Saint Matthew 5:38-48
Some people say these words more than others.
“If he hits me. I’ll hit back.”
Some people say these words more than others.
“If he hits me. I’ll hit back.”
“I don’t know him. If we get along, fine. But if we don’t, look out.” It’s an adult version of the old school yard game. “He did it first.”
It is an unhappy place to live your life and some people choose to reside there. They follow leaders who believe that it is a cruel world and if someone hurts you it is your right, even your duty, to hurt them back.
Politically it knows no limits. Socially it builds boundaries between people that are like walls that have no “big beautiful doors
.”Recently, The Rt. Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean of the National Cathedral had to deal with this issue in a very real way when the Vestry of that church agreed to accept the invitation of the Presidential Inaugural Committee the sing before the billions who attended and watched this event.
The Cathedral also voted to continue a tradition that dated back to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 of hosting a Inauguration Prayer Service.
The blow-back was overwhelming. People were angered and hurt by the decision and they let him know.
The Dean said he tried to respond to every email and to those who lived within commuting distance of the Cathedral he let them know of his willingness to talk in person. Some took his offer but many did not.
Several times my offer to talk was met with a rather strong refusal. “I have no desire to hear what you have to say,” one person wrote. “I do not need to listen to you rationalize your behavior,” another person responded. These good people were in pain, they felt wronged and they honestly believed they knew the right thing to do. But unfortunately, they had no desire to listen, to understand, to seek common ground. Their sense of rightness did not promote relationship and healing, rather it blocked relationship and healing.1
That is the exact opposite of what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel. Here he tells us that when someone punches you turn the other cheek. Here he is saying that if you disagree with another person to the point of hatred you need to go and talk to the person and not walk away forever.
This is tough stuff.
It is alien to anybody who has ever driven in Chicago. Someone honks their horn at you - lay on yours. Someone curses at you - curse back. Someone flips you the bird - flip back.
What Jesus is saying is while that may be your inclination there is another way to overcome the temptation to strike back.
There is a scene from Richard Attenborough’s movie Gandhi in which the great leader of India’s independence movement is in despair because the unceasing violence between Hindu and Muslim people is threatening to tear his country apart. “What are you so worried about?” someone tries to explain to him. “It’s just ‘an eye for an eye.’”
Gandhi replies, “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
A punch for a punch is the stuff of which wars are made.
We kind of know this but we also fail to realize the context of Jesus’ words.
The people who were high government officials were probably not listening. It wasn’t even folks like you and me. It was to a people who lived in an occupied land. Sometimes a soldier would lash out for no reason. Sometimes they would turn their citizens in to pack mules or valets.
“Let me have your coat.” was not a request but a command. “Here! Carry this.” was not optional when it came at the request of a soldiers.
Some may see this as servitude to the state but in fact those second and third miles were done as servants of God.
Can this work? What might happened if we tried it?
Let me tell you a true story.
In Clark, New Jersey a week ago Friday night parents, as they often do, got in the way of a 5th grade basketball team who just wanted to have fun.
The team from Saint John’s school was coed in an all boys league. With only two games left in the season somebody noticed. And the league’s director ruled that the girl’s could no longer play.
No one expected what was coming next when the parents asked the players what they wanted to do.
"Is it your decision to play the game without the two young ladies on the team, or do you want to stay as a team as you have all year?" asked parent Matthew Dohn. "Show of hands for play as a team?"
Eleven hands shot up in unison. No one raised a hand when asked the alternative.
Assistant coach Keisha Martel, who is also the mom of one of the girls, Kayla Martel, reminded the team of the consequences. They had been told that playing the girls would mean the rest of the season would be forfeited.
"But if the girls play, this will be the end of your season. You won't play in the playoffs," she warned.
"It doesn't matter," one boy replied and others echoed, before long the team began to chant, "Unity!"
Punching back does not bring unity. “If I don’t like you, watch out” does not bring people together. Cutting off communications with those whom we disagree does not bring rapprochement. But being willing to go the second mile for your teammates does.
May we learn from these fifth graders who clearly learned from their Savior what if means to go the second mile for their friends and for Jesus.
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1. Randall Marshall Hollerith, (Sermon, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., February 5, 2017), accessed February 16, 2017, http://cathedral.org/sermons/sermon-rev-randolph-marshall-hollerith-7/.
2. Remo, Jessica. "Coed CYO hoops team defies archdiocese order to kick girls out, forfeits season." NJ.com. February 12 , 2017. Accessed February 16, 2017. http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2017/02/st_johns_cyo_girls_cant_play_with_boys_basketball.html.
