Text: Matthew 5:
38-48
38“You
have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’39But I say to you, Do not resist an
evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;40and if anyone wants to sue you and take
your coat, give your cloak as well;41and
if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount by
blessing the peacemakers and offering a vision of what this world will be like
if we ever grasp God’s concept of peace.
And then he got down to brass tacks. HOW can we make peace in a volatile
world? For the original audience who
heard Jesus speak, peacemaking was not only about living in peaceful personal
relationships with our neighbors but also and more ambitiously about
transforming a whole domination system within a warring culture. The peace of
the Roman Empire—Pax Romana—was maintained by subjugating people through force
and fear. In contrast, the peace of
God’s empire is achieved through love, which includes loving one’s enemy.
But remember that Jesus was mainly
talking to the disempowered, dispossessed, and oppressed. It’s clear how the guys holding the swords
become peacemakers. They put down their
swords, right? How do the ones being
held at sword point—the folks Jesus addressed—how do THEY become
peacemakers?
We might assume that being passive is the
path to pure pacifism. Yet avoiding violence is not the same as making peace.
Becoming a doormat actually enables oppression. When Jesus tells the people to
love their enemy, let’s remember that their enemy is occupying their land and
terrorizing their communities. Jesus is not talking to people about little
squabbles with friends. Turning the other cheek did not mean then, as it means
now, that if you say something mean to me, I’ll bite my tongue. Giving someone the coat off your back was not
then, as it is now, a description of a generous person. Going the extra mile was not then, as it is
now, a cliché about being extra helpful.
Having taken Matt. 5: 39-41 out of its original context, we’ve missed
the world-altering point of Jesus’s sermon.
Theologian Walter Wink[i]
believes Jesus’s first hearers would have understood the words of verses 39-41
to be a risky tactic of creative nonviolence against a violent and oppressive
political regime.
In today’s 4:00 Bible study and in a
sermon I preached three years ago, we examined these three stunningly creative examples
of a subversive strategy that might startle oppressors into realizing and
repenting their complicity in a system of injustice. Wink calls this a “third”
way of responding to the domination system—a response that’s neither passive
nor aggressive. Turning the other cheek (Mt. 5:39) in the original context, is
a way of shaming a violent superior.
Giving a creditor the only garment you have left (Mt. 5:40) and then
striding out of a courtroom in naked protest is what Wink labels as "guerilla
theater" that shames the oppressor and exposes an injustice. Going the second
mile might confuse Roman soldiers into breaking a rule and questioning an
unjust system. When confronted with injustice, a powerless person has no hope
of winning by fighting and no desire to continue being mistreated. So Jesus suggests creative nonviolence that
resists any cooperation with injustice. And this approach might—just might—jolt
the oppressor into repentance.
I have time to explain, via Walter Wink, just one example
of creative nonviolence, which is found in verse 41.[ii]
Then I’ll offer a contemporary example.
Mt.
5: 41 reads: “And if anyone forces you
to go one mile, go also the second mile.” Going the second mile, as I mentioned
earlier, is often understood to be a maxim about being especially helpful. But even if we know nothing about the historical
context, the fact that someone FORCES you to go one mile should prevent us from
thinking Jesus is recommending an extra measure of helpfulness. Someone FORCING you to go a mile is not a
neighbor asking you to run to the grocery store for her, and going the second
miles is not you offering to stop by the dry cleaners for her while you’re out.
Here’s
the political context: In Jesus’s day, Roman
soldiers often compelled conquered villages on the streets to carry their 60-85
lb. packs. In Jesus’ day, a slightly
enlightened military code prevented soldiers from forcing subjects to carry
their baggage past the mile marker. This, many believe, is the situation Jesus
had in mind in recommending that a civilian, when FORCED to go with the soldier
for one mile, should carry the pack one extra mile, which was forbidden by
law. If soldiers violated military
rules, the centurion in charge could punish them. Do you see the dilemma this
seemingly cooperative offer sets up for the soldier? What would happen if, at
the next mile marker, the soldier reaches for his pack and the civilian says,
“Oh, no. P-L-E-A-S-E let me carry it another mile. I insist!” What’s this Jew up to?
the soldier must wonder. Usually we have
to force compliance. Is he tricking me so that later he can file a
complaint? Is he insulting my strength? Picture
the Roman soldier now pleading with the peasant for his pack. Surely Jesus’s audience laughed at the thought
(Wink 106-108). Humor and satire have
always been resources of the oppressed to expose injustice, to shock the
oppressor into seeing the powerless in a new light. Jesus was perhaps reminding
his people of their tradition’s meager means.
How
should an oppressed people respond to this regular requirement to cooperate
with the military occupying their country?
