Weekly Words

The Extra Mile

Am I the only one who has trouble getting excited about the “turn the other cheek” passages? In three short verses in Matthew 5, Jesus gives most of us a bit more than we can chew. First, he invites us to turn the other cheek when hit, then he suggest that if we are sued for our coat we should give up our sweater and avoid the hassle. Then, as if the former is not already enough, he asks us to go a second mile when forced to go one mile. For years I have heard people give reason after reason as to why this passage does not apply to them. I have been one of those people. Recently, however, I have seen these prescriptions in a new light.
The source of light that has changed my view about Jesus’ “extra mile” instructions came when I read about the former leader of Ritz-Carlton Hotels and current founder and CEO of West Paces Hotel Group – Horst Schulze. Under his leadership, Ritz-Carlton became a premier-brand amongst hotel chains and developed loyal customers who refused to stay elsewhere when a Ritz-Carlton hotel was in town. Schulze did this, in part, by taking customer service to unprecedented levels. Staff was encouraged to learn names, find out the personal tastes of hotel guests, and make them feel treasured. When most hotels were finding new ways to stack up charges, raise prices, and increase profits, Horst Schulze was challenging Ritz-Carlton employees to go above and beyond to make guests feel served. As, I was reflecting on the genius and efficacy of Schulze, I began to realize that his career was in large part built on asking people to go the extra mile.

Soon it began to dawn on me that all this time I had been missing the brilliance of what Jesus was saying in the Sermon on the Mount. By reducing Jesus’ exhortations to the particularities of the examples and not seeing it as a principle to live by I blinded myself to all the benefits of the principle of the extra mile. Schulze saw the benefits of going the extra mile in business and led a prestigious hotel into preeminence. Google saw the benefit of going the extra mile to make their employees comfortable and has become a world leading company where people crave to be employed. Countless athletes have ascended to Hall of Fame careers because they went the extra mile in their practice routines and off-season preparations. In fact, in what realm of life does going the extra mile not pay tremendous benefits?

Maybe Jesus knew that if we could go the extra mile for those who didn’t deserve it, then going beyond the call of duty for everyone else would be easy. Maybe he was trying to inject us with a principle that helps our careers, our businesses, our dreams, and our spirit. Maybe he understood, unlike us, that going above and beyond is never about the other person but it is about us. Maybe he understood that just like serving people extravagantly makes better companies, loving people excessively makes better people. Making the extra mile particular to enemies is frustrating, however making it a universal principle to live by is liberating. So, go find the border of responsibility and cross it, the barrier of just enough and shatter it, the line where you don’t have to give anymore and go beyond it. For there are benefits and blessing at the end of the extra mile.

Humbly in Christ’s Love,
Pastor B.A. Jackson