Jesus teaches us to practice un-predictability and to employ the element of surprise when dealing with injustice and oppression. Preform actions that make the abusive powerful feel uncomfortable. Don’t be predictable when dealing with an oppressor, keep them guessing. Choose creative tactics to make their relationship with their negative use power difficult. Like the warner brothers cartoon, Foghorn Leghorn says, “You got to keep on your toes boy! It’s a joke, it went right past ya!”

Romans occupied Palestine in the first century A.D. where Jesus grew up. They forced the concord to pay taxes, submit to foreign laws, and religious customs. It was law that a Roman law that a soldier could make any citizen carry their pack for one mile, but no more. You could be buying fruit at the market and they could force you to carry their heavy packs one mile down the road. When Jesus told his listeners, “To go an extra mile, “ he was saying, make the romans invaders uncomfortable with this unjust prescription. Asking a soldier to allow you to carry his pack further than one mile, was to place the soldier at risk of punishment. This action exposes his unjust oppression and gives you the power; now he is asking for his pack back or he continues the extra mile in anxious of getting in trouble. You have put him in a situation where his actions make him uncomfortable.

I think this is one reason I like Jon Stewart for my news. I like that he makes us all feel a bit uncomfortable with fear, and creatively offers a new way to look at a difficult situation. I think that Jon Stewart and Jesus would have a blast exploring how to creatively respond to injustice in our day. Jesus would have been as shocking as the cartoon of South Park, is today. Jesus challenged his listeners to abandon either or thinking and to create new non-violent ways to fight back with dignity for all parties involved. We still face the same challenges today and are invited into the spirit of Jesus to engage our world’s important issues in creative, non-violent ways.