I appreciated some of Brian McLaren’s comments on Jesus' statement, "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." (Matthew 5:41)The context was that a Roman soldier (the occupation force in Palestine) could at any time order a Jew to carry his pack up to one mile. The Jews hated being in subjugation, but Jesus' point was that "by willingly taking the pack the second mile, you walk free - transcending your oppression." (to use McLaren's words.)
Although we are not living under subjugation by occupation forces, we daily have the opportunity to apply this principle at home, in the workplace, and in the community. How many times have we felt imposed upon by someone in our own household expecting us to do some chore. Yet the same task done willingly, for example at someone else’s house, might seem like fun. What drudgery in the workplace when the goal is to just be there until quitting time. Sadly, organized labour has done harm to its constituents by even enforcing the practice of doing only the minimum required by the terms of the contract. But by doing more than is required, we have a sense of freedom, that we are doing this because we choose to, or even enjoy it. By doing only the minimum required, we always feel imposed upon and taken advantage of. When we grasp every penny, we feel we never have enough money; when we only work for self we never have enough time. By giving money away, we feel rich, by giving our time to someone else we feel that we have extra time; by doing more than is required, we become free. -philw
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Thanks for the thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWe are cautioned against 'co-dependency' when we give to the 'undeserving', and are encouraged to put up boundaries against them, but Jesus' words are the way of love. They break the power of the enemy which works by threat, and command us to do such and such 'or else'.
True, though sometimes the act of doing more than required is too onerous to stomach. For example, none of us enjoy paying taxes. Paying more taxes than necessary would make you feel like you had some measure of control (hence freedom), but that does not mean that any of us would seriously consider it.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I love the thought, but I don't know if I can wrap my type-A-ishness around it...I usually try to walk 1/2 mile for every ONE requested, otherwise I walk 2 or 3 just to be accepted and end up hating the person who requested it...okay, I need a therapist.
ReplyDeleteShawn :)
I appreciate those thoughts, U. Philip. I daily wonder how to do that in the setting we find ourselves in. The people we work with seem to have alot of expecations for us that aren't "normal"; more like the "lords of the earth" mentality. So to rely on the Lord's guiding in how many extra miles we go for every little and big request.
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