Burning Coals

August 30, 2026 - Romans 12:9-21...

"Upon closer inspection, this is not about killing others with kindness, praise the Lord. No, the mark of a true Christian is harnessing an attitude of universal embrace of humankind. A true Christian can ditch the hidden agendas and cast aside cleverly disguised vengeance, too. True Christians clothe themselves with kindness through and through for everybody, even those who are against them or their mission. Our kindness is not a secret weapon to shame others but our God-given balm to heal the world and to bless them with life abundant. Kindness is our calling card to help everyone to live."

Thanks for listening! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) For more information about Keith visit www.authorkeithlong.com or St. Luke Lutheran Church visit www.stlukecg.org

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Welcome to the Pocket Pastor Podcast, Sermons on Demand, a show for those on the go, instant inspiration, questions for the quest, strength for the soul. I'm Keith Long, and this Pulpit to Your Pocket preaching comes to you from St. Luke Lutheran Church, a congregation of the ELCA in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. For more information about me, check out authorkeithlong.com. To see what we've got going on at St. Luke, visit us in person at the corner of 70th and Hinton in Cottage Grove, Sundays at 9 a.m., or check out Saint LukeCG.org for more information. Thanks for listening. I'm honored to be part of your spiritual journey. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Coming of age in the nineties as a movie buff, I went straight to pulp fiction when Jules Winfield, played by Samuel L. Jackson, recites his famous vengeance speech, the one he says just before killing someone. The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger, those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers, and you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Jules attributed the passage to Ezekiel twenty five seventeen, but that is not Ezekiel twenty five seventeen. The actual passage is much shorter and lacks the famous cinematic emotional preamble. In other words, it's pulp fiction in every sense. Tarantino, who wrote and directed the movie, put those words in Jules' mouth, and then he and Samuel L. Jackson continued to craft and expand the monologue to be used as both a hitman's signature and a possible path for his redemption. Well it's not exactly what the scripture states, it's about as clever a use of scripture as I've seen in movies. I'm used to hearing Hollywood quote non existent passages for funerals and weddings, but this was epic. That said, let's just say that pulp fiction will never be utilized for teaching the Bible to the confirmation class. The book of Romans, on the other hand, provides ample teaching material. Here the apostle Paul instructs the church on the marks of a true Christian and how to demonstrate to others who we are in Christ Jesus as our Lord. Loving, genuine, haters of evil, sustainers of good, affectionate, honorable, passionate servants, hopeful, patient in affliction, persevering in prayer, generous and hospitable to strangers, and so on. Which makes the inclusion of that line about God's vengeance in twelve nineteen feel a little out of place, not to mention the one after it that sounds kind of manipulative. Instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them, if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. It's that last part, that very last line about the burning coals that non first century audiences usually get tripped up by. I know I have. You know what they say. Kill 'em with kindness. Ah, there it is. That old idiom meaning that there's nothing worse than using kindness to deliver hostile, rude, or negative behavior through one's extreme politeness, generosity, and warmth. Kill them with kindness, the ultimate strategy to disarm an aggressor and assert one's superiority. Upon closer inspection, this is not about killing others with kindness, praise the Lord. No, the mark of a true Christian is harnessing an attitude of universal embrace of humankind. A true Christian can ditch the hidden agendas and cast aside cleverly disguised vengeance too. True Christians clothe themselves with kindness through and through for everybody, even those who are against them or their mission. Our kindness is not a secret weapon to shame others, but our God given balm to heal the world and to bless them with life abundant. Kindness is our calling card to help everyone to live. Unbeknownst to most of us, Paul is actually quoting Proverbs twenty-five, twenty-one and twenty-two, almost verbatim. If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat, and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink, for you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the Lord will reward you. From commentator Nancy Lammers Gross of Princeton Theological Seminary. If the fire goes out, it threatens the ability to prepare food and keep warm. If a fire did go out, one would go to a neighbor to ask for some burning coals, and would typically carry them back home in a container upon their heads. Heaping burning coals upon the heads of our enemies is not vengeance at all. Rather, even this is an act of mercy. In ancient context, this metaphor is not a punishment. It is to enable and sustain life by keeping our neighbors' fire burning. Not gonna lie, my whole life I thought that the burning coals business was a clever way of how to be mean without breaking any commandments. Turns out that giving others burning coal is our goal. Spelled out, yes. Our goal as true Christians is to help to keep our neighbors alive through our kindness and generosity, and our genuine love, hope, prayer, and passionate service. In the wake of the apocalyptic flooding in Nepal this past week, being kind might not feel like enough, but every little bit helps. True Christians respond with kindness and love in any way they can. Whether your kindness makes the headlines or not, true Christians weep with those who weep and contribute wherever there is need. Your community, planet, family, friends, church, and so on, doing nothing in the face of suffering is the work of evil. True Christians never diminish their level of kindness no matter who is in need. True Christians seek collaboration and work together with those who similarly value kindness. How are you being called to loving kindness? How are we being called as a congregation? While he may be remembered most famously as the sharp talking hitman who debated the differences between American and European fast food, spoiler alert, the story of Jules Winfield and Pulp Fiction doesn't end in murderous vengeance, but in his kindness and respect for life. In the movie some characters called his survival dumb luck, but that's not how Jules interpreted it. For him it was nothing less than divine intervention, and his miraculous escape spurred in him an impassioned perseverance for kindness. And while that's just a movie, it's not nothing. So too, let us choose kindness over fear, apathy, and condemnation. For in the kindnesses of Christ's love we become for the world God's life-changing, divine intervention. Therefore, if your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. In Jesus' name, Amen.