CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT HE TOLD US?
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 neighbour 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 to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. Matthew 5:38-45
The meditation of a listener to the Sermon on the Mount
Can you believe what he told us?
‘Love your enemies’, that’s what he said!
Pray for those who abuse you,
and if someone slaps you in the face, turn the other cheek!
Well, I ask you, what sort of talk is that?
He’s on another planet, this fellow –
cloud-cuckoo land!
Oh, it sounds wonderful, granted,
but can you see it working?
I can’t.
No, we have to be sensible about these things,
realistic.
We’d all like the world to be different,
but it’s no use pretending, is it?
‘Love your enemies’ –
where will that get us?
They’ll see us coming a mile off!
And as for ‘turn the other cheek’ –
well, you can if you want to, but not me;
I’ll give them one back with interest –
either that or run for it!
I’ll tell you what, though,
we listened to him,
all of us,
just about the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen,
hanging on to his every word,
listening like I’ve rarely known people listen before.
Why?
Well, you could see he meant what he was saying for one thing –
the way he dealt with the hecklers and cynics:
never losing his cool,
never lashing out in frustration,
ready to suffer for his convictions if that’s what it took.
He practised what he preached,
and there aren’t many you can say that about, are there?
But it was more than that.
Like it or not it was his message itself;
that crazy message,
so different from any we’d ever heard before –
impractical,
unworkable,
yet irresistible.
It gave us a glimpse of the way life could be,
the way it should be –
and he actually made us feel that one day it might be!
No, I’m not convinced, sad to say –
life’s just not like that –
but I wish it was.
I wish I had the courage to try his way,
the faith to give it a go,
for we’ve been trying the way of the world
for as long as I can remember,
and look where that’s got us!
Prayer
Lord,
we are told that the strongest survive,
that we need to look after number one,
that in this world it’s a question of never mind the rest
so long as we’re all right.
But you call us to another way –
the way of humility, sacrifice and self-denial,
of putting the interests of others before our own.
You stand accepted wisdom on its head,
claiming that the meek shall inherit the earth,
and telling us that it is those who are willing to lose their lives
who will truly find them.
Lord, it is hard to believe in this way of yours,
and harder still to live by it,
for it runs contrary to everything we know about human nature,
yet we have seen for ourselves that the world’s way
leads so often to hurt, sorrow and division.
Give us, then, faith and courage
to live out the foolishness of the gospel,
and so to bring closer the kingdom of Christ,
here on earth.
In his name we ask it.
Amen.