John 18:10-11 Simon Peter had brought along a sword. He now pulled it out and struck at the servant of the high priest. The servant's name was Malchus, and Peter cut off his right ear. Jesus told Peter, "Put your sword away. I must drink from the cup that the Father has given me."
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
When I read this passage, I immediately thought of parents and fans at sporting events. There are times when they feel their child, coach, or participant has been mistreated or wrongly penalized, and they go ballistic. If they could get to the referees to cut off an ear, they probably would! This was a knee-jerk reaction on Peter’s part… and how many of us often behave – even in public!
Jesus shows us in this passage that we often operate outside our boundaries and behave in a manner that does not line up with what He expects from His Disciples. When we do what is honest and fair… and leave the “justice” to God and those who are in the position to make such judgments… we honor our relationship with Jesus Christ and model Christian behavior.
Let me give you another example… I sold an item on eBay, and the buyer asked me to ship the item to her daughter, who lives in Seattle. She said, “I will pay extra for your trouble.” However, she paid the invoice before I calculated the actual shipping cost, and she underpaid by almost one dollar. I told her not to worry about the extra shipping costs, although my profit margin on this piece was already really small. I could have issued a refund and rebilled this woman for the correct amount… and I admit that I considered doing this! But I decided that making another $1.00 was not worth the risk of hurt feelings and creating a bad business relationship.
The next day, I received a message from the buyer saying that she had added extra money to my account to cover the trouble and expense of shipping to her daughter. I checked my account – she added $10! I thanked her and fussed at her for being so overly generous. But in the end, both of us got a blessing and the satisfaction of knowing we did the right thing.
I’m not saying that every time you refrain from cussing a referee you will get extra money in your bank account or some other “reward.” But knowing you did what honors Jesus and your relationship with Him should be enough. I am still learning about online selling, and I’ve messed up and been “burned” more than once… but I’ve always asked myself how Jesus would handle the situation. Even when it hurt my bottom line, I’ve tried to do what I knew was fair and honorable. If we would stop and think about this in all areas of our life, we would have far fewer “lobbed off ears” and more moments of honor and glory to our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ.
My challenge to each of us this day is to search our hearts and see where we are trying to invoke justice of our own kind… or make things work out in our favor… and ask if this truly is how Jesus would handle things. Are we pleasing ourselves and/or seeking revenge… or are we honoring our faith? The two are often not the same… do you know the difference?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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