By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
February 23, 2025
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 6:27–38 (ESV)
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 abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. 32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get 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 is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. 37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Today there is a great deal of discussion about what it means to be a Christian. As people debate various cultural positions they invoke the name of Christ in their defense. I have listened to man of these debates, I have sadly engaged in some of these debates. I engage in these discussions and sometimes I have to check myself. I have to ask myself if I am being representing truly representing the life and lifestyle of Jesus.
This is why I enjoy the practice of contemplative prayer. To be able to sit with scripture, to study scripture, and then to sit with those words in prayer and let them speak deeply. To interact with the words, and to imagine I am there listening along side the disciples of old.
Our reading today comes from the most famous of Jesus’s teachings, the Sermon on the Mount. I want us to imagine the scene for a moment. Prior to this had been traveling around Galilee. He would go to the synagogues along with the rest of the community, and while he was there he would worship, teach, and talk with the others. We are told that this was his custom, meaning for Jesus worship was important. Worship in the fullest sense of the word. Not merely singing songs of praise, but also reading scripture together, and discussing it. But the synagogue was more than what we see as church today. In that culture the synagogue was the central part of the community. It was the library, the hall of records, the school, the place you would go to seek justice in civil matters, and it was the place of worship. Jesus made it his custom to go to the heart of the community, he got involved, and shared insight.
He traveled throughout Galilee, or the northern region of Israel, and he would deeply interact with the community. And while he was there in worship, or listening to the concerns of that community, he would come into contact with various people. Shortly after he left his home town Nazareth, which we discussed a few weeks ago. He returned to Capernaum where a man with an unclean spirit cried out in a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy one of God.” This was in the synagogue, the place of worship, the center of their society. Jesus rebuked the man saying, “Be silent and come out of him.” That man was thrown to the ground by the demon, and left the man. And the people were amazed.
He then left the synagogue and entered the home of his friend Simon. His mother-in-law was sick with a high fever and they made an appeal to Jesus concerning her. And Jesus rebuked the fever and it too left her. And she rose and began to serve them. When the people heard of this the whole community began to come to Simon’s house, and Jesus brought relief to many, until the sun set.
The next morning Jesus went out to desolate place. He went out alone, away from the chaos and busyness of life, and in that place of stillness he prayed. While he was away in that isolated place, the people sought him. They earnestly looked for him, wanting to keep him in their town because he amazed them. But Jesus did not stay, instead he said, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well.” And he went and taught in the synagogues of Judea.
Right away we see the rhythm of Jesus’s life: worship, prayer, and service. Loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and living God’s love with others. He continued to work, he continued to amaze people. He cleansed a leper, restoring the marginalized to society. He provided a blue collar family of fishermen an astonishing catch of fish. And people began to leave the life they knew to follow Jesus and learn his way of life. This group had been common laborers, government officials working at a toll booth, and nationalistic fanatics. They were centered in the community of Capernaum along the shores of the sea of Galilee, because that is where Simon lived, with whom Jesus was living at the time.
Then one day, according to Luke, Jesus came down from the mount, we are not told in Luke where he came from or what he was doing, but he came down to them. It is likely, knowing the rhythm of life that Jesus kept, Luke was implying that Jesus had been in an isolated place in prayer. And as he was returning to the shore to help his disciples with their work, he saw the crowd gathered. They had come to hear him, to be healed, to find ease for their troubled spirit.
They came. And Jesus spoke these words of blessing and woe. He spoke these words of challenge and of hope. And in this place, at this time shortly after he says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”
I want us to imagine the scene. Who was there? Who would have come to meet with Jesus?
He continued, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, fo you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when al people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”
Again who was there? I want us to really consider this. These are words being spoken to a divided community. The rich the poor, the hungry and the gluttons. I cannot help but imagine that these are the words our world needs to hear today.
This sets the scene. All the people that received the words of blessing and woe are with this crowd. People that fit into those categories are in his own band of disciples. They are all squirming just bit, just like we do when we get trapped in one of the debates that so often occur today. They are joyful or upset. Blessed and woe.
Then Jesus hits them with something hard. “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”
Jesus had just acknowledged the division within their society. There are those that have everything and those that have nothing. We do not have to imagine very hard what that image might look like because we interact with it every day. It is being played our on our streaming devices and TV’s. And right after he acknowledges these divisions and the struggle within a society that cause, he tells them, “Love your enemies.”
There are four commands om that first verse, Love, do, bless, and pray. As I was studying this week I learned that this is the first time Luke used the word agape, in his gospel. This word we associate with the type of love that God has for us. It is benevolence or good will. It is a self sacrificing type of love that does is given without merit or reason. In Greek culture this type of love was mysterious, because there was no reason or distinction for it. We understand friendship. We enjoy passion. But agape love, we struggle with. How do we love for no reason? Or with no expectation? We demand a reason to love.
