Reflection on Matthew 5:38-48

 

He was not going to be a part of my church.  The class bully was a terrible, terrible person.  He shoved people into their lockers.  He spit food in your face at lunch.  And, the insulting names that he was able to create cut to the bone.  He was enemy number one, and I was utterly in shock when (after our pastor challenged us to invite a friend to church) my friend inexplicably chose the last person on earth that I wanted to be near me in church: the class bully.

“What were you thinking?” I asked after school on the bus.

“The pastor said that church was for sinners, and I couldn’t think of a worse sinner,” my friend replied.

It was time to go into battle mode.

I sacrificed myself and risked a potential tongue lashing or punch to the gut, in order to talk to the bully and persuade him not to show up.  I informed the bully about how boring the pastor’s sermons were.  In reality, the guy was a wonderful preacher.  He was able to speak to the heart of preteens and adults alike…a rare gift.  But, I was not going to let the bully know that.  I also let him know how terrible the other adults were in church, though they were not.  And, to top it off, I mentioned how the homemade mac and cheese at the church suppers tasted like dirty feet, which the delicious and creamy stuff did not.

It worked.  The bully never set foot through the doors of the church.  Actually, as I think about it now, he probably would not have come in the first place.  It is not like his family would have suddenly changed their weekend schedule because a preteen boy told them to. 

No matter, I was relieved that “my church” was safe and that I could continue to have a space that was free from sinners like the bully.  I was happy to have a church that limited relationships, limited the opportunity for sinners to turn around their lives, and limited the grace of God from spreading through our community.  It was “my” church after-all, and I was happy with “my” church the way it was thank you very much. 

None of this had to do with the Bible.  None of this had to do with Jesus’ message of repentance and grace.  None of this had to do with following Jesus.

Jesus was the one who said, “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”  Jesus was the one who said, “If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.”  Jesus was the one who said, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”  Jesus was the one who said, “Give to everyone who begs from you.”  Jesus is the one who reminded us, “For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).

Jesus was quite the opposite of preteen me.  Not only did Jesus turn his face to allow the other side to be slapped, he went to the cross to die out of love for those who struck him.  That is an amazing sort of love and relationship. 

Whenever confronted by people who desired to take all he had to offer, he gave in abundance.  Think of the feeding of the 5,000 men, besides women and children.  That is an amazing sort of love and relationship. 

He gave up his cloak.  He walked the second mile.  He gave to sinners, whether they deserved it or not.  He created an accepting sort of relationship with those whom he encountered. 

And, I truly do mean relationship.  All of the people that Jesus encountered were created through him, God’s word.  No matter how rotten or misguided or sinful they may have become, they are all related to Jesus.  And though they may have forgotten this relationship, Jesus has not forgotten them.  Jesus desires them to have so much more than the misguided life of sin into which they have fallen. 

Loving them, he turns the other cheek, so that they might be shocked by their extra slap.  So that they may be confronted by their willingness to provide more abuse than they intended. 

Maybe they would wake up and turn their lives. 

Loving them, he gives up all of his clothes as he is stripped naked to hang on a cross. 

Maybe, seeing him stripped bare, they may wake up to their lives of aggression and turn their lives around. 

Loving them, Jesus went to the cross, willing to die for his enemies, so that they too might find a new way of life and be saved from the darkness of their souls.  After-all, Jesus’ has no enemies.  Those who we would view as his enemies are actually people created through his own breath.  He spoke their bodies and souls into existence.  The hairs of their head are all counted as Matthew 10:30 reminds us. 

They are people who need a doctor.  They are people who need to be saved.  They are people who need someone who is willing to give them a chance…someone who is willing to take the time to develop an accepting kind of relationship with them which does not first require them to be perfect.  It is a relationship that meets them where they are, out of love, so that they can be healed.

This sort of love…this sort of accepting relationship is amazing, and filled with grace, and filled with danger, and is hard for most of us to grasp.  Loving your enemies is hard.  Developing an accepting relationship with someone whom we might consider an enemy is difficult.  It is as hard as putting your hand in the mouth of a crocodile in order to fix its tooth.  It is as hard as putting your fingers in the way of the fast moving sowing needle in order to keep the cloth straight.  It is as hard as inviting your enemy (a class bully) to church. 

But, my friend did.  My boneheaded friend invited the class bully to church because he understood something very basic about Jesus that somehow I was unable to grasp, Jesus wants a relationship even with our enemies.  Jesus wants a relationship with sinners.  Jesus loves them as much as he loves us.  They are people created by him, worthy of love.

Everyone in the world loves people who love them back.  Even murderers love those close to them, right?  As Jesus says, “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”  The followers of Jesus Christ do not stand out in the world because they love their family and friends.  No, people take notice of us when we follow the lead of our Lord, and love our enemies and pray for those who cause us trouble and hate us.  We stand out because we create accepting relationships with our enemies, just like Jesus did, and just like Jesus instructed us to.

I know, in your mind you likely have that one person floating there that you are asking, “Even them?”  They are the people who you would rather leave and go to another room before encountering them.  They are the people who you would rather leave and go to another church entirely rather than worship in the same space as them.  They are the people whom God is using to test us, to see if we are really serious about this following Jesus stuff, or if we are just paying it lip service because we actually care more about our own comfort.

“There is no way I can love them.”  I hear it already.  The thought goes through my own head.  “How can I possibly feel any affection for someone I actively hate?”

It is probably true.  No matter how hard you try, you are not going to be able to conjure up some good feelings for that person.  But, the Bible does not ask you to.  Jesus does not ask you to.  The word for “love” used in the Bible here is not the feel good type.  The word for love here, agape, has a literal translation of “to welcome” or “to entertain.”  It is an active sort of love that does good to the another person, whether there are nice, warm, fuzzy feelings or not. 

Love means, “to welcome” or “to entertain.”  

“So, I just welcome them to my table to eat with me?” you ask. 

As stupid as that seems, I have seen it work again and again.  I have seen Jesus take a simple act of connection with an enemy and transform it into something beautiful. 

I know of two enemies who hated each other at work for years and years.  One of the two was the boss and was labeled as evil.  It was probably true, the evil part.  Years and years later, even the boss admitted to being intentionally cruel, because it got results. 

Back to the story, one Sunday the boss suddenly started coming to church and haphazardly sat in the same pew as their enemy.  It was an uncomfortable Sunday filling the space with a thick air of contention, but a brief smile was shared.  After that, it happened again and again, Sunday after Sunday, both of them being too stubborn to sit elsewhere.  Then the illness happened, and a dish was made and brought to the house.  Then they talked before worship and shared common struggles.  Then they started doing projects together.  Then Jesus smiled because love always wins.  And, it all started with a simple connection.  It started, not with a passionate, friendly relationship, but with a deeply holy accepting relationship that started with simply welcoming each other as they sat together.

Do you know what helps as we strive to make accepting relationships a part of who we are?  Prayer.  Jesus instructs, “Pray for those who persecute you.”  Jesus himself prays, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” as the soldiers nail him to a cross and steal his clothes, dividing it among themselves.  Somehow in some way, Jesus saw praying for his enemy as the solution to those who would do him harm. 

Pray for your enemies.  For God loves them too.  God desires them to be in the kingdom too.  Jesus wants nothing more than to have a deep, grace-filled relationship with them.  And, that is why “Accepting Relationships” is an essential value of the people who follow Jesus Christ.