Matthew 5:38-42
The Law & the King – retaliation
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Intro
√ Retaliation
The next area of the Law that the Lord deals with is the Law of Retaliation.
Specifically He gives us instruction on how to deal with evil people.
And, how we can gain victory over them without violating our integrity, or compromising our witness.
How’s that possible? By replacing the Law of Moses with a higher standard…
…the Grace of God.
Ap. Are you willing to give up your rights for the cause of Christ?
As American’s we’ve been conditioned to fight for every right that we have under the law.
The Pharisees weren’t any different.
But, Jesus tells us in this section of His sermon (and demonstrates in the way He lived)…
…that there are times when its best to lay aside our “rights” so that we can demonstrate the reality of the new life we have in Christ.
Ex. Jesus was denied Justice
The Lord allowed Himself to be denied justice, to suffer the humiliation of a mock trial and crucifixion…
…so that all who would trust in Him could be justified!
Just as Jesus captured the attention of many of the evil men who denied Him justice…
Pilot
Centurion at the Cross
Thief
So it is that sometimes our greatest witness to the world comes when we don’t demand what is rightfully ours.
The Letter of the Law (vs. 38)
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√ The Letter of the Law
Three times in the Law of Moses we find this law given…
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
Ex.
Part of a larger group of laws known as…
“Lex talionis”, or “Law of Retaliation”
These laws were given by the Lord to protect the innocent and to make sure that retaliation didn’t go beyond the original offence.
That is, the Law didn’t require a person to seek compensation…
…rather, God placed limitations on the extent to which people could be compensated for their loss.
Why? Because our human nature is not satisfied with justice, it wants revenge!
Ex. Human nature
If someone breaks my nose…
…I want to cut their arms off!
If someone steals my sheep…
…I want to take their whole flock!
If someone runs into my car…
…I want my car replaced, a couple of million dollars for any future pain I might experience, and 10 to 15 million dollars for my emotional distress
So, God established these laws to provide for an equitable system of justice to maintain a stable society.
√ The Pharisees
Rather than looking at these laws as optional in their application…
…they sought to enforce them to the full extent provided by the Law.
Ex. Parable of the
unforgiving servant (Matt.
The Master could have demanded his rights and cast the servant into jail, but instead he chose to give up his rights and forgave the debt.
But, that same servant did not show grace to a fellow servant who owed a much smaller debt.
That was the attitude of the Pharisees! Rather than demonstrate grace…
…they wanted to bring the full weight of the Law upon anyone who crossed them.
The Spirit of the Law (vs. 39a)
Matt. 5:39a But I tell you not to resist an evil person…
√ The Spirit of the Law
Jesus must have shocked the crowd with this statement because it was so contrary to what everyone else was saying.
All the other teachers, in fact all the other people in
Remember, they were under Roman occupation at the time and
were constantly being taken advantage of by
Now Jesus tells them that rather than resist the unjust treatment that they received from the Romans (and anyone else)…
…they should surrender their rights and cause to God.
Ex. Two ways to defeat your enemy
In Karate these two approaches are categorized into…
Goju ~ hard & soft
…techniques.
The “hard” form of Karate looks to achieve victory through the use of strength – resisting the enemy.
The “soft” form of Karate gains victory over the enemy by surrendering to the enemies strength and using it against him.
When it comes to the conflicts of life Jesus tells us that rather than resisting the evil person by demanding our legal rights…
…we’ll get further by surrendering our rights and leaving the justice to God.
How? Jesus tells us how in the following section.
The Practice of the Law (vs. 39b-42)
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√ The Practice of the Law
Jesus gives us instruction on how to handle ourselves when the enemy attacks…
Our pride
Our possessions
Our time
Our money
In each example we’ll find how we can overcome evil people in the world without losing our integrity or compromising our witness!
1) Our pride
In the first example Jesus tells us…
“But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” ~ vs. 39
Some have suggested that this is a model for pacifism.
That is, that Jesus is telling us that we should never resist an evil person with the use of violence.
But, is that really what the Lord is telling us?
I don’t believe so because the context of the Lord’s instruction is not a situation in which the innocent person is in…
…mortal danger.
Rather, the evil person is simply slaping the innocent person on the face as a means of humiliation. So, we can’t interpret the Lord’s comments as a blanket exhortation to pacifism.
Ex. Roman Soldiers
Were under orders not to use indiscriminate force against the Jewish people.
However, they could beat and arrest a person if that person struck them.
So, they’d march into a village and line up the men in front of the women and children and seek to humiliate them by slapping them on the face with an open hand.
If a Jewish man struck back, he’d be beat and hauled off.
So, the men would have to take the abuse and humiliation which was a great insult to their pride.
So, Jesus tells them…
“But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
What’s happening!? By turning the other cheek to the soldier the man is taking control of the situation. In effect he’s saying…
“I’m a bigger man than you are because I’m not going to play into your childish game.”
The result was that rather than humiliate the men in front of their families…
…the men would be honored because they were more concerned with pleasing the King than with proving their manhood.
2) Our possessions
Next Jesus says…
“If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” ~ vs. 40
In this example the evil person demonstrates the depth of their wickedness in that they seek to rob the poor man of even his clothes!
It’s the evil man’s way of parading his power over the weak and poor.
But, if the poor man follows the Lord’s advise then he demonstrates to the evil man that he really doesn’t have any power over him…
…because he trusts that the Lord is the provider of his needs.
3) Our time
“And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.” ~ vs. 41
Once again the example is one familiar to the crowd to whom Jesus is speaking…
…the compulsory service that the Roman soldiers could demand of the Jewish peasants.
Ex. Roman soldier could lay his spear on the shoulder of any Jewish man and he had to carry that soldier’s pack for a mile.
It was another opportunity for the Roman’s to humiliate the
Jewish people because it reminded the Jew that they were “slaves” to
Jesus’ instruction…
…go two miles!
Do it with a smile on your face and you take away the Roman soldier’s fun because you’ve demonstrated that your free and that he has no control over your spirit.
4) Our money
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This last example shows us how we can demonstrate true righteousness by giving to those who may not be able to repay us.
Ex. Jesus’ teaching
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The self-righteous Pharisee would never dream to do such a thing because they were so greedy!
In contrast the Lord tells us that we aren’t to exercise our rights over those who owe us money…
…rather, we should chose to lend to those in need and trust that God would provide for us.
Like the Master in the parable of the unforgiving servant.
√ Context!
Remember the context of the Lord’s instructions…
…choosing to demonstrate grace instead of insisting on the rights that the Law provides us.
Jesus isn’t telling us that we’re to become doormats for every manipulative person who wants to rip us off.
Or to allow a psychopath into our home to murder our family!
Rather, the King reminds us that while we have the protection of the Law to resist the evil person…
…the way of Grace is to overcome evil with good.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” ~ Romans 12:21
Ap. Witness
By following the Lord’s instructions for dealing with evil people we capture their attention because we’re not acting like every other person they’ve dealt with.
That’s a powerful witness!
At the end of the day we’re trying to win everyone to Christ – including the evil person!
Close
√ The Law & the King
The Law was given to protect us from the evil people of the world…
…yet, to win them to Christ may mean that we must surrender our “rights” so that we can capture their attention and share the reality of our faith.