Joe

Jesus’ take on resistance begins with turning the other cheek. To be honest, most in the American Christianity find a way to dismiss this text. Those who take it seriously interpret it as bypassing self-defense. They suggest that, rather than absorbing a single blow, you should allow yourself to be hit twice. But there is an easy to miss cultural nuance that transforms what Jesus says.

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Jesus’ exploration of his reframed spirituality continues with a series of teachings on resistance. This sounds odd for two reasons. One, in the United States we just had four years of liberal “resistance” revolving around Donald Trump. The other is that most of our Bibles have a translation that is something like, “Do not resist an evildoer.” So let me unpack this a bit.

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While this entire week of posts feels exposing, perhaps none more than one on honesty. That is right, despite decades of struggle with anger and adultery, despite two divorces, honesty is what hits home hardest. Perhaps because I know all the rest flows from my inability to be honest. So to avoid any allure of hypocrisy, I am going to talk about me. I am going to talk about my honestly to honesty journey.

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As Jesus continues reframing spirituality he explores divorce and more generally, sin avoidance loopholes. Again, if we skip the broader context, we miss this. If we miss the big picture, we start making rules about when people can and cannot divorce. Similar rules come up about remarriage. This is largely why the church is infamous for telling a woman to stay with an abusive husband. After all, he might hit her or verbally assault her, but he did not cheat.

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Jesus’ second everyday example of his reframed spirituality is an invitation to avoid adultery by loving another. Yes, you heard that right. When we are busy loving another, we do not commit adultery. Let me explain.

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Guiding the people from murder to meekness is the first in a series of examples exploring Jesus’ reframed spirituality. These everyday applications unpack how embodying the Beatitudes does two things. One, it serves as societal salt or light. Two, it creates blessed happiness for the disciple. Jesus does this by reframing the common teachings from the Law given by Moses.

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