"You
have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you,
Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to
him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him
have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him
two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who
wants to borrow from you."
Matthew 5:38-42 (NIV)
Matthew 5:38-42 (NIV)
What
do you do when someone harms you physically, emotionally, economically or in
some other way?
Jesus
continues teaching us how to flourish in God’s good world.
In the Beatitudes He taught us that the good life of the Kingdom is
available to anyone who wants it.
Not only that, whoever accepts His offer finds himself among those make
the world work (light and salt of the earth).
Jesus then tells us how anger, lust, wrecked marriages, and verbal
manipulation ruin our joy. Basically
Jesus is saying. Trust me on
this. I won’t be easy but it will
be good.
Now
He tells us to skip revenge. The
old way was “eye for an eye,” reciprocation
through equalization, responding to an injury in kind, nothing more, nothing
less. But as always Jesus rejects
“at least I didn’t act on my anger” by telling us that the Kingdom of God
is not about what we
don’t do.
The
Kingdom of God is about a new heart and that new heart, new love, new
other-centeredness is achieved through practicing Kingdom practices.
People who are alive in God’s Good Kingdom see themselves in God’s
hands. They see the humanity and
limitations of their enemies and see them under God.
They are learning to view others as Jesus did (“Father, forgive them
because they don’t know what they are doing”)
"Lord,
I need help with this. I want
to see others as you see them, out of touch with the reality of the Kingdom,
even as victims of life under the control of the 'Prince
of this world'.
My emotions get in the way and simply choosing to “not do” something
doesn’t work. Help me to act
in some concrete loving way toward “an enemy” this week.
Thank you Lord. Amen"
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