This is why it hits so hard. Jesus is telling us to be benevolent, and gracious to people that do not deserve it. And he twists the shot to our guts just a bit more. Agape your enemies. Love, without limit the very people that absolutely do not deserve it.
This took everyone’s breath away for a moment. This teaching is something unique to Jesus. There are no parallels in the teachings of the Old Testament, at least directly, and it is absent in the moralistic teachings of western philosophy. Both encourage us to love those that are deserving of our love, to treat people the way they treat you. If someone cuts you off in traffic, the moralist would say it is perfectly acceptable for you to lay on your horn and present gestures for them to see in their mirror. You are justified because they wronged you. To the moralist it is perfectly acceptable for you to demand restitution for injury or theft. The moralist, or the just of this world demand from our enemies payment of the wrong done to us, and blessing to the those that do good.
This is the kingdom of men, but that is not so in the kingdom of God. Love your enemies. Do good for those that hate you, or wrong you. Bless those that speak ill toward you. And pray for those that do violence against you.
Jesus then goes on to tell us how to do this. “To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and the one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.”
We often look at these words and we misunderstand what Jesus is saying. We see it as backing down, being quiet in the face of injustice because what can I do? This is often because the translations we have often do not allow for the fullness of meaning. If someone strikes you on the cheek for example. It is a perfectly fine translation, but there is a wide range that these words can express. It can be a slap of dishonor. Or it can also mean an uppercut to the jaw. I am guessing the translators used the milder terms because most of us do not face a fist fight every day. But that is also a valid translation. Jesus says in essence, if someone finds what you say or what you stand for so offensive that they are willing to sucker punch you, you get right back up and stand firm. That is what offering the other also means. You are not backing down, you do not allow injustice to occur around you, but you stand and take the blows.
But we do not strike back. Instead we pray for those that would use violence to maintain injustice toward another. We bless those that curse us. We do good, or provide acts of kindness to those that hate our very existence. And we love our enemy.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.”
This is Jesus challenging the moralist philosophies of his day. You can read the teachings of the Greeks and find great teachings to apply to your life. You can look in the writings of the eastern religions and find something similar. Treat people the way they treat you. Do good and good comes back to you. It is karma. Jesus looks at the people around him and he says you are all claiming faith, you are claiming to be children of God yet your life and lifestyle is no different than the people you are claiming your enemies. This is what sinner means in this case, they are the people outside of the faith of the Hebrews, the gentiles who strive to live the moral life.
We cannot be good in the world’s eyes and expect people to see something different in us. We have to be more. Our world is filled with morally good people. There are countless people in Russia, China, India, America, Africa, and Europe that are morally decent people. But that does not make them fit for the kingdom of God. Why?
Mao in China did good to the people that did good to him. Stalin was good to the people that were good to him. Even Adolf was a benefactor to those that were good to him. Seemingly good even moral people can do terrible things. Even our ancestors in the name of their goodness did conducted themselves in vile ways toward people and nations that did not agree with them.
Goodness or morality is not enough. Just following the rules of our land is not good enough. Not causing a ripple is not good enough. James Edwards says this in the Pillar New Testament Commentary:
The twentieth century was powerfully altered, however, by courageous observance of this essential teaching. Gandhi’s radical response to injustice, which he inherited from Tolstoy and bequeathed to Martin Luther King Jr., was to “become naked,” i.e., put himself in a defenseless posture [against] powerful aggressors in order to shame them into repentance by the evil in their hearts. The result of Gandhi’s unconventional behavior was the liberation of India from British rule; and the result of similar behavior on the part of King, massive gains of civil rights for African Americans in the United States. The peaceful demonstrations that issued from the Friedensdekade—a decade-long prayer for peace in Protestant churches in former East Germany—broke ground not only for the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but for the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. The Truth and Reconciliation movement played the critical role in dismantling apartheid in South Africa and in sparing the nation a bloodbath of racial revenge. In each instance powerful and systemic structures of oppression were undermined by nonreciprocal and nonviolent practices that were informed by and modeled on the essential teaching on love articulated in [Luke] 6:27–30.1
It is not enough to be good. We need to love, do , bless, and pray. We need to be merciful, even as our Father in heaven is merciful.
We have a great deal of troubles in our world today. Leaders of nations are upset because other nations seemingly do not repay the goodness shown to them. Nations within our world invade another nations because other nations do not seemingly repay the goodness shown to them. Corporations are upset that laborers are not happy with wages and wonder why they cannot find employees willing to accept the goodness they seemingly give. Church leaders, politicians, teachers, business owners none of us are immune from these feelings. We feel justified in our discontent because we have not been repaid so we need to strike.
