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WITH IRON YOU HURT, WITH IRON YOU WILL GET HURT

WITH IRON YOU HURT, WITH IRON YOU WILL GET HURT

 

Peter cut off Malchus’ ear with a sword. Jesus immediately reprimanded Peter and told him not to do that. He ordered his disciple to put the sword away and said: “with iron you hurt with iron you will get hurt”. Then, Jesus healed the High Priest’s servant’s ear.
 
For millenniums, the expression “with iron you hurt, with iron you will get hurt” has been interpreted as a statement related to the idea that violence brings violence. At the same time, it is related to the idea of violence in terms of moral and legal understanding.
 
In fact, Jesus was talking about something broader; He said and still says that we receive what we give. What we receive comes with the same kind of energy we put in our actions, deeds and in life itself.
 
It is interesting to notice that the Scriptures tell us to beat with the rod when necessary. But it also says that there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time for peace and a time for war, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.
 
The Scriptures also says that humankind will be healed through the discipline of the rod (the Word) that comes out of the mouth of the Son of Man. “As iron sharpens iron,
so a man sharpens his friend's countenance.” (Proverbs 27:17)
 
After all, is God who opens and closes the wounds that He opens. He elects how, why and in whom the wound will be opened. He chooses how and why to close it.
 
What Jesus told Peter, however, had to do with the intention. Peter wanted to kill; the sword he had in his hands, at that very specific moment, was aimed at killing. That was the iron of death. And the iron of death is not necessarily made of iron, it is overall made of thoughts and feelings. In fact, it is made of intentions.
 
Intention itself, said Jesus, is enough to conceive against us the evil that we scheme against our neighbor.
 
My actions and wishes toward my neighbor are my actions and wishes against me myself. Unavoidably, human actions and the effects of human feelings are boomerang-like; it flies back to the launcher’s house.
 
Iron means indifference, hatred, capacity to celebrate the neighbor’s disgrace and the wish of making him/her vanish.
 
Behold! He who hurts with this kind of iron, will be hurt with the same kind of iron! He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword!
 
Think of it in the coming year!
In HIM who corrects us, for our own good, with the rod of the Word of Love.  
 
Caio
01/01/2007 – Lago Norte
 
 
 
Biblical excerpts:
John 18: 10-11
“Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)
Jesus commanded Peter, "Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?
Ecclesiastes 3
A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
 
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
w w w w w w
English version: Wanda de Melo
Original: ERA O FERRO NA ERA DO FERRO
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