Great Reversal: Retributive Justice

Intro

welcome to River’s Edge church today. If your new here then I’d love to meet you.

If your online and you have not yet made the journey to come worship in person then I want to encourage you to do that.

I started here in mid August and I still find it amazing that every week I am still meeting new people, that is so exciting to me

So if I haven’t met you yet, then I would still love to do that and if you are new to REC then welcome, your in good company.

we have been on this journey though Jesus’ greatest sermon. What is the core ethic of Jesus himself

SOM

In the Bible, It is simply called the Sermon on the Mount.

And if your new with us let me just catch you up....

Jesus come right out in the beginning of this sermon and says what the gospel is…

...that is what the God with you life looks like Jesus says that his gospel, his good news is that the rule and reign of God is available in this world...

What Jesus is saying that the good news is, is that God’s very life is available to you today....

That God isn’t far off…that he is closer than the air that you breathe

And not only that: God wants to extend his rule and reign…he wants to extend his whole kingdom through your life...

The good news of the kingdom of God is that God can actually live through you...

And the sermon on the mount is basically Jesus telling the world life is like when you live in his kingdom

When his life is extended through your life then the sermon on the mount is what it looks like

So Jesus talks about every day stuff like anger, lust, adultery, making promises…things like that

And I feel like if you were here for those you know that Jesus words are hard!

The sermon on the mount is not easy...

But I want to submit to you that if you think the last few weeks on the sermon on the mount were hard those weeks will seem like nothing compared to the next two weeks...

All those other weeks were about matters of the heart but the next two weeks are about how you respond when someone harms you...

how you respond when you are the one who is the victim

How do you respond when you are the one who needs Justice!

And how we initially respond to situations really shows where our heart is at doesn’t it?

So lets get into it this morning

Matthew 5:38-42

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.

I am worried that what you just heard jesus say was act like a doormat....let others beat you up, take your clothes…cary other peoples stuff and just give away money to anyone who asks of you...

This teaching gets mistaken for wimpy

or it gets written off at too radical or idealistic

But what I want to submit to you today is that walking with jesus in matters of personal justice will not only transform you, but they are meant to transform your oppressor too.

So in order to understand just how radical Jesus is here I want to break this down verse by verse:

So lets talk about an eye for an eye for a minute here:

Matthew 5:38

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

This is the system of legal justice in the Old Testament

So there are a few prominent biblical passages here

Leviticus 24:19–20 NIV

Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.

We like this don’t we…It is clean, it is in the Bible

It seems very fair and equatable

And the way this worked out in Jewish life was if someone harmed you, you went to the judge in your town and you’s agree upon what was an equal punishment....if you accidentally broke your neighbor’s finger, they wouldn't break your finger they had an amount that you would pay to make retribution

So this limits people from being excessive

It stops justice from spinning out of control and starting tribal wars

There was reckless violence in those days…a great example is this guy named Lamech

For my fellow Bible nerds: there are 2 Lamech’s in the Bible we are talking about the descendent of Cain and not Noah’s father

Genesis 4:23–24 NIV

Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

So first of all: Lamech is the first person to deviate in the Bible from the way God designed marriage and he practice polygamy

but secondly…if you remember the story of Cain, he killed his brother, God punished him and made him a restless wanderer all over the earth…Cain says hey God people are going to kill me…and so God says if someone kills you I will punish them seven times over...

So Lamech first twists marriage and now he twists God’s protection over Cain to satisfy his own blood lust.

And Lamech sort of just declares that he will avenge himself 77 times if anything bad happens to him...

So you can see the way the ancient world is going…You need just an eye for an eye...

But also…This guy Lamech who just shows up for a second here in the Bible is quoted much later on in the new testament...

When Jesus was talking about forgiveness…Peter says…Hey Jesus, how many times should we forgive someone, up to 7 times…and Jesus says…no not 7 times 77 times...

Its almost like Jesus saying, the days of Lamech are over, the days of violence are finished in me and a new day of grace is upon you.