Jesus doesn’t recommend revolt. And
besides, the soldier is but a cog in the empire’s machine. Nor does Jesus recommend
aiding the oppressor—even if it sounds that he’s recommending that his
listeners genially help enemy soldiers by going an extra mile. Instead, he’s illustrating an ingenious third
option that helps the powerless assert their dignity in a situation that can’t
be immediately changed. And even though
Jesus taught this way in public using suggestive language that didn’t sound
overtly subversive, his listeners surely were learning creative ways of pushing
oppressive practices “to the point of absurdity” (Wink 110) in hopes of recovering
their dignity and exposing injustice. Admittedly, these stunts probably would
have worked only once. Jesus is not
recommending his followers use these same tactics over and over because the
element of surprise is key to destabilizing the more powerful opponent. But methods LIKE these could be used.
Of
course, Jesus is aiming not simply to outwit an enemy but transform the enemy
into a friend and to bring God’s kingdom a little closer. His method holds open the possibility of the
enemy becoming just. Love your enemy, he
says in verse 43. Pray for your enemy,
he adds in 44. Why? Because (vs. 45) God
loves your enemy as much as God loves you.
God loves the one who slapped you, who took your land, who conscripted
your labor—as much as God loves you.
Jesus’s nonviolence is not merely tactical but theological. His teachings are rooted in love—of God, neighbor,
self, even love of the neighbor who is the enemy but who can be liberated from
being the oppressor. And Jesus’s tactics that aim at peace are peaceful. Don’t return evil with evil. Don’t let violence turn you into the next
oppressor. The cycle of violence will be
perpetuated—in the Middle East and on streets in the U.S. of A.--if we enter
it. Jesus refuses to go there. He
refuses to be passive or violent.
Does
Jesus’s first century equivalent of a TED Talk hold relevance for us
today? It’s well-known that Gandhi’s and
King’s creative nonviolent strategies were inspired by the Sermon on the
Mount. And many other oppressed peoples
have succeeded in ending injustice without responding violently but instead
creatively—not with guns but with marches and boycotts and art and music and
sit ins and . . . well, let me describe one creative nonviolent action in which
I participated in a very minor role not long ago.
Last
January, two lesbian couples in Mobile—including our own Jan and Sondra—bravely
participated in the WE DO Campaign, a creative nonviolent action for marriage
equality. http://www.southernequality.org/we-do-campaign/
In the fall of 2012, I was contacted by
a fellow UCC minister, the Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director of
the Campaign for Southern Equality. Could I help her locate local same-sex
couples who might march to our court house to seek a marriage license in front of
television cameras and newspaper reporters to support marriage equality? I was intrigued. George and I soon agreed to host the main planning meeting in our home.
Jasmine
shared her organization’s ingenious tactics--dramatic but peaceful and
respectful tactics--to demand justice for LGBT people. Thirteen Southern cities would be part of
this campaign in the early part of 2013.
Local and national media would be alerted and in the process the general
public might recognize the obvious injustice of denying loving couples equality
before the law. Jasmine assured me that
good training would be given all participating, legal council would be with us
every step of the way, and pastoral care (which I would help provide) would be
available to those participating. I was impressed that Jasmine, a daughter of
the South, understood the cultural context here, and that she, a fellow pastor,
had a pastor’s heart for those who would be taking on personal risk to
participate. The entire WE DO team demonstrated care both for the Mobilians
who would risk public disapproval if they participated and for the
staff of our city’s records office, who were notified well in advance of the
demonstration and told exactly what to expect. We participants in the
demonstration were reminded that the staff would be simply carrying out the
laws that are on the books and to treat them kindly. Jasmine was gentle with
each person with whom she interacted.
I
loved that the action was creative and compassionate for all concerned. Yet our
statements and stances were unequivocal.
Jan and Sondra and the other couple were eloquent and loving. The event
was joyous! Of course their applications for marriage licenses were denied—but
Jan and Sondra, who were actually asking that their marriage license from the state
of Massachusetts be filed in Mobile, actually were able to do just that, which
may become a chink in the legal armor blocking same sex marriages here. http://photos.al.com/mobile-press-register/2013/01/lesbian_couples_apply_for_marr_10.html
The
WE DO Campaign is just one of many courageous and creative strategies that are
radically altering public opinion and changing laws in support of gay and
lesbian citizens. The rapidity with
which this social issue is being rethought just may have something to do with
the creative nonviolence that is characterizing this movement.
There’s something appealingly pragmatic
about Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.
Peacemaking is HARD and RISKY, and the road is LONG. But it’s something we can learn to do. Which
makes the kingdom of God seem to me less like pie in the sky in the sweet by
and by—and more like a difficult dream that we are moving toward.
PRAYER
God of Peace,
In your Kingdom Upside Down
You’ll undo Stand Your Ground.
We’d heard before an eye for eye—
But soon there’d be no eyes to cry.
If the Zimmermans and Michael Dunns
Give up their anger and their guns . . .
If folks like me relinquish greed
And learn to live with what we need . .
.
If folks like me creatively
Do justice work nonviolently
And live that Sermon on the Mount
So everybody’s life will count . . .
we’ll prize your peace all the dearer.
we’ll bring your realm a little nearer. AMEN
