I have a difficult and challenging words to share from Jesus today. We’ve been working our way through Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount. Jesus preached how He came to completely fulfill God’s perfect Law. Then Jesus used specific examples from the Old Testament Law to show how perfect God’s standards are and how completely unable we are to fulfill God’s Law as sinful human beings. When we are proud because we have never murdered, Jesus said if you’ve ever been angry or insulted someone, you’ve broken God’s Law by murdering in your heart. If we’re proud because we’ve never committed adultery, Jesus says you’ve committed adultery in your heart and broken God’s Law if you’ve even lusted after someone. And Jesus points out that if you’ve ever lied, stretched the truth, or misled someone in even the slightest way, you’ve broken God’s Law. That’s why Jesus came—to fulfill the Law when we could not.
Jesus gave up His divine rights as
God, came down to earth and humbled Himself as if He were a slave, was
completely obedient to God, and died for us on a cross as if He were a
criminal even though He was completely innocent. Thus, Jesus paid our penalty, making it
possible for us to be reconciled to God.
(See Philippians 2:1-11)
It’s important to keep all this
context in mind (as well as the historical situation of the Jews when Jesus
preached) as we listen to Jesus preach in this next section from His Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew 5:38-42.
38 “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’
Here, Jesus reminds
His listeners of the Old Testament Law that is spelled out in Exodus 21:24, Leviticus
24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21. The laws says,
“The punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a
tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a
wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.”
Today, many think this is an argument for harsher penalties for
criminals. But the original intent was
to restrain people from overzealous vengeance.
In the brutal
tribal ways of the ancient world, if you gouged out a person’s eye, they very
likely would respond by gathering up a war party and murdering you and your
whole family. Unrestrained human vengeance
can be a terrible and ugly thing. When
someone hurts and insults us, we don’t just want the wrong to be made right; we
want to make the offender pay!
So God gave the ancient
Israelites a Law to restrain their vengeance.
He said, the punishment must match the crime. If they gouge out your eye, you can only
gouge out there’s. If they take a life,
you can take their life (but not their whole family’s).
But there’s
another principle at work in the Old Testament Law. An individual can’t be a vigilante. They can’t exact retribution on their own. They must take the offender to the
authorities and prove their case. Then
the officials will judge if the offender is guilty and make a judgment about
the appropriate punishment. This is
always important. You need a judge, who
is unbiased, to hear the case and determine a punishment that matches the
crime.
The problem for
the Jews living in Jesus’ day was they were living under the occupation of the
Romans. And the Romans were quite often
guilty of abusing and committing atrocities against the Jews in Israel. Many in Israel felt they were justified to
murder Romans. “After all,” their thinking
went, “these Romans are nothing more than human animals. And we should treat them as animals.” Many Israelites thought they could feel justified murdering Romans
in cold blood, because their religious law said, “An eye for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth, a life for a life…” However, this was a corruption of the spirit of God's Law. Where does it all end? Human vengeance
only begets more vengeance and never leads to peace or justice or reconciliation. So Jesus speaks Truth:
39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. 40 If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. 41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. 42 Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.
Jesus names 3 offences: a slap on the
cheek, losing your shirt in court, and carrying a soldier’s gear for a
mile. You should also notice that every
one of these is something personal. That’s
important. What follows is about our own
personal rights and selfish pride. It’s
not about laws or policies for the government or society as a whole. This is about personal behavior. So often we point religion at others. But Jesus points it toward our personal
attitudes and behavior. Let’s look at
each one of the situations Jesus mentions.
The first is Jesus’ famous teaching to “turn the other cheek,” which has raised a lot of eyebrows over the years. Some even misunderstand and think Jesus rejects fighting back for any reason. That’s not what Jesus said. First of all, Jesus’ original listeners knew turning the other cheek was about trading insults, not self-defense. One of the worst insults a Jew could give in the 1st century was a backhanded slap. Notice, Jesus said, “If someone slaps you on the right cheek.” In order for a right handed person to slap someone on the right cheek (and 90% of the population is right handed), you would have to give a backhanded slap.
A back handed slap was very insulting to 1st century Jews (it still is throughout the Middle East today). A Jew in the 1st century could sue someone for slapping them. The suit wasn't about the violence, but the insult (similar to a libel case today where one person sues another for defamation of character). The financial penalty for a backhanded slap was twice as expensive for a regular slap.
So with this in mind, realize Jesus is talking about a threat to a person's life or limb here. Jesus is addressing insults.
What do you do when insulted? Well, it may depend. You may react differently if you are insulted by an immature kid or by an adult colleague. If you have a big ego and the insult hurts your
pride, you may feel like you need to defend yourself or take the other person
down a notch. If you’re insecure, you
may feel the need to fight back; I mean you’re already feeling inadequate. You can’t just stand by and let someone take you
down even further.
But what if you have no ego? What if you really don’t care what people say about you, because you don’t care about their lies? What if you already know God loves you and you are secure in yourself and you only care about what God thinks, not what people think?
Jesus, the Son of God, had way more
reason than anyone to have a big ego and demand people respect Him. I mean, He is literally God’s gift to the
world! However, Jesus left the glory of Heaven and His divine privileges, and humbled
Himself to come down to our broken world.
He bore physical and verbal abuse, knowing these did not change who He really
was. He turned the other cheek and bore people’s
insults and He calls His followers to take up their cross and follow His example.
The second offence Jesus mentions is losing your shirt in court. Think of it. You are so poor all you have for someone to take from you in court is the shirt off your back. And the person suing is so mean they would even take your clothes. And Jesus says, “Give it to them and give them your coat too!” Have you ever felt like even the government, the legal system, and courts are so corrupt and they are abusing you? The Jews in Jesus day certainly did. The Roman occupiers were corrupt and their own government leaders and court system were corrupt. But Jesus says, “That’s still not an excuse to take matters into your own hands and seek personal vengeance.”
Lastly, Jesus points out a real-life situation Jews faced regularly. There was a law in Jesus’ day that required any Jew over the age of 12 to carry a Roman soldier’s gear for up to a mile if asked. Jesus is obviously pointing to this despised Roman law with His statement in verse 41, “If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.” Here is where we get the common modern encouragement to “go the extra mile” meaning go above and beyond what’s required of you. But would you really be excited about going above and beyond in fulfilling a mean-spirited law made to benefit your enemy while shaming you?
Jesus’ way of
living is radical. He tells His
followers not to seek vengeance and even to set aside their personal rights for
the sake of God’s Kingdom, trusting God to be the judge and take care of them. And Jesus goes even further. Jesus doesn’t want His followers to resent these
sacrifices. No, Jesus wants His people
to go above and beyond in their willingness to set aside their ego and pride
and their personal rights. Put it all in God's hands as the ultimate judge. Vengeance is the Lords, not yours.
If you feel overwhelmed or like this way of living is impossible, you’re not wrong. That’s part of the point. As with His previous arguments, Jesus is showing that we really aren’t capable of living up to God’s glorious standards. When we think we are good enough, the Law shows we all fall short. We need a Savior—not only to save us from our sin, but also to enable us to live the way Jesus challenges us to live.
It is a difficult path to follow, but the Lord gives His Disciples the Holy Spirit to help us. Let us obey Christ and seek to go the extra mile in this endeavor.
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