Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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

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

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...

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...