Daily Lesson for March 21, 2019

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Romans chapter 12 verses 14 through 21:

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ 20No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

There is a wonderful little phrase in this morning’s Lesson which is often overlooked amidst all the other good words about kindness and decency and seeking to live peaceably with others. The phrase is, “so far as it depends on you.”

Paul is saying that we have a responsibility to do all that is within our power to make peace. But with this little phrase — “so far as it depends on you,” — he acknowledges that peace is a two-way street. We can’t force it on others. And we shouldn’t think that doing more than what depends on us will get us any farther than simply doing our fair and honest share. Doing more crosses boundaries, and can venture us out of the place of what we’re responsible for and into the place of what others ought to be the responsibility of others. And that’s really too far.

There’s an old saying: “Everybody has a responsibility to sweep their own side of the street.”  In making peace, we have a responsibility to do all we can to make amends on our side of whatever happened in a relationship. We have to work hard at it. Paul says we have to work exceedingly hard to be kind to others — even those who are unkind.  At the same time, we can’t do everything. We can’t be entirely responsible for our neighbors’ reciprocation or action. We can’t enable their bad behavior with our own good. We can and should do only what is within our power to clean our side of the street, but we don’t have to clean theirs also. We take responsibility for ourselves and our wrongs and expect — insist — that they take responsibility for theirs. That way nobody gets abused and everybody puts in the work.

When it comes to relationships we all have our work cut out for us. We have to work hard; and so too does our neighbor. We all have to work as hard as we can — so far, and only so far, as it depends on us.