Go the Extra Mile?

 

We thought it was all over – now we are going the extra mile.

The negotiations between our government and the European Union have now gone beyond their expected end date. Following a phone call on Sunday morning, our Prime Minister and the European Commission President have agreed to continue the process of seeking a deal. It was described as “going the extra mile”, and perhaps if they were in church on a Sunday morning more often they would remember the context of Jesus’ saying.

The ‘extra mile’ phrase comes shortly after the Beatitudes, part of the Sermon on the Mount, which Christians hold as a central text for faithful discipleship. Matthew 5.38-48. It is a very challenging text about love, forgiveness and understanding. In verse 39, we are told to turn the other cheek which is very Christ-like but tough for ordinary humans; and verse 41 states that “if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile”. We might say that it is precisely what has happened here, but surely it suggests negating the force through co-operation – or over-cooperation!

It is easy to take sayings out of context, we all do it, but Jesus’ words are not there to be watered down or give the impression that we are somehow acting in accordance with some form of divine approval. Jesus makes it clear in verse 41 that we should “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in Heaven”. The world is full of a heady mix of the love which God has given to the human heart and the selfishness and deceit which means that impaired relationships are broken rather than healed. It is still not too late to truly go the extra mile and find a way forward which clearly leads to harmony rather than division.

 

Heavenly Father, in Advent we hear the personal challenge of John the Baptist to God’s people to repent and turn afresh to recognising and following Jesus. Help us to be generous and sacrificial in our dealings with others.

And be with the leaders of the nations, especially at this uncertain time in our relationship with the European Union, that negotiators on each side, having created the time for further dialogue, may indeed be ready to walk the extra mile together in a manner which promotes a positive relationship for the future for the good of all. In Jesus’s name, Amen