Luke 6:29 Literally

[Neil_Anthony]

The Gospel reading on Thursday had the familiar saying of Jesus “from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.”

I know that some saints like St. Francis of Assisi took some sayings of the gospels literally and lived a life of poverty. Has anyone tried to take this saying literally? I’d like to hear how it went. There are some possibilities that keep coming to mind when I think about it:

1. People almost never ask me for my coat. And only rarely ask for other things that I own, and people could probably actually literally do this without making that much of a change in their life.
2. Once people realized that you would give whatever they asked of you, they would ask for more. You could give your coat away and buy a new one again and again until you went broke. People would get to know you and take advantage of it. Even a monk who took a vow of poverty would eventually give away his monk outfit, and would freeze when he went outside.
3. Maybe even when people realized how generous you wer, they wouldn’t ask you for things unless they really needed it, and so you could manage.

Those are what come to mind. I’d like to hear from anyone who has tried taking this literally how it turned out, or if you know of stories of saints who practiced this literally would you please share them?

Thank you and God Bless
Neil

 

[RichP]

Hi, Neil,

Not a day goes by without someone trying to sell me something (i.e. asking for my money) or getting a request for a charitiable donation. But I don’t give money to EVERYONE who asks for it.

What I think this verse means literally is that we need to treat people how we ourselves would like to be treated if we were in their place. When Jesus says, “do not even withhold your tunic.” he is telling us not to do the bare minimum but to go above and beyond in our giving.

And “do not demand it back” means that when you extend charity that 1) there is no expectation that they will help you when you need help… that charity isn’t a favor that one needs to repay and 2) that the charity isn’t a loan to be repaid… “You can have my coat until winter when I’ll need it back.”

I hope this helps!

Peace,

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

Hi Neil, in biblical context, the coat and walking extra mile thing refers to a roman soilder demanding something of a person. the demand for the coat was basically a temporary loan of your coat to them while you carry their battle gear a mile, which is manitory. Jesus told us to go the second mile which turns our carrying their gear into being an volunteer rather than constricted by roman law. At the end of the two mile hike the person would get their coat back.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

Hi Neil, in biblical context, the coat and walking extra mile thing refers to a roman soilder demanding something of a person. the demand for the coat was basically a temporary loan of your coat to them while you carry their battle gear a mile, which is manitory. Jesus told us to go the second mile which turns our carrying their gear into being an volunteer rather than constricted by roman law. At the end of the two mile hike the person would get their coat back.

Thanks for this information.
Do you have a reference about this practice of the Romans? Why would they take your coat then give it back, didn’t they have their own coat?

 

[juliamajor]

Hi Neil, in biblical context, the coat and walking extra mile thing refers to a roman soilder demanding something of a person. the demand for the coat was basically a temporary loan of your coat to them while you carry their battle gear a mile, which is manitory. Jesus told us to go the second mile which turns our carrying their gear into being an volunteer rather than constricted by roman law. At the end of the two mile hike the person would get their coat back.

Look what comes before 6;29 better the whole chapter. Jesus talks about the beatitudes.He is talking Jewish laws people already know and bringing it up a notch…Torah says Lev19:18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of you people. but love your neighbor as yourself" Notice phrase “one of your people” jesus removes this and makes it for everyone JJews and the nations
Dt 24:10-15 When you take a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge. Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge to you.If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possesion. Return the cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it.There are many of these laws in Hebrew Scripture which Jesus would have been familiar with. What He is asking for IS EXTREME. It was extreme then when Jesus asked us to think of everyone as our neighbor not only our spiritual brethren . It’s extreme now.I believe that Jesus wants us to think outside of ourselves and our needs- to push the envelope even when the rest of the world thinks us mad.It is difficult , nay , impossible? oh yeah- but he still asks it

 

[VAC]

The Gospel reading on Thursday had the familiar saying of Jesus “from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.”

