The Galilean Ministry at Various Cities (4.14-9.50), 6.17-7.50 - A Day in the Life of Jesus, Part Four

From what we’ve been reading are we to assume the indicators of Christian living are being spiritually poor and hungry, unhappy and hated? Hardly. Rather, people will know we belong to God when we can be happy in current difficulties because of our focus on future redemption. This focus on our eternal life and destiny carries into every area of life.

On the heels of his wisdom statements regarding persecution, Jesus continues his upside-down approach to living by telling his followers how to treat their enemies. Normally when a person works against our interests, or behaves in a way that is intended to hurt us, we develop a strong dislike for them. We might even come to hate them. Strong language, I know, but you and I and Jesus know it is truthful. It’s why Jesus tells us to resist our impulse, our instincts, and to respond with love.

Finding happiness in difficult circumstances isn’t the only indication of being a Jesus-follower:

• Love your enemies, 6.27
• Do good to those who hate you, 6.27
• Bless those who curse you, 6.28
• Pray for those who mistreat you, 6.28
• Do not strike back, 6.29
• Give to those in need, 6.30
• Treat others as you want to be treated, 6.31

These are the characteristics of people belonging to the kingdom because these are the characteristics of God. By becoming a citizen of the kingdom we reflect God’s image and inadvertently invite the worlds hatred. There is one way in which we are not to be like God, however, and that is in the way we judge others. God alone has the right to judge, the best we can do is agree that his judgments are just. This is not to say that we cannot make judgments or distinctions, only that they are to be free of penalty and free of hypocrisy.

There are many instances where we are told to test someone’s teachings, to examine a person’s “fruits” (which we see a few verses later, 6.43-45) to determine their motives and so on. It is not our place to dole out punishment for sins against us (at least not in personal relationships, if we work for a government law enforcement agency the rules are different). When we are sinned against we are to fall back on Jesus’ previous teaching, to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, etc. And when responding to a person who has sinned against us, Jesus reinforces his previous teaching regarding the Golden Rule.

Jesus commanded we treat others the way we want to be treated, but now he goes a step further and tells us that how we treat others will be how we are treated. When we judge, we will be judged in the same way; when we condemned, we will be condemned in consistent fashion; forgive and we will know forgiveness; give and we will be given to you in greater measure. If we follow this command, we will treat others with humility and respect; we will be led toward righteousness rather than self-righteousness. Instead of seeing the faults in others we will see our own faults and learn to be more like God.

In short, Jesus’ teaching on judgment is to be more concerned with judging our own thoughts, actions and fruits than others, and to be as merciful towards others as we are to ourselves when we discover we’ve done wrong. This is true righteousness.