6.15.2017

Changing Perspectives: Go the Extra Mile

The third directive Jesus delivers has become common in our modern lexicon. It is an idiom that has taken a motivational form. “If someone forces you to go with him one mile, go with him two miles.” We have shortened it to the phrase: go the extra mile.

With our modern perspectives, we take this to mean we should go above and beyond expectations. Do more than required. Put in the extra effort. After all, in America, we don’t reward people for doing the basic duties of their jobs, we want them to exceed bare minimums. We don’t want good experiences, we want greatness – such an impressive experience is only achievable if we go the proverbial extra mile.


Of course, this isn’t what Jesus was talking about. It is a nice notion and I won’t dispute that contributing greater effort is a worthy cause. But Jesus wasn’t talking about working hard. He was talking about the law.

During his life, Jesus ministered to people under Roman rule. The Empire used military might to expand their territory. To maintain control and order in the far-flung territories away from the heart of Rome, Caesar used the practice of impressment to coerce locals into joining the military, serving in loyalty to the emperor. Along with this method of conscription, impressment afforded soldiers special rights and privileges under the law. One of those legal allowances is that a Roman soldier could compel a Jewish native to carry their gear for one mile.

The packs these soldiers had to carry were heavy and could weigh up to 100 pounds. Roman soldiers were human just like the rest of us; it is understandable if they grew weary lugging their burdens around in the deserts of ancient Israel. To motivate them, and provide occasional relief, the law granted them the ability to force a Jew to carry their pack for one Roman mile – equal to 1000 paces. If you were a Jewish citizen, you were not allowed to resist. To do so would be an act of rebellion and the Roman empire delivered harsh punishments to anyone who defied them.

This is why Jesus chose the language he used. The word ἀγγαρεύσει (angareusei) is only used once in the New Testament, when Jesus talks about going one Roman Mile. Angareusei means “compelled to go” or “forced to go.” If anyone angareusei you one mile, go two. There is another word Jesus used in the original language that adds context lost in English translations: ὕπαγε (pronounced hupagey) which means to be led away under someone else’s authority. Jesus is describing a situation where one of his listeners could be compelled or forced to walk a mile by their authority according to Roman law of impressment.

If I lived with these laws dictating my life, I would do everything I could to avoid Roman soldiers. If I saw them coming my direction, I would turn around and walk the other way, ducking into random alleys or stranger’s homes. If they caught up with me and decided I needed to carry their packs, I would not be given a choice. Their orders were not requests. I would be, like Jesus said, forced to go.

To be asked to carry the pack for a soldier was demeaning. It was forced hard labor for no other reason than your heritage and ethnicity. They knew their status was above you and their demands reinforced the notion that the Jews were a conquered people. This was the definition of oppression. Which makes the second half of Jesus’ statement confusing. If going one mile was so brutal and humiliating, why would he tell us to go two miles?

Just as refusing to carry a soldier’s pack for a mile when ordered to do so was a crime punishable by imprisonment, that same law dictated that the soldier could only force a Jewish citizen to go one mile at the most. There were limits. The Roman Empire had to balance their desire to subjugate the citizenry with the need to discourage insurrection.

Jesus knew that Roman soldiers could force you to go one mile, but they could not make you go two. And just as a Jewish citizen would be jailed for refusing to carry a pack for a mile, the soldier could face consequences if the citizen were to carry that pack for more than a mile. Carrying a pack for the second mile is generous, but it is also challenging. The Roman soldier would be faced with a decision: demand you stop or risk the possibility of punishment. Regardless of what option the soldier takes, he would be more hesitant to order another Jewish citizen to carry his gear.

Being forced to carry a heavy pack for a mile was humiliating. The generous offer to carry it for a second mile shifts the humiliation to the soldier. Going the first mile robbed the Jewish citizen of their dignity. By going the second mile, they reclaimed their dignity. By going another mile, the Jewish citizen was demonstrating their humanity to a soldier who viewed them as a lower class of people. If a Roman soldier didn’t want me to carry their pack a second mile, they shouldn’t have asked me to carry it for the first mile.

In this verse, Jesus wasn’t telling his audience to work harder, put in more effort, or be more generous. He was giving them a way to say, “I exist and I deserve better.”

