Sermon Tone Analysis

Doing the Unexpected (Matthew 5.38-42)

Introduction

Review of OT laws in mind

There were two key aims of the OT law - one principle and one consequential: to constrain retaliatory sin (consequential), and to demonstrate to us the seriousness of marring the image of God by crippling another person (principle - there is a reason why the “eye for an eye” passages come in the context of blasphemy laws).

Note that what Jesus says further in this passage does NOT negate the actual point of the Law - that human beings who image God have inherent dignity and are not to be harmed lightly.

How the law became twisted

Note that the above examples are for serious injury (likely malicious) directed towards another person.

None of the examples that Jesus brings up in the sermon on the Mount would result in injuries like losing an eye (perhaps a tooth might be lost in the slap, but that would be unlikely)

It becomes clear that the Pharisees had extended this principle from the valid application (malicious intent to harm an imager of God) to including insults and compelled servitude as well.

This is a well established line of argument in Jewish jurisprudence (and even in our judicial system today!) - arguing that because a strong case exists for something, a weaker case must follow the same principle.

Jesus is aiming here to set the record straight.

This is another example of how the righteousness of those in the kingdom must exceed that of the Pharisees and scribes.

The heart issue behind the law

This extension of the existing commandment springs from a sinful desire to protect our rights to our pride, our possessions, and our time.

It demands “justice” instead of seeing these moments as an opportunity to witness.

It causes us to dehumanize those who would oppose us.

This runs counter to our culture, especially in the United States - we are used to our rights, and we guard them jealously!

But in so doing, we fail to live up to the calling and the image of our Savior.

Practical implications:

Slap on the right cheek - don’t guard your right to pride so jealously that it impedes your witness!

Don’t rise to the bait of insults!

Jesus’ command here is in the context of an insult - in order to slap the right cheek, a person would need to use the back of their right hand.

This was meant to be an insult, not to do any significant harm.

It is meant entirely to provoke the struck party to anger.

Jesus tells us that we ought to defuse these situations by refusing to rise to the bait.

In so doing, we expose the insult for what it is.

We also demonstrate that our identity is found not in our reputation and what others think about us, but that our identity is found in our Savior.

Example A: insults flung at you by family or co-workers

Example B: Someone says something that you disagree with politically on the internet!

Sue for your tunic - don’t guard your right to your possessions so jealously that it impedes your witness!

Be willing to give up what you have to show the injustice of someone’s imposition upon you and that you might be a witness to them.

Example A?

Compelled to walk - don’t guard right to your time so jealously that it impedes your witness!

Consider these moments where you are forced to do something that you do not want to do joyful service to God!

Example A: Singapore National Service - how many people simply complained and felt sorry for themselves rather than recognizing the opportunity for what it was - a chance to deeply get to know their fellow servicemen and to demonstrate the gospel to them

Example B: Papua New Guinea (lest I be accused of ignoring the log in my own eye)

In sum - the Christian is compelled to do the unexpected, because grace makes us seek to win the souls of those who would take advantage of us by love rather than demanding our rights (Ferguson 101).

How do we do this?

Because we know how the story ends!

Because we know that there will be justice for all evil and every wrong meted out at the end of time.

Beg and borrow - what is the logical extension of the above?

It means that we assume the best of people, that we take their needs into consideration, and we care for them

A better way - consider God as the true victim of our sins.

Key points:

Some laws, like the laws on divorce that we covered earlier in this series, are there because they are necessary, not because they are desirable.

God desires that no one should get divorced, but sin requires that some will, so God provides an avenue to accommodate it in light of people’s sin.

Retaliation is much the same way - it comes about as a result of sin.

Legitimate sin, in many cases, to be sure.

But in the new heaven and the new earth, just as there is no room for divorce, there will be no room for retaliation.

The laws from the OT around retaliation are meant to constrain our worst impulses.

When we are hurt, we want to see the person who injured us hurt as well.

The more they are hurt, generally the better.

These laws constrain our sinful desire to see those who have wronged us suffer disproportionately.

Contrary to the trite saying that “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”, an eye for an eye helped to control the evil instincts of human nature by limiting our natural tendency towards punitive vigilante action.

Above all, we must consider how we are called to image our God.

At the end of the day, God is the true victim of all of our sins.

Our sins are acts of rebellion against him.

And yet, he is long-suffering.

And not only is he long-suffering, he makes a way to redemption through Jesus.

If there was anyone who deserved to be allowed to retaliate, it was Jesus!

But on the cross, he did not - he suffered and died for the sins of the world.

As Christians we know that one day all sin will be paid for.

Either it will have been atoned for by the blood of Jesus on the cross, or those who persist in evil will face the full measure for their sin at the final judgement.

This fact should also serve to constrain us.

When our overactive sense of “justice” and “fairness” starts to kick in during our interpersonal interactions, we must remember that even if we do not see justice in the here and now, we will see it in eternity.

And we ought to pray that rather than falling on the head of the person who perpetrated the injustice, that it has been borne at the cross by the one who first told us to turn the other cheek.

Talk through how this ties back to the beatitudes - peacemakers, lowly in heart

To the prevailing authorities of the day, it was righteous to exact the punishment that we due according to the Law.

For Jesus, it is far more righteous to suffer indignities for the sake of breaking the typical human reaction to suffering than it is to demand what one is technically due.

The Matthean Jesus speaks against those who would extrapolate from the OT’s ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ to justify aggressive protection of their own rights and interests.

Jesus insists that in situations of challenge the other person should not be treated as an antagonist to be fiercely resisted and counter-challenged.

Opening Prayer

Let’s pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for the opportunity to gather this morning as your church.

We thank you for the chance to dig deep into your Word this morning, and we pray that this is a fruitful time for all of us.

We ask that your Holy Spirit would lead and guide our hearts as we seek to draw near to you, and that as we walk through Jesus’ teachings on retaliation and revenge that he would be convicting us of areas where we continue to demand our own supremacy over the supremacy of our king.

Let our hearts be malleable, let our minds be opened to your truths, and let our identities be grounded solely in the fact that we have been redeemed through the blood of Christ.

Amen.

Introduction

I’d like to begin this morning with a short (possible apocryphal) story about Abraham Lincoln:

When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a lawsuit for $2.50 against an impoverished debtor.

Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge.

When he saw that the man would not be put off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the plaintiff paid.

Lincoln then gave half the money to the defendant, who willingly confessed to the debt and paid the $2.50!

But even more amazing than Lincoln’ settlement was the fact that the irate plaintiff went happily on his way, fully satisfied by it!

The desire for revenge does funny things to a person.

It can cause us to do objectively silly things, like pay $10 to settle a $2.50 debt.

But, far more often, it can also ruin our hearts and poison our relationships and our witness, causing us to drive people away from Christ rather than draw them to him.

Our passage today is , where Jesus teaches on the principle of retaliation.

This is a challenging passage.

Like so much of what Jesus says, it goes against our base instincts.

It cuts to the heart and exposes what we truly care about and what we truly desire.

As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus has been questioning the conventional wisdom and the conventional righteousness of the religious establishment.

He has been directly addressing their interpretations of the Law that miss the point and has been offering his own correctives to tell us how we ought to understand the commands that God has given us.

And in these verses, Jesus turns to perhaps one of the best known sayings of the Mosaic law: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth”.

To understand the proclamations that follow, we need to first understand the source material.

And that means turning our Bibles back to the Old Testament, to Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, where we first see the articulation of this principle.

Turn with me, if you will, to :

17 “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.

18 Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life.