Go Home to Your Family
Then the king said to Abishai and all his servants:
"If my son, who came forth from my loins, is seeking my life, how much
more might this Benjaminite do so? Let him alone and let him curse, for the
LORD has told him to. Perhaps the LORD will look upon my affliction and make it
up to me with benefits for the curses he is uttering this day." 2 Samuel
16:11-12
As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been
possessed pleaded to remain with him. But Jesus would not permit him but told
him instead, "Go home to your family and announce to them all that the
Lord in his pity has done for you." Then the man went off and began to
proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.
Mark 5:18-20
Piety
"You have heard: ‘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." Matthew 5:38-40
Study
My Old Testament classes are
fading into the memory banks. So, when presented with long readings from the
history books of the Hebrew Bible, it helps my study to look up who some of the
characters are that we encounter.
Today, we hear about Shimei
cursing and throwing rocks at King David. Imagine if someone walked past The
White House cursing and throwing rocks at the President. The Secret Service
would quickly impinge upon his freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
But the police and army from
ancient Israel do not apprehend Shimei. He was angry about the evil and wicked
things King David had done to King Saul. He indeed appeared to be a very
unforgiving man who never sought true reconciliation with King David.
If Shimei was a man of
faith, he was ignorant of the rules outlined in the Pentateuch. God expressly
prohibited what Shimei was doing. See Exodus 22:27: "You shall not despise
God, nor curse a leader of your people."
However, King David lets him
get away with both the hurtful words and the rock throwing. Despite the mean
streak that existed in the murderous and adulterous heart of King David, there
was room for forgiveness and for turning the other cheek. Despite his royal
position, he did not seek any retribution against Shimei. Instead, he
"offered up" his humiliation and defeat. Perhaps the LORD will look
upon my affliction and make it up to me.
Turning to the New
Testament, Jesus also shows mercy to the man possessed of evil spirits. The
Lord looked with pity on his circumstances. When the man wanted to stay with
Jesus, he got a personal commandment not unlike what Jesus did with others he
cured or healed or saved. "Go home
to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for
you." Jesus did not accept the man's request to remain with him as a
disciple, yet invited him to announce to his people what the Lord had done for
him, i.e., proclaim the gospel message to his pagan family.[i]
Action
If only we could show such
magnanimity in the face of insults.
Not a sports report goes by
these days when there is not focus on a technical foul awarded to a
curse-spewing basketball player. Not a
week in the NFL season passes when a helmet-to-helmet hitting NFL player gets
ejected. When the boys of summer take
the field, it seems that every week an MLB pitcher throws a high, hard fastball
at the head of a batter who embarrassed him by doing a home run trot around the
horn too slowly. If such anger only reared its ugly head in sports!
Even though Hammurabi's Code
has long since passed into the history books, we still live in an
eye-for-an-eye world. Rare are the cases of the family of a murder victim who
forgives the killer and passes up seeking the death penalty. I can almost
guarantee that reflections which deal with the USCCB stand against the death
penalty will get more comments and e-mail from Catholics who fail to understand
this critical Church teaching.
When can you turn the other
cheek?
No comments:
Post a Comment