9 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I enjoyed reading this and you did a good job communicating your point. I don't know you and only found this post as I searched for the historical veracity of the practice of Roman soldiers being able to compel others into this kind of service. I have to say that I don’t agree for a couple of reasons and I hope my feedback won't be too unwelcome. :-)

    First, Jesus, and the whole Bible, promote trusting (faith) in God and humility toward oneself, often in direct contrast to taking matters into one's own hands in order to resolve them. (Romans 12:17-19 is one strongly correlating passage.)

    Secondly, the immediate context of this statement in Matthew 5 promotes humility, integrity, and generosity. Some examples of Jesus promoting humility are - don’t swear, for you don’t own the things you swear on, don’t divorce your wife but learn to work it out. Some examples of integrity, or aligning your inner life / heart with your actions are His teaching on murder & adultery in your heart vs. what is acted out. There is no hint of Jesus teaching creative, passive-aggressive techniques to protest and subvert oppressive forces. Finally, this teaching leads straight into clear calls for His followers to live generosity (give to him who asks, love your enemies).

    I appreciate you exploring how obeying this could lead a Roman soldier into a dilemma and the complexities that could result. I am confident that Jesus would have understood all of this. However, I don’t believe that He taught the second mile concept primarily to cause these circumstances.

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    1. Also, https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/duty_calls.png

      :facepalm:

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  2. He definitely did though. We have to remember a few critical things. One, Jesus comes from a long line of self-proclaimed messiahs and revolutionaries who were tired of Roman oppression and desired to put an end to it - rebellion. Two, this Roman world was grossly poor. Abject poverty. There’s no middle class. It’s a 2-3% wealthy elite and in power. The rest are absolutely poor. Jesus was among this poor, lower class from a small village just as poor, named Nazareth. Three, the religious rulers (scribes, priests and the high priest) was selected and positioned by Rome. It wasn’t by prayer or agreement from the Jews, but Roman designation. And those in power kept their power by pleasing Rome. Caiaphus, the high priest during Jesus’ life was indeed appointed by Rome. Having said all that, four, we must remember that there was a reason why the Roman government tortured, beat, and brutally executed Jesus - he was dangerous and his message was absolutely dangerous. And like His relative John the Baptist, his rhetoric was inflammatory both the religious elite and the government, again, who worked in tandem. Fear of displeasing Rome aka losing control of an unstable region of Judea, marked with uprisings and revolts, was the motivator for even Pontius Pilate to quickly put an end to whatever this uprising was. So our Jesus isn’t a pacifist nor was he preaching messages just of peace and passive conformity to the status quo. No. He rebelled directly against that and like the other “messiahs” before him, he was also executed as well.

    But unlike other messiahs......

    Wait for it.....

    HE GOT UP! Hence why history itself divides time on his birth!

    Just something to prayerfully consider that I’ve learned in school at my time in theological seminary.

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  3. SlowlyFollowing3:25 PM

    Unknown, interesting idea but I think it wanders away from the meaning. Studying the Bible means you read the whole passage when puzzling over a verse. In the same speach that Jesus tells his listeners to go the second mile he says "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Matthew 5:44 The Romans are clearly persecuting the Jews when they use this law, but Jesus is not saying "stick them with a pickle of legal retribution."

    I think Jesus here is preaching the same thing, consistent message, as he often does and that we also see in the Old Testament. Proverbs 25:21 "If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,"

    The reason for this radical, revolutionary message is shown in the story of Paul and Silas in prison. Acts 16:27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
    29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

    By acting completely different from the way a normal human would respond (Don't tread on me!) we can show how God loves the world, and people will see that we are truly different from the false religions.

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  4. Anonymous7:27 PM

    I think you've presented a few legitimate "angles" to this passage and principle, but I would not negate the concept of going above and beyond expectations, because that is exactly what going the extra mile is all about. It's actually about a lot of things, one of which is the demonstration of God's value system, with a clear emphasis on eternal values, witness and the being a light for God in a world that is corrupt, warped and skewed in every way imaginable.

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  5. Anonymous8:54 AM

    i mean would you get the roman soldier in trouble if you are willing to take it a extra mile on your own free will? its not obligated..

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