Revenge + Loving Enemies

Mooning story

he New International Version (Chapter 7)

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Only through Jesus and His way can we experience the good life now and forevermore.

We live in culture that loves revenge because we confuse revenge for justice.

Revenge never brings wholeness.

The New International Version (Chapter 5)

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ w 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Eye for an eye was a system of protecting people from getting back too much.

Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–15 Loving Your Enemies (Matthew 5:38–48)

So Jesus gives three hints of the sort of thing he has in mind. To be struck on the right cheek, in that world, almost certainly meant being hit with the back of the right hand. That’s not just violence, but an insult: it implies that you’re an inferior, perhaps a slave, a child, or (in that world, and sometimes even today) a woman. What’s the answer? Hitting back only keeps the evil in circulation. Offering the other cheek implies: hit me again if you like, but now as an equal, not an inferior.

Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–15 Loving Your Enemies (Matthew 5:38–48)

Or suppose you’re in a lawcourt where a powerful enemy is suing you (perhaps for non-payment of some huge debt) and wants the shirt off your back. You can’t win; but you can show him what he’s really doing. Give him your cloak as well; and, in a world where most people only wore those two garments, shame him with your impoverished nakedness. This is what the rich, powerful and careless are doing. They are reducing the poor to a state of shame.

Revenge does not redeem brokenness, it multiplies it.

“Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

-MLK jr

Righteousness and revenge are not compatible.

Jesus desires redemption, not retribution.

The New International Version (Chapter 5)

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor z and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children 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 own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

WHEN JESUS SPEAKS of “perfection,” he is saying something about our “love.” The word for “perfect” in Greek is teleios, and it refers to making something “complete,” or bringing something to the “end” and “goal” for which it exists and toward which it tends.

God’s love and grace goes beyond those we deem to be deserving of it.

We are not the gatekeepers of God’s Grace.

The love of enemy is the litmus test of Christlikeness.

The best measure of spiritual maturity is not how much you know about God but how much you imitate his love toward enemies. There is no narrower path than this. Along this way, difficult as it is at times, lies the deepest satisfaction a soul can ever know. Jesus invites you and me to follow him down the narrow path.

Villodas, Rich. The Narrow Path: How the Subversive Way of Jesus Satisfies Our Souls (p. 170). (Function). Kindle Edition.

The New International Version (Chapter 5)

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Brokenness only fixes brokenness when Jesus is involved.

The radical love of Jesus should lead us to radically love all people, even our enemies.

Loved people, love people.

Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1–15 Loving Your Enemies (Matthew 5:38–48)

The Sermon on the Mount isn’t just about us. If it was, we might admire it as a fine bit of idealism, but we’d then return to our normal lives. It’s about Jesus himself. This was the blueprint for his own life. He asks nothing of his followers that he hasn’t faced himself