We all sometimes want to retaliate but it can do more harm than good. What Jesus said will help to clarify how to behave.

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Matthew 5

38. “You have heard that it was said, `Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’

39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

43. “You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’

44 But I tell you: Love your enemies, [bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you] and pray for those who persecute you,

45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?

47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

How often we tend to forget that the most important factor in approaching scripture is our preparation of spirit.

We cannot simply come to a passage like this with the mind alone, however clever / erudite / intellectual we may feel we are because the power of its message goes beyond strictly intellectual reason.

It’s not that its message is unreasonable or unintelligent we’re simply saying that intellect alone is not sufficient to receive all that God has for us here.

This passage has often been misunderstood.

• It has often been used to imply that Christian ought to be less assertive and more compliant than other people.
• “Oh” you might hear “you’re a Christian, you ought to turn the other cheek” – the implication being “you’re a Christian therefore you ought to act as a doormat over whose preferences I can ride roughshod.”
• Jesus is not talking about spineless wimpery!

So we’ll look carefully at this passage verse by verse to discover its meaning

1. “You have heard that it was said, `Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’

here Jesus is using a ‘formula’ “You have heard it said – but I say to you” . He uses this pattern six times in the sermon on the mount

Eye for and eye

This was part of the OT law the God gave to Moses

• at face value it sounds barbaric to our western, rather liberal, ears; but in the context it was entirely reasonable.

Exod 21:22-25

22 “If men who are fighting [inflict] serious injury, you are to take life for life,

24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

In Moses time horrendously disproportionate penalties could be exacted for relatively minor offences.

• family feuds could escalate out of all proportion with the problem that caused them
• so people were being severely hurt as a result of relatively minor disagreements

so in effect the Lord said to Moses “In my nation it’s going to be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”

• In other words “make sure the punishment matches the crime and no more” <ppt>

And this also meant that there were to be no revenge attacks, or personal vendettas

However in Jesus’ day the Pharisees had misapplied it by taking this saying out of the law courts (where it belongs) in and into the realm of personal relationships (where it doesn’t). The interpretation they had added to it was

• “If someone hits you – then hit him back with the same force!”
• So it had become a justification for revenge – and the was the very thing it was designed to stop!

Jesus is talking about reactions >>>

e.g. Computer Screen – Drop-down menu

In my mind I have a drop-down menu that appears instantly when I have to react in a difficult or stressful situation. My mind gives me a collection of options to choose from

• attack back
• defend myself,
• be sarcastic
• count to 10
• ignore it

Jesus is talking here about an attitude of heart in which vindictive retaliation –

• getting my own back because I’m angry
• is simply not on my mental drop-down menu.

It’s and attitude of spirit that sees everyone – even my enemies – the people I can’t get on with –

• as people who deserve His love and care
• and therefore deserve mine.

That concern may neither be asked for or expected –

• But, says Jesus, I’m still to give it – even if, at the end of the day, I receive a rebuff in exchange.

e.g. Before his conversion Billy Bray, the Cornish evangelist was a boxer – and a good one.

• Down the tin mine where he worked, there was a man who lived in mortal fear of Bray. They had been enemies in the past
• He’d heard that Billy Bray had been converted and saw this as a opportunity to get his own back by trying to provoke Billy Bray into a fight.
• Took a mighty swipe at Bray.
• Billy Bray looked at him “May God forgive – even as I forgive you”
• the result was that the man had several days of internal torment and conviction of heart
• he ended up in his becoming a Christian.

Next sentence

38. “You have heard that it was said, `Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’

39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

What?!

DO NOT RESIST THE EVIL PERSON <ppt>

Surely the whole point about living as a Christ-follower is that I do resist evil!

And I do my utmost to frame

• my family life and
• my business life
• and my church life
• and (please god) society as a whole so that evil doesn’t get a foothold!

The Bible wonderfully describes the spiritual battle which we face every day of our lives

• Surely I am supposed to resist evil and not go soft on it!

Jesus is using a device here – hyperbole

• Saying something in an extreme way in order to make the point (and again this is something he does elsewhere in the Sermon on the mount.

Here’s a short fragment of prose:

“As she rounded the corner she saw a distant figure striding out of the sunset. As her recognition grew, so did her pace and after only a few short minutes she fell into his arms. As she sunk into his embrace he kissed her a thousand times!”

• Did he?
• No – he probably kissed her twice
• but I say 1,000 to get across a different message – the intensity of his love for her!

Jesus does this often – and it makes interpreting the SoM difficult at times

For example: “If your eye offends you, cut it out!” – does Jesus mean us to perform radical surgery?

