Sermon on the Mount
“Worst case scenario”
I don't suppose we really think about it until it happens. And when it does happen, then it's all we can think about! It's the moment when we have been injured by someone else. Be that physically, emotionally, mentally, financially whatever. In one sense it doesn't really matter. What matters is that we have been aggrieved. Treated unjustly. Humiliated. Hurt. And now thoughts of getting back at the person can consume us. We want payment somehow. Retaliation. Revenge. And if it doesn't come - it can trap us in a time warp. We recite it over and over. We scheme, hope, plan, obsess. We want recompense. We want justice!
It's one thing to sit here now and think about what we would do in a situation. I think, mostly, we would hope that we would be above such emotion and vengeful intent. But once in the situation - we may not even recognise the kind of person we have become let alone recognise the actions we want to take. This passage of scripture contains phrases that you'll hear all kinds of people take up. "An eye for an eye" is often quoted and there is a sense of natural justice about it. It is about evening the score without getting excessive. And then, in equal measure, you will often hear many people quote "Turn the other cheek." I suppose in our hearts we probably barrack for "Eye for an Eye" when we have been hurt; and champion and hope for "Turn the other cheek" when we are the ones doing the hurting.
The "eye for an eye" was God's idea. It was a good rule to stop personal vendettas and things getting out of hand. Jesus is redefining the eye for an eye standard. He turns it on its head. Instead of reacting to evil, anticipate good. It is called the Golden Rule:
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 7:12, NIV)
It's still "tit for tat" - but in a way that is extraordinary. Not only anticipate with goodness - but even react with goodness. This is calling us to move away from a legalistic way of living - to an extravagant way of life which is marked by grace and forgiveness. An extravagant life which might mean foregoing personal rights (and even dignity) for the sake of love and justice So then, Jesus describes four situations. A slap on the face; giving up more than is being required of you ; going even further than what you are being forced to do in the first place; and responding to requests for gifts of money and loans. To orientate ourselves to these four situations - some brief comments:
To be slapped in the face was especially insulting. It would rarely, if ever, happen. If a child ever struck a parent like this - it was a capital crime. What's in mind here is a true backhander given the right cheek is mentioned. "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other one also." To be stuck with the left (unclean) hand was unimaginable.
The second reference about the giving up the cloak if being required to give up the tunic, means the poor were in view. Only they would be in such a sorry state for the cloak to be mentioned. The law stated that if the cloak was ever taken as collateral for a loan - it had to returned by nightfall so that the person was not cold.
The extra mile was infuriating. Taxes did not cover all a Roman soldier's expenses so they could force someone to carry their gear for 1 mile.
And then the final comment about giving and lending has the potential of someone getting to the state to need to beg or borrow themselves.
What are we to make of these situations? Is Jesus just saying "Now - here's what to do should you ever be assaulted; sued; forced to do something you don't want to; or asked for money"? What's in mind here is not just these four situations - but a way of life. These four situations go from the greater to the lesser. From the extreme situation of being struck and assaulted to the lesser situation of encountering a beggar. Jesus is providing scenarios. Worst case scenarios. The intent is to shock the imagination and engage us in thinking about different situations - and from that point - to a way of living. To a pattern of living.
Living in a way whereby retaliation is not only limited - but removed and replaced with the Golden Rule. It has us thinking if I could do that in that extreme situation - then maybe I can respond with grace in a lesser situation. And flavouring all of this - is the opening verse - "Do not resist an evil doer" (verse 39). The sense here is to not resist evil violently. It is not encouraging an insipid and cowardly response. It is encouraging that you, we, make a stand in the Name of Christ that is non-violent, not shot through with vengeance, without revenge in our hearts. That living in this world - we do so treating others as we would want to be treated.
The actions that Jesus is giving as examples, as even worse case scenarios, are calling us to witness to a higher ideal. A call to sacrifice personal power for the sake of love and justice.
"What Jesus is saying in these verses, more than anything else, is that His followers have no rights." Don Carson
To live in this way - there is no promise of success. But there is the potential of humbling the aggressor. As one commentator put it - imagine the humorous situation of a Roman soldier trying to reason with a Jew who was walking beyond the one mile point - pleading with him to put his pack down.
As we move through history - there are examples of this kind of moment. This extreme moment which challenges us to consider the call of Jesus both in the worst case scenario - and the more mundane rhythms of life when love, justice and forgiveness are just as pressing. Francis of Assisi embraced the spirit of Christ's teaching. After Francis of Assisi was converted to Christ, he was doing all manner of loving acts to the most unlovely and poorest people around. The fact that Francis came from a very well-off family did not do their reputation any good. So as a last resort, Francis' father took him to court to demand that Francis surrender his possessions to his father given he had provided them to him. Francis took him literally. And without waiting for the judgement of the court, stripped naked and gave his father all his clothes. That day two men walked out of the court house. One stark naked! He had nothing but had gained everything. The other clutching a bundle of clothes. He had everything but had gained nothing. In the eyes of the town who had gathered for the court scene only one man that day was considered the fool.
In the spirit of the teaching of Jesus here, it is an extreme moment but it also set the pattern for Francis' life which has had deep impact around the world for centuries since. With the breakdown of Apartheid - the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up. A movie called "In My Country" depicts some of that story. It tells the story of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in 1996 after the collapse of Apartheid. It worked like this. If the perpetrators of murder and torture faced their victims and gave a full and frank confession, and admitted their guilt - they would be granted amnesty under Ubuntu. The custom of forgiveness. In this movie a police officer speaks of killing a family as a very young boy, a member of the family, looked on. He shaped to shoot the boy, but he couldn't do it. In the court room the boy sat impassively. He had not spoken since the atrocity. The officer begs for relief from the torment of his guilt. He promises to do whatever it takes. Pay for the boy's schooling. Anything. The man is on his knees before the boy. The boy stands and remains still. Then he hugs the man.
