, to embody peace in a world torn by war, to give when the world says “take,” to love when the world says “hate,” and to demand justice when the world wants only what is expedient. And if Jesus tells us to “hate,” maybe it is because our love is so small, focused more our ourselves than on the other, more concerned with what we can get from the other person or out of the relationship that what we can give. But what if we learned to love others just for who they are – beautiful, free, beloved children of God? Paul’s Letter to Philemon is an odd writing that does not seem to fit in with the rest of his epistles. Instead of teaching about Jesus or urging Christians to greater faith, Paul is asking Philemon a favor. He wants Philemon, and the Christian community with him, to receive Onesimus as a free man instead of as the slave he once was. It would have been very easy for Philemon to welcome Onesimus back, but to continue to treat him as the slave he had always been. Onesimus, whose name means “useful,” was probably much more useful to them as a slave. But Paul asks Philemon and those with him to break out of old ways and to love Onesimus, not for how useful he is as a slave, but for who he is: a beloved, free child of God. William Loader says: Love means sometimes going out on a limb and advocating for people who are powerless in systems which inherently resist and resent their values being subverted. The task is still immense today - wherever people are reduced through systems, prejudices and governments to items, useful or useless, convenient or inconvenient. (“First Thoughts” on the Epistle for Year C, Pentecost 16, wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/CEpPentecost16.htm) The love that Jesus demands of us is a love that goes beyond loving just our family and friends. It is a love that is willing to go out on a limb, that will let go of its own privilege in order to stand up for the powerless; that will work for the good of the other even when it is inconvenient, difficult or dangerous; that will work to change unjust systems. That is a love that does not count the cost, but sees only the face of Jesus in the face of the other. That is not a hyperbole. That is the life to which we Christians are called.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 14:26:35 +0000