When we’ve been hit, we not only want to hit back, but with more force, punitive force, whether we’ve been cut off on the highway, or seen planes flown into skyscrapers - our knee jerk reaction is to strike back – hard.  To teach the other a lesson, sure, but also because, as Charles Bronson, Chuck Norris, and Steven Seagal all know, revenge feels so good.

Ethics 1.0 revolutionized this default setting with something new called “justice,” ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’  Punishment could no longer exceed the crime – and civilized institutions thrive, even today, on the legislative principle of equivalent restitution.  However, as Gandhi once noticed, an eye for an eye, very soon, makes the whole world blind.

Enter Jesus, with Ethics 2.0.  Tucked neatly inside this Sunday’s Gospel on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus now replaces justice with love.  Turn the other cheek, give your creditor not just your shirt, but your jacket, go the extra mile, pray for your enemies.

This isn’t just good advice.  The idea of loving one’s enemy is the only hope this world has.  It’s the only hope marriages have, corporations have, and nations have – for we have all committed wrong, and we have all suffered wrong.  We all need forgiveness, and we all need to forgive.  If the whole world did this, we would find heaven on earth.  And when we do this, we bring a bit of heaven to earth.

Which enemies are we praying for?  Which persecutors are we working toward forgiving?  Is there someone around us that’s hard to love?  -maybe not an enemy, but an annoying person?  In what ways can we work toward loving them?

Reading

Matthew - RT France

Fasting - Scot McNight

The Future of Faith - Harvey Cox