A Radical Way of Life

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD. Romans 12:19 (NLT)

How do two of the world’s richest men settle a dispute? Probable answers include dispatching a legion of lawyers to battle it out in court, creating a PR blitz, or calling each other names. Any of the options would be pretty accurate if you were tech billionaires Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg who dominate the social media world. However, what about a good old fashion “cage match?” Twitter owner Elon Musk challenged Meta (Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg via a tweet to a modern-day duel in an MMA “cage match” face-off, possibly in the Vegas Octagon.

If the “cage match” takes place in the Vegas Octagon, UFC President Dana White “believes that throwing the two coders into the Octagon could be the most successful fight of all time, bringing in $1 billion.” (from Jane Wells Dumb & Dumber). “The Octagon is the competition mat and fenced-in area used for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bouts.” (Peter Hoskins BBC news) Maybe a cage fight between the two titans of social media would be appropriate since their platforms have become the modern versions of dueling as people seek to reclaim their honor or opinion but with words.

Dueling was considered the gentleman’s way to settle grievances and regain honor. The practice of dueling traces its origin to Renaissance Italy. It was a concept that was eagerly picked up by European nobles and eventually transported to America as a way to resolve disagreements.

One of the most famous duels accorded between Alexander Hamilton and Vice President Aaron Burr on July 11, 1804. These two powerhouses of early American politics decided a duel was the best way to solve their conflict with each other. Hamilton detested Burr and regarded him as an opportunist and Burr resolved to restore his reputation through a duel or as dueling was better known, as an “affair of honor.”  Hamilton was fatally shot on the dueling grounds near Weehawken, New Jersey.

Two decades before Andrew Jackson became the 7^th President of the United States, he challenged Charles Dickinson to a duel for insulting his wife. Pistols in hand on May 30, 1806, Dickinson fired first but Jackson maintained his stance and fired back, fatally wounding his opponent.

Whether a Musk/Zuckerberg cage fight ever takes place, the concept of settling differences through violence hasn’t changed, only the methods. “Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? …Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.” (Gen 4:6,8 NIV)

Then, one day on a windswept hill in Galilee, a radical new concept was introduced that could forever change how differences are settled. I use the word could instead of would as each generation must seek to implement and live out Jesus’ teachings, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount.

As Jesus climbed up the mountainside, sat down among the crowd, and began to speak, they and the disciples heard a new way to live life. Jesus’ message was one of the most powerful discourses on living life in His way, no longer under the law but through grace. You can almost hear the murmurs of amazement and hope as he began with a series of” Blessed are you” (Matthew 5) and challenged their normal way of thinking and behaving.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, pastor, theologian, and martyr, often spoke and wrote about costly grace. He wrote that the Sermon on the Mount, “is not a statement to be treated in cavalier fashion—by saying that this or that isn’t right or that here we find an inconsistency. Its validity depends on it being obeyed. This is not a statement we freely choose to take or leave. It is a compelling, lordly statement.” (The Cost of Discipleship)

Bonhoeffer contrasted cheap grace with the costly grace that Jesus taught as “preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

Cheap grace has been masked with social etiquette, cultural bias, and codified actions as a way to live life. Dueling often resulted in the death of another person yet it was masked with acceptability through the Clonmel Code by issuing 27 precepts on what and how a duel should take place. Compare that with Jesus’ teaching, “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

Cheap grace will find a way to justify its action against another person. 2023 is on pace to be the deadliest ever with over 300 mass shootings in the United States. What a difference it would make if Jesus’ teaching on murder became a living reality. The 10 Commandments said,  “You shall not murder” but Jesus said in the New Testament, “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”

Cheap grace will find a way to justify neglecting the needy, finding fault with others, failing to defend the sanctity of marriage and family, letting fear and anxiety overwhelm you, and building a personal kingdom instead of seeking God’s kingdom.

Matthew records that “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Matt7:28,29 NIV)

Allan R. Bevere writes of Bonhoeffer that he would dismiss “the demands of Jesus’ Sermon as a private ethic only, an impossible ideal or as first-century teaching that can only be obeyed by a community without power on the margins of influence. The Sermon is to be obeyed by individuals who follow Jesus and the church community that claims to be the Body of Christ.”

Costly grace is a radical invitation on how to live. Picture yourself on that hillside as Jesus taught about a new way of life. What would be your response when you heard those words? Today, have we found ways to cover these life-changing words with a layer of cheap, easy grace? What would happen in our world today if we became the “blessed are you” in living life?

God is great!