If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?
Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
Matthew 5:46
October 2024
Jesus’ declarations of who really has the good life to start the Sermon on the Mount is surprising. The poor in spirit and those who mourn are blessed?
Jesus’ teaching about rooting out anger in our lives is difficult.
Jesus’ claims about adultery in our hearts and the standards of marriage and divorce are challenging.
But Jesus’ vision for how his followers are called to treat their enemies and those who are actively taking advantage of them is perhaps the most revolutionary aspect of his kingdom here on earth.
Turn the other cheek? Love our enemies? Pray for those who persecute us?
This is why it is so important to keep the person of Jesus connected to his teaching. Apart from Jesus and his Spirit at work in our lives, no one could live up to his teaching. We need to remember that Jesus not only teaches us the ways to follow but that he also empowers us to be able to follow those ways.
Jesus begins by saying, “You have heard that it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This is a quote from Exodus 21. It sounds harsh to our modern ears, but the “eye for an eye, tooth for tooth” rule was actually intended to prevent unduly harsh punishment. It was intended to ensure that the legal system didn’t overstep its power - if you stole a loaf of bread they couldn’t feed you to the lions. The punishment must fit the crime. In personal relationships, this was intended to stop the escalation of revenge.
Jesus takes it a step further. “But I tell you do not resist (in the same way) an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also…if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” Jesus is speaking about very real situations in the lives of his first audience. Because the Roman Empire occupied the land of Israel, a Roman soldier could legally force anyone in the Empire to help them carry their supplies any distance up to a mile. To backhand slap someone on the right cheek was a symbolic gesture of contempt and intended to humiliate the other person. These are examples of people abusing power, taking advantage of, and demeaning, denigrating and demoralizing others.
The original law, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” put a limit on retaliation because the myth of revenge never works. Escalation always happens. Always. It happens on elementary school playgrounds and on the battlefields of war.
Jesus’ statement, “do not resist (in the same way) an evil person,” was not a call to be a passive door mat. Instead, it was a call to creatively defuse the situation by not following our natural instinct to get even or get revenge. Our inclination is to respond to trouble by causing more trouble. “You do me dirty; I’m going to do you dirty.”
Jesus’ three examples - turn the other cheek, give your coat along with your shirt, go the second mile - are not passive responses. They are creative ways to resist evil by not causing more evil. I don’t have space to go into detail here, but each of his examples are active responses that demonstrate the people out to get us don’t have the power over us they think they have.
Jesus is calling his followers to respond with grace instead of getting even, to respond generously instead of escalating the hostility. In short, Jesus calls us to hold our belongings, our reputation, even our rights loosely because we have something in Christ that transcends those things.
Popular slogans like “take the high road” or “be the bigger person” have elements of truth to them. Defusing tension with generosity is taking the high road. But these popular slogans miss the connection to Jesus. It is because we have Jesus, and therefore we have everything, that we are able to lay down our need to get even and instead get creative.
This is such an important topic we will look at it again next month. For now, I encourage you to spend some time this month praying through how your connection to Jesus, and all the promises you have in him, can influence how you respond to others, especially when they are out to get you.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Doug
** It is important to note that this teaching of Jesus has been abused in the past to force people (often women) to remain in abusive situations. This teaching should never be used to justify, excuse or pardon perpetrators. To tell someone to remain in a dangerous relationship by using these words of Jesus is to twist their meaning, to perpetuate abuse and oppression, and does harm to the witness of Jesus and the church.
Comments