So an eye for an eye stopped these wicked people from creating needless wars

In the Bronze age, Israel’s system of an eye for an eye was a radical way of making sure that people were punished fairly

and of course....An eye for an eye didn't stop at interpersonal conflict...

There was this cooperate idea at play too

There was a sense that all of Israel would receive the punishment that it deserved…Kind of like one big eye for an eye

Obadiah 15 NIV

“The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.

So, ouch

people will just get all that they deserve and it will be a horrible thing for them

So as Jesus is talking about an eye for an eye, there is both this sense of everyone knows what he is talking about but this even more ominous feeling at play too …I can not even fully atone for all the things I have done...

I am going to get what I deserve at some point too

But then Jesus does what he has been doing the entire sermon on the mount

Jesus’ kingdom is now invading earth and he is creating a people then and even now through you that live out a different ethic…one that does not return evil for evil...

Matthew 5:39 NIV

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.

So an eye for an eye would apply here…But Jesus does what he has been doing the entire sermon on the mount…He goes beyond the law without making the old obsolete

Because something truly new is here

Ok so in order for you to understand this we have to understand the context in which Jesus is speaking.

Jesus lives in an occupied country

He is a Ukrainian with Russian invaders…but not even that really because the Russians are probably actually loosing the war

Jesus is living in a fully military controlled society where Jews are treated like dirt by their Roman occupiers

So I want to illustrate you Jesus’ new system of Justice that he is showing

So I need a volunteer:

(At this point I will bring someone on stage and they will be the Jewish person and I will be the Roman Soldier)

So jesus is very specific and he says: “If someone strikes you on the right cheek”

Why was Jesus so utterly specific?

well we know that that would have meant a backhanded slap to the right cheek because the left hand was reserved for so called “dirty things” (personal hygiene, bathroom stuff)

We also know that a slap to the right cheek was a serious offense, both in Jewish law and in Roman law...

So we know that Jesus is using an example that everyone would have known…and if a Jew wasn't listening to a Roman…then a Roman guard might slap him on the right cheek

A backhanded slap to the right cheek is a way of saying that you are the scum of the earth and so far beneath me.

In fact you were expected to cower before your oppressor

Instead Jesus says turn to him the other cheek also...

This is a very first century way of saying...

Hit me like a man

Admit that I am a human

Admit that I am your equal

Because fist fighting back in this day was done among equals

Jesus was saying, refuse to be treated like dirt

Jesus created a new ethic of nonviolent active resistance

its like a whole new category for the way that we live in this world

One that would change the world in a significant way

Martin Luther King Jr took the tactics t

When Martin Luther King Jr saw the evils of the Jim Crow South...

when he saw the tactics of the people shouting for equality before him failing he got it...

See when someone hits you…and you hit back…You somehow become them…You look just as violent

MLK knew that Black people in America were being painted as violent, only because they were trying to survive and stand up for themselves

So in his movement: he took a strict, “Turn the other cheek policy”

I have a lot of favorite Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes but this one I am going to show you has to be one of the top of the list....He was giving an interview about his use of non-violent resistance and this is what he said

In an interview about Non-violent resistance he said

“And so he can rise to the point of being able to look into the face of his most violent opponent and say in substance, do to us what you will and we will still love you.  We will match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering.  We will meet your physical force with soul force.  And do to us what you will, and we will still love you.”

MLK was just living out a turn the other cheek ethic...

And it changed America

Jesus whole ethic here can be summed up as

Be ready for acts of grace

Be ready to face your oppressor and demand a different treatment

See Jesus’ ethic frees you from becoming an oppressor yourself

Matthew 5:40 NIV

And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.

We have to understand that when Jesus said this…it might have been a huge joke…People would have laughed out loud

Why? Jesus would sometimes take a point to its furthest logical absurdity to make a bigger point

In the first century you just had two garments of clothes your shirt and your coat...

It was against the law to sue someone for a cloak or a coat, because this would have been a large outer garment that you slept in, it would have kept you warm at night…so the least most petty thing that you could sue someone over was a shirt

So what Jesus is saying is that if your in court with someone who wants to take your shirt, give them your coat too

Now lets just think about this for a second...

