“More Than a Mile” – Sermon on Feb 20, 2011
February 20, 2011
Scripture: Matthew 5: 38-48
“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. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Sermon: More Than a Mile
by Rev. Doreen Oughton
Well they just keep coming, don’t they – these hard teachings of Jesus. Just like with last week’s reading, he starts this one with “You have heard it said…” and goes on to quote Jewish law, then teaches that people are to give more than the law requires, to do better than the standards laid out to the ancient Israelites. “Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, love your enemy, be perfect as God is perfect,” the God who shines sun on the evil as well as the good, who brings rain down on the righteous as well as the unrighteous. Yep, they just keep on coming. Crazy stuff. Maybe it’s more of his hyperbole, his exaggeration said with that twinkle in his eye? Maybe, but I don’t think so. I think that for Jesus, this is where the rubber hits the road. This is where he is leading us through that narrow gate, this is where he is asking us to pick up our cross to follow him. This is his message of radical non-violence, and he wants us to hear it and to live it out as best we can. In his words, we are to be “perfect” in this way.
There are a few things in our hearing and understanding that may be barriers to this message, things that might keep us from seeing this as even possible. Often when we hear the word “perfect” we think of something without flaw, or completely morally uncompromised, and you would be right in your belief that this is unattainable. In our learning and growing we make mistakes, Because we are mortal human flesh we are not without flaws. But the Greek word interpreted here as “perfect” stems from the word for “goal” or “end” or “purpose.” It implies maturity, fulfilling a purpose, being all you were meant to be. And that most certainly is attainable.
It also might be helpful to understand more about what Jesus is referring to when he talks about turning the other cheek, being sued for a coat and giving a cloak also, and being forced to go a mile. Jesus was talking to people who knew about oppression first hand, who were mostly poor, and subjected to mistreatment by those with more power – much like the people in India when it was a British colony, much like the people of color in America when enslaved and for a century after legal emancipation. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could respect a savior who told such people to just roll with it, to be cheerful slaves and stand still for violence and humiliation. So it is important to understand that he was not doing so. He was advocating a creative and non-violent way of taking a stand against oppression, He was telling us to refuse to participate in the opponent’s game. He tell us to see it, point it out, and shut it down.
When he says, “if someone strikes you on one cheek” he is not talking about fisticuffs between equals, he’s talking about an act that is meant to put someone back in their place. It is the backhander of master to a servant, a man to his wife, a parent to child, a Roman to a Jew. At that time, the left hand was used only for unclean tasks, and the right hand for everything else. A person couldn’t even gesture with the left hand in public. So Jesus is talking about a right-handed blow to someone standing across, landing on the right cheek. Rather than letting your head hang in shame, or follow the blow, leaving the right side still exposed, he advises them, pick up your head and turn it. If they try to strike you again, your nose is in the way. It is a way of refusing to accept the humiliation, refusing to be put “in your place,” and a way of asserting your own humanity.
The people who would be sued for their coat, which is the outer garment, are the poor who haven’t paid their debts. They have nothing else, so their creditor is taking them to court for the coat on their back. And will win it. The system works in their favor. It is shameful for the debtor,and empowering for the creditor who certainly does not need the coat of the poor person. But giving the cloak, or undergarment, shows the absurdity of this preference for the wealthy. It is also considered shameful to look at someone unclothed, so the creditor is shamed by being given the undergarment.
As for walking the extra mile, the Roman soldiers were allowed to conscript the Jewish people to carry their pack, weighing on average 70 pounds, but by strict military code, no more than one mile. The person compelled to carry it paid attention to the distance markers on the road, and usually dropped the pack as soon as the mile was up. The day was already lost to them, most likely. No opportunity at this point to go out and labor for pay. Jesus suggests a different tact, to keep carrying the pack, to take the initiative away from the one in power, and leave the soldier to answer to his commander. By voluntarily going the second mile, the first mile is changed from something forced to something chosen. What looks like docile, subservient behavior is at a deeper level, a form of defiance, a form thought that is not adversarial.
I also want to talk about the phrase used, “do not resist the evildoer.” It sounds like Jesus is suggesting that we go along with the evil, but this is so contrary to his words and actions that resisted evil with every fiber of his being that he could not have meant that. The word translated as “resist” antistenai, in the vast majority of its use in the scripture denotes warfare, like two armies marching right up against each other. So it implies something stronger than resistance, more like violent resistance. Jesus is saying don’t march your aggression right up against theirs. Don’t fight violently against the evildoer. Find a different way. Fight fire with water. Don’t cooperate with the underlying paradigm of hate and brutality, injury and domination. It’s a sort of moral jujitsu, this creative non-resistance. It doesn’t extinguish the opponent, but extinguishes opposition itself. It wears away at the vicious, seemingly endless cycle of enemy-making.
