Merciful and ascended Lord,
you reign from a throne of grace.
You have conquered death,
turned the world upside down,
and called us into a life of love.
Strengthen us, O Christ,
to live this resurrection life,
to love where hatred tempts,
to forgive where wounds linger,
to bless even those we once called enemies.
Holy Spirit, remind us we do not walk alone.
Feed us with grace,
make us whole by mercy,
and send us as witnesses of your kingdom.
In the strong and risen name of Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
Matthew 3:38-48
None of us wants to admit it, but we love revenge. We love seeing someone get what they deserve. We love when the arrogant boss gets exposed, when the cheating athlete is caught, when the villain in the story finally gets what’s coming to them. We love watching karma roll in like a wrecking ball.
And we know we are not supposed to. We know Jesus calls us to forgiveness, grace, and love. After all, every Sunday, we pray, “Forgive us, God, as we forgive others.” But deep down, tucked away in the places we do not talk about, we cheer when payback comes knocking. And, here comes Jesus, stomping all over that guilty pleasure. Not to shame or scold but to outright take it away.
Jesus’ call to discipleship is not an invitation to be slightly nicer people, he is not interested in surface-level piety or paper-thin kindness. When Jesus says, “You’ve heard it said, but I say to you,” He is calling His disciples to a new way of life. A life shaped by the light of the empty tomb.
This is a flip.
A turn.
A complete reversal of the world’s way of scorekeeping, hitting back and getting even.
And to that, my friend Doug says, “Nobody said flipping was for the faint of heart.”[i]
Honestly, it can feel impossible.
We need to hear how radical Jesus’ words were to his listeners. “Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” was not about cruelty. It was about limiting retaliation in a culture where revenge had a habit of spiraling out of control. Jesus is instituting boundaries to prevent endless blood feuds.
Jesus pushes beyond those limits. He tells us not to resist evildoers, to turn the other cheek, to give more than what’s demanded, and to go the extra mile. These were real, daily humiliations. A Roman soldier could legally command a Jewish man to carry the soldier’s pack for a mile. Striking the right cheek was a backhanded slap, a power move. This is not sweet, sentimental advice. Jesus is describing a roadmap for disruptive grace under an oppressive system.
And then, He says the hardest thing of all: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Not tolerate.
Not avoid.
Not coldly endure.
Love.
Theologian Frederick Bruner wrote that Jesus’ words are “so person-centered that one gets the impression that Jesus is for this other person.” In other words, Jesus is not just focused on making us better people. He is passionate for the one we might call our enemy.
If we only had these commands without the cross and resurrection, we might rightly throw up our hands. Who can live this way!?
But Easter changed everything. Romans 5:8, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still God’s enemies, Jesus gave up revenge and payback and gave Himself over to death. And then, He broke death wide open.
The resurrection is not a fairy tale happy ending. It is the cosmic power flip. Violence, revenge, and death do not get the last word anymore. We do not have to live under their rules. Christ’s victory opens a new way to be human. A new way to live.
This is resurrection life.
But wait, there’s more.
Today is Ascension Sunday. We remember that Jesus did not just rise and hang out for a while.
He Ascended: “While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.”[ii]
Jesus took His place at the right hand of God, enthroned not as a military conqueror or avenger but as the Lamb who was slain. He rules, right now, over the cosmos by mercy and grace.
This is God’s grandest flip. The One who could have called legions of angels, who could have obliterated His enemies, instead ascended as the King of grace. And from His throne, Christ sends us. The Church. His body. Not to get even, not to crush opponents, but to live out the very love He has shown.
Jesus did not ascend to the throne so He could finally smite the people who annoyed Him on earth. No, Christ ascended so He could send us, you and me, the Church, to love people who we would much rather hate.
This is how we live under the reign of Christ.
We release our enemies into God’s hands. We stop plotting revenge and start praying. We walk away from scorekeeping and into grace.
Our witness is bold: Every act of forgiveness, every blessing spoken instead of a curse, every refusal to repay evil with evil proclaims loudly to the world that Christ’s reign is here. But it is a life not lived alone. We have the real presence of Jesus with us. Perfect forgiveness and endless patience.
Church, we are a resurrection and ascension people. The script has been flipped. Love rises where the world expects revenge. As the world plots, our prayers rise.
It is not always easy. But through grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it happens. And, at Christ’s table of grace, the Church is nourished for love, equipped to live as witnesses of the ascended king, and sent to love one another, even enemies, all in His name.
Amen.
[i] Pagitt, Doug. Flipped: The Provocative Truth That Changes Everything We Know About God. Harmony/Rodale/Convergent. 2015.
[ii] John 24:51
Share this post