• Of course not –
• he’s telling to be radical about what we look at! How we use our eyes!

So then Jesus uses hyperbole we need to look out for the underlying principle he’s teaching

In this case – don’t oppose an evil person by taking revenge against them”!

There’s another angle to this “Don’t resist the evil person”

By using this phrase Jesus is separating the evil (which God hates) from the person (whom God loves)

• The very fact that evil can exist in a person is a contravention of the created order.
• God never intended it that way

Furthermore

the word resist implies “don’t take legal action against” (compare it with Luke to see this is the context) therefore Matthew’s concern is for cases of litigation, not physical violence – this explains his reference to using in the next verse

• Jesus not talking about evil in general, but the person who is motivated by evil – whoever that person happens to be.

Whether the wrong we experience is a major discomfort or a minor niggle. The principle is the same

• Jesus is telling us to avoid reactions that are prompted by anger.
• Good News Bible “Do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you”
• revenge is not to be one of the option in the menu!

These principles are so practical and down-to-earth as we face just the same situations today.

Now Jesus gives examples to illustrate the principles

DON’T RISE TO PROVOCATION

39 But I tell you, … If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. <ppt>

A slap with back of the right hand on the cheek was considered a deep insult (still is today in some eastern societies)

• Jesus is emphasising that the Christian finds his security in the Lord, not in what other people may think of him
• therefore insults no longer carry the hurt that they once did

so the Christian is not to rise to provocation.

And in a society where provocation is rife, if anything will show that we’ve changed, this will.

• A Christ-follower’s sense of self-worth comes from being loved and valued by God – and is not dependent on other people

E.g. Man was going through supermarket with trolley

• in trolley was a toddler – throwing a wobbly!
• Lady in the queue overheard the man saying
• He was looking at the toddler saying “Keep calm Brian, Don’t go OTT Brian, Cool it Brian, Don’t get angry Brian” (while toddler was screaming and shouting)
• Lady complimented him on his coolness of response and said “Your little Brian is quite a handful”
• He looked at her and replied “He’s Robert, I’m Brian”

CO-OPERATE WITH THE AUTHORITIES

41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

To “force” a man to go a mile was a common practice in the ancient east.

• Government had the right to commandeer a man to carry baggage from one place to the next.

• Palestine was under Roman occupation
• therefore this practise was resented

It’s the same word that was used of Simon of Cyrene who was compelled (or ‘forced’) to carry Jesus’ cross.

Message – Obey the state out of a willing heart

Like paying taxes!

• here again, this is a most important and practical matter >>>

Tax office received the following anonymous letter

• You will find enclosed a cheque for a thousand pounds. This is tax that I owe you. I’m sending it to you because my conscience wont give me any peace and I can’t sleep at night.

• Yours sincerely
• PS – If I still can’t sleep, I’ll send you the other thousand!

40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

A word about first century couture is in order here.

Normal dress for an average person (not nobility) consisted of two garments

• the tunic was your long undergarment,
• your cloak was your outer garment

• So here’s some more hyperbole!
• Because if I actually did what Jesus is suggesting I’d end up stark naked!

“If someone is suing you for your underpants – give him your trousers as well!”

So what did Jesus mean by this in the context?

HOLD YOUR POSSESSIONS LIGHTLY

Modern attitudes to self-worth

• I am what I do >>>
• I am what I own.
• this is the fundamental premise of the materialistic society “I am worth more than you because I earn more that you do.”

In Jewish law a person in debt or guilty of certain offences could be sued for all of his possession except some specific items.

• His outer cloak was one.
• To protect his dignity.

Jesus is telling us that – even if we’re sued for an inner garment – we can give the suer that outer garment too because my value as a person does not depend on the clothes I wear!

This is such a valuable message from the Lord!

• Jesus is telling us that we can release many of those things which, in the eyes of the word, give a person value
• we don’t need to get up tight about losing them

why?

BECAUSE I’M VALUED BY GOD

I matter to him

When someone hurts you, is rude to you, abuses you, is vindictive towards you – then they are touching someone who is precious to God

• My dignity does not depend on external appearances – therefore I have no need to retaliate – to get my own back

But what if some recompense for the wrong they have done me is called for?

• “Vengeance is mine I will repay” says the Lord
• It’s not up to you to take retaliatory action
• leave it to Him
• He can do it far more effectively, and far more decisively than we can.

It’s not that a Christian doesn’t have self respect – he does

• very deeply – he’s made in the image of God!
• but our self-respect doesn’t lie in who we are by reputation, what we do by occupation or what we own – by possession

I am a person, valued and loved because God values and loves me – more than any human person could.