Matthew 5:38-48
There is a story about Desmond Tutu,
the Episcopal archbishop of South Africa, back during the days of
apartheid. He was walking on a narrow sidewalk when a white man came
walking toward him. The man told him to get out of the way, and Tutu
stepped down into the street. As the man passed, he said, “I don't
step aside for gorillas.” Tutu replied, “Well, I do.”. Now
the only thing about this story that I don't know is how loud Tutu
said this. Since he's still alive I suspect it was in a fairly quiet
voice. Jesus gives us two more interpretations of the commandments
that Jews followed. Now you may not recognize these commandments,
because they aren't technically part of the ten commandments.
However, remember that the Jews had six hundred thirteen commandments
to follow. Each of these commandments had a lot of footnotes. So
the commandment “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” was
the foundation of a whole legal system. If someone deprived a person
of something unjustly, the judges would try to find an equivalent
that the offender had to repay. We see some of this elaborated in
other parts of the Old Testament – if you killed a person's cow and
didn't have one of your own, they would find something of equal value
that you had to give that person. But Jesus gives us an entirely
different twist on this commandment. If someone takes something from
you, let them have it. If someone slaps you on the left cheek, turn
and offer the right one as well. If you are forced to do something,
do twice as much as you were supposed to do. Is this any way to run
a justice system?
I look at this commandment as
impossible for most of us to follow. But if we look more deeply, I
think we can see the point Jesus is making. The logical extension of
the law “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is violence.
It is of course a good basis for living in a community, but if we
take this law personally and use it as a way to behave in
interpersonal relationships, we end up filled with anger, the desire
for revenge, and wishing evil on other people. If someone takes our
cloak, and we react by demanding that it be returned or doing
violence to get it back, we give that cloak a lot more value than it
has. And of course, to the extent that these emotions consume us, we
lose our freedom, we invite those urges which lead us to sin. And of
course the other person sees everything from his or her vantage
point, and for him or her, you are the enemy; and the circle widens.
This desire for “getting even” is
especially dangerous in marriages, because it makes adversaries of
the two who have pledged to become one. And yet it seems to be a
common topic of disagreement in a marriage – You did this so I am
going to do that.
The other law Jesus refers to is “You
shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” Again, the rabbis
spent a lot of time discussing who was neighbor and who was enemy;
and as a rule for a small nation surrounded by aggressive neighbors,
it made a lot of sense for the citizens of that country to follow
this rule. Trust your kinsman, be very suspicious of the foreigner.
We see this sentiment being played out even today in our debate over
immigration.
But again, Jesus is warning us that we
shouldn't be applying this as a personal rule. He tells us to
imitate our heavenly Father, who gives his gifts to the just and
unjust alike. For Jesus, it is again an issue of our essential
freedom; if we hate, we aren't free – it takes a lot of energy to
carry a grudge around.
So these commandments of Jesus seem to
be impossible at first glance. He seems to be telling us that we
should be doormats and let people walk all over us. His teachings go
against our natural human tendencies.
But maybe that's the point. Our
natural human tendencies get us into trouble; they are rooted in
original sin. In telling us to reject those natural tendencies,
Jesus is actually pointing out the way to joy. A person is joyful if
nothing can affect his interior peace; certainly if we are not
disturbed by allowing our enemy to hurt us physically or take
something from us – our labor, our clothing – we have achieved
inner peace. Surely if there is no one left to hate, we have peace.
And the more peaceful we are interiorly, the more freedom we have;
and when we have peace and freedom, it is easier to form and
strengthen our relationship with God. So we are not trying to become
doormats; we are becoming free.
What should we do today? If you are
like me, there are probably a few people you've met during your life
that when you think about them, you react with a little internal
anger, because the memory of that person is associated with a bad
experience. Is there a way to look at the situation objectively and
detach it from the emotions it brings up? Jesus thinks there is.
And equally, how far could someone
push you before you would push back? Jesus is not asking us to forgo
justice, but to live in a way that no one can disturb our interior
peace. Saint John Bosco saw as his mission the care and education of
street kids. In his instructions to the members of his order, he
talked about the need for discipline, but he emphasized that all
discipline needed to be done with love, because of you let yourself
get emotionally upset, you were harming your spiritual life even
though you might be helping the boy. To me that's kind of what Jesus
is talking about.
So this gospel should make us review
all those “triggers” that cause us to react without thinking –
even internally. Because we can get rid of them and we should, if we
want to be joyful, if we want to create a space for God in our
hearts.
