At
the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled Jesus
uncut. During this series, we are spending
our time together looking at perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever
preached, which is referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. During this series,
we are going to see Jesus reveal to the crowds listening to His sermon, and to
us here today, the true nature of what God demands of humanity in order to
experience a right relationship with Him and what it truly means to obey the
message and teachings of the letters that make up the Bible.
And during this series, as we see
Jesus uncut, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the
Holy Spirit in a way that enables us to wrap our heads, hearts, and hands
around the lifestyle that Jesus calls us to live as one who is living in a
right relationship with Him. This week I
would like for us to spend our time together picking up where we left off last
week. And as we jump into the next section of this famous sermon that Jesus
preached, called the Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded for us in a section
of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew, we are
going to discover another timeless truth from Jesus uncut. So, let’s discover
that timeless truth together, beginning in Matthew 5:38:
"You
have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.'
As Matthew continues to
give us a front row seat to this famous sermon that Jesus preached, we see
Jesus quote from a section of a letter that has been preserved and recorded for
us in the Old Testament called the book of Leviticus.
Jesus here quotes a part of Leviticus 24:19-20. Let’s take a moment to look at
the entire verse:
If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to
him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye,
tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him.
Now these verses were referred to as
the Lex Talionis, or the Law of Retaliation. The Law of Retaliation was used in
the Jewish legal system to enforce proportional retribution for offenses that
occurred between two people. The Law of Retaliation was designed so that there
would be the right amount of justice in order to prevent private vengeance or
revenge from taking over the Jewish legal system. As a matter of fact, much of
our legal system here in America is based on this concept of proportional
justice or retribution.
Now for those in the crowd listening to Jesus sermon,
no one would be surprised at Jesus words here. For those in the crowd listening
to Jesus sermon, no one would disagree with Jesus words here. For the Jewish
people it was a common and accepted principle to live according to the Law of
Retaliation. For the Jewish people it was a common and accepted principle that
the punishment for a crime would be proportional to the damage done by a crime.
However, what the crowds listening to Jesus were not prepared for was what
Jesus had to say next. We see what Jesus said next in verse 39:
"But
I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right
cheek, turn the other to him also.
Jesus, after quoting part of the
Jewish Law of Retribution, explained “but I say to you do not resist an evil
person.” When Jesus uses the word resist, this word literally means to place oneself
in a place of opposition towards another, in this case an evil person. When
Jesus refers to an evil person here, He was referring to someone who is morally
or socially worthless and who is driven by wicked intentions. This phrase
refers to someone who is bent on doing wrong.
Jesus then provided four examples of
situations in which a person was not to place themselves in opposition to
someone who is bent on doing wrong. First,
in the second half of verse 39, Jesus stated that if someone slaps you on the
right cheek, turn the other to him also. Now to understand the situation that Jesus is
referring to, we first need to understand that in order to hit someone in the right
cheek with their right hand, as most people in Jesus day, as today, were right
handed, one would have to backhand them with a slap.
Now, in the Jewish
culture of Jesus day, this form of a backhanded slap was a common way that
people disrespected or insulted someone. The
issue is not about being a pacifist, as many people in the anti-war movement
attempt to use this passage. The issue is about someone’s personal honor being
insulted.
Jesus point to the crowds listening
was that they were not to seek retribution by suing in court when they were
insulted, which was their right under the Law of retribution. Jesus point here
is that when a person is insulted, they should accept the personal insult
without retaliating in kind. Jesus then provided a second example of a situation
in which a person was not to place themselves in opposition to someone who was
bent on doing wrong in verse 40. Let’s look at it together:
"If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let
him
have your coat also.
In this example, Jesus points to a
legal suit between two Jewish people. This was not a case of someone breaking
what we would call a criminal law in our culture, such as theft or
embezzlement, where there was a danger and potential liability to the community
as a result of an individual’s action. In our culture today, this would be a
legal suit between two individuals that would occur in civil court. Most
likely, the suit was over a collateral or pledge for a debt that was not paid
between two parties.
The shirt that Jesus refers to would
be a shirt that would have been used as collateral for the payment of the debt.
Jesus response to this situation was that the person was not only to give up
his desire to sue to keep the shirt, but should also offer his coat as well. In
the time in which Jesus lived, a person’s coat often also doubled as a blanket
and was never allowed to be taken under the Old Testament Law of Retaliation.
If Jesus was communicating this in
the language that we use in our culture today, this example would have sounded
something like this: if you received a car as collateral for a loan and were
being taken to court unfairly so as to take the car, do not sue to keep the
car. Instead offer your opponent your house as well so that you can make things
right. Jesus point was that even what the opponent could not dare to ask for,
we are to offer freely in order to make things right. Jesus then provided a third
example of a situation in which a person was not to place themselves in
opposition to someone who was bent on doing wrong in verse 41:
"Whoever forces you to go one
mile, go with him two.
When Jesus uses the word force, this
word literally means to be pressed into service. During this time in history,
the Jewish people were living as a conquered people under the rule of the
ruling Roman Empire. And as a result of living as a conquered people under the
ruling Roman Empire, it was a common practice for a Roman soldier to enlist a
Jewish person into forced labor, including the carrying of his equipment. We
see this right of Roman soldiers to force Jewish people into service during
Jesus crucifixion when Simon the Cyrene
Now, as you might imagine, this
practice was resented by the Jewish people who viewed the Roman enemy as
humiliating them by forcing labor upon them. Jesus point to the crowds was that
they were to renounce their right for justice under such oppression and
exploitation and go the extra mile for their oppressors. Jesus then provided a
fourth and final example of a situation in which a person was not to place themselves
in opposition to someone who was bent on doing wrong in verse 42. Let’s look at
it together:
"Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants
to borrow from you.
In this final example, we see Jesus
explain to the crowds that they are not turn away from those who want to borrow
from you. The words “to turn away”
convey the sense of rejecting someone or something. Jesus point to the crowds
was that they were not to reject those around them who have pressing physical
and material needs, regardless of the circumstances that placed them under
need. Instead, they were to place themselves in a position to meet those
pressing and practical needs.
Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves
in the crowd listening the Jesus words. Can you imagine what the response must
have been like? Can you imagine the body language? The facial expressions? Can
you imagine the pushback? Maybe you find yourself pushing back. Maybe you are
wondering, questioning, or even challenging Jesus words here.
And if we could have a conversation out at the
courtyard coffeehouse, the conversation would sound something like this:
“Really? Does Jesus actually think that we should not retaliate when we are
wrongly insulted by another person? Does Jesus actually think that we should
not retaliate when we are wrongly sued by another person? Does Jesus actually
think that we should not retaliate when we are wrongly humiliated by others? Does
Jesus actually think that we should just give to the needy and not reject the
needy, regardless of how they became needy?”
If that question or pushback is running through your
mind, just look at what Jesus says next. Friday we will do just that…
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