The Hardest Part

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  Matthew 5:38-44


Jesus wraps up the first third of his "Sermon on the Mount," with some of the hardest words for us to hear and especially to live.  Today, I was listening to a sermon from Kent Dobson on the Sermon on the Mount.  He makes the distinction that Jesus did not sit down on the mountain and begin to talk about what people should believe (orthodoxy - right belief).  Jesus sat down and preached how we should live (orthopraxy - right action).  It is easier to say I believe in loving others than to actually love others.  It is easier to give our mental assent to something rather than try to live our whole life from morning to night.

Often we read this passage from the Sermon on the Mount and immediately we want to jump to the extreme.  What about Hitler or Isis, are we really supposed to those them?  It is like we are daring Jesus to defend this statement.  It is good to remember two truths in these moments.  First, Jesus did not live in some utopia.  He lived in a time when his people were crushed by the weight of the Roman rule.  Judaism is monotheistic, only one God.  But then along comes Caesar, who violently crushed anyone who go in his way.  Talk about eye for the slightest infraction.  So, let's not pretend that Jesus' words were somehow easier back in those good ole days of the Bible.  Second, I think we offer the extreme, because we want to get ourselves off the hook.  Our defensive mind goes into hyper drive..."If I can get people to agree that we don't have to love the unlovable, than it is a slippery slope to arguing I don't have to love my neighbor whose dog leaves 'gifts' in my lawn!"  I don't know that I consciously think that...but I do know that I like to go to the extreme to argue and win points...to make life easier.

Now, it is not easy to love people who presently killing and using violence.  But that does not excuse the call to love my neighbor who is a Hindu by faith or my neighbor who talks to himself while smoking outside.  I am called to love to the best of my ability...and acknowledge that I have room to keep growing.  But Jesus does not stop there.  We need to go the extra mile and take off our very coat.  Ufdah!  Here is the rub.  Jesus sets the bar so high, we constantly find ourselves failing to make it over.  I don't love others, I sometimes take short cuts, and I cling to my stuff.  These are hard teachings...and they are even harder if we think it is only about believing rather than practicing.

As churches, how do we start practicing this with each other and in small ways?  And like any practice, it is good to pick one and focus there.  Lent begins today.  Maybe you are going to give something up.  That is good.   Maybe you have a prayer practice.  That is good.  But this Lent, I am also going to try to love people whose voice is like fingernails on a chalk board.  I am doing this NOT because I think it earns God's grace, but because Jesus' wisdom says that such practices can lead to full and authentic life in God's realm here and now.  I am practicing now, so maybe by summer I am less prickly toward people who I know are children of God.  I am practicing now, because I am about to get another year older, and know there are many more practices Jesus invites us to live faithfully.

I pray you have a blessed and holy Lent.  I pray these words from the first chapter of the Sermon on the Mount have stirred within and stayed with you.  I pray we will do more than just mentally adopt these words...which is a start...but also try to practice them in the coming forty days.

Pax and blessings ~