Walk the Talk

 

This quote from Heraclitus of Ephesus is as true today as when it was uttered 2500 years ago.  The more we open our eyes, the more readily we will see the changes around us.  As winter yields to spring, life springs from dormancy to vibrancy.  Some of the changes are welcomed by us and others are not.  Hate morphs into murder.  Oppressors become reconcilers.  The rule of law yields to the Golden Rule.  The list can go on, and I'm sure each of us can add items of both good and bad changes from our own experience.

As we approach this Lenten season, I am reminded of the changes that took place in the Middle East during the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth, and not all of the changes were good.

Trouble started even before Jesus was born.  Joseph learned that Mary, his fiancée, was pregnant!  The law gave him the right to have her put to death by stoning, but being a compassionate man he considered the alternative, to have the engagement quietly dissolved.  Then he had a dream and compassion overruled the rule of law, and he applied the Golden Rule instead.  What if Joseph had held to the rule of law?  I shudder to think about what this world might be like had he not had a change of heart

Compassion became an agent for change as Jesus brought transforming power through his teaching and healing ministry.  Fishermen were transformed into fishers of men, apostles.  Blindness yielded to sight, lameness into leaping.  Jesus and his followers lived during trying times.  Oppression was rampant under an oppressive Roman Empire and under a corrupt religious elite.  Jesus responded to this oppression by build a community of people who looked out for each other out of compassion for all children of God.  His emphasis on compassion was a welcome change during a time when other voices called for rebellion against Rome.  Violence was common place.  Multiple insurrection plots were uncovered and violently put down by the Roman military using torture and crucifixion to teach a lesson to anyone contemplating a revolt.  Those were difficult times indeed.

We need to remember that vengeance was considered acceptable in that society.  “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” was the rule of law, but Jesus taught another rule.  His radical alternative was summed up in this statement from the Sermon on the Mount.

But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also... You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy; but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:38-39, 43-44) 

Jesus taught and lived the lesson that God is love.  God's love was and still is a force that transforms revenge into redemption for the healing of mind, body, and soul.  When I focus on his life, I see a message of radical transformation that demands action.  Like the healing of the blind man, I want my eyes to be open to the possibilities of redemption through Christ-like compassion.  I want to put faith into action and walk the talk.

     ~Hank Kliewer