Yes, we need to stand up for injustice. Yes, we need to encourage people and nations to treat others with dignity. But how are we doing this? In the kingdoms of the world, the poor will displace the rich. And suddenly the once poor are the new rich, and they begin to oppress the ones who once oppressed them. And the cycle continues from age to age, generation to generation. When does it stop?
It stops, when we listen to the words of Jesus. When we Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you. It stops when one knocks our teeth in and instead of backing down we stand up for justice while offering them our coat and our undershirts instead. It stops when we decide to do, when we decide to live in the life and lifestyle shown to us by Jesus. And accepting the mercy and grace offered by his life, death and resurrection. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. That is the way of Christ. And anything less than that is the way of the world.
1 Edwards, James R. The Gospel according to Luke. Edited by D. A. Carson, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos, 2015, p. 199.
To Donate to Willow Creek Friends Church Click here:
To donate directly to Pastor Warner click here:
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
A reflection on Query 2 of the EFC-MAYM Faith and Practice
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
February 9, 2025
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Query 2
Do you love one another as becomes the followers of Christ?
Are you careful of the reputation of others?
When differences arise do you make earnest efforts to end them speedily?
John 13:31–38 (ESV)
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” 36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
Many of you are aware that our Faith and Practice contain a spiritual checklist of sorts called the queries. Quakers began using queries early in our history, and they encourage contemplation on the areas those within a meeting found beneficial to spiritual growth. As I have grown in my faith I have found these queries, this list of questions to be important, even though some have neglected the practice.
Do you love one another as becomes the followers of Christ? It is easy to simply say yes to this and move on, but when we do this we are not allowing God’s Spirit to examine our spiritual health. What does loving one another as a follower of Christ actually look like? This is an important question, especially for us as part of our mission statement is to live the love of Christ with others.
Shortly after the civil war, when the various yearly meetings across the world began to attempt to make a unified discipline for Friends, they penned this query. There was a great deal going on in the world at that time. The historic Hicksite schism was still fresh in the minds of Friends in America. This first major challenge of theological positions among Friends brought into question what we thought about scripture, Jesus, and other positions of faith that are largely taken for granted in a community where the vast majority of people have similar beliefs.
This split was not the only struggle those Friends of the 19th century faced. The nation was divided, so divided over the issue of slavery that a war was fought. Friends were among those that participated in the abolition movement, and they participated because of our testimony of equality. We believed that men and women were equal in the eyes of God, that each individual is visited by the Spirit and we are responsible to be obedient to that call. Those early American friends did not apply this testimony to people of their own cultural heritage, but they extended it to all people. They made every attempt to treat the indigenous people living in the land with dignity. They invited people from other nations to settle within their colony, welcoming people from Catholic and Jewish faith traditions as well as persecuted Mennonites from mainland Europe. But there was one people group that was neglected. I do not wish to justify their thinking, or the thinking of the wider English culture, but slavery was unfortunately part of that culture. The early Quaker colonists did participate in this, but soon they began to see the hypocrisy of their actions. They began to ask themselves how they could enslave one people group denying them the dignity they offered to others as bearers of God’s image. They recognized their own hypocrisy and they began to participate in a culture of change.
This activity began first through boycotting the buying and selling of goods using exploitive labor. They would refuse to buy sugar because the cultivation of this commodity was largely done by slaves in the Caribbean. They also began to abstain from the consumption of alcoholic beverages for the same reason, sugar from the plantations was used to brew these spirits. And they would wear simple undyed garments, because often the dyes used for clothing was obtained by the enslaved people of Africa.
They began by boycotting, but soon great action was required. Several Friends began to join a movement of people that would help enslaved individual escape from the plantations, and assisted them with shelter an food as they made their way north into the Canada. This action put their lives at risk. Yet they were willing to take that stand. Eventually this movement grew, as did the tensions between the cultures that supported and denied the practice of slavery. Some believed that the only real way to end that evil practice, was to go to war.
This brings about a third major issue faced by the Religious Society of Friends in the 19th century. It was one thing to die for what you believed, but were they willing to kill for it?
I mention this brief and inadequate history because it adds depth to this query. Do you love one another as becomes the followers of Christ? Where do we draw the lines? Who is included, and is there any exclusions?
Those Friends that sought to unify the Meetings, looked not only to the stirrings within their hearts, but they looked to scripture. We are not just a religious society, but we were Friends, and that name did not just come about because we wanted to be inclusive, but they called themselves Friends because of their deep love and devotion to scripture. In John’s gospel Jesus would say, “Your are my Friends if you do what I command you.” They took this to heart. They wanted to friends of Jesus, and they believed that Jesus was and is our ever present teacher and guide. If we silence our hearts before God, they believed that we could know the mind of God, and the revelations we received in that time of silence could be confirmed through the testimony of Scripture, which we believe to be the witness of the Word of God, Jesus.
