Eyes to See, Ears to Hear
“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends upon you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends…”
Romans 12:17-18
The Bible is dense with contradictions. In one place it says, ‘that man is an abomination before God’ and in another it says, ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ This statement of Paul to the Romans, however, is pretty clear: live at peace, do not take revenge, do what is right. Seems simple enough until someone does us real harm, like bombing the World Trade Center. Then, somehow, we write an exclusion into the cannon, that says, ‘except for this’.
Jesus had a problem with his disciples hearing the truth. He told them that he would be killed, but they didn’t want to believe him. They had Jesus pegged for the Messiah who would restore Israel to it’s rightful place; a warrior-savior on a war horse, not this gentle, sad-eyed, donkey riding, tender-hearted man. They didn’t want to believe in such a mild Messiah so, like us, they heard what they wanted to hear. Luke 18 states, “But they understood nothing about these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp it.”
Unlike the disciples, we have had 2000 years to read and study the words of Jesus. We have to ferret out for ourselves what his intent was—what feels right and what doesn’t. We must ask ourselves, ‘would the God of love say this?’ Because, the whole gist of Jesus’ message here on earth was this: God is a God of love, a God of generosity and compassion, a God of understanding and peace, a God of humility and kindness. If we are to follow in the steps of Jesus, we must be likewise.
In the spirit,
Jane
1 comment:
This is the second time this week that I've seen this verse commented on (probably because it is in the Lenten readings). This is an important one to dwell with on a personal level. Thank you for this much needed reflection.
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