I don’t know if anyone else has felt this way recently but to me it feels a little like we’ve all been walking on thin ice recently. Everything just feels a bit unsure and like it might break (or break more) at any moments. Groceries are more expensive, a new aviation catastrophe almost every day, Gas and Electric bills exploding in price, so many friends and family members losing jobs or afraid of losing their jobs. I could’ve kept going but the list was just making me a little anxious. Growing up in Minnesota ice was something you dealt with a fair amount. The lakes would freeze over and you could go skating, walking, fishing and driving on them if they were thick enough. I think almost every year people would get out too early, or stay out too late and people, and sometimes their vehicles would fall through the ice. Naturally this meant as a kid we learned about what to do if we found ourselves on thin ice. You should lower your center of gravity kind of waddle and if you’re really worried lay down and spread your weight out as much as possible. What you definitely shouldn’t do is band together as a group if you were on the ice with friends or other people.
At first glance this weeks Gospel text from Luke (Luke 6: 27-38) appears to tell us to do the same thing in response to the thin ice of our own lives. If you want the reward than you must love, give and lend to people you probably don’t want to. The problem is that’s not exactly what the text and Jesus are saying here. This is in part because English is a silly language or as some are prone to say it’s three languages dressed up in a trench coat. In English the word “you” is flexible it can mean you the individual, but it can also mean you in the plural sense. In our text for this week most of the you’s you see are plural not singular, but yet both are translated the same way. Instead many of them would more clearly read “you all”, “y’all”, or “yinz” instead of just you. For example verse 35 would read “But love y’alls enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Y’alls reward will be great, and y’all will be children of the Most High…”
Moments like this can be isolating. It can feel like we have to separate ourselves and move very slowly if we want to get to a place where things are better. Where the ice and our lives can support our weight. Instead though Jesus says our reward will be found in community. Our safety will be found in togetherness. If we want a big heaping overflowing portion. Then we must strive for it together. The way of Jesus is hard, but it can be a lot easier when you have a community doing it with you.
Peace,
Corey
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