A Slap
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”
Matthew 5:38-41.
Here Jesus is talking about forgiveness in a way.
He talks about turning the other cheek. From what I understand the slap here is the slap with the back of the hand as in an insult not as an act of violence.
The meaning being its better to get insulted more than once than take things to court.
The same is true when Jesus says “And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.”
Under the law it was forbidden to take a persons outer cloak as it was used for sleeping.
But here Jesus says let the person have it again to avoid going unnecessarily to court.
Likewise with the going the extra mile. All of this is a show of humility and away to avoid unnecessary fights in the legal system.
There are a lot of petty fights in the legal system today.
I heard one statistic that says eighty percent of all the lawyers in the world are in the United States.
People I’ve noticed sue others over the most ridiculous things.
A person orders a coffee at a drive through, Coffee that is expected to be hot. But they spill it hurting themselves and they sue the company from which they bought the coffee.
Someone threatened to sue me one time over the fact that she didn’t like the performance I did (I’m a professional clown and magician). The only person ever to say that to me in thirty years.
I gave her, her money back it was a stupid thing not worth the fight.
This is how we are to be as Christians. We should not get into petty fights that lead us to enter the legal system. It’s not worth it and we sleep better not having to worry what some judge will say.
Think about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment