Love Is His Law
Matthew 5:38-end
1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, 16-end
Take yourself to a village just outside Jerusalem. After a long day at the tent-makers you are trudging home through the dust, looking forward to a long drink and hopefully some peace and quiet. You’re thinking about that chap you heard speaking the other day, what was his name again… Jesus. Now he made quite an impact on you. It stirred up something inside you and made you feel….. Then you hear it. Behind you. The heavy footsteps of a hobnailed sandal slapping onto the roadway. You know what’s coming. Your heart sinks. A large Roman hand falls heavily on your shoulder. “Evening sunshine, I’ve got a long way to go, carry this.” and he tosses a large military pack at you. Because a roman soldier could ask you to carry his pack and you had to do it, it was the law. But the authorities didn’t want to seem overly unfair about this, so you only had to carry it for the one mile. But after a long days work, and he probably wants to go in the wrong direction anyway, nothing would seem fair about it. So you do it. But, as you trudge along, you remember what that preacher said… what if at the end of the mile you turn around and say. I’ll carry it another mile for you. What’s the worst that could happen? It’s a risk - he might flatten you in the dirt for being cheeky, or he might just stop to wonder what it is about these followers of Jesus. He certainly won’t have been expecting this!
Now the law weighed heavily on people’s minds in those days. There were the Roman laws to control the people in an occupied country. And there was God’s law.
Given to Moses.
Given to guide and protect the Israelites on their wanderings in the wilderness.
Given to provide the foundations for setting up a new life in the Promised Land.
Still strictly adhered to in order to identify the Jews as God’s chosen people. But, just as first century Jews were living different lives to Moses’ people. So we live differently to those people in Jesus’ time. God is constantly leading his people to new situations. Situations that can only be addressed by love shown in Christ. And it’s this love that Jesus is showing us in the Gospel.
As Jesus says earlier in this chapter from St. Matthew’s Gospel. He didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfil it. And to fulfil it in such a way - that God’s kingdom will be within reach of everyone, not a promised land for just a few. Because following the law on its own keeps us away from each other and within boundaries. Love blasts this apart. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan. All those who should have stopped passed by on the other side. But the Samaritan stopped, gave aid. The law said that he should pass on by. But love said, stop, have compassion for another human being.
Doing the unexpected, going further than anyone expects. Pushing out against personal boundaries. Loving your neighbour, even when they are taking you to court for everything you own.
This is love.
This is love taking a grasp of the law.
This is love, stretching and stretching, until sometimes, yes, it hurts.
Like our friend the tent-maker, walking that extra mile in Christ’s love may take us much further than we ever expect.
Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan priest. Sheltered over 3000 refugees from the Nazis during the Second World War. He was eventually arrested and sent to Auschwitz. One day 10 men were selected for execution. One man begged for his life to be spared for the sake of his wife and children. Maximillian quietly came forward and volunteered to take this man’s place. Those who were there, recalled later, that the camp commander was so stunned by this unexpected gesture that he was unable to speak. Maximillian walked his extra mile along with those 9 men. That mile led to a cell, where they were left to starve to death.
Jesus. Walking on the road to Calvary. Dying under the law, but by his very act of dying turning it into love. Boundless, endless love, there for all.
And me, this morning. It’s not so far from my seat to this pulpit. But today it seemed like one very long mile. My love for Christ compels me to do this, and Christ’s love for me gives me the strength.
How shall we walk the extra mile this week? How will we break through barriers, stretch Christ’s love? How long will that mile be for you?
It could be as long as Maximillian Kolbe’s, or it could be as long as it takes to walk across the street, a room, or even this church to be reconciled with someone you’ve disagreed with.
Or maybe it’s stretching out to smile and say good morning to someone you pass by everyday on your journey, where normally, in our reserved British way, you would both avert your eyes and carry on walking.
And we can all be extra mile walkers in our prayers. When we pray it’s easy to name those we are close to, those we feel deserving of our prayers. Of course we should there’s nothing wrong with that. But, loving your enemies’ means praying for them too. That they may become aware of Christ’s love and compassion, that their thinking is changed – redemption. Stretching love so far that it would possible to forgive them.
So… be perfect as your father is perfect. That seems a very tall order. It seems to me that Jesus is telling us, that in order to aspire to God’s idea of perfection – we have to work a lot harder than just doing things at face value. We have to do all the above and more!
But Christ shows us the way, and he did it perfectly, through his teaching and his giving of himself for everyone.
Christ on the cross. The ultimate turning of the cheek.
Christ on the cross. The ultimate giving
Christ on the cross. Going all the way for us, not just the one mile.
Christ on the cross. Loving his enemies, forgiving them, as he was about to die at their hands
Christ on the cross. The ultimate act of love.
AMEN