Through the summer, I've been writing in this space about Matthew 23, where Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of "heaping heavy burdens, hard to bear, on the shoulders of others," but being "unwilling to lift a finger to move them." The problem is not that they are setting behavioral expectations for people that want to be in relationship with the God of Israel, the problem is that they offer judgement without support.
This month, I want to talk about Jesus' commands in how we ought to respond to evil and violence inflicted on us by others. In Matthew 5, he challenges his followers saying, "Do not resist an evildoer. When someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give them your cloak as well. “And a few verses later, "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
In a conversation with young people recently, we talked about this passage and they quickly recognized how different Jesus' words are than the way the world that they live in works from day to day. They knew right away that this is a hard, nearly impossible command. They knew that this kind of rule is a heavy burden.
But it's different from a lot of the heavy burdens that the church puts on others. It's one that we often set to the side. "It's too heavy," we think. "Why strive for that which we cannot do?" And we ignore it, imagining simply that we have no enemies.
Except that people who claim the name of Christ are constantly contending in the public sphere that they are being treated unfairly; that they are being persecuted. And they are constantly attempting to use the tools and weapons of this world to make it otherwise. Constantly more fearful (whether conservative or liberal or moderate) of tyranny or the loss of rights or the incompetence of our leaders than they are of Jesus' command to love their enemies and turn the other cheek.
The reason, for this, I think is precisely that we have not acknowledged the reality that to follow Jesus is to surrender our personal claim to "our rights," and to live according to a law of love, generosity, and charity, that far outstrips what the justice system could demand in terms of what's fair.
It's hard enough to forgive someone who cuts you off in traffic. What would it really take to bless the soldiers who shot at you in battle? Or their commanding officers who instructed them to do so? Or the people who broke into your home, took your things, and left your personal items strewn all about the place? Or the ones who targeted your church specifically because they hate Christians?
It's a heavy burden. But Jesus makes a way for us by carrying the burden first. He is the one who turns the other cheek. The one who prays, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." The one who returns a blessing when he receives a curse.
And he tells us why he can do it: the ones who have authority over him only have it because it was given to them by a higher authority. And the authorities of heaven and earth will never be able to conquer the authority of heaven. He knows that even when the religious leaders and the political leaders run right over him, he's going to conquer them.
And the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead has been promised to us, too. It's a heavy burden, but we can't just lay it aside. We've got to pick up our cross with all of its mass and splinters and follow Jesus.
We can't do it alone. Jesus couldn't either, that's why we know the name of Simon the Cyrene. But Jesus' body, the church, can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Thanks be to God.
