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A completely different light on some famous sayings A completely different light on some famous sayings.
Came across an interesting little article the other day, which is quite relevant to this time of year, i.e. the birth of Jesus.
Most religious people and their religions are considered by outsiders to be a bit on the dour side and lacking in humour, especially other people having fun at their expense.
So it came as an interesting insight that Jesus had a sense of humour. I found the following in a newsletter of John Goodway and the author Martin Halliday. It throws a completely different light on some famous sayings.
Do we understand the humour of Jesus? What does it mean to turn the other cheek, to give up your cloak in court and to go the extra mile? Does it mean that Gods people are not to stand up for themselves or have we lost something over the years of the radical impact of Jesus.
In the Jewish culture of the time, religious leaders would move undesirables, beggars and women out of the way with the back of their hand. Therefore to turn the other cheek would mean that the perpetrator would have to hit you with the palm of his hand, as he would not use his other clean hand. If he hit you with the palm of his hand then he was hitting you as an equal, so elevating you to the same social standing as himself. A ripple of laughter would have gone through the crowd.
If you were being sued for all you possessed in the Herodian Courts then you could lose everything. Jesus was saying give them not just your cloak but your undergarments as well. This would mean leaving the Court naked. As this was a cultural taboo the Court would have been made to look foolish. By this time the laughter would have been louder.
The occupying troops were allowed to get any of the unfortunate locals to carry their loads for them for a statutory distance. Then it would be dumped and the victim would run off, possibly the way he had come. To follow what Jesus said (to go the extra mile) would mean that if you carried past the allocated distance then the soldier would be chasing after you begging you to stop because he would be placed on charge if it was discovered that he had gone beyond his remit.
When Jesus finished this everyone would have been falling about laughing, except the Jewish Leaders, Herodian Officials and the Romans. They would have known that Jesus was pointing the finger of injustices directly at them.
These three jokes would probably have done much more to unite the opposition to Jesus than anything else. How do we in our day make relevant comments on the injustices of our society and use satire from the pulpit?
Happy Christmas to you all and Happy 2006th birthday greeting to Jesus.
If you are interested the above sayings of Jesus came from the Sermon on the mount Matthew 5 v 38 onwards
