October 14th
An Eye for an Eye
“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. But if anyone strikes you on the right
cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your
coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also
the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not
refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”
Matthew 5:38-42
Generosity. Jesus is speaking here about generosity. Not the easy generosity that we frequently
see today where I will share a part of my surplus with you if it is not
already earmarked for something else and if you are someone trustworthy
and reliable that I like and if it is likely that you will pay me back
and if I believe that there may come a day when I need to ask to borrow
something from you. Jesus is talking
about a generosity that is radically different…uncomfortably
different…read-through-the-passage-quickly-so-you-don’t-have-to-consider-the-ramifications
different.
“An
eye for an eye,” is only fair. It comes
straight out of the Old Testament and was actually a way to keep blood feuds
from escalating and becoming all-out wars.
If someone harmed you, you were entitled to justice that covered the
loss…no more. It was a way to prevent
the cycle of revenge from escalating and never stopping. It makes sense. It is fair.
Why fix something that is not broken?
Then
Jesus comes along and says that actually, if we want to have the heart of God,
we will give freely. We will give what
we have, not what we have left over. We
will give to the evildoers and corrupt.
We will give knowing that we will likely never receive it back. We will give to those who detest and oppress
us just as easily as we give to our families and friends. Roman soldiers were the ones that Jesus was
talking about. They could hit or steal
or force a Jew to carry their gear for a mile under the laws of the day. These foreign, pagan, invading, oppressing
forces were Jesus’ example of who to be the most generous with. Do not seek to get even with them. Show them that they have no power over you by
offering to go above and beyond.
This
triggers so many buttons in me. It flies
in the face of dignity and healthy boundaries and social justice. This does not feel like generosity. It feels like suicide.
What
is most often asked of me? Money is the
easy answer…it is also the easiest one to get out of because you cannot give
what you do not have. Time. That is the big one that I guard so
jealously. There are so many requests
for my time and attention and investment.
Come to this event. Listen to
this problem. Read this book. Have a playdate. Fix this problem…and that problem…and that
one over there. There are countless
requests of my time and attention every day and I know that they are not all
made by people of pure motives and intents.
There are needy people and manipulative people and broken people who are
trying to get something from me. And I
guard my time jealously. And I use my
family as an excuse to say no again and again and again…
And
now I am sitting here, feeling kind of stuck.
The only way that this works…the only way that it is okay to be generous
in this type of radical fashion is if we are convinced, deeply and truly
convinced, that God is taking care of us and providing for us and giving us
what we need in order to fulfill our calls.
If that is not true, then these words are simply an invitation to be
abused by the world and burnt out by Thanksgiving. If it is true, then we can give the very best
of ourselves to everyone who asks because we know that God will recharge us and
give us all that we need to invest in our families and then God will recharge
us again and give us everything that we need to invest in ourselves and our
relationship with Him.
It
seems like a risky proposition to me, but it is the model that Jesus offers.
A moment to reflect:
What do you guard most jealously and have a hard time giving away?
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