38 “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.[e] 39 But I say to you that you must not oppose those who want to hurt you. If people slap you on your right cheek, you must turn the left cheek to them as well. 40 When they wish to haul you to court and take your shirt, let them have your coat too. 41 When they force you to go one mile, go with them two. 42 Give to those who ask, and don’t refuse those who wish to borrow from you.
Reflection
Isn’t this the lesson we try to teach our kids – don’t hit back, share, be kind. Do we also teach them that we shouldn’t let others take advantage of us? But where is that line? What is the lesson of this lesson? I’m sure that like me you have heard these verses used in all sorts of sermons, lessons, etc. There are all of the points – Jesus did not follow an eye for an eye, he may have disagreed with people, but was respectful. In the end, he let the people put him on a cross to be crucified for the rest of us – not for anything he did – he made the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. These verses tell us to go the extra mile for all people – whether they intend to hurt us or not. We can’t be someone’s punching bag and continue to let them hurt us of course, but where is that happy medium? We know that Jesus said we should forgive others 70 times 7 times in Matthew 18:22. We also know that God forgives us every day – how many times a day do we do something that we need to be forgiven of? A bad thought about someone, trying to push our way to be first in line to get something or to go somewhere, wasting time, etc., etc. How many times do we need to be given another chance?
I think that’s really what these verses are about – it is easy to retaliate, it’s easy to make a nasty comment about someone, but it is much more difficult to stop and think about what we are going to say to someone who has hurt us or to try to understand another’s point of view. It is hard to give someone a second chance after they have wronged us, but we are expected to try to live out these things and to give people the benefit of the doubt, to try to work out differences, and to be kind. It can be very difficult, but after all didn’t Jesus do difficult things for us? Doesn’t God forgive us over and over? Of course, we need to use our best judgement and not put ourselves in danger, but we need to do what we try to teach our kids to do about being kind to other kids and giving them a chance. I remember a teacher in second grade talking to the rest of the class about one of our classmates who had a very difficult life. She just basically told us that we should be as kind as we could be because that would help this girl more than we could know. That is our calling – in second grade and whatever age we are – to give people a chance or a second chance – we all do things we wish we wouldn’t have done. Maybe all we need is someone to give us the benefit of the doubt so that we can move forward and do the same for someone else.
by Janet Waryck
For Pondering and Prayer
Thoughts: In my work I meet many, many people, and I usually form pretty quick opinions of them. I will admit that sometimes my opinions are not that great, and it can be difficult to move past those opinions. I pray that I can be more open to give people the benefit of the doubt when I initially don’t have a great opinion of them. How about you? What can we all do to live out this passage? As with everything in our lives, the first thing we should do is pray and trust that God will give us the wisdom and strength to do what is right.
Prayer: God of second chances, help us to know what you would want us to do when we are faced with situations when people have done wrong to us. Give us the courage, wisdom, and strength to know when, what, where, and how to help others. Help us to know you are always with us. Amen