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In my country, we have a proverb, "Dalamnya lautan bisa diduga, dalamnya orang siapa tahu", meaning the depth of sea can be estimated but who knows the depth of inner man?"
It indicates that there are still many unmapped areas within men. What attitude do we develop when we happen to be in an unmapped area? It is very likely that we should be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful. Who in the world knows everything about one’s life partners, children, friends, neighbors, and enemies? Those who tend to be pompous and self-important only claim to know everything about people.
Even toward members of our families, relatives and people in our friend circle, we must be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of them. If we have those attitudes, we can be true to them and treat them the best way. Jesus asked us to develop those attitudes when we relate with others no matter who they are. Even to people who don't care about us, we must be thoughtful, careful and attentive to them. We are not given any other choices but those attitudes.
That is why Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke as follows:
[Luke 6:20-38]
“God blesses you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. God blesses you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. God blesses you who weep now, for in due time you will laugh. What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man. When that happens, be happy! Yes, leap for joy! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, their ancestors treated the ancient prophets that same way. “What sorrow awaits you who are rich, for you have your only happiness now. What sorrow awaits you who are fat and prosperous now, for a time of awful hunger awaits you. What sorrow awaits you who laugh now, for your laughing will turn to mourning and sorrow. What sorrow awaits you who are praised by the crowds, for their ancestors also praised false prophets. “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. Do to others as you would like them to do to you. “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return. Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full - pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
For most of us, our enemies symbolize that there is unmapped territories right in front of us. That is definitely right ! When Jesus said "Love your enemies", he only says to us that we must develop careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful attitude in our effort to understand what is going on. Jesus only says to us that in every second of our life, we are faced with unmapped areas. Jesus wants us to be aware of unmapped areas with which we are faced in every second of our life.
Even within ourselves, there are many unmapped areas. There are still many secrets and mysteries about ourselves that even we know very little or nothing about.
King David said in the Book of 1 Chronicles:
[1Chr. 29:14 -16]
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand…
If we think we know everything, we develop an arrogant attitude and become self-important. Jesus warns us not to be arrogant, pompous or self-important only because we think we know better than others do. Only because you think that everything is mapped, be careful not to stop being careful. In every second of your life, you are faced with unmapped areas. And you have to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful.
We have no choice but to be so, because, by nature, we are aliens and strangers in God's sight. That is why we must be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of aliens and perfect strangers that we encounter in our lives. We even have to cooperate with aliens and perfect strangers as long as we live on earth. The aliens and strangers reminds us of the time when we ourselves are aliens and strangers in God's sight. God shows patience and kindness and care to us despite that we are aliens and strangers in God's sight. We don't have to tame any aliens and strangers that may come to us. We don't have to tidy them up and lecture them how to be nice because we think they are a little bit unsightly because we are aliens and strangers in God's sight.
Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew that we should not act as if we could control everything and as if we were the Lord of our life.
[Matt 5:36-37]
And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
We must admit that we are khalimatullah fiil as vicegerents working on earth for God. We are given responsibility by God, our Creator, to take a good care of life, not only our life but also the life of others. It means we have to establish a good rapport with ourselves and others. We must develop a close and harmonious relationship with ourselves and others. We have to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of ourselves and others.
It is not as easy as we think it is. It is a big deal that even Prophet Muhammad said right after having conquered Badar through a very fierce battle called Badar War in which Prophet Muhammad and his followers had to struggle to win a victory over well-armored enemies that outnumbered Prophet Muhammad and his followers:
"There is still a greater battle in which we have to do battle against. It is the battle against our own desire because we have tendency to be what we want to be, not to be what God wants us to be."
With God's help, we have to stop our sinful tendency to satisfy our own desire. We have to establish a good rapport with ourselves and others.
Jesus indicates how important our inner being and attitude are as in the Gospel of Mark (12:38-44) and Matthew (6:5-6; 6:16-17). Please, take notice to the poor widow who gave out of her poverty, people who close the door and pray, and people who fast, yet live normally during the fasting month. They not only need people to cooperate with them. I am sure all people on the globe need them to cooperate with to make the globe a better place to live in and to impact the world. People like them are oriented to the Kingdom of God. They are beyond the globe, yet they are earthly good, of course. The reason is because they are the Kingdom oriented. They are interested and occupied in the causes and interests of God's Kingdom on earth. They don't think about themselves. However, they want to impact the globe by their life that is totally devoted to God by being careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of God's causes and interests on the globe.
Jesus says in the Gospel of Mark (12:30-31):
And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.
So, at first, we have to be careful and conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of ourselves to be able to be so toward others.
With God's help, we have to wage war against our own desire and wage peace with God's desire. Only by doing so, we can establish a close and harmonious relationship in which everyone including ourselves learns from each other and understand each other's feeling or ideas and communicate well.
