What’s easier for you: avoiding the bad things you’re not supposed to do, or doing the good thing that you’re supposed to do? We refer to the first category as sins of commission – committing something bad that we were directed not to do. We refer to the second category as sins of omission – omitting or not doing something good that we were directed to do.
It’s good to review those terms, because Jesus’ words to us from Luke 6 deal much more with the one type of sin than the other. He doesn’t convict his listeners with a list of things they shouldn’t be doing, like losing our cool, hating, getting drunk, lying, sleeping around, etc. Instead, he hits on the good things God’s people should be doing – even when circumstances make it very difficult to do them.
But maybe we don’t feel like we miss the mark all that much on what Jesus says in his sermon here. That might be because we tend to generalize what he’s saying and kinda sorta oversimplify it to mean that we shouldn’t get even or get too worked up when others abuse or mistreat us. So long as we don’t retaliate, so long as we don’t plot the demise of our enemy, then we’re more or less keeping the gist of what Jesus says here.
Only Jesus doesn’t just say, “make sure you don’t get even”; he says quite clearly, “love and bless the people who give you all the reason in the world to not want to love and bless them.”
You know who Jesus is talking about, don’t you? When a celebrity threatens to move out of the United States because of how embarrassed or ashamed they are of it, do you pray for God to bless that person? When images or videos of people in other countries burning the American flag circulate online, do you ask how we as a nation or you as an individual can do good to those people? When you’re engaged in a conversation with someone who expresses the opinion that your ugly Christian faith or political views are responsible for destroying this country, do you lovingly pray for that person afterward? Is the hard-working day laborer who is here illegally your sworn enemy who is plundering your hard-earned tax dollars, or someone to whom you look to offer your coat and shirt and whatever other needs they might have? Do you love the friend or family member who was guilty of abusing you or another family member?
What Jesus is saying here doesn’t sit well with us. We don’t want to hear it. It’s not how things should work. It’s not how the world works. The weak lose. The strong who flex their might win and get things done. Those who make sure the opposition doesn’t get away with it are the ones who come out ahead.
And that might work for this world. But Jesus has his sights set on a different kingdom – the one not of this world. Jesus is more concerned about heaven and hell than all the other ambitions or drama the world gets caught up in.
That being the case, he is not concerned that his followers look and behave like the rest of the world. In fact, he wants us to stand out. Why? So that he stands out. So that our radical actions and behavior are so uncommon and unordinary to the eyes of the world that others take note, and when they do, then they seek out why, ultimately to arrive at the source, Jesus.
Are you skeptical that Jesus’ approach here toward our enemies is the right one? Are you convinced that the best way for the church to get things done is through the mighty arm of the government or some other worldly method that has shown itself to be effective? Then you’ve forgotten how effective Jesus’ approach is. You’ve lost track of how well it works.
But you cannot doubt that Jesus’ approach works, because you are the proof!
Jesus took the lead in loving his enemies and winning them over! After all, what did you think you were before he brought you to faith?!? Everything that Jesus describes here about enemies is describing exactly what we naturally were to him. Our hearts by nature could only hate him, curse him, slap him on the cheek, and take from him whatever we could. That was us! That was what we were to him!
But Jesus didn’t come to punish us, his enemies by nature, into submission. He didn’t come to establish policies and enact strict laws by which he would force everyone to fall in line and make the world a better place. He didn’t come to get even with his enemies, exact revenge and either win them over or remove them.
No, it was the unconditional love that won you over and made you who you are. To forget that is to turn the Savior’s work into an afterthought. So we know how powerfully this no-strings-attached, mercy-extending love is, because we are the proof. It worked on us; it will work on others. So let’s put it to the test!
One of the struggles believers have with these verses, though, is that it sounds as if Jesus is essentially calling us to be doormats. It sounds like we are just supposed to allow everyone else to trample all over us no matter what. That we should let people take advantage of us. We should be fine with being ridiculed, bullied, or mistreated. We cannot ever speak up for ourselves or defend ourselves, but must always be willing to be a punching bag and absorb a lifetime of punches as followers of Jesus. If that is how we understand what it means to be a doormat, then we’ve got it wrong.
