Two monks lived in a cave for over ten years. One day, one of them proposed, "Let’s do what the world does." "What does the world do?", asked the second. "Well, they quarrel," said the first. "So, how do we begin a quarrel?" asked the second monk.
The first monk picked up a stone and offered to start. Picking up a stone considered part of the cave, he said, "Look at this stone. This stone is MINE!" The second monk thought for a while and said, "Well, brother, if the stone is yours, take it." Fortunately, or unfortunately, that was the end of the game.
It takes two to quarrel! If one refuses, there is no quarrel! In other words, we have the power to refrain from retaliation.
We can imagine how startled the listeners of Jesus must have been when they heard Him say, "offer no resistance to one who is evil." They probably thought, "You mean, do not resist the Roman army that plundered our farms, desecrated the synagogues, occupied our land, taxed our property, humiliated our leaders, and enslaved our youth? You are not serious, are you?"
Yes, He was! Not because He approved of evil, but because He loved the good and the bad alike and desired salvation for all. Not because of what they are now, but what they can become.
A Spanish Proverb read, "To return evil for good is devilish, good for good is human, but good for evil is godlike." Jesus wants his followers to be godlike.
He knows how deeply the urge to retaliate is rooted in human hearts, destroying inner peace.
He wants to uproot this urge from human hearts to liberate us from that vicious cycle. Great leaders like Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi have shown us that humans can respond to evil with good successfully.
Dale Carnegie, an American writer and lecturer said, "When we hate our enemies, we give them power over us; power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, health, and our happiness." Dear friends, Jesus needs fresh witnesses to the power we can have over our urges to retaliate.
Can we trust Jesus to help us control this urge? To be liberated from a vicious cycle to follow Him more closely. If we can do this, we will make our lives more meaningful on this earth.