These Friends, Friends from across America and from Europe joined together in Richmond, Indiana and they began to formulate the basic framework of our Faith and Practice. And included within was the queries we still use today. They had faced challenges that divided the church and a nation, and they encouraged each one among them to silence their hearts, set aside their ideological prejudices and to ask themselves, “Do you love one another as becomes the followers of Christ?
How do we begin to answer this question? We go to the Word of God.
But not just scripture. This is important to remember. Humanity can twist and manipulate the words of scripture to meet whatever situation they want. I say this and I know that some will misinterpret what I am saying. I love scripture, I believe that it is inspired and has authority, but as John says the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word of God is and always has been Jesus, the Incarnate and unique son of God. To begin to answer the query we need to look at Jesus, his life, his lifestyle, and his actions.
Those Friends in Richmond began to consider what it meant to be a follower of Christ and they were drawn to the section of scripture we know as the Last Supper. As this supper was coming to a close, Jesus said to his disciples, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.” There is a lot of glorification going on.
He continues, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
I want us to just consider what Jesus is saying as he offers them this teachings. I want you to not just focus on what will eventually happen later in the Gospel, but what Jesus had just done. The gospel of John is unique among the gospel accounts because it is the only one that provides more to this story.
Jesus as we know has spent that last three years traveling throughout Judea and Galilee. He traveled up to the northern most region which is that part of Israel that now boarders Syria, and through the land most Jewish people avoided, Samaria. Throughout these travels, Jesus would join with the community within the synagogue worshiping and teaching. He would go out into the wilderness and other isolated places to pray, and he would walk among the people healing the sick and even feeding a multitude with a basket of dinner rolls and a couple of fish. The people loved Jesus and the people hated Jesus. He did not let them think of themselves as righteous because they had the right ancestry, but he challenged their understanding of what God was teaching in the scriptures. That is what we know as commandments in our language, we often see it as law but in the Hebrew culture it was teaching. It was a collection of teaching by God given to Moses, to get us to think about how to live a life loving God with everything we have and are, and to live with those around us.
The religious leaders hated Jesus because he challenged their understanding, and that challenge threatened their lifestyles. If they were no longer seen as the singular possessors of God’s wisdom, how would they maintain control over the people? And that was the point. God does not want us to control each other, he wants us to love each other as we love ourselves.
Jesus encourages his disciples to find a place, where they can celebrate the feast and they go and set things up. Jesus then enters, he takes off his outer garments and wraps a towel around his waist. He pours water in a basin and he kneels down before them and begins to wash their feet.
The disciples are in shock. Why is the teacher washing their feet? This was the most undignified task anyone could do. To stoop and place your face by one’s foot meant that you were socially beneath them, that you were the lowest servant. Peter looks at his teacher, the man he devoted his entire life to, and he cries out, “No you will never wash my feet.” and Jesus looked at him and said, “If I do not wash your feet you will have no part of me.” Peter then just as passionately pleas, “Not just my feet but my head also.” To which Jesus replies, “One who is clean only needs his feet washed.”
Once this was complete, Jesus dresses again and sits at the table. He then informs them that one among them will betray him and turn him over to the religious leaders. The disciples then debate among themselves and wonder who among them it might be. I think it is important to remember that they were uncertain who among them would betray their Lord. These men had left their careers, their families, and their friends to follow Jesus. They faced social ridicule because they walked with him, and they experienced the elation of praise when they were able to participate in the ministry. Yet when Jesus said that one of them would betray him, each of them knew that they were capable of that grievous sin.
Jesus gave the eleven some relief saying, “it is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” And he handed that bread to Judas. After Judas had gone this is when Jesus speaks the words those Friends in Richmond attached to our Query. Do we love one another as befitting a follower of Christ? “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
Each of them had just experienced Jesus washing their feet. Each of them including the very one that would betray him. Each of them had eaten at his table. Each of them had been accepted into his cohort of disciples. And he is telling them to love one another as he loved them. What does that mean?
It means that we serve. It means we get down on our knees and roll up our sleeves. Jesus told them as they traveled and argued among themselves, that if you wanted to be the first, you must become last and servant to all. And he said that the rulers of the world, or the Gentiles, lord it over others. They exercise power over those they see beneath them. They exploit those who do not have the wealth of this world. They manipulate the legal system so that they can remain in control of the wealth and power within their society. Those opposed to God will use force to bend your knees to do their will. But Jesus said that will not be among you. The kingdom of God does not operate as the kingdoms of this world operate. No, the ones great in the Kingdom of God serve, they serve even those society see as being beneath them.
Do you love one another as befitting a follower of Christ? Are you careful of the reputation of others? When differences arise do you make earnest efforts to end them speedily?
When Jesus told them that one among them would betray him, each of the disciples knew that they were capable of that unthinkable sin. They knew that it was possible that they could be swayed. This is where that second part of the Query comes in. We can easily fall into sin, as can anyone around us. Because of this we should be careful with the words we say and the activities we participate in. We ourselves would not want to be accused of something, why would we allow that to be done to someone else.