But there is something to that picture of a doormat that we want to apply positively. We are doormats – when we consider the location and role a doormat plays. Think about it. A doormat is placed in front of a door for those preparing to walk through it. It’s a natural entryway through the door. Anyone utilizing a doormat is preparing to walk through the door. The doormat prepares someone on the outside to enter into a building or home.
Is that not what Jesus is calling us to in these verses? Jesus describes himself as the gate or the narrow door. But how are others to arrive at that door? How are they to ever know it’s there and it’s for them? Through us. We are the doormats who by our radical loving actions lead others to the door, ultimately hoping and praying that the Holy Spirit will then walk them through that door into eternal life and salvation.
That’s not such a stretch when we remember whose we are and who we are: we are Christs because we are Christ’s – both with and without the apostrophe. It has been said that in the days of the early Christian church, believers were called “little Christs,” intended to be a derogatory title. But there is nothing really derogatory at all about that title – little Christs is what we are, and we only bear that title because we belong to him! We are his because he purchased and won us. And because we are his, we represent him to the world. A world filled with Christians is intended to be a world filled with little Christs who are reflections of Christ and draw others to him.
When we do this, our lifestyles serves a two-fold purpose. First, we show how well we really know our gracious God – that he really is kind. He really is merciful. He really has forgiven us. He really does give over flowingly to us. He really doesn’t condemn us.
Secondly, living this way shows our gracious God to others. There is a significant contrast Jesus set up between believers and nonbelievers. The radical love Jesus calls us to is radical because it is uncommon and unknown in the world.
The world sees love returned where love has been given. The world sees good extended by those who received it in the first place. The world sees people lend to others expecting full payment – and maybe even some interest – in return. Such behavior doesn’t stand out in the world. It’s common.
But Jesus is highlighting what will stand out in the world. Love returned to those from whom hate was received. Blessings and prayers extended to those from whom curses and mistreatment were received. Pacifism in response to physical harm done against me. These things are not common, natural, or normal in the world. They are not witnessed regularly or routinely. So when they happen, people take note. When they occur, others are paying attention.
That’s what we’re after. We want an audience. But not for ourselves. We want an audience for others with the true God. And our words, our actions, our radical love toward others, may be just the introduction necessary for others to gain an audience with the true God.
Isn’t that more valuable than my insistence that I right every wrong, that injustices against me are rectified, that others get what they deserve? God will surely take care of those things. What is more important to us, however, is that others potentially gain an audience with God – that’s when we’re showing others how important God is to us.
As a bit of a side note, it’s important to clarify what it doesn’t mean to turn the other cheek. It doesn’t mean that as a believer you must take abuse from everyone else. Jesus is not saying that you are required to be and remain a victim of someone else taking advantage of you. It does not mean that you are required to allow anyone else to abuse you physically, emotionally, or in any way whatsoever.
Jesus’ words are not intended to condone the wrongdoer in his sin, but rather to shape how we respond when wronged. There is a big difference between giving permission to the wrong someone else is committing and focusing on how I respond. Too often these verses get twisted by the abuser, who contorts them into some scriptural support for his atrocious sinful behavior, or by critics of Christianity who conclude that Jesus doesn’t allow Christians to stand up for themselves.
The truth is, when I have been wronged, I can stand up for myself and love my enemy and do good to him at the same time. Remember, after all, that the victory we have in Jesus Christ through the Resurrection is our victory. We are not victims, but victors. In him we are not the weak and oppressed, but the strong and courageous, which is exactly what it takes to love others when they wrong us, whether the hurt they leave us with is a slight scrape or a deep wound.
When we love others radically, we are allowing God to be “kind to the ungrateful and wicked. (v.35). He does this through us! God’s desire is that through your radical treatment of others in the world, they would come to know what we do. So Jesus concludes this section by encouraging us, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (v.36-38).
Through our mercy, others know God’s mercy. When we don’t condemn, others can know a God who doesn’t condemn. When we forgive, others know God’s forgiveness. When we are good to others, they can know God’s goodness.
Believer, be a doormat, be OK with being the step that others take on their way through the narrow door, Jesus, who ushers them into eternal life.