Going The Second Mile

And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. (Matthew 5:41 KJV)

Toward the end of the 19th century, an elderly man and his wife arrived by train in the city of Chicago. It was a stormy night and their train had been delayed so it was after midnight when they finally arrived at a downtown hotel they hoped would have a vacancy. The young clerk on duty that night was a man named George Boldt and he explained to the tired travelers that there were three different conventions in town and his hotel was full...but that he would be glad to call around and check with some other hotels. However, after several calls, it was clear that there were no empty rooms to be found. The young clerk said, “I can’t send a nice couple like you out into the rain on a night like this. Would you be willing to sleep in my room in the basement? It’s not large, but it’s clean and I don’t need it tonight because I’m on duty.” The couple gladly accepted his offer. The next morning the man tried to pay George personally, but the young clerk refused. Then the man said to George Boldt, “You’re the kind of man who ought to be the boss of the best hotel in America. Maybe one day I’ll build one for you.” The young clerk only smiled and said, “I was just glad to be of service.”

Several years later George Boldt received a letter from the elderly man including a train ticket inviting him to come to New York City. When George arrived in the “Big Apple,” the old gentleman took him to the corner of 5th Avenue and 54th Street in Manhattan and said, “This is the hotel I have built for you to manage.” George Boldt stared in awe and said, “Are you joking?” But—it was no joke. You see, the old man’s name was William Waldorf Astor. And that’s how George Boldt became the first manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. This is his portrait and it hangs in the lobby—a tribute to a clerk who showed enough integrity to go the second mile.

"If someone forces you to go one mile…" This expression came out of old Persia and refers to the authority given by the king to those sent to do his bidding. If a courier or soldier needed assistance in fulfilling the king’s mission, he could commandeer any man or horse or wagon with no questions asked. Later the armies of the Greeks and the Romans adopted the practice.

In Jesus’ day any Jew could be forced away from his own concerns to help a legionnaire who may or may not have really needed him. In much the same way Simon of Cyrene was "compelled," (forced) to bear the cross of Jesus (Matthew 27:32).

The Jews of Jesus’ day, of course, deeply resented this humiliating law and saw it as a symbol of foreign domination. You can imagine, then, their surprise when Jesus said, "go with him two miles."

The rewards and blessings don't come until the second mile because the first was required. It is only as we do more than is required that people will notice.