The Kingdom of God at War

Matthew 5:38-48

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Introduction

So many people think Jesus’s words here mean you must be committed to absolute non-violence. You must be a pacifist. I want to show you how that is not true, and how misreading it this way badly undercuts what Jesus actually teaches. Jesus is not commanding you to be a hippie. He is commanding you to be something far more powerful, far, far more redemptive.

Ending Cycles of Vengeance (v. 38-42)

Looking at verse 38, Jesus again gives us the same formula He has throughout the Sermon. You have heard X, but I say Y. Here he quotes the Old Testament law called the Lex Talionis “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” A lot of people think, oh how horrible! What a barbaric thing! An eye for an eye!? That’s the wrong perspective to have. First of all, because it is God’s command and we should have reverence toward God’s Word, all of God’s Word. Secondly, everything God commands is purposeful. Everything He commands has a reason. Ancient men were violent (just like modern men are). The prototypical ancient man is found in Genesis 4. He was a descendant of the first murderer, Cain. His name was Lamech. And he told his wives:

For I have killed a man for wounding me,

Even a young man for hurting me.

24If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

The vengeance ungodly men pursue is hardly proportional. The wicked escalate conflict. By instituting the law of an eye for an eye, God is limiting retribution. It is a law intended to bring tremendous peace.

So what is going on here? Why is Jesus seemingly teaching against it? Remember, everything He says in the Sermon on the Mount has to be countenanced with “I have not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it.” It sure seems like in the very next verse, verse 39, He is destroying the Lex Talionis. What gives? Some of it is confusing translation. There are a few different ways you can translate the verse from Greek into English. It doesn’t really make sense that Jesus, who resisted the evil one in the Wilderness just a few chapters earlier, would say not to resist evil people. Another possible translation, that makes a lot more sense in the context is “Do not resist by evil means.” So what does “resisting, but not by evil means” look like? Or maybe a better question would be, how does Jesus’ way He presents here fulfill the law of an eye for an eye rather than destroy it?

So many people take Jesus words here to mean that if you are a Christian, you have to be a pacifist. You may never employ violence under any circumstance ever. They hear “turn the other cheek” and this means that if a gang of men come to rape and murder your wife and children you simply have to let them. Such thinking is both preposterous and monstrous. Jesus is not commanding that. What is He commanding then? Well say a scenario like that happens, and you are unable to defend your family. This is not a mere hypothetical. There are Christians in Nigeria right now who have their wives and daughters kidnapped to become slaves and their families murdered. If such a thing were to happen to you, you might want to hunt down those men and kill them and everyone they love. You would want an eye for an eye, a child for a child. Jesus is commanding those in His Kingdom not to return evil for evil. He is commanding His people to end cycles of violence.

And this does not happen by making yourself a passive victim. If someone insults you by slapping you on the cheek, according to the Lex Talionis, you are within your rights to slap them back, but you may not escalate. You may not punch in the nose. Jesus does not say to do nothing. He does not say to merely forgo your right to retribution. He commands us to take the retribution upon ourselves. There is a second slap that follows the eye for an eye. Instead of returning the slap or escalating or even doing nothing, Jesus commands us to take an active role and ask to bear the slap our adversary deserves.

Again this is not a scenario where bodily injury or death is on the line. Jesus is not commanding His people to forgo self-defense in such a scenario. We are dealing with an insult here. The ante gets upped again in the next few verses.

Here someone sues you to take your clothes (something the law forbids, by the way). Rather than countersue a clearly unlawful suit, we are to bear that countersuit ourselves. There still is an article of clothes for an article of clothes, just as with the slap, the law of an eye for an eye is fulfilled, by us. We are to give him our coat, too.

I cannot stress enough, the point here is not to simply be a pushover. Jesus is not building a kingdom of weaklings and wimps. He is commanding us to actively pursue peace by willingly bearing the cost of ending conflict. To do such takes great strength and will.

The next few verses are the same. In those days, the Roman soldiers could legally compel subject peoples to bear their gear for up to a mile. You could imagine how much of a kick big Roman brutes would get out of making random Jews carry their stuff. Imagine if the United States was an occupied country, say China has soldiers marching up and down our streets. And how much fun those Chinese soldiers would have mocking and jeering you to each other in Chinese while you trudged along with their gear. You’d feel humiliated. You’d probably hate them. You’d probably long for a day when you drive out those foreign invaders and on their way out make them carry your stuff for a mile. After all that would be justice!

What does Jesus say in this situation? There is going to be justice done. That second mile that you are owed. That will be paid for. And who is gonna pay for it? You are. That is how the cycle of retribution and violence will end. Rather than lying down as a victim, you turn the humiliation done to you by your enemy into vindication. How would those Chinese soldiers react once you kept going well into the second mile? They would be perplexed, confused. They would not understand you returning them good for their evil. You are no longer the victim of their mockery and abuse, you are actively undermining it.

Achieving “Perfection” (v. 43-48)

Jesus goes on and presents the same formula again “You have heard X, but I tell you Y” This time he combines Leviticus 19:18 “You shall love your neighbor” with what is natural to men—hating their enemy. But what does Jesus say to do? To love your enemy. To not return curses for curses, but return blessing for cursing. Jesus wants us to treat our enemies not how they deserve to be treated, but better than they deserve to be treated. Those who persecute you and use you; those people who mistreat and abuse you, you can either take it and wish you could abuse them back, or you can love them despite the evil they do to you. The former anybody can do. Anybody can be a victim, wishing to return what was done to them upon the heads of those who did it.

True power is actively doing good to those who are doing you evil. It completely arrests the cycle and ends it. It is completely the opposite of how a world of sinful men behave. Because no one wants to pay that cost themselves. But what does Jesus say? If you do this, you are sons of your father in heaven. You are maturing to be like God. What is God like? He could have arranged the world in such a way that the sun shines and rain falls only on those who do good, only on those who obey Him, He could have arranged His world to be such a place where the wicked and evil receive instant karma. Instead, through much longsuffering, He gives life and goodness and grace to even those who hate Him. He could instantly destroy those who do evil at any moment, yet He allows them to persist. Their very existence is sheer unmerited grace. And so is ours. We do not deserve to know Him. We do not deserve His goodness. We were born His enemies, yet He loved us. That is what God is like.

It is easy to love only those who love us in return. Anyone can do that. Think of the nastiest, most vindictive people you know. They can do that. Even the extortionist thugs who serve the Romans love everyone that loves them back. Yet so many people think they are a “good person” or “full of love” who are incapable of loving their enemies. How many homes are adorned with signs in the living room saying things like “Live, Laugh, Love” are occupied by people who are only ever capable of loving those who love them first. How many people define themselves as being “all about love” and say “hate has no home here” who will strike with maximum vindictiveness when someone injures them in the very least.

Conclusion

Jesus says to be perfect like our heavenly Father is perfect. Translation can be tricky. The word can mean “perfect” as in lacking anything wrong with it whatsoever. But that is not what Jesus is saying. He is not setting an impossible standard for human beings. Rather the word means mature, reaching its end stage, like a mature oak tree or a mature vine that produces grapes for wine. We are to be mature like Jesus is. And that maturity is to be people who are so filled with love that we actually love those who do us harm. And it is not just in great offenses, you are able to end petty grudges and feuds, you are able to stop them before they begin by not only not taking offense when someone says something wrong, but by positively showing them kindness they do not deserve. That is how we are to live. That is how we are to be mature like Jesus. That is what God wants us to be like. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.