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We’ve all heard this Scripture—turn the other cheek, give them your cloak as well, go the second mile, love your enemy. And admit it, we have been like the people in I Corinthians thinking—this is foolishness. This is a joke. Jesus, you can’t really mean it! At best it sounds like asking to be stepped on; at worst, can you imagine how an abused person might hear “turn the other cheek?” What can Jesus have been thinking?
So let’s delve into this passage—for I think it has much to say to us today. Jesus is continuing his reinterpretation of the law that started last week. Now he is parsing “It is said, an eye for an eye”—justice that actually was putting a confinement on what one could ask in repayment—eye for eye, not life for eye. But Jesus advocates a nonviolent approach. Don’t strike back, give more than you are asked, do more. Why? Why would one want to participate in the oppression that was rampant in Israel under Roman rule?
The only thing I can think of is that it is an over-turning of who is in charge. I choose to offer up my cheek, I choose to give my cloak as well, I choose to walk the second mile. I choose not to participate in the hate culture. I am in control of myself. I am going to be light and salt and a blessing. I am going to be “perfect.”
Let’s not let that last sentence of our gospel lesson be forgotten. Be perfect as God is perfect. Had Jesus been standing in the sun too long? He knows we aren’t perfect? Can’t be perfect! So is this the clue that all this “I tell you” stuff is just wishful thinking—a mirage to admire—a goal that one will never attain?
Not so fast, says Jesus.
First, you are getting caught up in your translation. You who live in an immediate gratification culture, you who are so rich you can throw out everything that might be marred, or ugly, or passe. I don’t mean perfect as unblemished or pristine or scoring a 10 on someone’s scale (passed down from the Greek culture—perfect as in the Greek word teleios). I, Jesus, mean “perfect” as in Aramaic, the language I spoke, (gmar), which is better translated—ripe, fully flavored, fully flowered. (Susan McCaslin, “Jesus and Perfection” Seasons of the Spirit).
In other words, find a mature response to the insanity of the world—don’t just wade into the brawl. In other words, find your best self, be what you were created to be (instead of reaching for an unattainable goal)—let your seed flower, let the tree you are bear fruit. And that takes time. That takes strength. That takes being nourished by the blessings of God (even in the worst times of our lives). That takes holding onto the belief that we ARE the light of the world; we ARE the salt of the earth. That takes knowing that following Jesus is supposed to prod us into places where there is injustice.
This is one of the passages that undergirds nonviolent resistance. Some may call it “weak.” Some may think it does nothing at all. But it is what Jesus, here in the gospel of Matthew, is advocating from the very beginning of his time with his disciples. Does that mean he turns a blind eye on those who are being poorly treated? No. Does it mean that he shirks from getting in the face of the establishment when he thinks they are wrong? No.
It does mean that he refuses to participate in the childish, knee-jerk response.
It does mean he tries to find a way to empower those who have no power in the minds of the powerful.
It does mean calling us, the disciples, to find our best selves, asking us to do more than we think we can, expecting us to step into the swirl of love and forgiveness and mercy and justice that is perfect in God, and to allow that swirl to make us more like Jesus’ Abba.
I have struggled this week with how to make what I hear Jesus saying to us concrete. How do we do these things? What would it require of us?
I was struck by one of the examples Seasons of the Spirit briefly mentioned—a group from Australia that calls itself “Love Makes a Way.” We all know that in recent years there has been much displacement of peoples across the globe. People have been fleeing war and economic deprivation and disaster. We have seen the rickety boats that people use to try to make it across the Mediterranean. We know people walk long distances to try to come to the United States. I have not been as aware of the peoples trying to enter Australia. And Australia was placing any refugees in detention camps on islands off the mainland. In 2014 it became known that 1138 children were being housed in these detention camps—experiencing physical and mental suffering. And some people felt they could no longer be silent. It started as a response, like Gandhi in India or the civil rights movement in the US, or the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, as a nonviolent reaction to injustice. It started as a few friends staging an action in Sydney. Then some clergy joined them in Perth, and Love Makes a Way began in earnest. They began training people in nonviolent resistance and to coordinate and publicize events, especially sit-ins at representative’s offices.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Why direct action?... Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”
And it has brought attention to the problem. Other groups like ChilOut have formed. ABC news did a piece on Love Makes a Way which you can find on vimeo. And at one time during 2016 there were less than 5 children at Nehru. That number has climbed again to 44, plus 240+ children being housed on the mainland. Love makes a way has made a difference.
What about us? There are certainly refugee and immigration issues in the news. There is a suggestion that West Orange become a sanctuary city. Rev. Mike is going to be allowing us some time to think and brainstorm during Lent with a Series called “How to be Calm in the midst of Turmoil” focusing on some nonviolent readings and techniques. Our Faith in Action team is planning to have an event to provide postcards and the addresses (and contacts) of our representatives so we can express our own opinions.
I know that we have different minds on how the church should be involved. But today I hear Jesus’ call to consider, to passionately discuss, what mature, loving, nonviolent followers of Jesus should be doing.
May this Lent be a time when we struggle with our individual and collective role in our world.
And may the One who is truly complete, “gman,” (perfect) guide us.
Alleluia, Amen.
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