I am always inspired when I see various ways the church tries to communicate what Jesus meant when he told us as his followers to “love your enemies.” I remember thinking about this when I was a kid: “NO WAY was I ever going to turn the other cheek… I would turn the other cheek all right, I would make that other person’s cheek turn RED!”
A constant principle that I see embedded in the Kingdom of God ethic is the idea of doing the opposite. Doing the opposite of our natural human reaction in a situation, is usually the right “kingdom-kind-of-action”. I have found that in almost every situation in life, doing the right thing, is almost always doing the opposite of what my natural human reaction is.
This video depicts this counter-cultural principle well…
HT Elemental CM
source YouTube
Love can build a bridge
The video also reminds me of the bridge of life, or the bridge between man and God with sin being the cause of the gap in the relationship and the cross depicting the radical difference of Jesus’ life and the sacrifice(s) he made as described here in your discussion, including the ultimate sacrifice, giving up his life. The best picture I can find on the Internet right now for children is here …
http://www.lifefebc.com/resources/bridgelife.htm
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and this video, Jeremy. Blessings amigo.
Todd, yeah, I had thought about the “double” meaning of 1) loving your enemies even when they throw proverbial stones at you and 2) the way that Jesus ultimately modeled this with his life, death and resurrection… cool thoughts!