Until Judas took the bread and left the table, each disciple was just that, a disciple. Each of them were loved by Jesus, each of them were served by Jesus. They were equal. They could not tell which person would betray Jesus because the thought of one of Jesus’s closest friends doing such a thing was something they could not imagine. And even when Judas left the table they did not realize that he would betray Jesus, thinking only that he was going to buy what they needed or give something to the poor because he had the moneybag. Not one of them jumped up accusing Judas of being a turncoat.
This too is how we should act. We should give everyone the benefit of the doubt. When we hear idle gossip we should not assume that it is truth. The disciples did not accuse Judas of betrayal at the table, even though the idea was placed in their minds that one of them would be. They even trusted that Judas was going to do something honorable. It was only after the actions were done that they were able to confirm that Judas was the one that betrayed their lord. Until he kissed Jesus in the garden Judas remained in the eyes of the disciples as one of them. This is how we should act as well.
Watch the actions and listen to the words people speak. Do not let untruth about someone stand. But protecting the reputation of others does not mean we deny their wrong doing. If they did in fact do the things that they are accused of and we know it. It is just as wrong for us to deny our knowledge because that denial may harm others. It is important to be honest and seek the truth. And it is imperative that if harm has been done we do all we can to bring comfort, aide, and reconciliation.
I gave you a brief history of Friends as we consider this query and scripture. I gave this because the ones that first penned these words lived through some of the most difficult years of American history. These words cut them deep. They possibly knew someone that took the opposing side during the Hicksite schism. And some of them might have participated in the discussions that eventually led to the split. Some of the words spoken and recorded in the writings of those early Friends were not the most flattering, nor do they shine the peace loving unity our name has come to represent.
And although we like to say we have a testimony of equality, not everyone treated those that stood up for the abolition of slavery well. Levi Coffin, the one that is often credited with founding the Underground Railroad, was written out of his Meeting of Friends. They kicked him out of his church because they did not want to be seen as a collaborator.
And there were some that decided that they should fight in the war between the state, and others held to their conscientious objection to the killing of others to advance their beliefs. Some even rejected their faith because they sought the acceptance of their community instead of standing for faith.
They wrote these words down. They asked the question, and as they wrote it, they had to wrestle with themselves. Did I love Levi as Christ loved him? Did I reject the soldier because he did not share my faith or did I encourage them to love as Christ loved? Did I show the enslaved, the widow, the other the love God has for them, did I honor that of God in their life? They asked these questions knowing full well that everyone that knew them would look at them as they answered their own query. They knew that they would stand before their own community and would have to prove through their words and their actions that they loved others as Christ loved them.
Which brings us to the last portion of scripture today. Jesus told his disciples that they could not follow him now, but will follow afterward. Peter, being Peter quickly proclaimed, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” This is often our response to our life of faith. We are quick to say, “Yes!” I will live the love of Christ with others, but what happens when we find out that person standing or sitting next to us has a different opinion than I have? What happens if everyone is looking at you to offer some glimmer of hope? What happens when the world around you decides that it is acceptable to do something you know is contrary to the testimony of Christ?
Jesus answered Peter, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.”
We will fail. We will not live up to our standard. Peter did deny even knowing Jesus multiple times before the sun rose the next day. He held that sin and dishonor within him. He knew that he failed. His lord, his teacher, and friend had been lead to prison and he denied him. Jesus died, and Peter failed. We speak of the eminence faith of Peter, we honor him as being the rock of faith. But when Jesus was buried in the tomb, Peter knew he failed his closest friend. He did not protect his lord’s reputation, he did not quickly seek reconciliation, and now his friend was buried in a grave. We will fail, and we have failed. What will we do with this? We should not justify our actions but admit the truth and seek forgiveness.
Peter denied Jesus, just as Jesus said he would. Yet when Jesus rose from the grave, he offered Peter a chance to stand again as he asked three times for Peter to affirm his faith and devotion. And with each of those affirmations Jesus issued a command to tend the sheep, feed the sheep, and feed the lambs.
Do you love one another as becomes the followers of Christ? Are you careful of the reputation of others? When differences arise do you make earnest efforts to end them speedily?
As we enter this time of centered worship. Ask yourself if you are the person you say you are. Consider the manner you are living and affirm like Peter that you do love Christ and will love those around you as Jesus loves them today.
To Donate to Willow Creek Friends Church Click here:
To donate directly to Pastor Warner click here:
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
February 2, 2025
Click here to join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 4:21–30 (ESV)
21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘ “Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, he went away.
“And all spoke of him and marveled at the gracious words coming out of his mouth.”
