Extra Mile Mentality
Last weekend I preached on a difficult passage from the Sermon on the Mount. While we often assume Jesus agrees with our views on most of our ideas, passages like Matthew 5:38-42 show us that we often don't agree with Jesus.
Essentially, this is where Jesus tells us that when others take advantage of us, we should "not retaliate revengefully by evil means" (verse 39). Our challenge is that we often equate justice with revenge. But the justice of God looks nothing like revenge.
As we see Jesus invite us to respond to evil in unique ways, it's a reminder that following Jesus requires a healthy dose of spiritual imagination.
The author Peter Rollins says it like this:
“What if Jesus was not offering his followers an ethical system to follow, but rather was inviting them to enter into a life of love that transcends ethics, a life of liberty that dwells beyond religious laws?”
It's an invitation for each of us to change the world in profound ways. What if we decided to use the negative occasions to practice the servant life?
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