What causes the poor widow to give out of her poverty? What causes people to close the door and pray and not want to be admired by men? What causes people to try to look nice when they are fasting and very hungry and weak?
The answer must be found in the Gospel of John (3:16-17) and Matthew (13:44-46).
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Because they have experienced the grace and the mercy of God, they are happy to become selfless and forget about themselves. Their orientation has been transformed from "the old Jerusalem" to "the new one", and from the self-oriented paradigm to the others-oriented paradigm.
Paul says that whoever that is married should be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of his or her married partner. And whoever that have children have to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of his or her children.
[Col 3:18-21]
Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
In the same way, whoever that are employees have to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of our employers whoever they may be and however nature they may have.
[Col 3:22-25]
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.
This is again applied to the employers in the same ways. Whoever they are employers have to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of their employees as is described in Eph 6:9 as follows:
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.
We must not act as if we were God. We must be submissive to God and thankful to God for whatever state we may be in. Jesus says that even to our enemies, we have to be careful , conscientious, attentive and thoughtful and also even prayerful.(Luke 6:27-36) Jesus asks us even to learn from birds and lilies how to live without worrying.(Matt 6:26-34)
Who came to welcome the little baby Jesus when he was born on earth? People from places far from Bethlehem or people from places near Bethlehem? The magi did. They came from places far from Bethlehem!
If we realize that we are aliens and strangers in God's sight and that we are limited and our days are like a shadow without hope, we will learn more and more to be a community that God wants us to be, that is, a whole community that experiences Jesus Christ of God and that are thankful as a whole to God for Jesus Christ. If we realize that we are aliens and strangers in God's sight and that we are limited, it is easy for us to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of others whoever the others may be.
That is why Jesus says: if someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. If a soldier forces you to carry his stuff for a mile, carry it two miles.
It is not a teaching to fool us.
It is a teaching to remind us of the need to be rational, intelligent and realistic of the real nature of our state in the Kingdom of God.
To accept Jesus Christ means willingness to be transformed from self-centeredness to others. Whoever others may be, we will find it easy to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful of them. Whoever the others may be! Let them just as they are be angels, prophets, friends, relatives, families, even enemies, foreigners, locals, etc. We have to be humble and co-operative with others. In that way, we and our whole community will glorify the name of God, our creator and lover of our souls.
Jesus' teaching never fools us.
It is a teaching to remind us of the need to be rational and intelligent and realistic of the real nature of our state in the Kingdom of God.
In Jesus, others are the missing links to make us completed in God. Speaking about others and us, we have to recognize that points of departure taken to do the journey to Jesus of God must be different. However, God wants others and us to come Jesus Christ of God to be a community God desires. New Jerusalem community where Jesus is the Lord appointed and authorized by God.
We may compare the attitude of the Magi with that of King Herod, the people's priests and teachers of the law regarding Jesus Christ.(Matt 2:1-11) As long as we don't choose to be like King Herod, that is, to be very occupied with our own selfish desire, we will experience what is beautifully described as follows in the Revelation 3:12:
Be victorious.
Become pillars in the Temple of the God of Jesus, and we will never have to leave it.
And Jesus will write on us the name of the God of Jesus,
Be citizens in the city of the God of Jesus - the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from the God of Jesus.
And Jesus will also write on us Jesus' new name.
Let our attitude not be like that of King Herod, chief priests and teachers of the law, who are obviously very occupied with their own selfish desire. If so, we will experience:
I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father. (John 15:15)
We are assured of this from Rom 8:15-21 and 1Cor 12:13 as well.
It doesn't matter how others may be, God's children have no choice but have to be careful, conscientious, attentive, thoughtful and even prayerful that we as whole may be coming into the Kingdom of God in which God is the graceful and merciful King.
Our points of departure and history and cultural habits may differ and span from:
Developed countries, developing countries, under developed countries / Modern countries and Primitive countries / Rich countries and Poor countries / West or East / Primitive communities, Modern Communities or Post modern Communities / Linear Straightforward culture or Hairy Logic culture / Guilt-related culture, shame-related culture or fear-related culture / Egalitarian communities or Non-egalitarian communities / Practical communities or Theoretical communities / Inductive Reasoning or Deductive Reasoning / Bottom-up approach or Top down approach.
To expand the Kingdom of God to many, many communities, we have to be careful, conscientious, attentive and thoughtful and even prayerful regarding others and us so that as many as possible in many kinds of communities may come to worship God happily. We as children of God have no choice but cooperate with others no matter who others are. We have to be happy to strive together in changing the direction of our hell-bound disintegrating world community into heaven-bound one.
[Matthew 12:33-37]
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.
May all of us be moved to the body of Christ and may all of us work together in the body of Christ, so all of us can be the channel of God's blessing to bless each other.(AFMI)
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