Word to the Wise
Monday, June 15, 2020 - Monday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Kgs 21:1-16 and Matt 5:38-42]"You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well." [Matthew]
Hmmmmm......what is your initial response to this teaching from Jesus? Is it a "What if......?" or an "Even if......?" Is it a "Come on, Jesus, get real!" Is it like the response of a very prominent political figure in our country who said, "If someone hits me, I hit 'em back harder?" Is it the old saying, "I don't get mad. I get even?" If we have any of those responses in our head, we are facing the challenge of being a Christian. The Sermon on the Mount goes beyond external behavior into the recesses of the mind and heart and says that revenge and "getting even" are wrong - period!!! Reasonable defense, yes. Revenge, no.
The teaching from the Mosaic Law was actually an improvement, if one could call it that. It requires that revenge be proportionate to the injury! So, with that in mind, what sort of revenge should Jesus' disciples have sought against Pontius Pilate and the Jewish religious authorities who put Jesus to death by crucifixion? The darker side of Christian history shows some terrible anti-semitic acts.
Some societies have revenge deeply embedded in their collective consciousness. The movie, THE GODFATHER, accented this, but it is part of any gang culture anywhere. In societies that emphasize "honor" as a value, any threat to that "honor" is met with force. Jesus' parables give us many examples of this kind of cultural thinking from MIddle Eastern society. But we westerners have our own forms of revenge, so we shouldn't point fingers.
Suffice it to say that the Sermon on the Mount can make all of us who consider ourselves "good Christians" squirm. This week's gospel scriptures will provide a lot of squirming material! Stay tuned! AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
103 ms
4
