Kindness

Stay Close, Week 4

Luke 6:35-38

October 5, 2025

Rev. David Collins

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We are in this series on the fruit of the spirit, that list of ways in Galatians 5 that we stay close to Jesus and to one another. They're kind of like our marching orders as disciples… things we do because we are called and empowered to do them even if we'd rather do something else.

Today we have gotten to a fruit that feels all at once completely timely, and also, I don’t know, maybe a little inappropriate? It’s kindness.

Kindness feels kind of tricky right now.

Because for the most part, we don't have to be told to be kind to the people we love and who love us, right? That should come naturally. Where we need some help being kind is with the people we don’t like, the people who are wrong, and who may just be ruining everything.

And no matter how much we tell them that we don’t like them, and that they’re wrong, and may just be ruining everything, it just doesn’t seem to help!

That’s where kindness might help.

So let’s define what kindness is and what it isn’t. Let me tell you straight away that kindness isn’t niceness.

Kindness Isn't Niceness

Kindness is an alternative to violence. The passage we are looking at today is where the whole strategy of non-violent resistance came from.

Kindness is a tactic for people with no real power to try and change the hearts and minds of people who have lost their way and don’t want to hear it. Kindness is a way for us to engage when everything in us wants to disengage, or else maybe fight in a way that Christians must not.

Kindness is love as a strategy. It’s choosing not to just react when you can’t take it any more. But to pick your punches (metaphorical punches!) based on the kind of world God is trying to build here on Earth.

That’s the kind of love Jesus lays out in Luke 6.

Let’s take a look.

Luke 6:35, Jesus says, Love your enemies.

It’s one of the more famous things he ever said. Even though, as we all know, some people would prefer to ignore it, or reinterpret it so that it still somehow means to hate.

And I don’t think Jesus tells us to love our enemies because we have to have warm feelings for them first. I think he tells us to love them because hating them doesn’t seem to work.

But neither does the whole, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” routine. That’s not what he’s saying either.

That keeps us quiet when we should speak up. It turns love into politeness, and that’s not how Jesus lived.

Because if you look just before this teaching in Luke 6, Jesus isn’t playing it safe. He’s out there provoking his enemies on purpose.

He picks grain and heals on the Sabbath, knowing full well it’s the opposite of what they want him to do. But he refuses to fit into the mold they’ve made for him and everyone else to fit into.

I mean, right before he says “Love your enemies” he says,

24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. “Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

27 “But I say to you who are listening:

(because a whole lot of people have plugged their ears)

Love your enemies. do good to those who hate you; 28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.

And notice here that Jesus doesn’t say, Well they don’t really hate you. It’s just that they were raised with different values. He doesn’t say, they aren’t really cursing you, it’s just that they are passionate about their beliefs.

He doesn’t sugarcoat it. They do hate you. They are mistreating you. And still…Jesus says, love them.

Because hating them back won’t make them hate you any less. It’ll just make them dig in harder. It confirms everything they already think about you. It reinforces their worldview. And now you're playing by their rules.

But love? That’s disruptive. That throws the whole system off. Jesus isn’t asking us to be passive. He’s showing us how to be effective.

When you bless someone who’s cursing you… when you do good instead of getting even… it messes with the framework. It opens a crack.

And that crack is where change starts. Not always in them, but sometimes. And maybe not right away. But it’s the only strategy that might work when you don’t have any other kind of power.

Because the people Jesus was talking to, the ones who were actually listening to him, they didn’t have any power at all. But his words to them gave them something they hadn’t had before…leverage.

Not control, not dominance… but leverage. A way to push back without becoming what they were up against. A way to reclaim their dignity and stay in the fight without matching hate for hate.

And if you keep reading, that’s exactly what Jesus is doing in verses 29–31. The turn-the-other-cheek stuff. The give-your-shirt-as-well stuff. We’ve talked about that before…Walter Wink taught that those aren’t acts of surrender. They’re acts of resistance. Tactical, deliberate, public resistance. Look him up.

Jesus isn’t telling powerless people to lie down. He’s showing them how to stand up… in a way that shifts the power dynamic entirely. This is where Gandhi and MLK got their inspiration for non-violent resistance.

Which, if you think about it, is a way of being kind to your oppressors.

Not nice in the sense of comforting them, but kind in the sense of holding up a mirror. Of helping them see what they’ve become… and giving them a chance, however small, to choose something different.

It’s not softness. It’s strength. It’s saying, “I see what you’re doing, and I’m not going to return it. But I am going to help you see it, too.”

Love As Non-Violent Resistance

Then Jesus says it again in verse 35,

Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.

But not really expecting nothing in return right? Not expecting to get your money back… but at least partly expecting to get something else. Expecting a change of heart.

Because the future is not set yet. And when we respond not with what people deserve, but in hope of what they could become, we help shape and guide not only their future, but ours too.

I mean, look at what Jesus says next.

Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High,

That’s the reward. Not applause or comfort. Not some gold star for being a good person.

