"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." – Jesus of Nazareth (Matthew 5:43-48)
Man!
I don’t care what you think about Jesus:
- A great prophet and teacher (Islam and many Eastern Religions)
- The savior of the World (most Christians)
- God in the flesh (Catholics and a bunch more Christians)
- A pain in the _ _ s (Satanists)
you gotta admit – the guy is majorly cool.
Why? Easy. How often have you seen a person sacrifice his life to uphold his ideals instead of attacking others to get HIS message across? Huh?
Cool, BIG time. No wonder Christians believe this guy will save the world.
Most leaders are so convinced of their own "rightness", so sure theirs is the only solution, that they’ll do anything and everything in their power to:
- get the word out
- win an election
- subvert any and all dissenters and dissenting ideas
- humiliate and eliminate any detractors
- destroy all opposition
- capture and/or kill the "evil doers"
Maybe that’s the logical way to handle the situation. It could even be that it’s the RIGHT way.
One thing’s for sure though – it’s NOT Jesus’ way.
Here’s what I mean…
There’s this story in the Bible told by a guy named Luke (Luke 9:51-56) about a day when Jesus and his disciples are coming back to Jerusalem. It’s getting late and they’re looking for a place to stay when they come across this little village of Samaritans.
Now, Samaritans and Jews really didn’t get along. Actually, they pretty much despised each other (it’s what gives punch to the story of the Good Samaritan). So the Samaritans in Luke’s little story tell Jesus and his disciples that they’d best look for a town that accepts "their kind".
How do the disciples react? Like many of us would. "Jesus. These people are imbeciles. They don’t seem to know who you are. D’ya want us to call fire down from heaven and fry these evil doers?"
But how does Jesus respond?
"Nope" he says. "And, the only reason you’re asking me that question is ’cause you don’t realize what type of spirit you come from."
Then, what does he have his disciples do?
Does he send a delegation to warn the village folk that if they don’t straighten up they’ll get the crispy-critter special next time? NOPE.
Do they blanket the town with leaflets (ok – parchment-lets) to let the villagers know just how wrong they are? NOPE.
Does he sit his disciples down and give them a sermon about just how bad/evil/abominable/stupid/inconsiderate/worthless these ignorant (hate the sin, love the sinner) village people are? NOPE.
He has his guys grab their packs and go to another village.
Un-my-freakin’-dear-believable. Jesus takes his disciples and …
… just walks away.
‘Cause he’s got a pretty good idea what type of spirit he "comes from".
He knows his spirit is the same as the one that lets the sun rise on the evil and the good. The type that sends life giving rainfall to the righteous and the unrighteous, alike.
He’s aware that his spirit is one of Love for his enemies, of Joy, of Peace, of Compassion, of Gentleness, of Kindness, of Goodness, of Self-Control . . .
. . . of Perfection.
So he simply gathers his stuff and moves on – ’cause there are other villages out there. . . they’ll find someplace to sleep.
Have you ever asked yourself what type of spirit YOU come from? Yeah?
Then, come on, let’s walk together – and let’s be perfect.