Jesus reminds them and us that we are human beings, children of God, created in love with dignity. We do not lose our dignity because of what others do to us, and we don’t gain dignity by fighting fire with fire, by taking an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. You maintain your dignity by making a stand for yourself and others as full human beings. You maintain your holiness by caring about the well-being of everyone, treating each person with respect, by recognizing everyone as a child of God.
Jesus knew that following him on this narrow path would not keep people safe in the usual way we think about safety. The master backhanding the servant might be so outraged by this uppity behavior that more severe punishment may come. Jesus did not focus on maintaining physical and financial safety. Look at what happened to him. He was focused on bringing about the kindom of heaven, about reconciling people to God, to themselves and to one another. That meant a whole new way of being, not just replacing one oppressive power with another.
Why is it so hard to follow Jesus this way? Why is it so hard to respond non-violently to injustice and insult? The exercise I did with the children came from a wonderful book called “Bullies to Buddies.” The author, Izzy Kalman, does a wonderful job talking about our animal instincts, the part of our brain that is wired for physical survival. Our animal brain is always on the lookout for the enemy, the bigger, stronger creature who will destroy us. Our animal brain primes us to show the enemy that they’d best not mess with us, that we are stronger and bigger and can destroy them. It is better, according to this animal brain, to mistakenly see someone as enemy and protect ourselves than mistakenly see someone as friend and be offed. So you can see how incredibly counter-intuitive Jesus’ teachings are to our animal brain. But, we have evolved. We live now in a civilized world where there are rules for behavior, where we are expected to control our urges to take what we want, to lash out physically. These rules protect others from us and us from others. We don’t have to be constantly on the lookout. We don’t have to puff ourselves up to stay safe. In fact, the way evolution and civilization has worked, what now helps us best survive and thrive is having good relationship skills, being able to make friends and influence people.
This thriving is what Jesus wants for us. This is what he means when he says we are to be perfect. We are to evolve even further. We are not to keep living and acting out of our animal brain. We are to mature into the fullest and richest life possible. We are to live our way into the kindom. This is not only possible, it is in some ways inevitable, because we are God’s children. We are inheritors of God’s grace and mercy and loving nature. That is who we are, and it cannot change just because someone else says something to us or does something to us that challenges this truth. The more we believe and accept it, the more in-breaking of heaven there will be in this world.
I invite you now to take a few minutes and think about the things that get in the way of believing yourself to be a beloved child of God and living the life you are called to. Think about the things that keep you in the cycle of aggression, anxiety, revenge, and domination. What makes it hard to turn the other cheek? I’m thinking of my exasperating wait at the deli counter a few weeks ago. When the clerk returned and I went like this, he said, “Sorry you had to wait, like, two minutes. What do you want.” I told him it was more like ten minutes and don’t be rude to me. Why couldn’t I have said, “I didn’t mean to rush you. Take whatever time you need.” Wouldn’t he have been even more eager to serve me? Why didn’t I turn the other cheek? Was it because I felt rushed and pressured myself? Was I feeling I had to achieve and accomplish something in a certain time?
What makes it hard to walk the extra mile, to maybe pay your full taxes without complaint, without trying to squeeze out every last exemption? Are we anxious about our future, resentful of others who don’t pay as much, resentful of those who receive services that our taxes pay for? Have we been advised not to be suckers? Do we want complete control over what happens to what we see as our money. Do we feel more powerful and strong that way?
What gets in the way? Have you been teased and ridiculed, told you are a disappointment. Have you been pushed around? Have you been fearful for your safety? Have you been disappointed by others, by life, by yourself? In naming these things we shine a light on them so that we can see that they do not define us. They do not tell us who we are at our very core. There should be little slips of paper and writing instruments in the pews. I invite you to write down a word or phrase that names something that gets in the way of living the life and being the person that God intended you to be. As you leave the church, you can drop it in the basket to the left. Later I will say a prayer over them, and then shred them. I invite you to pick up a slip of paper from the bowl and hold onto it. Put it in a place where you will see it every day. God knows who you are, God knows what you are capable of and will never leave you without a reminder that you are beloved. Those reminders will just keep on coming. May it be so.