Today we continue with the narrative of Jesus’s visit to his hometown at the beginning of his ministry. There is something wonderful about going home. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, and there are times where living in the city causes me to get a bit claustrophobic. I do not mean to make light of that condition because it is very real to many people. But when I spend to long in the city, I can get anxious. I get nervous and irritable. I begin listening to country music, and I really dislike country music. I apologize if I offended you, its just the style and my lack of hearing seems to clash in my brain. When I get to feeling homesick I gravitate to that and I do not know why.
Then I go home. Things seem simpler, slower, easier. The only thing that changed was the location, who I am around, and the fact that I know I am accepted without any conditions. Its good to go home.
There is a problem with going home though. People know you. You have a reputation. People know your family and they know everything about you.
“And all spoke of him and marveled at the gracious words coming out of his mouth. And they said, ‘is not this Joseph’s son?’”
Jesus went home. He had been out ministering in Galilee, and people had heard about it. Jesus made it his custom to teach and worship in their synagogues, and his teaching was glorified by all that had listened to him. But when he comes home things are a bit different. They marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. They marveled. This word is the word describes a reaction. But there is a problem with this word, it is a bit vague. We do not know what the sense of the word is. Were they amazed, shocked, in awe? Was this marvel positive or negative? I ask these things of this word because I have had reactions to events around me. I might say I marveled at something and the reaction is utter shock, in the negative sense of shock. And then there is the complete opposite I am so amazed by beauty I am speechless in marvel.
I remember once about twenty-two years ago, I worked for a lawn care company. It was not my favorite job, mainly because during the summer we worked long hours, and during the winter most within our company had to file for seasonal unemployment. This is common in seasonal jobs that are in the weather. I was one of the lucky people that year, and I was chosen to continue working through the winter months. Those of us that were kept on active employment had a major responsibility. Every truck and pump on the truck had to be refurbished, all the hoses had to be inspected, and this had to be done in less than two months, because the first lawn treatments needed to be applied before the grass emerged out of dormancy.
One day I while I was working on one of the pumps I had an incident. I was using a sledge hammer to remove a bearing, and to do so you would have to hold a punch while you swung. That particular bearing was not cooperating so I was required to apply greater force. I pounded on this, and everyone could hear the clanging of metal on metal repeating. But then my swing was not true and instead of the high pitched ping, everyone heard the muffled sound of a hammer hitting my thumb. I looked down at my thumb, and marveled. This was a negative form of that word. I could not believe I had missed the mark, but I could see that my thumb was injured so like the farm kid I was, I calmly laid down the hammer and began to walk toward the sink to wash out the injury.
Everyone in the shop, marveled as well. I took maybe four steps toward the sink before six of my coworkers and two managers came running over to me. They were also marveling but theirs was different than mine. They came running because they heard the change in pitch, and immediately knew that a thumb had been hit, but the one that hit their thumb did not let out a string us cursing. This immediately attracted their attention, so they came to see what was going on. Was I in shock? Was this so serious that I could not speak. Their marvel was confusion. And when I spoke to them in response to their concern, their marvel turned to wonder, because none of them could believe that someone could hit their thumb that hard without a soliloquy of what our televisions would call adult language.
Just so you know my thumb was hurt, but it did not require medical attention. But this is the thing with the word marvel, it can be used for a wide range of emotional responses. It can be negative, confused, or positive, like the beauty of a sunset. We do not know exactly what the people in Nazareth were feeling when they marveled at the gracious words of Jesus.
Were they filled with spiritual awe? Were they speechless in disgust? Were they confused? This is where context is important. Jesus had just told them that the year, or the era, of the Lord’s favor was upon them that very day.
This is something to marvel. Every eye was fixed on Jesus as he sat there. Everyone had questions thinly veiled behind their eyes. Everyone had some reaction. But consider the words they said in response. “is not this Joseph’s son?”
Think about this response, but I want you to consider it in your own context. You have just said something profound, and the people around you respond by saying isn’t this Virl’s son, or Carl’s daughter, Jared’s son? I would list everyone’s parent’s off but I think we get the point. Is this positive or negative? Are they amazed, disgusted, shocked? Are these people amazed that Jesus, the carpenter’s son, is speaking so eloquently in synagogue, or are they annoyed that this mere carpenter’s is acting as if he is better than everyone else?
If we were to stop at the twenty-second verse, we might be left in some confusion. We might even leave misinformed.
Jesus responds to their murmuring by saying, “Doubtless you will quote me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself.’ What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” I found this statement to be interesting, so I began to look a bit deeper. I found it interesting because there is no indication that Jesus was in need of any healing. But the word translated as yourself, is a bit tricky. Some of the translators of this passage have considered that a more accurate translation would be “Physician heal your kin.” When I read that I marveled.
