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.
In his sermon, An Eye for an Eye (Part 2), John MarArthur says....
the Sermon on the Mount has, first of all, a negative intent. That is to show people that they come short of God's standard. All you have to do is read the Beatitudes and you'll find a very obvious recognition of that. They start out with a person who is beggarly in spirit, who is mourning over sin, who is meek before God, who is hungering and thirsting for righteousness. In other words, the Sermon on the Mount begins in desperation, it begins with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy, it begins with the knowledge that you don't have the resources to attain God's standard
Then Jesus moves into Matthew 5:21 and begins to show the disparity between God's standard and the system of religion of His day, to show them that they are sub-standard and they need to have a Beatitude mentality. You see, they were smug, sufficient, prideful, ego-centered, and expecting God to lock arm-in-arm with them at their own level, and go walking into the Kingdom. They had no contrition, no repentance, no sense of sinfulness, unworthiness, no mournfulness. They then had to be broken, you see, to come to that place where they would have the heart of the one in the Beatitudes....
It isn't only the Jews gathered at the feet of Jesus on the hillside of Galilee who got the message; we get it today too. We who pride ourselves on the fact we've never killed anyone, but we have been angry and hated. We who pride ourselves on the fact that we haven't committed adultery, and yet the thought has been in our minds. We who pride ourselves on the fact that we keep our word when we make an oath, and yet there are times when we've shaded the truth and lied. We who pride ourselves on the fact that we are very just and fair, and yet we have been vengeful. We who pride ourselves on the fact that we have such love, and yet our enemies so very often don't fall within the purview of that love....
So Jesus is endeavoring to destroy their system. He shows them the standard to begin with, then tells them they aren't there. He has a very significant way of doing it. All through Matthew 5:21-48, He compares their system with God's truth. He uses a little code, which is this, "You have heard it said," that's their system, "But I say to you," and that's God's. He says, "Your's is here, God's is up here. You think it's enough not to kill, God says don't even get angry. You think it's enough not to commit adultery, God says you shouldn't even think it in your heart. You think it's enough to do the paperwork when you get a divorce, God says you shouldn't even get a divorce, except for fornication. You think it's enough that you put an oath behind your word, God says everything you say should be true, so you don't even need an oath."
Now, in our verse, He says, "You think that it's enough to give equal vengeance, God says you shouldn't be giving vengeance at all." ...
Jesus isn't prohibiting justice; justice belongs in the courts. But in human relationships, He wants us to be forgiving and loving. If our rights are stolen, the right of dignity, or security, or liberty, or property, we don't retaliate. We just commit it all to the Lord and act in love....
It's a spirit of Abraham, who rushed to rescue Lot who had so cheated him. It's the spirit of Joseph, who generously forgave his brothers and tearfully loved them, brothers who had sold him to slavery. It's the spirit of David who, after being chased all over by an angry, evil Saul, to slaughter him, spared his life on two occasions. It's the spirit of Stephen, who, lying crushed beneath the bloody stones, asks that the sin of stoning him not be laid to the charge of those who did it. It is the spirit of Paul, who, after his conversion, writes of love and forgiveness in Romans and Corinthians. It's the spirit of Jesus, who said, "Father, forgive them."
The "eye for an eye" mentality definitely belongs in the justice system. We have to have a system of justice that is about justice instead of mercy otherwise we'd have societal chaos the likes of which we've never seen.
But that's not how we're supposed to operate in relationship with each other. In relationship with each other we need to desire love, mercy and forgiveness - not vengeance. This doesn't mean we need to be best friends with our enemies, or trust those who have wounded us without remorse. But we do need to squash our human thirst for revenge, something that can only be done with God's power. We need to leave vengeance to God. We need to forgive.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 5:43-48
1 comment:
Very good post.
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