Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38-42)

Matthew 5:38–42 KJV 1900

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

The Mosaic intention

Unlike last week’s message, today’s passage is based on a well-founded OT principle.

Three different times, the Mosaic law contains the words almost exactly as Jesus quoted them.

Exodus 21:24 KJV 1900

24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

Leviticus 24:20 KJV 1900

20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again.

Deuteronomy 19:21 KJV 1900

21 And thine eye shall not pity; but life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

God gave these laws to the Israelites to combat an unequal dispensation of justice.

Punishment for a crime must be commiserate to the severity of that crime.

A lost eye must not be recompensed with the taking of a life.

God, through Moses established a principle for punishments equal to the offense.

This power for dispensing justice was given to the Jewish judicial system.

The magistrates of each town would be tasked with hearing cases.

They were the authority ordained by God to maintain justice.

This had all changed by the time that Jesus arrived on the earth.

The Pharisaical perversion

The pharisees took the judicial power and handed it to the individual.

Rome’s occupation of Israel had made the judicial system more complicated than it had been when Israel was a sovereign nation.

Delays and corruption meant that justice was often extremely delayed or sometimes left unmet.

To combat this the pharisees changed the interpretation of the OT law.

Essentially, they made individual persons into justified vigilantes.

If someone does you wrong, God commands you to extract justice on your own.

Make no mistake the lesson that the people were receiving was that God commanded them to go after those that wronged them.

Can you imagine how chaotic and unjust this could quickly become?

Jesus offers His disciples not only a better alternative, but a return to the original intent of the law.

The Disciples application

He instructs His disciples to resist not evil.

This sounds counter-intuitive to a soldier of the Lord.

Does this mean we are not to fight for what’s right?

No, that is not what this means.

To clarify, Jesus directs his audience’s attention to three realms where this needs to be applied.

Do not take revenge when you are a victim of personal attack.

We do not understand the seriousness of what Jesus talks about here with the smiting of the cheek.

If I was to be smacked on the cheek, I would be annoyed because of the pain to my face.

In their culture, the pain of the smack had more to do with one’s pride than anything else.

If someone smacked you in the face, it was a deep, personal insult.

If we are going to live by the pharisee’s philosophy, this insult must be answered.

You insult me, I am going to insult you.

Jesus tells His disciples that the better response to an insult is to turn the other cheek.

Don’t waste time plotting or trying to think of an equal or greater comeback.

If someone wants to insult you, don’t expend your energy trying to put them in their place.

Do not take revenge when your possessions are taken.

In the second illustration, Jesus proposes that someone sues you and takes your coat.

Now, a lawsuit takes place in court.

This is not the personal affront that has occured in the first illustration.

If the court decides against you, even if you suspect the decision is unjust, you must abide by it.

Furthermore, Christ’s disciples must not only abide by it, but be willing to go beyond what they compelled to do by the court.

It’s one thing to argue your case in court.

But, once the verdict is delivered, the disciples must abide and go beyond the order that has been handed down.

Do not take revenge when your liberties are infringed.

The Jews were well versed in this last illustration.

Any Roman soldier could compel a Jewish person to carry their equipment for a mile.

Obviously, the Jews detested this practice.

It was an incredible invasion into personal liberty.

It didn’t matter what you were doing or where you were going.

The soldier could conscript you and there was nothing you could do about it.

Rather than throw a fit or insist on their rights, Jesus tells his disciples to go beyond what was required of them.

If you are going to be forced into service, don’t just go one mile, go two.

Carry that soldier’s gear for two miles instead of one.

In each case, the disciple is afflicted by injustice.

It was these injustices that motivated the pharisees to deputize the individual to get justice for themselves.

Jesus is not here accusing the one who smites, or the unjust court, or the uncaring soldier.

Instead, He is instructing the individual disciple on how to respond to these agents.

If I am treated unfairly, what is really being attacked?

It’s not really my cheek that is hurt.

It’s not really my coat that I am upset about.

It’s not really the mile that burns me up.

It is however my pride that can’t handle it.

The answer to these three scenarios can be found if we go back to the beatitudes.

Jesus has already told us the secret to these responses.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Meekness is having it within your power to do something and yet you refrain.

It is strength under control.

Meekness is trusting someone other than myself to set matters right.

In the Law, the individual was to rely on the judicial system to dispense justice.

But what if the judicial is corrupt, then who can we trust to be fair?

Oh man, you know I didn’t think about that.

You’re right.

The courts are supreme.

There is no one above them that is capable of upholding justice.

If the courts are corrupt, I guess we should take matters into our own hands and dispense justice according to our own standard.

There is someone though that is always righteous in judgment, He is alway fair in His dispensation of justice.

It is God.

We spend so much time talking about the love of God, His grace and His mercy.

These are all true.

He is also just.

He is the avenger of the oppressed and mistreated.

Whether it’s a slap on the cheek, and unfair lawsuit, or a soldier interrupting our business, Jesus’ true disciples will trust in Him to settle the score.

When we have this attitude, then we can turn the other cheek.

Is Jesus trustworthy to avenge the injustices we endure?

You’ve been insulted, stolen from, and mistreated.

You’ve appealed to the proper authorities to no avail.

What do you do next?

Do you take matters into your own hands?

Do you give it over to God?

If you take matters into your own hands, be warned.

This is not the better way.

You will carry a weight that God wants to bear for you.

You will fret over your plan for revenge.

You will miss out on the good things of life as you wait for an opportunity to enact your plan.

Once things are over and you don’t feel any better, you will struggle with guilt over your actions.

Instead, we can tell God about the injustice and let Him handle it.

Let Him bear the responsibility for evening the score.

Let Him bear the responsibility of coming up with an equitable payment.

Let Him be the one that provides for your compensation for the pain you experienced.

Can you trust Him to do that?

If so, then when someone insults you, turn the other cheek, God sees.

When someone sues you and wins a case they shouldn’t have, give them what they want plus some, God sees.

When someone infringes upon your rights and forces you to do something you shouldn’t have to do, do it, God sees.

He is our trustworthy judge and protector.

As His kids, we need not worry about fighting evil alone, we can trust Him to do what we could never do.