Discover The Word

Friday, November 18, 2011

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away” (Matthew 5:38-42).

IDEA: Followers of Jesus Christ must be willing to go “the second mile.”

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize why we’re called to go beyond what is required of us as Christ-followers.

Have you heard the exhortation that we are to go “the second mile”?

What do people mean when they say that?

Where did the saying originate?

I. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus gives four examples of what His principle of non-resistance could look like: Matthew 5:38-42.

This is His third example of the four. It takes up a hated practice foisted on people living under Roman occupation: “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Matthew 5:41).

“Forces” is a rare word in Greek. The only other New Testament use of this verb is later in Matthew when Simon of Cyrene is forced to carry Jesus’ cross (Matthew 27:32).

In first-century Palestine this referred to a Roman soldier’s right to commandeer a Jew or other conquered subject for forced labor—in this case as a porter to carry the soldier’s baggage for a stated distance (a mile, which was slightly less than our mile).

This oppressive practice was deeply resented by the people. They would have to drop whatever they were doing and accept this imposition.

The Jews would have held to the letter of the Law in doing this. They measured the mile in steps (a thousand exactly and they would count every one). At a thousand steps, they would put down the pack and leave the Roman soldier to carry his own load or find another victim.

Jesus calls on His disciples not only to accept the imposition but to volunteer for going a second mile. They were not to count steps, but having done the first mile for Caesar, the second mile was done for Christ, their heavenly King. To do this for anyone would take remarkable grace, but to do it for an enemy willingly with grace was unthinkable.

Jesus advocated a response to the Roman occupation that not only passionate zealots but even ordinary people would have believed to be unrealistic and even impossible. Yet this is how we are to carry out all our duties as followers of Christ. Do you think the spirit of what Jesus said was “I’ll go another mile, but not one inch farther”?