Dear Luke,
I hope that my last letter has kept
your mind (and your heart) occupied until now.
I will now continue relating to you the things that Jesus taught in his
lesson from the plain. The teachings of
Jesus don’t get any easier—if anything, they only get more difficult. Unfortunately, for those of us who chose to
follow him, we cannot discard the ones we find objectionable or too
difficult. These, too, must be
considered as instructional for life as a Christian, whether they are easy or
not. For those who seek to paint
Christianity as a simple decision or a prayer, these teachings of Jesus
contradict that simplicity and challenge the disciple to a lifetime’s worth of
work.
After Jesus finished his teaching
about the blessing of those the world regards with pity, if the world regards
them at all, and the woe that will be poured upon those who are typically
envied by society, Jesus transitions to quite possibly the most challenging thing
I have ever heard from a teacher: he
instructs all those who listen to love their enemies, to do good things to
those filled with hate for you, to offer blessings in reply to curses and to
pray for those who abuse you. (I am
making the assumption that the prayer is supposed to contain something more
than a prayer for a swift and sudden end for enemies, like you or I might
pray!)
There is no simple way around this,
Luke. It’s not a teaching that we can
discard or torture another meaning out of, and it’s not from a man who didn’t
have any enemies, either. This is, plain
and straightforward, difficult teaching.
This world, from time immemorial, has taught that the way to get ahead
is to defeat one’s enemies. There should
be no mercy, no thought given to those that oppose us. Even to those who choose not to be the
aggressor, there is little thought given to what happens when one is
attacked—there should be reprisal. It
doesn’t have to be extreme, but there needs to be no defense given when one
repels an attack with violence to match violence—this is common sense in the
eyes of the world.
But in the eyes of Jesus, even this
is too much. We are to meet hatred with
good, vile actions with love. Jesus is
leading us into a completely alternative way of life, and if we’re to follow
him seriously, we have to begin imagining what life looks like under Jesus’
reign, for it isn’t just a holier version of this life. It’s something different, something bigger,
something dramatically alternative to how we do things here. Our witness as Christians is to be complete,
highlighted by the way we treat those who oppose us. Imagine what kind of witness this would be to
the world—people would certainly talk about us if we matched hatred with
love. It would show that our hearts are
tuned differently and march to a different drumbeat.
It’s crazy, but Jesus goes on to
say that anyone who strikes you on one cheek should be offered the other, and
if someone takes a coat the shirt underneath should be offered as well. A man should give to anyone who begs, and if
things are taken, we shouldn’t even ask for them back! Jesus instructs us to treat others as we
would want to be treated.
It’s madness, Luke, but yet at the
heart of it, it makes sense. It’s a test
of how true our hearts are, of how attached we are to this world. It’s easy to love those who love us, and even
the vilest people we know can do that.
But if our hearts are truly focused on Christ, then we will love our
enemies, do good deeds and lend to those even from whom we expect nothing in
return. It makes a statement, Luke, you
have to admit this—anyone, even the nastiest sinner, will lend to someone whom
they expect to pay them back richly.
There is no credit given to someone who does good to those who do good
in return. But those who treat their
enemies like beloved brothers, those who give freely even when they expect
nothing back, they’re displaying a different ethic and modeling a depth of love
that you or I can only fathom. It shows
off God’s love, Luke—for God gives us love even though we often give nothing in
return, and God gives us gifts when we often deserve destruction. We can turn our backs on God, but God never
does the same to us. For this we should
rejoice, and it’s a fair question to ask whether we should display the same
type of selfless love that is given to us by God. In our selflessness, we will be rewarded,
Jesus says, and that we will be children of God, for God is kind to those who
don’t deserve it, even the wicked and those who are ungrateful. We should display the same mercy that God
does, whether or not it makes sense to the world.
Luke, this is difficult
teaching. We are in deep water now, and
there is no going back. I know you are
weighing the matter carefully, but you cannot exclude this or pretend that the
decision to follow Jesus does not include these sayings of Jesus, no matter how
much the heart may struggle with them.
If you are to make a decision to follow Christ, it must be one that
invades every corner of the heart and changes the way we live and see the
world.
Jesus instructs us not to judge,
for we will not be judged, and we who are often so quick to condemn should
restrain, for we will not be condemned.
It is so easy to pick out the worst, the dregs of society and cast them
out, but even they should be considered worthy of our love. We who are free to forgive will be forgiven,
and those who give generously will receive.
Imagine a reward, a cup running over, placed into your lap—for if you
live a life that gives freely, this same reward will find its way back to you.
This part at least makes sense, for
it includes parts about us receiving gifts, and in our society we love to give
so that we’ll receive in return, but Jesus isn’t trying to motivate us with a
carrot held before us. He’s trying to
teach us about God’s love, and helping us see that we who pledge to follow God
must be willing to pour out the type of love that is poured into us if we are
truly going to be disciples. This
decision is not one to be taken lightly, Luke, and it will change life
forever. How can you promise to adhere
to such teachings and then disregard them later? And yet, many do.
Jesus painted an image with his
words to help us see—imagine a blind person, leading another blind person. Both would fall into the pit, right? The idea is absurd, and yet if we are not
leading a life of discipleship, we can’t expect to help others find their way
to Christ. Those who are truly following
will be able to aid the disciples—we will never be above Christ, but we can
live like him if we listen and obey.
Instead, we often get so wrapped up
in the problems of others. We’re so busy
correcting them that we fail to watch out for our own behavior. It’s like trying to take out a speck of dust
in a neighbor’s eye while a branch is blocking our own vision, only we fail to
notice the obstruction in our own eye.
Only when we first stop and examine ourselves so that we may live
correctly are we free to aid our neighbor.
Luke, I am not yet finished with this
teaching from the plain, yet I feel as though I have given you more than enough
for one letter. If we examined each
sentence there would not be enough paper to contain all the wisdom Jesus
conveyed, and yet we must press onward, that the story may move forward and
your own investigation may find the truth within. Look forward to another letter soon.
Sincerely,
Theophilus
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