Jesus frames a new righteousness
Holiness is kindness in our walk with God. We become one with him.
Jesus says, “offer no resistance to one who is evil.” Supporting his radical notion of dealing with evil is a list of seemingly impossible demands. Jesus urges us to express love with unrelenting kindness, the perfection of the Father. Imagine holiness as a magnet. The magnet imagery clings believers and the innocent to each other. Their contagious kindness is unstoppable, repelling evil. Evil cannot touch holiness, even as it strangles and ultimately extinguishes this temporary life. Evil’s fruitless end is inevitable.
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus teaches the behavior of unrelenting kindness a few verses earlier than this Saturday’s reading from Matthew 5:43-48. In verse 39, Jesus says, “offer no resistance to one who is evil.”
Supporting his radical notion of dealing with evil is a list of seemingly impossible demands. Reconcile with our brother. Cleanse our hearts. Do not cause others to sin. Speak truthfully. Love your enemies. Jesus urges us to express love with unrelenting kindness, defining the perfection of the Father.
Imagine holiness as a magnet. The magnet imagery clings believers and the innocent to each other. Their contagious kindness is unstoppable, repelling evil. Evil cannot touch holiness, even as it strangles and ultimately extinguishes this temporary life. Evil’s fruitless end is inevitable.
Here the apex point of Jesus’ demands:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on [your] right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile,* go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”
Jesus’ exhortation culminates with, “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.”
According to the New American Bible notes, Matthew writes this chapter to explain that Jesus frames a new model for community life. Rather than a righteousness that set Israel apart from the world, Jesus drops all barriers. Believing that Christ conquered death and that his Holy Spirit dwells within us allows us to invade the spaces where evil has taken hold.
The only lasting formula for breaking the cyclical chain of evil is unrelenting holiness, shown specifically in kindness to all. The message was big when I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s.
My mother agreed that kindness worked at times, but she shivered at the fate for those who lived it out. She had been through the horrific effects of wars, in tears watched the funeral on TV after Kennedy was assassinated, and prayed for relatives who didn’t survive their illnesses. As mom sucked on her cigarette, she sighed as the smoke slipped out through her lips. Unrelenting kindness would never win the day, she said with her sloughed shoulders. It sounds good, this kindness focus, but evil doesn’t give up. My father agreed with her. “Don’t hold your breath.”
However, they did their best to be kind anyway. The next life will be better, they said.
My youthful optimism has remained unabated. The next life. The hope, even when I are rattled into submission, peeks out at me and winks.
The catchword for me in this chain of proposed behavior from Matthew’s few verses is “unrelenting.” Kindness exudes a person’s holiness. Unrelenting, though, describes the fuel behind the act. It is God’s unstoppable grace.
Athletes, artists, crafts men and women, and successful business people all know the importance of relentless effort. They may not be aware, but their urging traces from divinity. Mothers, fathers, CEOs, coaches, and folks who sign on for military duty and work in police departments instinctively know they must operate with unrelenting intensity to be good stewards of their responsibilities. They may not fully recognize that intensity is from God, but since all authority comes from God, so does their focus.
Without relentless commitments and courage from these two sets of folks — people striving for excellence and authorities driven to fulfill their responsibilities — society would disintegrate. We’ve seen the results. The moments of this disintegration, common in the daily news, frighten and anger us. Nurturing and protection, the grist of relationships, yearns for dedicated leaders. Behind the relentless nature of anything good is both discipline and dedication. This helps in understanding the forces behind holiness. Holiness is relentless discipline and dedication to walk together with God and be one with him.
While my father’s pinpoint analysis correctly describes our human condition, the stuff of holiness increases as we intensify our commitment to the disciplines and dedications required by Jesus. Holiness may not be able to protect our bodies, but it barricades our soul.
The promptings from Jesus resemble the increasing protections that have been built into the NASCAR vehicles. The drivers seem to be fashioned into a womb, floating inside an airbag ready to take any wallop into a wall, any violence from a fling upside down, or any damage from an explosive fire. While a race car driver’s vehicle may end up in an unrecognizable heap of metal, glass and rubber, the person inside emerges impossibly unscathed.
Our holiness is similarly protected by unrelenting kindness, the behavior of love’s cosmic-altering forgiveness and embrace. Evil does not stand a chance at touching us where it counts.
We know Jesus means it, too. In verses 10 and 11, at the end of the Beatitudes which open chapter five, he explains the reward of unrelenting kindness.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you [falsely] because of me.
Adapted from a Homeless Catholic reflection in June of 2018.