Today’s gospel: there is a sentence I am sure most people in churches this weekend will give little attention. So here it is so that your readers can be ahead of others!!! The sentence is also from the Sermon on the Mount. Here are those words: “Should anyone press (force) you into service for one mile, go for two.” What does this mean?
Remember who was the ruling power at the time: yes, it was the Romans. It was the practice for the Roman soldiers to command a Jew who might be on the same road as soldiers could be mandated to carry some of the soldiers’ gear for a mile. After that another Jewish person would be commanded to take the next mile and so on. So what is the reason for Jesus’ adding to the law with telling his hearers they should go the second mile. He wanted the people who followed him to be recognized for their “going the second mile” characteristic. Jesus wanted his followers to go beyond an enemy’s expectations. Christians are to be first and second mile people.
today we are more than a few years distance from this unusual and seemingly unreal teaching of Jesus. But we have it read to us and have to consider what it might mean for us today. Does it have any real significance today? Imagine a military man or woman stopping you as you are driving past your church today: “I need a ride to a downtown hotel. Take me to Massachusetts Avenue. You would imagine that the person had lost his or her mind. If you returned home and announced what had happened and you did what was ordered, people would look at you in disbelief and had you done it they would think that you had lost your mind.
Yet what Jesus’ words to his hearers were meant to suggest is that first and second mile Christians have made peace with what seems to be the Christian message. Of course our natural reaction to the military person’s directive would be to fire back a remark that says in essence “Take a walk, sir, if I have to say so.” When anyone offends us most do not sit back and move on. Yet a true Christian accepts the teachings of Jesus that we are all of us children of God and that it requires of us the need to reach out to others. And the Christian is at peace with this.
When you see people who volunteer at a local soup kitchen, people who speak out or march for the right to life or who do extraordinary works for the needy, you are watching people who are at peace with themselves and their accepting that there are many parts to Christianity that are not easy.
Those first and second mile Christians can accept who they are as Christians because there was a moment when the words of an old gospel hymn became a moment that meant something to them: “He walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own.”
Today we are called to be followers of Jesus. How many times in a week are there moments when someone says offensive words, moments when you might wish you had brass knuckles! Today Jesus calls us to help those whose lives have been damaged by recession, by the loss of jobs. He calls us to do this first and second mile. “Why?” you might ask. The answer: because he did that exactly for you -- he accepted and was at peace with who he was and embraced the Father’s will for him. This is the joy of the true believer. These followers know the road to genuine happiness.
Remember who was the ruling power at the time: yes, it was the Romans. It was the practice for the Roman soldiers to command a Jew who might be on the same road as soldiers could be mandated to carry some of the soldiers’ gear for a mile. After that another Jewish person would be commanded to take the next mile and so on. So what is the reason for Jesus’ adding to the law with telling his hearers they should go the second mile. He wanted the people who followed him to be recognized for their “going the second mile” characteristic. Jesus wanted his followers to go beyond an enemy’s expectations. Christians are to be first and second mile people.
today we are more than a few years distance from this unusual and seemingly unreal teaching of Jesus. But we have it read to us and have to consider what it might mean for us today. Does it have any real significance today? Imagine a military man or woman stopping you as you are driving past your church today: “I need a ride to a downtown hotel. Take me to Massachusetts Avenue. You would imagine that the person had lost his or her mind. If you returned home and announced what had happened and you did what was ordered, people would look at you in disbelief and had you done it they would think that you had lost your mind.
Yet what Jesus’ words to his hearers were meant to suggest is that first and second mile Christians have made peace with what seems to be the Christian message. Of course our natural reaction to the military person’s directive would be to fire back a remark that says in essence “Take a walk, sir, if I have to say so.” When anyone offends us most do not sit back and move on. Yet a true Christian accepts the teachings of Jesus that we are all of us children of God and that it requires of us the need to reach out to others. And the Christian is at peace with this.
When you see people who volunteer at a local soup kitchen, people who speak out or march for the right to life or who do extraordinary works for the needy, you are watching people who are at peace with themselves and their accepting that there are many parts to Christianity that are not easy.
Those first and second mile Christians can accept who they are as Christians because there was a moment when the words of an old gospel hymn became a moment that meant something to them: “He walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own.”
Today we are called to be followers of Jesus. How many times in a week are there moments when someone says offensive words, moments when you might wish you had brass knuckles! Today Jesus calls us to help those whose lives have been damaged by recession, by the loss of jobs. He calls us to do this first and second mile. “Why?” you might ask. The answer: because he did that exactly for you -- he accepted and was at peace with who he was and embraced the Father’s will for him. This is the joy of the true believer. These followers know the road to genuine happiness.
