The Spiritual Journey, According to Jesus, Part 4
The spiritual journey leads us to be increasingly gracious and generous, and decreasingly critical and condemning.
The following words of Jesus from Matthew 5:38-45 seem counter-intuitive, especially if we are still viewing our spirituality as a matter of selecting the correct option:
You have heard that it was said, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
These words certainly go against the grain of the common philosophy of everyday existence. If we are honest, these words come across as downright nonsense if we are stuck in the “selecting the correct option” understanding of spirituality.
Richard Rohr has written:
There is no secret moral command for knowing or pleasing God, or what some call “salvation,” beyond becoming a loving person in mind, heart, body, and soul. Then you will see what you need to see. Jesus did not say, “Be right” Jesus said, “Be in love.”
The further spiritual journey leads us to the place of understanding that the only way to really be right anyway is to become more loving. We find ourselves naturally becoming more gracious and more generous as we travel further on the journey.
Several years ago, I was preparing a legal agreement for couple who was divorcing. After the couple reviewed the lengthy document I had prepared, one of the spouses emailed me and asked me to explain why a certain sentence read: “Wife shall have shared physical custody of the children.” I, somewhat arrogantly, assumed that the person did not understand the legal phrase “shared physical custody,” so I replied with a very lawyer-like answer explaining the legal significance. I was mighty proud of my knowledge and my articulate response.
I was later humbled when the person replied to my message and explained that they already knew what that phrase meant. They were just asking why the sentence said that the “wife,” who is only one person, had “shared” custody. It turned out I had made a mistake. The sentence should have read “Husband and wife shall have shared physical custody of the children.”
So, I assumed I had the superior information in the situation and that it was up to me to help the other person understand. The truth was that the other person had the superior information in the situation, and had to help me understand! That was a humbling miscue on my part!
It is human nature to assume we are right. Sometimes that applies to the spiritual journey as well. Whatever option we have selected, whatever world religion we are part of, or not part of, whatever specific brand of that group we choose as home, it is common for us to sincerely believe we are right. Yet sometimes we are blind to what we do not see.
