Sermon on the Mount lived out

I had this friend at moody named Todd. His parents weren’t Christians, and when he was growing up he really got into martial arts. (He told me about whatever belts he had. I, who know nothing about such subjects, asked him if I should be impressed, and he humbly said, “Very”.). So anyway, he got caught up into Buddhism and after a while, also started to like Jesus, but he still considered himself Buddhist. Made for very interesting conservations, but that is now why I am writing this story.

One day he was late to whatever he was doing. I asked him why and he said he was mugged. He said he was walking alone, minding his own business when he got whacked on the head with a stick. He said he turned around and it was 3 or 4 or 5 (I can’t remember) teenagers, maybe 12 or 13 years old. He stood there as they took his wallet and phone. Remember, this is a guy who had multiple impressive karate belts. He just stood there with his arms over his head. The kids grabbed his things and were running away when one of the kids stopped, noticed that Todd wasn’t going to retaliate, walked back to him, looked him in the face and grabbed Todd’s belt and pulled it off. Todd was left with his hands in the air as the little kid ran off to join his triumphant friends. This is a man who is an expert at martial arts. It would have taken him no effort at all to defend himself.

I still think about this story all the time, even though I didn’t keep in contact with Todd after moody. It took this Buddhist to show me what God was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount about turning the other cheek. Turning the other cheek is not weak. It requires much more strength than retaliating. I couldn’t imagine how hard it would be for Todd to sit there and do nothing when a single young kid slowly pulled his belt off and walked away. This is what God asks of us, not as a suggestion, but as a command. God’s ways are contrary to any common sense and often don’t seem to work. He says we must give up our wisdom, rejoice when we are persecuted, be thankful when we are tested and that the last will be first. If we take what he says as literal, we will be mocked, taken advantage of and frustrated. But God says we must do it anyway.