The Romans created a brutal empire that conquered other nations, states, and people groups at will. They imposed their imperial cult as they built roads throughout the ancient world and spread their culture for thousands of miles. When they would invade the land, they would set up a Roman outpost of authority, usually consisting of a governor (Pontius Pilate, who ruled ancient Palestine, was one such governor) and a police force. The job of the soldiers was to keep the Pax Romana, which was Latin for “the peace of Rome.” Caesar, who claimed to be picked by the gods as a sort of ruling deity, gave orders to his provincial officials throughout the empire. They carried out his orders through the power of the Roman army, complete with battle-hardened soldiers who had little concern for the lands they occupied or the people they ruled over.
These Roman police forces acted with impunity throughout the empire. They could do just about anything they wanted so long as it was in service of keeping the Pax Romana. These Roman “peacekeepers” were funded and fed by Rome itself, but Rome took that money from the very countries it invaded in the form of taxes and tribute. The taxes they collected were unfair, exorbitant, and crippling to almost everyone forced to pay them. But there was no way to stand against this abuse. There was no appeal process. You paid whatever tax Rome demanded.
In Matthew’s account of the sermon on the Mount, we read that Jesus said some things that were revolutionary to his listeners for the very fact that he was teaching in Galilee. This region was a training ground for Jewish nationalists who hated the Roman occupiers and plotted their removal from Israel. They were called zealots because of their love for the nation of Israel and the radical commitment to seeing the holy land rid of the pagan occupiers, in order for the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem and the glory of God to return to his people. To say they hated the Romans wouldn’t come close to describing the animosity that existed in the hearts of the people who were listening to Jesus teach that they Galilee.
Caesar had appointed a puppet king named Herod, who is famous for his amazing building projects (the Temple Mount and Masada are two examples) as well as his insecurities and manic fits of murderous rage (he slaughtered members of his own family in paranoia that they were plotting to overthrow him). One of his sons was ruling Israel when Jesus preached these words, and Jewish nationalism was at a fevered pitch.
Jesus said something in this context that stopped the crowd dead in their tracks. The comment was made in reference to the occupying Roman (Gentile, pagan, unwanted, despised) hours. “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles” (Matthew 5:41).
Scandalous! Unheard of! Jesus was clearly referring to a particular Roman law that allowed any Roman soldier to stop a Jew on the road and compel him or her to drop what they were carrying in order to assist the Roman soldier in bearing his load. Of course the soldier could simply make the Jew carry his load out of laziness or a power trip. However, the law only required the Israelites to walk one mile for the soldiers. Not two. Only one. So Jesus tells his listeners to go beyond obligation.
The second mile is not an obligation. It’s an opportunity. The extra mile is our witness to the world. It’s the way Jesus expected his followers to win over Roman soldiers to the kingdom of God, and it’s still the way we win an unbelieving world to Christ. It’s how we testify to a lost world that Jesus has made a difference in us. When we are forced into hard situations that are beyond our control, we can become bitter or we can become better — better witnesses to God’s greatest power.
No one paid attention when a Jew carried a heavy bag of grain for a Roman soldier for one mile. The first mile was an obligation. But imagine the scene when the soldier tells a Jew he’s fulfilled his duty and can drop the bag but he tells the Roman that he wants to keep on carrying it for him! Now he has everyone’s attention, including the soldier’s. The second mile was an opportunity. The second mile gives us a story worth telling. We quit too quickly. We want to get by with the absolute minimum. We bail out after our obligation is completed. In looking for the easiest path we fail to develop the muscle and the endurance for the second mile, and we miss the opportunity that most often lies in doing the difficult thing and denying our own right to an easier road.
The point of the second mile was to show the Romans that the Jews were different from them. They did not demand, they offered. They did not compel, they invited. The children of Israel were operating from a different worldview, one of simplicity and virtue found in the God of Scripture. The Romans operated from the worldview of power, conquest, and greed. Roman hearts could be won, one at a time, by simple acts of radical service that went contrary to the expectation. Freedom would not come from a Jewish uprising or revolt but from the internal liberty of being free to serve your enemy, testifying to the transforming power of God in a person’s soul.
The only way for good to win over evil is to go beyond obligation. The second mile in our lives makes the “Roman” world ask why we would go the extra distance under such a heavy burden. The second mile opens up conversations that would never happen in the first mile. The second mile makes us better humans and better Christians. It builds muscle we need to carry the gospel and the endurance we need to remain faithful through the hardest seasons of life. The second mile makes us feel weak, but it’s really making us stronger. It’s our greatest witness to the world. What feels like a trial and looks like a test is quickly transformed into a testimony as we walk the extra mile. People may not agree with our politics. They may even be skeptical of our religious convictions. But they cannot argue with our stories.
Clayton King appears this Tuesday on LIFE TODAY. This is an excerpt from Stronger: How Hard Times Reveal God’s Greatest Power by Clayton King. Copyright ©2015 by Clayton King. Published by Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Used by permission.
