You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy'. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …
Matthew 5:38-45
The ‘evil’ Jesus referred to above was not criminal activity but taking advantage of people within the law from positions of superiority. It does not mean that Christian police officers should overlook crime or that judges should pardon it. It does not even mean that we should passively accept all legal injustices.
The slap on the cheek was not the start of a brawl but a formal challenge, a legal act of provocative violence allowed by Roman law. In later times, someone would throw down a gauntlet and the other person could either pick it up and fight a duel or walk away, albeit at risk of conveying the implication they were guilty of what they had been accused or a coward. Today, we might receive a solicitor’s letter and have to decide whether to do what it demands or fight an expensive court action.
Being taken to court for a tunic represents debt collection but Jesus says to give creditors more than they demand - not just the inner tunic but the outer cloak! Today, we might be subject to automated, indiscriminate debt collection and court procedures that add considerably and unnecessarily to the hardship of debt.
Going the extra mile illustrates oppressive demands by State officials: Roman soldiers in occupied countries could require citizens to carry their baggage and equipment for one mile. Today, we might be caught on traffic management cameras for minor infringements that a police officer would have overlooked or we might be fined for accidently dropping a piece of litter.
Lending to whoever asks did not mean to suggest that people should be open to deceit, and so give to fraudsters, but that when faced with a genuine need, give even to people we dislike. Even to our enemies, who Jesus says we must 'love'.
How are we to know when to surrender our rights in the face of commercial, political or social superiority? And how are we to know if an 'enemy', who is opposed to our welfare, is in genuine need?
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Copyright © All Souls Clubhouse Community Centre & Church and Philip Evans 2012.
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Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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