This is a moment like that which Jesus describes. A moment to focus our hearts and lives and reflect on "What would I do?" Let's not kid ourselves though. This whole issue - this particular passage of scripture can start arguments! When you begin to consider the essence of Jesus' teaching here - in a violent world - it rarely is a straightforward thing. What do you do if the violence and injustice is not happening to you - but to someone else?
Is war ever ok? Earlier this year we ran a poll on our website. "I believe that Christians ought to oppose war of any kind?" 75% of respondents disagreed with that statement.
In 1995 when the Bosnia-Serbia civil war was being fought, the world was stunned to learn of the situation when, in a safe haven 8000 boys and men were slaughtered by the Serbs while 400 Dutch UN Peacekeepers watched on and did not intervene. While they were outnumbered and without air support and under orders not to intervene - it is considered that if they had engaged the Serbs directly they probably would have prevented that act of genocide.
What's your view on that situation? In the light of these words of Jesus? We could talk about Just War Theory, pacifism etc. Thorny issues that really tax the mind and morals. A Biblical scholar, Stanley Hauerwas tells the following story:
"A Modest Proposal For Peace: Let The Christians Of The World Agree That They Will Not Kill Each Other."
So reads the poster and postcards distributed by the Mennonite Central Committee.
I have the poster on my office door at the Divinity School. Occasionally, I have notes slipped under my door that say, 'How dare you - why should Christians only refrain from killing other Christians? This is just another example of Christian self-centeredness.' Sometimes someone will even knock and challenge me with the same set of thoughts. My response is always the same: 'I agree that it would certainly be a good thing for Christians to stop killing anyone, but you have to start somewhere'"
It is not easy to take the words of Jesus and apply them. Yet - that is the deep challenge before the church. This is what love, justice, peace and grace look like on planet earth. We read these words - "You have heard that it was said, "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth." But I tell you…" And we are left to contemplate these four representative situations of being struck in the face; giving more than we are being sued for; going further than we are being forced to; and giving when we are asked to. Together - they are designed to fire our moral imagination and inspire us to live in a way that the world is not used to. They serve as focal points. They bring grace into focus. They bring what it means to live as a disciple into focus.
Sometimes the extreme does happen - and we witness extraordinary examples of the Sermon on the Mount being lived out. In October last year, a gunman entered West Nickel Mines School in the Amish Community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As this report demonstrates:
Grieving Amish raise money for killer's family: "This is possible if you have Christ in your heart"
In what's being called a stunning example of "the imitation of Christ," the Amish community devastated by the cold-blooded murder of five of its schoolgirls is raising money for the killer's family.
Amish residents of rural Lancaster County, Pa., have started a charity fund to help not only the victims' families - but also the mass-murderer's widow and children, reports the New York Times today. The killer, Charles Carl Roberts IV, committed suicide at the end of Monday's attack, in which he shot 10 girls. Five of them, aged 7 to 13, died.
Dwight Lefever, a spokesman for the Roberts family, said an Amish neighbor comforted the killer's family and extended forgiveness to them after the shooting, the Associated Press reports.
Explaining the Amish way, Gertrude Huntington, an expert on children in Amish society, told the AP that Roberts' Amish neighbors would probably be very supportive of the killer and his wife, "because judgment is in God's hands: 'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'"
Monday morning, Roberts, heavily armed, stormed into the one-room West Nickel Mines Amish School, sent the boys and adults outside and barricaded the entrance with wood before tying up the 10 girls and shooting them, finally turning the gun on himself. In a sordid subplot, investigators say Roberts also brought plastic restraints with him, apparently planning to sexually assault the Amish girls. When the police showed up quickly, Roberts reportedly panicked and began executing the girls, then himself.
Reacting to the Amish outpouring of support for the killer's family, columnist Rod Dreher writes: "Yesterday on NBC News, I saw an Amish midwife who had helped birth several of the girls murdered by the killer say that they were planning to take food over to his family's house. She said - and I paraphrase closely - "This is possible if you have Christ in your heart."
And Journalist Tom Shachtman, who wrote a book on Amish culture called Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish, told the New York Times: "This is imitation of Christ at its most naked. If anybody is going to turn the other cheek in our society, it's going to be the Amish."
He said, "I don't want to denigrate anybody else who says they're imitating Christ, but the Amish walk the walk as much as they talk the talk."
Added Huntington, "They know their children are going to heaven. They know their children are innocent ... and they know that they will join them in death. The hurt is very great," she told theAssociated Press. "But they don't balance the hurt with hate."
October 4, 2006 © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
How does this translate to your conversation? To the decisions you make every day as you go about your life? What impact does it make as you live as a follower of Christ? This is radical, hard stuff. We can debate the finer details of this or that ethical dilemma - maybe we ought to accept the invitation of Jesus here and consider these scenarios that He puts up. Maybe we ought to suspend our howls of protest and our "But what about…?!!"
Maybe we ought to allow them to focus us on what it would mean if we began to live in this kind of spirit. Maybe in focussing on these scenarios - we take it another step further. Maybe we should not only consider the words - but Who is saying them.And take up Heb 12:3's invitation:
"Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart." (Hebrews 12:3, NRSV)
""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."
Turn the other Cheek
But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;
"Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, "Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?"" (Matthew 26:67-68, NIV)
Let him have your cloak as well
and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;
"When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots."" (John 19:23-24, NRSV)
Second mile
and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
"After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross." (Matthew 27:31-32, NRSV)
Give
Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you."
"Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."" (Luke 23:42-43, NRSV)
Presented By: Rev. Geoff New