These verses completely fly in the face of everything we are used to and everything we see in the culture around us. There are actually 2 extreme ideas here...
1. DON'T give people the payback or "cold shoulder" they might deserve. (pretty extreme)
But it doesn't end there...
2. DO give people kindness they don't deserve. (VERY extreme)
That's what Jesus is talking about when he tells us to go the second mile. Now, we can sort of understand this concept, but when you understand a little Bible history, Jesus' words are even MORE extreme. So let me fill you in...
About 600 years before Jesus' life on earth, the Romans, who were in power at the time, enacted a law saying that any Roman soldier could stop any Jewish guy in the middle of what they were doing, and make them carry their gear for an entire mile (and if the guy didn't, he would be thrown in jail). Now, the Romans and Jews didn't get along with to begin with. The Jews were oppressed and taken advantage of by the Romans... How frustrating would it be to have to stop in the middle of the day, and miss a few hours of work (and pay), to lug around the gear of one of your enemies who was simply to lazy to carry it?!? I would be SO mad! I obviously wouldn't want to go to jail, so I would have to carry it the full mile, but NOT A SINGLE INCH FURTHER!
But wait... according to Jesus, that's not going to fly. Don't just go another inch. Go another mile.
Let me try to put this into perspective on a small scale: Say there's a kid at school who is your classic "bully," a complete jerk who seems to go out of his way to make your life miserable. He happens to be an athlete, and the school takes great pride in their athletes. To show their support, the school has made a rule that any athlete can order another student to carry all their bags and books to their next class. If an athlete asks you, and you deny him, you automatically get a week of detention. So this jerk, who happens to be an athlete, orders you to carry his backpack AND gym bag AND jacket to his locker... which means you'll definitely have to run in order to get to class on time. Of course he doesn't ask politely... he gives you a shove because you're not going fast enough. You HATE him! You can't wait to get to his locker and throw his stuff to the ground...
But wait... according to Jesus, that's not going to fly. He's basically saying that you shouldn't just carry his books to the locker once, but instead, offer to carry his stuff around all week, regardless of how he treats you.
How RIDICULOUS is this idea?! How REVOLUTIONARY is this idea?!
So there's probably at least one person you can think of that you're not getting along with. Maybe you feel good about yourself because you're not mean to them- you just ignore them....Jesus says to take it one step further, always one step further. Go out of your way to help them. That's walking the second mile. Don't just avoid the person you hate... make an extra effort to be kind to them.
What would happen?! What kind of revolution would you see in your relationships?
Try it out, and let me know :)
Love you. Here for you.
Pastor Courtney
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment