Grow Up

Read Matthew 5:38-48 

Read today’s passage in The Message paraphrase to hear Jesus’ words afresh: “Here’s another old saying that deserves a second look: ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.’ Is that going to get us anywhere? Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (Matthew 5:38-48, The Message) 

The renowned Russian author Leo Tolstoy was deeply impacted by the words of Christ in this passage. In his book, The Kingdom of God is Within You, which was largely influenced by the Sermon on the Mount, Tolstoy wrote: “Accept the teaching of Christ as it is, clear and simple; then you will see that we live among the big lies.” Tolstoy’s writing was deeply influential even with non-Christians, leading Mahatma Gandhi to read the Sermon on the Mount. Gandhi later wrote: “It is a first class human tragedy that people of the earth who claim to believe in the message of Jesus, whom they describe as the Prince of Peace, show little of that belief in actual practice.” 

FOR REFLECTION:

• Why do you think the teaching of Jesus to love your enemy and choose peace over revenge is so transformative as to inspire such great movements such as those led by Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.? 

by Diana K. Otterbacher