07
If the Roman Slaps Your Face…
Matthew 5:38-48 & Exodus 21:22-25
This morning, Simon feels deeply bitter. One of those hateful Roman soldiers had stopped him earlier, ordering him around as if he were nothing more than the officer’s doormat! Does the man not realise that a Roman is an unclean heathen, while he, Simon, is a pure Jew - a descendant of Abraham? And when Simon refused to carry the soldier’s baggage, the brute lashed out and struck him across the face! If it weren’t for his companions holding him back, he would certainly have attacked the soldier. The consequences could have been tragic… Now, Simon is seething once more at the arrogance and insolence of this heathen.
“Master,” Simon grumbles, “I’m going to get back at that fool of a Roman! He won’t know what hit him!”
“Calm down, Simon,” Jesus soothes him. “Don’t let this small incident trouble you so much.”
“But Master,” Simon continues to protest, “the Romans are destroying the people of God! Just look at everything they have done to us. The time has come for us Jews to stand together and teach them a lesson!”
“Yes, Simon, you have heard that it was said: ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But today, I tell you not to resist an evil person.”
Simon remembers the words well - his father taught them to him when he was just a young boy: “A life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn…” It is written exactly like that in the Holy Scriptures, in Exodus 21:22-25, shortly after the giving of the Law.
“Simon,” Jesus pulls him from his thoughts, “if someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek to him as well.”
“Yeah,” Simon mutters into his beard, “easier said than done! That Roman’s slap hurt!”
“And if someone compels you to carry his burden for one mile,” Jesus continues, “offer to carry it for two.”
Now Simon is fuming! The Master does not understand at all! This is so unfair! These Romans do whatever they please. They make laws that only benefit themselves. This one-mile rule is just such a law - a soldier could force any Jew to carry his heavy baggage for an entire mile. And it’s not just the hard labour of carrying the load that bothers him - what’s worse is that it defiles him! Carrying a heathen’s possessions makes a man unclean! How can the Master expect this of him?
“Master, these people are our enemies!” Simon is deeply hurt now. “I could endure such things from my fellow-Jews any day, but these people are wiping us out! They force their laws upon us, and we even have to pay taxes to them! I hate them with a passion, Master!”
“Oh, Simon,” Jesus sighs, “why are you so stubborn today? You were taught to love your neighbour, as the Law commands, but also that you must hate your enemy, were you not?”
“Exactly, Master! That is what my father taught me from childhood!”
“Simon, today I want to teach you something completely different. Forget all those old lessons drilled into you since you were a boy. I say to you today: Love your enemies.”
“Master, do You mean even the Romans?”
“Yes, Simon, even the hated Romans. And more than that - you must pray for them. Pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Simon snorts in outrage. He mutters something like, “Over my dead body…”
“Simon, you do not yet understand. All people are created by God, and He makes the sun rise on both the good and the evil. If you love only those who love you, you are no different from the ungodly. Even they love those who love them! Today, I ask you to be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
“But Master, that is completely impossible!”
But Jesus leaves the question hanging in the air. The men have a great deal to think about. In silence, they walk on, each lost in his own swirling thoughts.
You may ask whether it was truly a Roman who struck Peter, leading to this conversation. I do not know - I am only guessing. But it is a possibility. Jesus often used everyday events as examples to teach His followers deeper truths.
Even today, Jesus’s command to love is just as difficult. How can I love the people who make my life miserable? It seems almost as impossible as Jesus’s command to be perfect. But I must strive for it. If I simply throw my hands in the air and say I will never be able to do it, then I have already lost the battle. Never stop trying!
Prayer:
Lord,
teach me to love my enemies. Holy Spirit, please give me the strength
and patience to do so!