“The Cross and the Sword”
April 20th, 2008Jesus said some absolutely radical things, things that we are still trying to understand today. But, when he said “when someone slaps you on the right cheek, 
turn to him the other also,” or when he said, “go the extra mile,” he was truly being revolutionary. In the midst of a heated political climate, where the idea of military rebellion was never far from the people’s consciousness, Jesus called people to be imaginative and creative when it came to being peacemakers. The old adage of “an eye for an eye” no longer worked. That is not the way of the kingdom of God. So, what is?
Matthew 5:9, 38-45
1. Some of you may be familiar with the famous “Christmas Truce” of 1914. It happened along the British sector of the western front on Christmas day.
A. Brits and Germans had dug trenches along the front lines, sometimes no more than 70, 50 or even 30 yards away from each other.
B. Writer Simon Rees has pieced together a description of the event based on a number of sources, including first hand accounts.
C. Troops commiserated over the zone known as “no mans land” throughout the day. Some played soccer with one another. Some exchanged food. Some even helped one another to bury their dead.
D. The Truce lasted all day; in places it ended that night, but on other sections of the line it held over a few days more. In fact, there parts on the front where the absence of aggressive behavior was conspicuous well into 1915.
E. Captain J C Dunn, a Welsh Medical Officer, recorded how hostilities re-started on his section of the front.
F. Dunn wrote: ‘At 8.30 I fired three shots in the air and put up a flag with “Merry Christmas” on it, and I climbed on the parapet. He [the Germans] put up a sheet with “Thank you” on it, and the German Captain appeared on the parapet. We both bowed and saluted and got down into our respective trenches, and he fired two shots in the air, and the War was on again.’
G. Rees writes in his article on the event, “Today, pragmatists read the Truce as nothing more than a ‘blip’ – a temporary lull induced by the season of goodwill, but willingly exploited by both sides to better their defenses and eye out one another’s positions. Romantics assert that the Truce was an effort by normal men to bring about an end to the slaughter.”
H. However we interpret this event, it is remarkable to note that during the First World War, hostilities ceased for a short time – not because politicians or generals decided so – but, because the men that were fighting and dying in the trenches determined that the holy of day of Christmas should be a day of peace, regardless of what the next day might bring.
2. In Jesus day, this type of event would have been unheard (mainly because Christmas wasn’t a holiday yet). The rule of the day was “an eye for an eye.”
A. You can exact revenge commensurate with the wrong done to you – part of the law. Inigo Montoya would have been right at home with this rule – “My name is Inigo Montoya…prepare to die.”
B. Meant as a curb to the revenge that people were exacting.
C. Growing up surfing – Shaun Tomson’s account of being in the water and getting punched out by someone.
D. In addition to an eye for an eye, hatred of one’s enemies was acceptable – in fact, it was even encouraged.
3. Things aren’t so different for us, are they? I remember a story that my dad used to tell that used to make me laugh.
A. Waiting in line in his car at DK donuts…he gets cut off…he honks and yells…no response…he goes into the shop and buys his donuts…when he returns, the guy is still in line.
B. My dad wanted to go “na-na-na,” but he decided just to go his way instead.
C. The worst day of my career as a youth director came in 1989. I was in the office talking to a volunteer named Carol. She received a call, and left abruptly.
D. Minutes later, my dad received a call – while she was at church, Carol’s 13 year-old son was killed with an ice pick by a burglar that he happened to walk in on.
E. In small ways and in big ones, we resort to violence with such ease, that it is frightening.
F. In our culture, we glorify it, sanctify it, we worship at the altar of might makes right – often times with devastating consequences.
4. But, Jesus had another way. Read Matthew 5:38-45. In the face of an eye for an eye, of hating one’s enemies, Jesus message of love and forgiveness was radical indeed.
A. Love your enemies, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile. I am just glad that Jesus said it, and not me.
B. Going the extra mile referred to a situation where Romans soldiers could, by law, press people into service to carry their gear for a distance of a mile.
C. Jesus does not tell his followers to resist the Romans, he does not tells them to stage a protest, he not call his people to arms – he gives the ridiculous commandment to “go the extra mile.”
D. Jesus does not explain the rationale behind this strange commandment – he simply gives it, and leaves it at that.
E. I think that what Jesus was doing was calling his disciples to cultivate in their lives the imagination of a peacemaker. For they are the children of God.
F. Thinking outside the “eye for an eye” box and the “hate your enemy” mindset.
G. He is not necessarily saying that violence is not sometimes a necessary aspect of life. But, he is saying that, in the kingdom of God, we are called to look for more redemptive ways to deal with conflict.
H. Ultimately, we are left to speculate about Jesus’ reasoning behind this commandment. But, make no mistake, while we are speculating, we are called to obedience.
5. Does this mean than, that every time we are threatened as a nation, that we must simply “turn the other cheek” and let our enemies to do us what they will?
A. Not at all. Jesus to have the imagination of a peacemaker. There are times in this world where that is not possible.
B. In such times – theology of a just war. War is always regrettable, but sometimes necessary.
C. Components…
1) Just cause – Are we on the side of right? For Christians, this does not mean just politically right, but morally, biblically right.
2) Legitimate authority – only duly constituted public authorities may constitute war.
3) Probability of success.
4) Last resort.
5) Proportionality – will the benefits of this war outweigh the harm done and lives lost?
D. These criteria are not meant to be hoops that politicians can jump through in order to justify going to war. They are meant to be standards that must be met in order to insure that we have at least imagined ways to be peacemakers before engaging in conflict.
E. This is a theological rendering of “turning the other cheek,” or “going the extra mile.”
6. I finished paying my debt to society this week in traffic school. The teacher told us an amazing story of a video that she used to show in class.
A. 20/20 special – man shot a woman 45 times based on a road-rage incident.
B. His quote from prison – “If I can’t express the way I feel exactly the way that I want to, than I don’t know what kind of country I am living in.”
C. Man had four previous arrests for violence related to road rage.
D. That is the world that we live in. But, guess what. That is also the world Jesus lived in – often times violent and ugly.
E. But, Jesus calls those who would follow him to a different standard. He calls us to have the imagination of peacemakers.
F. To seek reconciliation and redemption rather violence and conflict.
G. To replace “an eye for an eye” with turning the other cheek.”
H. That is incredibly difficult. It takes great faith. But, it is the life to which we have been called.
I. That is the life of faith. Amen.
Sermon delivered 4/20/08 at Light of the Canyon United Methodist Church, Anaheim Hills.