I’ve always had a problem understanding this verse along with “turn the other cheek to one who strikes you”.
Does this mean we are to allow people to repeatedly steal from us, assault us and abuse us? If we allow sins against us to continue, are we not condoning the sin? Is it not a sin to allow abuse to continue to any child of God, even one’s self?
I can’t see how this is something Jesus would want.
I’m sure one of you will clear this up for me

 

[Neil_Anthony]

I’ve always had a problem understanding this verse along with “turn the other cheek to one who strikes you”.
Does this mean we are to allow people to repeatedly steal from us, assault us and abuse us? If we allow sins against us to continue, are we not condoning the sin? Is it not a sin to allow abuse to continue to any child of God, even one’s self?
I can’t see how this is something Jesus would want.
I’m sure one of you will clear this up for me

I wonder if you keep letting them hit you, is it permissable to call the police on them?

 

[juliamajor]

I’ve always had a problem understanding this verse along with “turn the other cheek to one who strikes you”.
Does this mean we are to allow people to repeatedly steal from us, assault us and abuse us? If we allow sins against us to continue, are we not condoning the sin? Is it not a sin to allow abuse to continue to any child of God, even one’s self?
I can’t see how this is something Jesus would want.
I’m sure one of you will clear this up for me

In Luke Jesus was trying to get past the reciprocity ethic prominent at the time(you scratch my back I’ll scratch your"s What he’s saying is to not expect anything back- and the command to love one another goes past emotion into the realm sharing materially.I don’t think the good Lord wants us to be “suckers” but to have a mind that considers all faults with charity

 

[MarcoPolo]

Does this mean we are to allow people to repeatedly steal from us, assault us and abuse us? If we allow sins against us to continue, are we not condoning the sin?

No, even Jesus and the apostles fled on the brink of abuse several times! (John 8:59, Luke 4:29-30, John 6:15, John 7:1, Acts 14:5-6). So you don’t have to let yourself get beat up!! :extrahappy:

I believe the verse in the original post references to give out of love…i.e. not because you are going to get something back.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

The Jewish population that Jesus spoke to were under Roman Control and were subject to roman law.

One such law, was that a roman soilder who was travelling through an area could grab any able bodied male and make him carry his armor, and take any possession of such. It was understood that such were temporary for the distance of one mile.
This roman law was in place to protect subjects controlled by roman goverment from abuse. Generally, a person would have to ask for their coat back.

I read about these practices in books on roman law, and can’t think of a reference off the top of my head.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

The Jewish population that Jesus spoke to were under Roman Control and were subject to roman law.

One such law, was that a roman soilder who was travelling through an area could grab any able bodied male and make him carry his armor, and take any possession of such. It was understood that such were temporary for the distance of one mile.
This roman law was in place to protect subjects controlled by roman goverment from abuse. Generally, a person would have to ask for their coat back.

I read about these practices in books on roman law, and can’t think of a reference off the top of my head.

Thanks
I also heard things like this while growing up, from religion teachers. Another one was that the ‘eye of the needle’ might refer to a small doorway through the wall of Jerusalem. So “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” refers to something not as impossible as it sounds.

I just wonder if there is any basis to these things. Was there really a roman law of walking a mile, there really significance to a back-handed slap? Did romans really take people’s coat but not their shirt? I wonder if the Church Father’s talked about these interpretations.

I guess I was suspicious as a kid that my religion teachers were making these things up just to make it easier to follow Jesus’ teachings. I still have the phrase burned in my memory “Oh, Jesus didn’t really mean that we should…” followed by whatever hard thing Jesus was asking us to do.

 

[Daniel_Marsh]

I read somewhere that the eye of the needle is a small door in the main gate to the city. When travellers arrived at night, they would enter that small door with their supplies, and tie the camel up outside. A few people have been known to try to get their camel throught that small door and none have been successful.

I also, read in a book by Craig Evans, that “log in eye” is an idoim refferring to a wooden mask that actors in Jesus day would hold in front of their face to take on the character that the mask represented. So, Jesus was saying don’t be critical of the small sins of others, especally since you are acting like a big phony with a mask on your face hidding your true self from others.

I know it is not as funny as a telephone pole sticking out of one’s face.