When we’re asked to do a job, or fulfil a task, and it is done – and done well – not a lot might be said, except, “thank you”. Most people, most of the time, do what is expected and when they do there is no great fanfare … it’s expected. We do what we’re supposed to do and that’s that. The bare minimum.
In His teaching during what we call today, “The Sermon on the Mount”, Jesus said something that seems odd to us today … He said:
Matthew 5:41
“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”
Metric measurements aside, a mile was a long way – a tad over 1600 metres. But what did this mean in Jesus’ day? How could anyone be “forced” to “go one mile”? In Jesus’s day, Palestine, Galilee, Jerusalem and surrounds had already been under Roman occupation for a long time. There were Roman soldiers everywhere in the streets performing various duties. Under occupation law a Jew (or citizen of any other occupied nation) could be forced to carry luggage or whatever for a soldier at the drop of a hat – and carry it for a mile. The Romans had limits on what their soldiers could compel the people to do. Imagine it: you’re setting off for work one morning when you hear the sound of soldiers marching behind you and one of them says, “Hey you! Carry this for me!” No please, or “Hey, mate, can you lend a hand?”. Nope! No request. An order is barked and you had to comply or be punished.
So, here you are, with work plans for the day all set in your mind when suddenly you’re compelled to carry a legionnaire’s backpack 1600 metres until the soldier found another hapless victim. This was commonplace. But Jesus said, “If anyone compels you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” OK, but why?
Remember there were limits on what a soldier could demand of a local with this law. How was a mile measured and the citizen then released from his obligation? There were no GPS technologies or anything like that. The process was measured in steps taken and counted. The carrier would saddle up and both he and the soldier would begin walking - and counting - until 1600 paces had been completed, and the obligation was done. Both would be counting – soldier and carrier, right to the last step. So, Jesus says, “go with him two”? Go an extra mile, he says, (which is where the saying originates by the way.)
After the 1600 paces are counted and the carrier keeps going when the soldier expects the carrier to lay down his burden, but doesn’t even pause and just keeps going, who is doing the counting then? Not the carrier – the soldier! The soldier is now counting and wondering, “What on earth is going on here?” Jesus has just been teaching about not retaliating when we are wronged, and what to do instead. In this case, when compelled against our will to do something inconvenient, or that messes up our plans, Jesus is teaching how grace works, and how powerful an impact it has on the one inconveniencing us. The scholar F. B. Meyer makes this observation …
“We are sent off in a direction we never contemplated and are compelled to go one mile. It is the second that tests character; and your actions with respect to it will determine whether you have entered into the spirit of Christ and are willing to serve others for love’s sake and at cost of peril and inconvenience to yourself.”
Here’s the point: we can fulfill our obligations, or do things we don’t want to do, to the exact letter of the law, or expectation, and although it is done and dusted, that fulfillment has little or no grace effect. That’s the bare minimum expected. But when we go the second mile in the spirit of Christ, though powerless, perhaps, the impact of grace on the other party is huge – we often never know! - a person’s salvation direction could turn on whether or not we are prepared to go the second mile.
It may be the second mile of forgiveness, or generosity, or just being available to another person beyond what was planned or even enjoyed. It could be the second mile of biting our tongues when we really want to say what we think, or the second mile of patience that, in the world’s eyes is not at all warranted. The second mile of obligation because of our love for Christ allows grace to go powerfully active.
The second mile tests our character, and our actions there determine whether we have entered the spirit of Christ and are willing to serve others.
Bare minimum? The world is full of bare minimum people. We Christians are called to be generous spirited second, third and fourth milers – regardless of what’s fair or equitable.
This is one of the ways grace is powerfully imparted to others with great impact.
Ponder these things.
Ps Milton