Can You Go the Extra Mile?
At the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, while Jesus was talking about Old Testament laws and sins and the taking and performing of oaths, he submitted this challenge – “If anyone wants to sue you, and take away your shirt, give him your coat also. If someone compels you to go one mile with him, go with him two” (Matthew 5:40-41). We are familiar with this passage because it is the classic “turn the other cheek” text. It is obvious that our Lord was advising against retaliation and, instead, insisting on a kind heart and an attitude of sacrifice.
But what did Jesus really mean by going the extra mile? Was he talking about going for a walk with someone for another fifteen minutes? The phrase “compel you to go one mile” in the original language means to “hear a burden.” It implies that we have been summoned to the side of a friend who needs for us to understand what is going on in their world. This involves the idea of “walking in someone else’s shoes.” We are being asked to empathize with someone – to feel what they are feeling. Jesus is telling us that when people ask us to share a burden with them that we are supposed to hang in there for twice as long as we have been asked to come along.
It is my humble opinion that there are few people in the world that want to go the extra mile these days. We want to like social media posts and send a short email or text and say that we have done our part to encourage someone who is having a bad day. But who sits all day at the hospital with a friend whose spouse is having surgery? Who drives a neighbor to a doctor’s appointment out of town? Who gets up and takes their friend who is going through a divorce to breakfast every morning just so they can have someone to talk to? Who gives up an entire weekend to help a co-worker move away?
I think the answer to those questions is, “People who are like Jesus.” Jesus could ask us to go the extra mile because he did that for us. The Hebrew writer said about Christ,
“For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews. 2:16-18).
I am so thankful for the fact that Jesus walked for miles and miles on this earth. It seems that the majority–if not all–of those miles were extra miles, compassionate second miles with people who needed for Him to listen and to care. Those miles for Jesus came at great cost. All extra miles come with some sacrifice. For Jesus it meant leaving a throne, taking on humanity, experiencing persecution, and hanging from a cross. But it didn’t keep Him from walking them.
How much are you willing give up to go the extra mile? It all depends on how much love you have.
“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” – 1 John 2:6
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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum
