Tuesday, October 28, 2008

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Second Mile Christianity

"If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles" (Matthew 5:41).

As people who profess to follow Christ, we should be different from the rest of the world.  Different, not distant.  Jesus said that we are in the world just as he was in the world and that he has in fact sent us into the world (John 17:11, 18).  At the same time, we are not of the world any more than he was of the world (John 17:14).  We all were at one time part of that world, but we have been called out, called out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son (Colossians 1:13, see 1 Peter 2:9).  As such, we should be different, and at the same time "same" enough that we can relate.  And, however far God has brought us, we should never forget that that was where "you used to live" (Ephesians 2:2) and "all of us also lived among them at one time" not that long ago (Ephesians 2:3).  We are now connected to Christ but he wants to reach the world.

This, I think is at the heart of what the rather strenuous teaching of what has come to be called the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is all about.  The fact that it calls us to so much is the reason that much of it gets neglected in the church.  Jesus calls us to be as he was in the world.  How many times in these chapters does Jesus say words similar to, "You have heard it said that . . . , but I say unto you"?   He is calling us, as we walk out our relationship to him in the midst of a world in rebellion, to be and say and do more than most people, even the very religious would do.  The Pharisees were some of the most religious people of his day, and Jesus often had discussions with this group, but he says only a few verses earlier that "unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).

Jesus' kind of faith is about going above and beyond what is normal or reasonable.  He lived this out in his own life and above and beyond that in his death and he calls us to the same.  He calls us to more than is reasonable, more than is feasible, more than even what we might think we have to give.  He calls us to go beyond fair.  Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' (quoting Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21)" (Matthew 5:38).  This is Old Testament law and is good.  Jesus goes for better and best!  "But I tell you,"  he says.  I will show you a more excellent way (see 1 Corinthians 12:31).

And, then Jesus puts together a couple of examples of what he means.  Do not resist an evil person, he says.  If someone hits you, do not hit back, in fact, let them hit you again if they feel like it.  If someone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him take your coat as well.  If someone forces you to go a mile, go two.  I don't know about you, but everything inside of me, my sense of justice and my own personal rights, screams out, "No!  This is not right!  You can't really expect me to do this!"  And then I hear Jesus' question, but what have I done for you and for all of the others in the world?  Have I not given you more than you deserve?  Have I not given to you in abundance when you have asked, even demanded at times?  I am simply calling you to be like I am, like I was in the world.  You are now my representative.  You get to show me to the world.  How else will they know me?  "Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:41).

Do we really want to be like him or not?  Jesus is about the second mile.  The second chance.  Forgiveness times infinity.  Grace.  Mercy.  Never give up.  Never too much.  Love beyond measure.  "As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34) is not a suggestion of Jesus.  It is a command.

We are to be second mile Christians.  Come to think of it, since we are going anyway, why not third and forth and fifth?  Isn't that Jesus' way?  And what about doing it for others before they ask, before they "force" us to it?  Wouldn't that be Jesus way?

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.  Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you" (Luke 6:36-38).

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