“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Matthew 5:25-26
We live in a world that would rather persecute someone over social media or take people to court rather than actually sit down and talk about things. Conflict resolution has become a game of winner take all, often a fight to the death sort of game. Part of this is an unwillingness to look at ourselves for any responsibility. If we dare to say that someone that maybe is a victim in a situation we are told not to judge. By saying that the victim had a role to play we are not reducing the fault of the oppressor. We are calling out a learning opportunity to learn so that we and others might not put themselves in a similar situation in the future.
Recently I was working out and the television news was on in the gym. There was a story about a young boy that was apparently beat up on the school bus. That was tragic and should never have happened. They interviewed the mother. She was wearing a “Friday the 13th T-shirt.” The whole series Friday the 13th glorifies violence and tries to make such actions entertainment. Now I am not saying that the mother caused the violence. But this woman is with her shirt honoring violence and with her mouth attacking the system that would allow violence to hurt her sweet child.
She would rather attack the school, the bus company, and others. I also noted she did not make any accusations toward the other child that actually did the attack. The real problem here is that we glorify violence. We make heroes of those that kill, maim, lie, destroy, and then wonder why we have so many mass shootings and school violence. Maybe we need to start to look at ourselves first. How am I making a difference in the world?
My friends, I am not here to condone or make excuses. That child should have had a safe ride to school. The bus driver should have done something, other kids should have stopped it, many other things should be in place to bring peace. However, if we are going to really change society to reflect Christ, we are going to need to start the process of self-evaluation.
Once we have done that, we can go to those we directly to those we have problems with and talk to them without a plank in our eye. In doing that we can help others remove the speck from their eye. We can begin to experience the peace and joy that comes from resolving situations without the pain and discomfort and incredible costs that come with going to court.
When our coffee is too hot, we can talk to the restaurant, and they will likely simply replace it or even better we can let it cool down on its own. Instead of making a scene when the cashier is not giving us the sale price, we can quietly ask the manager to intervene. When we see a protest against something that we disagree with we can invite our opponent to sit down and talk with us to explain their view. In doing so we will be peace makers. In doing so we will make our community better.
