Today is the first Sunday of Lent.

Lent is a time for reflection and preparation. We are preparing for Easter and the great celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. The season of Lent encourages us to prepare by taking time to reflect prayerfully about our relationship with God and with other people. By doing this we also get to know who we are as individuals a bit better too.

Today we start a new sermon series called - Jesus: The Counter-Cultural Teacher – which takes a specifically social and street-level view of the ministry of Jesus, with particular emphasis on those features of His teaching which contradicted the prevailing culture and social structures of his time.

Together we shall discover the highly radical nature of what Jesus taught, in the hope that this will in turn lead on to some ideas about how radical and counter-cultural may be the call of Jesus on the lives of his present-day disciples.

The themes over the next few weeks focus on some of these challenging sayings.  They appear to be the unique voice of a unique teacher - a voice which can still be heard today, and whose teachings can lead us closer to the Kingdom of God which he proclaimed.

We shall walk alongside this teacher as the plots and intrigues thicken around Him and he meets an unjust and untimely death; but beyond that death we shall become His hands, and His feet, and His witnesses as today's disciples of His good news in our lives, in our communities, and in our world today. We know that Jesus is alive and that He offers us new life too. As we journey through Lent together and listen to the words of Jesus from His teachings in the Gospels we shall discover more about the new life we are called to live and proclaim.

Jesus said: ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also’.

The illustration of striking someone on the right cheek (when the majority of the population are right-handed) implies a back-handed slap which was considered an especially insulting assault and was punishable by a higher fine according to the law at the time.

There is a way of interpreting Jesus's words as a warning against making impulsive individual responses to acts of aggression when the matter should properly be settled by some higher authority within a fair and equitable justice system.

This makes good sense. However, when someone really treats you badly it is all too easy to react in a way that is not sensible. If a friend makes an unkind remark it is all too tempting to make one back. If we manage to resist doing that then we may in fact bottle our annoyance and feel cross about it for ages. This tends to have the effect of harming ourselves as we mull it all over again and again.

Jesus shows us another way – another option. It is the strongest response. Forgiveness.

To hit back at another person, whether physically or verbally is weaker than forgiving them.

To let a grievance fester for years in your mind is weaker than forgiving the person who wounded you.

Sometimes it isn’t always possible or appropriate to tell someone you forgive them. A person of lower emotional awareness may not even realise they have hurt you and would be totally baffled when you tell them you forgive them! Forgiveness takes place in your heart. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. Yet it is divinely inspired.

It seems to me that our Gospel reading today is all about being true to yourself. True to yourself as the person God has made you.

Other people will always have the potential to behave differently to you. Well, let them. You can’t tell them what to do and assume that they will do it. Equally, you do not have to do what they say either. You don’t have to rise to their bait.

Your actions can still be authentically your own. Of course we can all be adversely affected by bad experiences, but we do not have to be defined by them or by the people who were involved.

God calls us to live authentic lives. We will all mess up from time to time, but that is where we need to remember to turn to God to receive the forgiveness He longs to heal us with.

In the time of Jesus and in our own time there is an emphasis on retaliation and getting even. So Jesus is being very counter-cultural when He challenges this.

He offers us an alternative which is an inner peace rooted deeply in His way of love and forgiveness.

This Lent, let us prayerfully receive the teachings of Jesus anew and enjoy the peace and calm of knowing His presence in every experience of our lives.