Grace: Both End & Means

In the last video segment from the Animate: Bible series, we heard from Jay Bakker.  His experience growing up as a high profile preacher’s kid in a very conservative tradition was challenging, to say the least.  But what captured his heart and life, what was strong enough to compensate for all the baggage of his upbringing, was grace.  Grace is inherently compelling, provocative, and certainly counter-intuitive and counter-cultural.  And yet it is what captivated Jay and countless others to become fully devoted followers of Jesus in their pursuit of God.

After Jesus turned legalistic thinking on its head (Matthew 5:21-27), he then pushed his audience off a cliff with outrageous statements regarding how to deal with those who inflict harm in various ways (Matthew 5:38-48):

³⁸ “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. ⁴¹ If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. ⁴² Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow. 

⁴³ “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. ⁴⁴ But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! ⁴⁵ In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. ⁴⁶ If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. ⁴⁷ If you are kind only to your friends,^[e] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. ⁴⁸ But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

After reading what Jesus said, it is obvious that Jesus never spent recess on a playground, because his ideas certainly did not come from there.  I remember goofing off before gym class in Middle School, and a good friend and I were shadow boxing.  My shadow got a little too close, however, and I accidentally popped him square in the nose.  Apparently, my friend Stephen was unfamiliar with Jesus’ words, because he began chasing me all over the gym to pay me back.  I managed to avoid retribution for a full hour.  I began to think that the truth started to sink: it was an accident – why would I want to hit my good friend?  So, at the end of class, we were all getting ready to leave class.  He calmly walked over to me, and just as I was starting to apologize once again, he decked me.  “We’re even,” he said.  And that was that. 

My incident with Stephen happens in myriad forms all the time, everywhere.  From snarky sparring with friends to biting jabs between spouses; total strangers pushing each others’ buttons, escalating conflict to the point of homicide over movie popcorn or loud music; nations launching all out assaults on others nations – or even their own citizens – causing casualties by the thousands.  I was behind a truck the other day with this bumper sticker: 

Maybe Jesus needed to read that bumper sticker before he offered his advice.  Could it be that Jesus was wrong?  Probably not.

In truth, war didn’t end slavery, fascism, Nazism, or communism.  These centers of conflict, and the violence they perpetuated ended with treaties that were signed by leaders representing opposing sides.  Essentially, when enough blood was shed, when enough children were orphaned, when enough sons and daughters perished, when one side finally cried “Uncle”, the game was over and an agreement was reached.  To recap: there was conflict, both sides decided to continually up the ante, lots of violence ensued, and then papers were signed.  Why didn’t people just move from conflict straight to treaty?  Why not save millions of lives and the billions of dollars weaponry costs?  Because that’s not how the playground works.  The playground demands justice.  And until justice is served, those on the playground will not be satisfied.  If Stephen had hit me twice instead of just once, maybe I would have hit him back to make it even, which he may have interpreted as unjust, which of course would have led to Samurai swords and flame throwers…

Jesus was fully aware of the rules of the playground.  His instruction, however, was not for children who wanted to remain childlike.  The wisdom he shared was for people who dreamed of a world where the ways of God permeated so much that there would be peace.  Jesus wasn’t telling uninterested passersby something they had no time for.  He was offering the path to the life we all really want to those who would be able to hear it, and to the courageous few who could actually act on it.

Jesus was saying, in effect, that when evil is done to us, stop it by ending the cycle of violence by choosing not to retaliate.  When someone slaps you in the face – literally or metaphorically – turn the other cheek.  To turn the other cheek means, of course, that you are squaring yourself up to the person who just hit you, looking them in the eye as an equal, and by not swinging back, letting them know you refuse to play by the rules of the playground.  When the law calls for you to give your shirt, give your coat, too.  When you’re required to carry a load one mile, go two.  When asked for help, give it.  Each of these statements by Jesus challenged the normal way of being for people in antiquity, and now as well.

Then Jesus puts the final nail in the coffin with his remark on enemies: love them instead of hating them.  Love the terrorist, the rapist, the murderer, the pedophile, drug dealer, the addict, the pimp, the prostitute, the gang-banger, the dictator, the greedy CEO, the power-driven politician, the adulterer pastor, the jerk who cuts you off in traffic, the Dodger fan, etc.  This was way more than his audience ever expected – then and now.  Why would he say such a thing?  Because it actually works.  The childish, playground rules approach is hurtful, harmful, inefficient, and ends in the humble place Jesus is saying we should begin.  But we must have ears to hear this.  We must have open minds to accept this.  And we must have soft hearts to live this.

I guess Jesus did know a thing or two about this nonviolent approach to handling conflict.  Of course, he wasn’t alone.  In our memory, Martin Luther King, Jr., led the Civil Rights movement with the condition that his followers would be nonviolent even when treated with gross inhumanity. More recently, an Amish community chose to react with radical hospitality toward the family of a gunman who shot and killed their children who were attending school.  Any time I hear of such an act of forgiveness, I hear myself saying “WOW!”  This is simply because I find it to be a rare occurrence, and utterly Jesus and exceptionally beautiful and inherently inspiring.

Donald Hagner, in his volume on Matthew in Word Biblical Commentary notes:

… the true disciple does more than is expected. He or she is free from society’s low standards of expectation, being subject only to the will of the Father. The conduct of the disciple is filled with surprise for those who experience it. This element of surprise relates closely to and reflects the grace that is central to the gospel. It is the unworthy who have experienced the good things of the kingdom; and as they have experienced the surprise of unexpected grace, so they act in a similar manner toward the undeserving among them… Kingdom ethics demands not mechanical compliance to rules but a lifestyle governed by the free grace of God.

We are not called to be doormats.  We are called to great strength.  To rise after being beaten and look into the eyes of our assailant and say “no more” takes the indwelling power of God – at least for me.  But this way of Jesus is really the way of God that leads to the deep shalom-peace-wholeness-holiness-harmony every person longs for.  If we want to see God do that, we need to do what Jesus calls us to do, and, in fact, do what Jesus did.  Remember, Jesus follower, that Jesus was the one this passage and early hymn was written about (Philippians 2:1-11):

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? ² Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. 

³ Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. ⁴ Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
⁵ You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

⁶ Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
⁷ Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
⁸  he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

⁹ Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

 Grace is what brought us into and sustains us in relationship with God.  Grace is what we will find at the end of our days.  Grace is the means to get there, well, gracefully. 


So, the net time you have to deal with an evil act, or a slap on the face, or have to give someone the shirt off your back, or carry a load, or asked for help, or address your enemies, remember the words of Jesus.  Pray for insight and strength.  And may you end the childish, playground rules of engagement as you choose the counter-intuitive, countercultural, world-transforming means and end of grace.