A few weeks ago we read how Jesus went up the mountain
\nto teach his disciples.
\nJust as Moses went up on Mount Sinai to receive the Law,
\nJesus, the new Moses, speaks his Sermon on the Mount
\nto deepen our understanding of the Law.<\/p>\n
This week he is still on the mountain
\nand his words are clear:
\n\u201cOffer no resistance to one who is evil.\u201d
\n\u201cLove your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The message is simple, the challenge is difficult:
\nJesus is telling us to resist the cycle of violence.<\/p>\n
We all know how that cycle works.
\nViolence begets violence.
\nHatred begets hatred.
\nRetaliation leads to more retaliation.<\/p>\n
The way we respond to violence
\ndetermines whether it increases or decreases.<\/p>\n
![\"Bugs](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bugs_elmer-300x163.jpg\")
It\u2019s like that Bugs Bunny cartoon
\nwhere Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny with an axe.
\nBugs grabs a bigger axe and chases Elmer.
\nElmer gets a pistol. Bugs gets a shotgun.
\nElmer gets a cannon. Bugs gets a bigger canon.
\nAnd so on, and so on, and so on.
\nIt\u2019s funny in a cartoon.
\nBut it\u2019s devastating in the real world.<\/p>\n
In the real world, the cycle of violence, retaliation, and hatred
\nleads to bullying, murder, suicide, and war.<\/p>\n
So Jesus teaches us to end the cycle of violence,
\nnot only because it harms our brothers and sisters,
\nbut also because it prevents us from being one with God.<\/p>\n
Our whole destiny gets derailed when we give in to hatred and violence.<\/p>\n
Until we learn not to return evil for evil,
\nwe cannot say that we are truly sons and daughters of God.<\/p>\n
Jesus says \u201clove your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
\nthat you may be children of your heavenly Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not a threat of punishment, as in,
\n\u201cYou better love your enemies or you will not get to be children of God.\u201d
\nThis is a statement of the reality of God\u2019s nature.
\nGod is unconditional love.
\n\u201che makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
\nand causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.\u201d
\nTo be a child of God means to participate in the divine nature,
\nto join with God in unconditional love for everyone and everything.
\nThat\u2019s what it means to be holy as God is holy.<\/p>\n
It means pouring out forgiveness, compassion, honesty,
\nunderstanding, generosity,
\nnot only on those who love us,
\nbut also on those who hurt us:
\nthey guy who cuts us off on the freeway,
\nthe coworker or boss who treats us unfairly,
\nthe classmate who pushes us around at school,
\neven abusers, criminals, and terrorists.<\/p>\n
This is Jesus teaching us how to love the way God loves,
\ngenerously,
\nwithholding nothing,
\ngreeting and forgiving even enemies and persecutors.<\/p>\n
It is not easy.
\nWhen we think about the people who have wronged us
\nit is so difficult to contemplate loving them,
\nwishing them well,
\nforgiving them.<\/p>\n
But it can be done.<\/p>\n
I read recently about a university professor who was also a deacon,
\nwhose young daughter was brutally murdered.
\nAbout the time that his daughter\u2019s murderers came to trial,
\nhe ran into an old friend in an elevator.
\nThe friend, not really knowing what to say,
\nmuttered how difficult it must be to go through the trial,
\nreliving his great loss once again.
\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the professor,
\n\u201cbut the hardest thing is trying to convince the prosecutors
\nthat we want life imprisonment without parole
\nand not the death penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
That professor was trying to live out this teaching from Jesus.<\/p>\n
Love your enemies.
\nPray for those who persecute you.
\nOffer no resistance to one who is evil.
\nIt is not easy.<\/p>\n
But what about justice? we might ask.
\nDoes Jesus mean for us to become a doormat for evil
\nletting it walk all over us?<\/p>\n
On the contrary,
\ntoday Jesus gives us several examples
\nof ways to respond to evil
\nwithout resorting to violence.<\/p>\n
First, he says if someone slaps you on the right cheek,
\nturn and offer him the other one.