This isn’t just a moral stance. It’s not just about being good for goodness’ sake. It’s about building a new kind of kingdom by transforming enemies, and healing divides,

for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

After all, that was us, right? Ungrateful and wicked? And we’re still pretty ungrateful most of the time. But God was kind to us. Not just nice. Not polite. Not distant.

He was kind in a way that cost him something. Kind in a way that met us when we were a mess. When we were proud, defensive, self-righteous and stuck. He didn’t wait for us to get it together. He came toward us with grace anyway, in Jesus Christ.

That’s the kind of kindness Jesus is talking about. Not random acts of kindness. Not surface-level gestures. But the kind of love that shows up when someone least deserves it.

And here’s how we do it.

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven;

Now Jesus isn’t telling us to ignore evil. He’s not asking us to pretend we don’t see what’s wrong. This isn’t about turning a blind eye.

And I want to be really clear about something else, too…because this is where a lot of good-hearted people get stuck.

This teaching connects to what Jesus said about seeking the lost sheep. But, you know, not everyone is a sheep. Some are wolves.

Wolves and Discernment

Jesus tells us to love our enemies, but he also warns us that wolves exist.

Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

There are people who aren’t just confused or caught in an echo chamber. They’re actively working to deceive, to manipulate, and destroy.

And sometimes churches say ‘Well everyone is welcome! We don’t discriminate!”

But we do. I do. We don’t allow wolves. And we aren’t going to spend all of our energy trying to talk them out of being wolves. I saw this quote recently and it really resonated with me. It said.

“If you welcome wolves and sheep equally, you won’t have a church.

You’ll have a buffet.

The smart sheep will leave. The dumb sheep will get eaten.”

That doesn’t mean we write people off too quickly. But it does mean we use discernment.

And a lot of us waste time…and valuable emotional energy…trying to engage with people who just too far gone. (You know the one. They always shows up in the comment section. You have one mutual friend and even that friend is always someone you barely know.)

That’s not where your effort is best spent. Jesus said not to cast your pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6) not because the pearls aren’t valuable, but because they are.

Your energy and sanity are incredibly valuable.

So please don’t feel like Jesus wants you to waste your time on people who’ve made it clear they’re not interested. And absolutely don’t put someone else at risk because you don’t want to hold a boundary. But don’t harden your heart, either.

It’s like Jesus is giving us parameters to make our choices within. And we have to go through a bunch of ideas that aren’t right before we get to the right one. And trust me, if I knew what it was, I would have led with it.

If you come up with it, please let us know!

What we should be looking for is a strategy for breaking these cycles we’re stuck in…shifting the narrative…and creating the kind of future God wants.

That’s where kindness comes in. Not as a reaction, but as a move.

Jesus goes on:

38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Now, this isn’t about karma. It’s not a spiritual vending machine. Jesus is just saying that when you live generously…when you lead with mercy and trust, with grace…you shift the energy in the conversation. You create better conditions. Reciprocity becomes possible. You raise the odds of something better taking root in people’s hearts.

It doesn’t mean every act of kindness will pay off directly. But over time, the measure you use… the posture you carry… it shapes what’s possible around you.

But it only works if you actually show up. If you’re willing to do more than just be nice and quiet.

Living It Out

You see, kindness earns you something. It earns you trust. It earns you access. It earns you the right to be heard in places where people have stopped listening.

And once you’ve earned that right? You’ve got to use it.

Not to dominate. Not to drop a truth bomb and walk away. But to say something honest and real. Even if it’s as simple as:

“Hey, you know that thing you believe about people like that? I’m actually one of them. And I want you to remember that next time you hear someone talking like that.”

You don’t need to debate. You don’t need a megaphone. You just need enough courage to become a holy disruption. To remind them that “those people” have names, and stories, and faces. Including yours. And people you love.

So when you step in…when you choose kindness as a tactic…that’s when things might start to shift.

You won’t win every time. You won’t change every mind. But you might change the atmosphere. And if we all do it, especially if we brainstorm and coordinate first, I don’t know, but maybe something good will happen.

Maybe we could enter their echo chamber. Maybe we could raise the odds that something true breaks through.

That’s our assignment.

Not to be liked. Not to blend in. But to stand out: in love and truth.

To be the kind of people others can’t ignore…not because we’re loud, but because we’re different. Because we’re carrying something real. Because we don’t flinch. And we don’t give up.

That’s how Jesus moved. That’s how he changed the world. And now it’s your turn.

So you get out there. You love your enemies. Not by acting like you can’t see the horrible things they’re doing, but by using every ounce of creativity God gave you to help them see it.

You bless the ones who curse you. And you curse the ones who love. Not by ignoring or reinterpreting their curses as blessings. You refuse to let their curse become the last word.

So get out there. Get into it.

You show up with grace and guts and kindness that confuses people.

And if they ask you why, and even if they don’t, point them to Jesus. To real Jesus. The one in the gospels.

The one who saw you when you were a mess, and didn’t walk away.

The one who reached across the line, who gave you mercy you never earned.

You don’t have to be perfect to show up.

You just have to remember where you came from.

And who came for you.

Amen.