Eye...Eye

I am not sure about you but, the past 10 days of Donald Trump's presidency has left me feeling a little fractured. I am surprised how he has attacked the media and, how he has attacked Muslims. It has been a whirlwind of emotions.

About a week ago. This popped into my facebook feed.

It was by a supposed group of Liberal Christians. I was aghast at the language used. What struck me in this whole rhetoric over the last couple of months was the language used.

If you have followed Donald Trump, his language and description of people who he has disagreed with has been nothing short of vile. However, here you have people who are opposed to this man using the same naming policy he has used.

So I commented with this.
"As a person on the left, I am sad to hear this language being used. I am against everything Trump stands for and what he says, but friends by naming him like this we are no better than him. We are called to love the worst of what we perceive. Please let us not use the language like this. I know how I hated being called the antichrist by the right and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Rather let us use grace in the midst of oppression. To show his inhumanity by showing our humanity"

The amount of insults I received from putting this up astounded me. Here I was advocating a simple principle that Christ spoke about. It's called turning the other cheek. It's not taking an eye for an eye. Yet, these people went full throttle at me. Let me first off say that I am not saying we should not protest, or cause civil disobedience rather, I am saying do it in a way that shows your enemies inhumanity by showing your humanity. 

Apparently, this is worthy of being called a troll.  What struck me was this comment to what I said

"Grace? Grace??!! Are you for real? Stop with the turn the other cheek bullshit! Our VERY lives are at stake!"

I was again aghast. This understanding stands totally opposite to what I believe Jesus was talking about. I was immediately taken back to a simple word: CONTEXT. 

When Jesus said

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,[a] what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

He said this in a particular context. The Roman occupation was so oppressive to the Jews. This coupled with the fact that when Matthew decided to include this in his Gospel, the fall of the second temple had occurred (the Jews revolted and the Romans obliterated them and scattered them), meant that the Jewish community was facing an oppression and genocide far greater than anything Donald Trump could muster. I can imagine when Jesus uttered these words the Jewish community might have replied with something like: "Grace? Grace??!! Are you for real? Stop with the turn the other cheek bullshit! Our VERY lives are at stake!"

I know that we are in a time of uncertainty. I know there is a lot of anger. I know people are passionate. However, I really think that we mustn't fight fire with fire. As people of the way we should always choose to love people. That means showing them the cross. By this I mean sacrificing for them even if they oppress us. 

I am under no illusion that people on the right feel like God is on their side. To be honest people thought that when Obama was in power. They called Obama the beast and now the left is calling Trump the beast. Can I just raise a simple question? Where does that get us? How do we reconcile ourselves to each other if we just going to spout off names? 

It's time a Christians both on the left and the right we stop calling each other names and start embracing our unity. It's time we stop going to an eye for an eye rhetoric and turn to a new way of engaging with the world. We will only entrench our division if we keep going down this path. It's time to unite rather than divide*.

*By divide I do not mean that we cannot protest but I am saying once more it's how we protest.