Physician heal your kin. Take care of us first, we are your friends and your relatives. Hey Jesus, Nazareth first! In my opinion this changes the tone of the passage. What was once a quizzical marvel of confusion, suddenly becomes an accusation. Take care of us first. Why are you worried about the people out there when we have people right here just as bad off?
Have you heard statements like this? Have you said something similar?
I have to admit that I have.
I have been pretty open to you all about my life, because I think it is important to be honest. You all know that my oldest son was conceived before I was married, and I did not marry his mother. At the time I was troubled by this. When I first held my son, I knew that I needed to make major changes in the direction my life was going because my son needed a father. I have often said that James is the one that convinced me to repent and turn to Christ. Shortly after James was born, God got my attention and did not let go. I did change many things in my life, and I though if I made these changes maybe then I would be able to marry his mom and we could have as perfect of a life as possible.
Well the thing about relationships is that there are more than one opinion involved. I was off seeking God my way, and James’s mom was doing her own thing. And our paths were not meeting as I expected. I wanted to show her just how sincerer I was, that when the opportunity to serve on a short term mission trip to Ukraine presented itself, I responded. In my mind I was bargaining with God saying, “If I do this for you, you need to do this for me.” My intentions might not have been the most wholesome, but God did radically change my life on that trip, but not as I expected. I would call home once a week using almost all of my spending money on phone calls, yet with each call I could sense that the gap grew wider. I was heart broken and I would sit on a cliff overlooking the Black Sea in Odessa pleading with God to bring us together. Some might say that I did not pray hard enough, some might say that I gave up. Many even judged me for not pursuing things harder. But as I sat on that cliff look out at horizon along the sea, I came to realize something. God does not do our bidding, instead God asks that we live for him in this moment.
“Heal your kin!” it is unsure where Jesus obtained this proverb, because it is not in accepted scripture. And from my research it is not found in known Hebrew writings prior to Jesus’s generation. This means that it likely comes from Greek philosophy, which is interesting. Their desire was for Jesus this amazing teacher that could minister and work wonders in Capernaum, or the rest of Galilee would instead focus his attention on the needs of their own community.
Jesus continues. “there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon… And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Let us look into the story of these prophets. When Ahab became the king of the northern kingdom of Israel, God called a prophet name Elijah, his name literally means my God is Yahweh. When Ahab took the throne God sent Elijah to the king and told him that there would be a three year drought. Israel faced this judgment from God, because they had turned their backs on him and instead worshiped before the idol of Baal.
As someone who grew up on a farm that lacked irrigation I had always drawn to this story, because it seemed like we were perpetually in either a drought or flood, rarely did we have just enough. But a drought that lasted three years, that was a drought that would send any nation into ruin. Civilization rises and falls on a nations ability to feed the people. When people cannot obtain food, revolts happen. Elijah came to Ahab and said God is going to bring your nation to its knees. Elijah gave this message and then he left to hide in the wilderness, because once the drought began to take hold the king would want to kill him. Elijah camped out by a brook, and God sent ravens to bring his prophet food until the brook finally dried out.
When the brook was turned to dust, God then sent the prophet to Sidon, which is part of Lebanon today. The famine was not limited to Israel only, all the land was under the same judgment, but God encouraged his prophet to go to stay with a widow and her son. He found this woman outside the city gathering sticks. This could mean a few things, one they might have been so poor that they did not have proper tools to chop wood, another was that her son was too young to do that type of work, or maybe she just liked to gather wood. I am guessing its is a mix between poverty and he son being too young to use an ax, and since he was young she did not have the freedom to chop wood herself. But Elijah found her there outside the city, and he asked her for a drink which she freely gave. Then he asks her for some bread. This was a more difficult request. We are told in first Kings, that she was gathering wood to bake one final loaf of bread for her and her son, and that was all they had left to their name. They were starving. Yet when Elijah came to her, she let him know their situation, but she gave. God blessed that woman who gave in her poverty.
All of Israel was in a drought. The entire region was famished. Yet God did not send Elijah to one in Israel, but to someone outside the covenant people. Heal your Kin! Israel first. This was their mentality at the time, at least that was the king’s thought process. When the rain stopped he sent his servant throughout the land to find land for his horses to graze. Not his cattle but his horses. He stole what little land was available to raise food, and he used it to satisfy his self indulgences. This is what heal your kin looks like. It is not charity, but selfishness. It is not looking to be a blessing but indulgent.
Now Elisha. Elijah was known as the father of the prophets, and his star pupil was Elisha. Elisha followed his mentor wherever he went and when the time came for God to take Elijah to heaven in the fiery chariot, Elijah had taken his coat and placed it on Elisha. This was a symbolic act that showed that God had passed the authority of Elijah to Elisha. At this time Syria was the enemy of Israel. They would send raiders into the land of promise and would kidnap individuals and force them into servitude. One of these raiders was the commander of the Syrian king’s army, and he had enslaved a daughter of Israel. But this man was afflicted with the skin disease known as leprosy.
