Living on Mission in the Kingdom of the Other Cheek

Living on Mission in the Kingdom of the Other Cheek

What a different Kingdom Jesus shows us! In our scripture this week (Matthew 5:38-42,) He showed us it is possible to live our lives according to a different set of rules. The ways of His Kingdom go against our nature, our traditions, and sometimes our preferences. Let’s take a quick look at the differences.

Our kingdoms look like this:

·      Retaliation

·      Justice

·      Revenge

·      Prosecution

·      Fairness

·      Retribution

·      Conflict

·      Confrontation

His Kingdom looks like this:

·      Love

·      Mercy

·      Empathy

·      Cooperation

·      Forgiveness

·      Redemption

·      Grace

·      Compassion

The focus of His Kingdom is love. The response of love is very different from our natural response and from the typical worldly response.  Instead of retaliation, there is forgiveness. Instead of justice, there is mercy. Instead of confrontation there is cooperation. Where we might like to strike back, in His Kingdom we turn the other cheek.

Jesus modeled this behavior during His earthly life.  Remember in the garden when they came to arrest Jesus and Peter whipped out a sword to defend Him? Jesus scolded Peter and healed the perpetrator. Remember the time first preached in His hometown and the response of the crowd was to throw Him off a cliff? Instead of standing up for His rights, protecting His reputation and pointing out the extraordinary error of their ways, He simply walked away. When He was subjected to a sham of a trial, He didn’t appeal to the Roman authorities or to His Father who could have saved Him from a torturous death. He immediately forgave. He immediately turned the other cheek.

Why and how would He do this?

Love was the driving factor behind every action. Love was bigger than His perceived reputation. Love was stronger than the pain and injuries. Love drove Him to give His life to save others.

His ways are certainly not our ways, but if we lean into the Spirit and ask daily to become more like Him, we CAN follow His ways.

Let’s practice Living on Mission and join Him in the Kingdom of the Other Cheek.

Pastor Angela