\nTo be slapped on the right cheek
\nmeans either someone has given you a backhand slap
\nwith their right hand,
\nthe way a master would strike a servant,
\nor they\u2019ve given you a slap with the left hand,
\nwhich is equally shameful,
\nsince the left hand was used for personal hygiene.
\nTo turn and offer the left cheek is to say,
\n\u201cHere, strike me as an equal,
\nyou cannot shame me into being less than I am.\u201d<\/p>\n
Next, he says if someone takes you to court over your shirt,
\ngive him your cloak, too.
\nPeople wore only two garments in Jesus\u2019 time,
\nso giving your both your shirt and your cloak means you\u2019re naked,
\nturning the trial in to the joke that it is.<\/p>\n
And finally,
\nJesus says if someone presses you into service for one mile
\ngo for two miles.
\nIt was Roman soldiers who would have been pressing people into service,
\nand there were many who wanted to rise up and overthrow them.
\nBut Jesus proposes a less violent and more creative solution:
\ngo one mile further.
\nGoing an extra mile demonstrates an inner freedom from oppression.
\nLike turning the other cheek, going a second mile says,
\n\u201cYou can force me to go one mile,
\nbut I exercise my freedom to go another mile.\u201d<\/p>\n
It takes creativity and innovation
\nto respond to violence without violence.<\/p>\n
This is the kind of creativity we have seen others use through the years,
\na creativity that avoids perpetuating the cycle of violence
\nand yet still confronts evil and injustice.<\/p>\n
![\"Jackie](\"http:\/\/www.nicksenger.com\/onecatholiclife\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/jackie-robinson.jpg\")
This is the creativity that we saw in in 1947,
\nwhen Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers,
\ndecided to sign the first African American baseball player,
\nJackie Robinson.<\/p>\n
In fact when he signed Jackie Robinson,
\nhe talked with him about this scripture passage,
\nabout turning the other cheek,
\nbecause he knew that Jackie Robinson would face horrible opposition.
\nAnd he did.
\nHe was confronted with evil on a daily basis.
\nWorse than most of us will ever have to deal with.<\/p>\n
In the minor leagues he was not allowed to stay with his teammates
\nin the team hotel because of the color of his skin.
\nDuring spring training, the police chief threatened to cancel games
\nbecause Robinson was there.
\nWhen he came to bat for the first time in a minor league game,
\nthe catcher told his pitcher to throw right at Robinson.
\nWhen we was called up to the majors,
\nteams threatened to strike rather than play against him.
\nHe faced verbal abuse,
\nhe received hate mail and death threats,
\nand in all this, Jackie Robinson offered no resistance to evil.<\/p>\n
This is the kind of creative, nonviolent response Jesus talks about today.
\nRather than react with violence,
\nJackie Robinson responded with self control and superb baseball skills.<\/p>\n
Today because of Jackie Robinson\u2019s commitment
\nto offer no resistance to evil,
\nto turn the other cheek,
\nto give his cloak as well as his shirt,
\nand to go the extra mile,
\nthe color barrier in baseball is no more.<\/p>\n
Today his retired number, 42,
\nhangs in every major league baseball stadium.<\/p>\n
But he was only imitating the man whose cross
\nhangs in every Catholic church in the world,
\nour savior Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Jesus speaks to us today not only from the height of the mountain,
\nbut from the height of the cross.
\nHe brought his teaching to life through his actions.
\nHis creative solution to violence was to offer himself up for us.<\/p>\n
When he was arrested he offered no resistance
\nWhen he was found guilty he offered no resistance.
\nWhen he carried his cross to calvary he offered no resistance.
\nWhen they spit on him he turned the other cheek.
\nAnd from that cross he prayed for his persecutors, saying,
\n\u201cFather forgive them, for they know not what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be one with Jesus, to be his brother or sister,
\nis to do the same thing<\/p>\n
If that university professor who lost his daughter can do it, we can do it.
\nIf Jackie Robinson, who faced racial prejudice can do it, we can do it.
\nJesus gave his life so that we can do it
\nthrough the strength of his Body and Blood,
\nso that we can end the cycle of violence and hatred
\nand be the children of God.<\/p>\n