In ancient times leprosy was a serious illness. It is still serious today, but we have treatments that were unknown in ancient times. Most afflicted with this disease were forced to live in isolation, but since Naaman was an important figure he maintained his place within society. Somehow this daughter of Israel enslaved by this foreign tyrant heard of the affliction her master faced, and she informed his wife that there was a prophet in Israel that could heal him.
Naaman was out of options, so he asked his king if he could go to this prophet in the land of their enemy. And the king must have thought highly of him because he sent him with enough gold and silver to make the richest man in America take notice. Naaman went to Israel and sought this prophet Elisha, and eventually found him. Elisha would not even go out to speak to him, but only said through the door to Naaman’s messenger that he should bath in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed. This angered Naaman yet he eventually went to the river and washed as Elisha said, and he was healed of his condition. Naaman returned to the prophet, and expressed his devotion to God asking only for soil so that he could kneel on holy ground when he prayed.
Leprosy afflicted many in ancient times. It was seen as terminal and those that were diagnosed would often attend their own funeral as they were banished to the quarantine villages. God could have healed many within the land, yet he did not. Instead he healed the commander of the enemy’s army.
Heal your kin! The proverb goes. This unknown proverb likely derived from pagan philosophy. Jesus quotes this in relation to his proclamation of the year of the Lord’s favor, and it leave me asking why? He then reminds the devout within the synagogue of stories from their history, stories of their prophetic father and his disciple, where they went outside of Israel to bless those seen as beyond the reach of God. They were foreigners, outsiders, not included in the promise of Israel. Yet both trusted in the one true most high living God.
Heal yourself, heal your kin, forget about the outside world and focus on us first. They marveled at his words because he was Joseph’s son. And no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. This seems a bit double sided on the surface. They reject him because he is the son of a mere carpenter. They condemn him because he does marvels for people outside their community. He is rejected. And in their rejection they show us something profound.
Why not here? Why are the miracles happening out there, why not here? Why do others seem to have the blessings and not us? Why do we always have to sacrifice? Where is our blessing?
We are often in the same place as they are. Why not here? Heal our kin! Give us the blessing. Do we hear what that sounds like? I stood on the top of a cliff twenty-five years ago and I yelled at God, why won’t you answer my prayers! I received an answer, shortly after. It was not something spectacular, in fact I nearly missed it. I was reminded of Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceded. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that is should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”
We struggle, at times we suffer. It is not because God wants us to suffer, it is only part of our inherited human condition. We are unclean people living in an unclean nation, we have exploiters, and exploited, we have sick and treatment that seems to be just out of reach. We have wealth and poverty. We cry out to God why not here? Yet Paul was told, my grace is sufficient for you.
Are we seeking a God or a blessing? Are we seeking repentance or affirmation?
Why not here? Heal your kin! Often we are seeking our will, our comfort and out desires. That is what I was seeking on the top of the cliff overlooking the sea, I wanted what I thought was right, God answered me. And it was not what I wanted, but better. “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Israel turned from God and chased Baal, and in their suffering God sent the blessing to a foreigner. Israel faced constant struggle with an adversary and instead of letting the enemy suffer in his affliction God healed the enemy leaving Israel in their suffering. Why? Heal your kin, Israel first.
Was the widow of Sidon and the general of Syria worthy of the blessing? No, far from it. But there was a difference. They acted in faith even when it did not make sense. They responded even though they could think of countless reason not to. And they trusted in God even when they knew they faced struggle before them. The widow gave in her poverty, and the general carried the sacred into a land of darkness. We plead for blessings, but we are the blessing. We are the answers to the prayers of others.
I learned something that day in Ukraine. I learned that what I want does not really matter. Sure I still make a Christmas list and I look up new toys I would like to have. I learned that sometimes what we think is correct is not always what is truly right. We want the blessing and when we oppose the me first culture we are faced with ridicule, just like Jesus. The people of Nazareth demanded blessing, out of selfishness and jealousy, why not here its your hometown? Jesus told them why, and they rose up and drove them out of town and brought him to the brow of a hill so they could throw him down the cliff.
Jesus passing through their midst, went away. I too stood on a cliff, and just so you know I was not on the cliff to do self harm, I was on the cliff because it was the only place I was not surrounded by buildings, because I was listening to country music and feeling homesick. Jesus passed through them. He was content and nothing they held to him could change his direction and his purpose. He was who he was in his Father and that was enough. This is what we are called to as Friends of Christ. To be content with what we have available to us. Not looking at what others have and wish we had it, but to Love God, Embrace the Holy Spirit and live the love of Christ with others right here with what we have and with whoever we are with.
To Donate to Willow Creek Friends Church Click here:
To donate directly to Pastor Warner click here:
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
