Unrelenting kindness prospers love

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/061818.cfm
1 Kings 21:1-16
Matthew 5:38-42

Once again we are reminded by Jesus that rules do not build a relationship, even as he provides an entirely new set of rules that defines the expectant point of the relationships we have. We must relentlessly love each other.

"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."

Matthew 5:38-42

Most commentary studies on Matthew Chapter 5, verse 39 — “offer no resistance to one who is evil”  — agree that it best summarizes Jesus’ intention. Following this radical notion of dealing with evil, Jesus then provides an increasingly impossible list of demands upon Christian believers. 

That's fine. Then, the commentators head in two different, yet similarly couched, directions. 

First, we are told to consider the verses in Jesus’ time. View these scriptures with a first century historical and cultural environment. Regard the Jewish and Roman legal descriptions regarding offense and defense, and recognize that Jesus taught from a bold understanding of strength. 

“None of the commands of vv. 39–42 can easily be considered absolute; all must be read against the historical background of first-century Judaism. Nevertheless, in light of prevailing ethical thought Jesus contrasts radically with most others of his day in stressing the need to decisively break the natural chain of evil action and reaction that characterizes human relationships … Each of these commands requires Jesus’ followers to act more generously than what the letter of the law demanded.”

(From the New American Commentary on Matthew)

Second, we are told to enlist a “modern” day version of turning our cheek, handing someone our coat, working overtime to benefit another, and lending money without judgment are presented as practical and worthy biblical philosophies that mark us as Christians in a cruel and cynical world. 

“The very God who placed that law and its execution where it belongs, into the hands of the government‚ places another law and its execution, the law of love, into the hearts of Christ’s disciples. This is our law of action when we are wronged. And this law requires of us patience, forbearance, willingness to forego our rights and to suffer wrong in order to overcome the evil with good, so that the courts may not need to step in. By obeying this law of love from the heart the better righteousness will be ours in the verdict of the divine Judge.”

(From the Interpretation of St. Matthew’s Gospel)

These two associated studies of scripture’s place in time are inspiring, challenging, strikingly practical, and ultimately necessary elements of holiness. Past and present, in a sense are identical. The summary and synthesis of both studies, though, is much simpler and much more wonderful. My synthesis of these two strategies of study goes something like this:

The only lasting formula for breaking the cyclical chain of evil is unrelenting holiness, shown specifically in kindness to all. 

That sounds like something my mother would say wistfully, and then with a pause at the fate of such an idea she sucked on her cigarette. She would then sigh as the smoke slipped out through her lips. Translating my mother’s nicotine doubt that unrelenting kindness could ever win the day, my father would say to me to make sure that I grasped the truth of reality, “Don’t hold your breath.”

My youthful optimism has remained unabated, somehow. Hope, even if rattled into submission, peeks out at me and winks. My folks knew “of” Jesus, and even gave him his due. From their foundation I have "met" the man who is indeed God. I have met his Spirit, in any case. The holiness of that Spirit never fails to remind me of Jesus and both of their roots in the Father. The Spirit’s holiness can well be described as unrelenting.

The catchword for me in this chain of proposed behavior from Matthew’s few verses is that self-said one — “unrelenting.” Kindness more appropriately exudes a person’s holiness. Unrelenting, though, describes the intention, the fuel behind the act. It is most God-like. 

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 too may not recognize that intensity as from God, but all authority comes from God. So, then, 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. The moments of the inevitable disintegrations, common in the daily news and our very lives, both frightens and angers us. Beauty and expertise, and everything associated with them, require disciplined endeavor. 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 force behind holiness. Holiness is relentless discipline and dedication to walk with God and be one with him.

“That sounds great, son,” my father told me once when I proposed something like that to him decades ago. “That’s what Sundays are for. Then all hell breaks loose when we leave the parking lot.”

What we learn from Jesus’ simple and impossible urging — that we express love with unrelenting kindness — is that holiness will magnetize our being. We cling to each other with unstoppable kindness in order to repel evil completely. Evil cannot touch holiness, even as evil strangles the life out of us.

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 NASCAR vehicles. The drivers seem to be fashioned into a womb, practically 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, they each emerge 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. It's not so much that the verses are a formula that works. They are a commission for us to live. In verses 43 to 45 Jesus explains the purpose of unrelenting kindness.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.”

If not for us some would get soaked. If not for others we would be drowned.