Wicked persons

"Offer the wicked person no resistance" (Matthew 5:39).

Did Jesus really mean this? Is this teaching practical?

This is one of the pearls from the Sermon on the Mount. Here is where we can really see the crux of Jesus' teachings. He asks us not to offer the wicked person any resistance or opposition. Jesus' teaching is never practical, only radical. It cuts at the root (radical is from the Latin word radix = root). Jesus is not asking any cosmetic changes to the world order, in fact he is exhorting us to end this kind of world order, this kind of world itself. He is not presenting a new programme for human society. He refuses to accept society on its own terms; he refuses to offer it allegiance as it is.

Wicked persons like Queen Jezebel (see the First Reading of today, 1 Kings 21:1-16) or Hitler or Stalin (or anyone whom you think wicked) were all created in God's image. They too are God's children, God's Beloved. Jesus continues his radical statements (almost impractical!): "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons and daughters of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?" (Matthew 5:44-46).

Jesus is asking me not only not to hate, but to love these wicked persons. To love all those who trouble and persecute you: all the fundamentalist and fringe elements in the country, terrorists, murderers, rapists, abusers, criminals, scoundrels, and all others. This is where one takes her call to be a Christian or no. (I'm talking of reality, not namesake Christianity here.) A true follower is asked to do the impossible! Are you a true disciple of Christ or just namesake?