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AVOID VENGEANCE!

Read­ing Time: 3 minutes

Con­tents

Introduction  

This Sunday Gos­pel read­ing is still a con­tinu­ation of the 5th chapter of the Gos­pel accord­ing to Mat­thew which com­prises a series of teach­ings that Jesus gave on the Mount. We learned from last Sunday’s Gos­pel that Jesus has not come to abol­ish the law and the proph­ets, but to com­plete them; that we should keep and teach oth­ers the com­mand­ments rather than break­ing them and teach­ing oth­ers to do the same; that we should not kill in any way; that we should recon­cile with our broth­ers and sis­ters before appear­ing before God to pray and with our offer­ings; and that we should settle our dis­putes with our broth­ers and sis­ters rather than going to war with them. If we need wis­dom to do these, then, this Sunday read­ing is a prac­tic­al applic­a­tion of wis­dom in our vari­ous activ­it­ies. In Mat­thew 5:38–41, Jesus makes three rad­ic­al state­ments. First, a per­son should turn the oth­er cheek when someone strikes him or her. Second, the dis­ciples should give those who sue them more than they ask for. Third, a per­son con­scrip­ted by the Roman officers to carry a load for one mile should offer to go two miles. Does this mean that we should nev­er res­ist when some­body attacks us? Should we let every­one take advant­age of us? What exactly does Jesus mean? 

Turning the other Cheek

Remem­ber, it needs wis­dom for you to under­stand what Jesus means when he says you should offer the wicked per­son no res­ist­ance. And that you should turn your left cheek to a per­son who has already hit you on the right side. Tak­ing this lit­er­ally would be fool­ish­ness. It can only be under­stood with­in its con­text. Wicked people not be giv­en any chance and they should be com­pletely avoided. Some­times, it is even bet­ter to con­front them. But this needs wis­dom because a wicked per­son is god­less and as you know, god­less people can do any­thing because they have noth­ing and nobody to restrict them. They are people without con­science. They are heart­less. Chris­ti­ans should nev­er abuse and mis­in­ter­pret the words and teach­ings of Jesus. That your vic­tim turns the oth­er cheek does not mean he/she is an imbe­cile. That he/she pleads with you not to drag him/her to the court does not mean he/she is wrong.

Conclusion

Last week, Jesus advised us to make wise decisions. This week, he shows us prac­tic­al applic­a­tion of wis­dom in our every­day encounter and inter­ac­tions with oth­ers. Offer­ing the oth­er cheek, going extra mile, offer­ing the out­er and inner clothes, giv­ing and lend­ing money to those who beg us, lov­ing our enemies, and pray­ing for those who per­se­cute us, simply means over­com­ing evil with good. It is not weak­ness but wis­dom. It does not mean allow­ing one­self to be mal­treated. Instead, it means allow­ing God to repay each accord­ing to his or her actions. It is the best form of retali­ation. It does not mean pray­ing when you should act, or act­ing when you should pray. It does not mean not fight­ing for your right. On the con­trary, it means fight­ing it with wis­dom. God loves us and gives to us not because we are good, but because God is good. Since we share in God’s good­ness, we should also do good to oth­ers not because they are good, but because God’s good­ness flows with­in us. Here, good­ness should be under­stood as justice and righteousness.

FOR DETAILS, GET YOUR OWN COPIES OF THE BOOKTHE WORD OF LIFE:
SUNDAY REFLECTIONS” (vols. I‑II-III)!! The reflec­tion for the 7th Sunday of the year is found in
The Word of Life, vol. I, pages 111–121. Happy reading!

For details on how to get it, con­tact the author on this link: https://m.me/uchennabiblia?fbclid=IwAR2yeg4a6sDGBp9QGkIvKj6FSADumMokN6lshdE0zuo-JHs6qOmlhA7jyHo
or email me at: postmaster@uchennabiblia.com
or simply send an SMS on 08116100926, and I will get back to you.

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