If these are the only two items of clothes you had...

How would you be standing in court?

Yup....Naked...

Now what I love about Jesus is that to make a point, he goes to the most absurd point to point out the injustice of taking everything from the poor...

Basically what he is saying is that if someone is oppressing you economically you need to reveal that injustice to them

Jesus isn’t saying, raise a mob…Fight the man...

He is saying stand there in court in front of everyone as a living example of your oppressor’s greed

Matthew 5:41 (NIV)

If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.

This is another act of grace

In Jesus’ day there were laws on the books that said any member of the Roman military could conscript a person or animal into service for a short amount of time.

Specifically there were laws about carrying a pack of a Roman Soldier....And they would have only been able to do this legally for one mile...

So Jesus is telling his followers that the way you get justice in my kingdom is to transform your oppressor into a friend

The way to love your enemies is to have no enemies to begin with

and one of the ways that you do this is by going the extra mile with them...

The Apostle Paul will sum this all up by saying this

Romans 12:17–21 NIV

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The way we overcome evil is with love

When we think of what it means to heap burning coals on someone’s head…that line might have satisfied you because you are like…ahh so we can still hurt the bad guys right?

Because you are thinking of a BBQ full of red hot Kingsford charcoal that would just melt someone...

But what charcoal was made out of in Jesus day was a plant called broom: They called it Broom because it is what you use to make a broom…Charcoal in Jesus day was thin long bristles

If that was dumped on your head…it would have just caused you to scratch your head...

Then Jesus finished off this section with saying this

Matthew 5:42 NIV

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

Its as if Jesus says…you know what its like to be oppressed…Help those who are hurting

In Jesus’ day every 7th year debts were supposed to be released but the reality is that that didn’t happen.

Jesus lays out this ethic for his kingdom to be continually helping others

You could spend a life time trying to work out how to live these words of Jesus out.

And I want to submit to you that you absolutely spend a life time working out how to live this out in your life.

Because it is radically different and it points to a god of boundless grace

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who would eventually be killed in a German concentration camp for plotting against Hitler said: “Evil will become powerless when it finds no opposing object, no resistance, but, instead, is willingly borne and suffered. Evil meets an opponent for which it is not a match.”

One of the best movies/musicals ever made is Les Miserables

In this musical Jean Val Jean was this poor miserable criminal who was in trouble for stealing bread…He was in prison forever and when he came out on Parole it was hard for him to get a job because he was a prisoner...

And finally having no food and nowhere else to turn Jean Val Jean goes to the church where the local Bishop takes him in and feeds him...

Jean val Jean promises to become a new man…But in the middle of the night…his criminal ways come back to him...

and this happens:

Les Miserables Clip 3:14

Challenge:

An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves a lot of people blind and toothless

You might be thinking…I don’t have roman occupiers…I don’t have a national struggle for justice...

But you do have that family member who likes to get jabs in at your expense

Or you have that co-worker who is always steeling something out of your lunch in the fridge

Or you have that co-worker who is really happy to make you look bad

Or that neighbor who puts his trashcans right like on top of where your car is parked

Or the classic…You’ve been cut off in traffic...

Jesus people are always ready for acts of grace...

Because the good news is that Jesus is extending his life through yours

Jesus people are always looking for ways to love someone rather than return the harm...

Jesus would live all of these things out in amazing ways

When Jesus was oppressed on a cross. He would absorb the blows of Rome and return grace on top of grace

When Jesus was nailed to the cross and the Roman soldiers would gamble for his clothes…By his blood he would clothe these same men in righteousness

In Jesus day,, everyone just expected that what the words of Obadiah said would come true…Except for Jesus took on all of the sin of Israel…and they all came back on his own head

But Jesus brought into reality a new way of dealing with the violence of this world…and he absorbed the punishment for you and for me

In his body on the cross, Jesus did away with the entire system of violent retribution

So be ready for acts of grace

So be ready to abandon retributive violence

So be ready to give the candlesticks

So be ready to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile

Because it is what Jesus did for you