In another portion in the Bible entitled "The Sermon on the Mount", where Jesus speaks to the disciples and the masses of people gathered around, we had a bit of a refresher today as Pastor Stacia took us to that portion of Scripture.
One of the things that Jesus talked about was loving your enemy and praying for those who persecute you.
Another part of Matthew 5 , Pastor Stacia talked about Jesus saying things like..... if someone slaps you on the cheek, you are to turn the other cheek to him as well. She gave me a new perspective on this Scripture. She said that usually when someone was hit on the face, it was between a master and his slave. It was acceptable for a master to hit his slave on the cheek with the back of his hand....however, after the slave was slapped and in love, he turned the other side of his face to enable his master to hit him on the other cheek, it would have to be done with the palm of the master's hand.....and this was not done. It was not proper. Just not the thing to do! So, offering the other cheek to his master, the slave was offering a form of passive resistance. He was letting his master know that he took his punishment but was also offering his master to go further in his retribution. The ball was in the master's court....now. The master dare not use the palm of his hand, and so, the slave showed his master that indeed he could face his punishment....and even offer his other cheek to go a step further, knowing that the master could not.
Not sure if that makes sense to you, but it certainly gave me a new perspective on this passage of Scripture, one that I had not ever heard before.
Jesus also talked about if someone forces you to walk with him a mile, you should go an extra mile with him. This was common practice in the days of Roman soldiers. They could come up to someone, tap them on the shoulder, and make them carry their gear for a mile. The roads in those days had mile markers on them so that the slave would know how far he would have to go...but Jesus said to offer to go an extra mile for the soldier! What the heck!!??? Another mile yet??!!! Even going one mile carrying all of the soldiers belongings meant that he would have to lose a days wages...or more....so if he went an extra mile, that would mean losing even more money, money he needed to feed and clothe his family. I learned that the soldiers used to take advantage of the slaves and regular citizens to do these kinds of things for them and they would sometimes get them to carry for great distances. But before the mile markers were put in place, this kind of thing began to get out of hand and the people began to object to the way the soldiers were treating them....and it got back to the higher-ups. They needed to look after this problem of abuse before the slaves and regular folk got out of hand and rebelled! So, they decided to put up mile markers. That way the soldiers couldn't take advantage of more than a mile's worth of carrying.....BUT, Jesus said to go an extra mile. What would happen when they did offer to go that extra mile....it would let the soldier know that the one mile was OK but when he kept on going with the soldier's gear that extra mile, it most likely made the soldier pretty nervous about abusing the slaves. The offering to go the extra mile in love, was also a form of passive resistance. The slave was "used" for that first mile, but the next mile it would be against the regulations that were set up for this purpose....and the soldier wouldn't be able to justify an extra mile! The abuse, in a way, would be put back on to the soldier....and perhaps the next time, he wouldn't use a helpless slave at all to carry his gear!!!
Jesus knew that we shouldn't be used as door mats!! But he said that we need to love others. We should turn the other cheek....and walk the extra mile....out of love for another person...because Jesus also said to love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. When real love is offered in extra-ordinary measures, in these "extra" ways, it leaves us with a sense of self-worth, of being valued, and that cannot be taken from a person.
Pastor Stacia said a whole lot more too, but those were the things that stood out for me.
Now, I just need to put these things into practice!!!
See, you don't even have to go to church. I just gave you a mini-sermon while you sit here at your computer:)
Keep warm....and snuggle up!
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