November 10, 2019
Matthew 5: 38-42
My thesis for the study:
In the sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches us how to live in the world. Jesus gives actual instruction and formation. More than rules or law, the SOM is a set of convictions about moral truth.
38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek,
turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak
as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
Where? Summary: Since all of Jesus actions and teachings show us that he is not interested in mere rule-keeping righteousness, we find that he is working for restoration, and that he places high demands upon those who follow him.
INTRODUCTION
1. How should Christians respond when they are insulted, pressured, manipulated, forced to do something you would not choose to do? Or to flip the question around—how would you like a Christian to respond to you if you get pushy or manipulative, even pressing and insulting.
2. Welcome: Hi Pals, this is Blaine Hill with the Simply Stated Podcast for the Journey Sunday School class at Lake Murray Presbyterian Church in Chapin, SC. This season of the podcast is on Jesus sermon on the mount, in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. Today we are reading Matthew 5:38-42 retaliation. I’ll try to get the basic ideas of the passage simply stated, then we’ll see what we can learn about the person of Jesus, understand theologically, about eternity and take some ethical guides from the reading.
3. Read 5:38-42
A BLOCK
4. Stating things Simply
a. This is the 5th in a series of antithesis: you heard in the past…but I say…. This is the structure Jesus uses in his teaching about how he is fulfilling the law (5:17)
b. The law: an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.
i. Leviticus 24:20; Exodus 21:24; Deut 19:21
ii. It is pitiless and harsh, but it is not unfair and not barbaric
iii. This law ismeant to LIMIT retaliation. One may not take a life for an eye or tooth, contrary to Lamech in Genesis 4:23.
iv. This law requires justice. Anyone who strikes someone else and blinds them must be punished. You can sees the issue of justice clearly in that a slave owner may not blind a slave (Ex. 21:26) and there is to be one law for alien and citizen, alike (Leviticus 24:22).
v. The punishment is to fit the crime. It is not just to mutilate someone by cutting off a hand for stealing some bread.
vi. Compare this the a culture of personal revenge and vendetta (think of the movie The Godfather) or ‘honor killings’ in Pakistan.
vii. Chrysostom, a Church Father, pointed out that it would be cruel not to have a command for society to punish a destructively violent person.
viii. Still, as Martin Luther King, Jr. observe, this law leaves everybody toothless and blind.
ix. This law is harsh and pitiless, but it is not unfair and is not mere rule by force.
c. So we have the floor, what does Jesus build above that? “Do not resist the evildoer.”
i. Resist. Put bluntly, “resist” is a poor translation. Repay is a better way to understand what Jesus is talking about. One of a few places where the NIV and NRSV are significantly in error.
· Carter renders as do not violently resist, ie we should oppose evil but not with physical violence
· Bruner has repay
· Hagner sticks with resist, but sees it as the act, not evil person.
This teaching does not excuse or prohibit opposition to evil in the world.
ii. Evil ? Devil, no. Peson, maybe. More likely the act.
iii. So: don’t payback the bad action. Don’t return evil for evil (I Peter 3:9)ii
iv. Illustrations will emphasize this as a personal ethic.
Conclusions: Jesus teaches “Do not repay evil actions.”
d. A point about the illustrations: Jesus is talking to you about your behavior. This is not an abstraction.
It does not prohibit the restraint and punishment of evil acts necessary for civil society
e. Four provocative, realistic examples to help us to consider how to apply Jesus’ teaching when treated with contempt, coercion and manipulation. THESE ARE NOT RULES TO REPLACE THE OLD LAW! (5:17).
In each provocative case, Jesus is looking for you to make an imaginative kingdom-based response that is rooted in love.
Instead of attacking or running away, how do we stand and face the wrong doer?
f. Example 1 Contempt
But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;
· This seems more of a slap than a punch
· On the right cheek so with the back of the hand,
· act of contempt, rather than physical assault
· We have to wonder, “How often were people in Jesus’ audience smacked in the face?”
· Offering the other cheek is a form of standing to confront the person offering us contempt
g. Example 2 coercion
40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;
· Most people wore two garments. Cloak as a kind of loose underalls. Coat was a heavier outer garment.
· The Cloak was what ordinary people slept in to stay warm.
· If the cloak was taken as collateral for a loan, it had to be returned at sundown (Ex 20:26). 1) puny loan! 2) so they could stay warm at night
· Very shabby business to be using legal pressure in a conflict to take someone’s warmth at night.
· Offering the cloak (undergarment-literally the shirt off their back). Is this a way to use shame to confront the person?
h. Example 3 coercion
if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.
· Roman soldier could require someone to carry the soldiers armor for one mile. I believe they could use force to extract the labor.
· This was adamantly despised by the Jewish people. It reminded them personally that their nation had been conquered.
· Think of how agrivating it would be to have a soldier come up to you on the road and simply hand you there armor and say, come with me. Maybe you were in a hurry or headed somewhere else. Then you had to walk a mile back.
· Maybe we could compare it to the requirement to house British soldiers that infuriated our forefathers in colonial America. Or enslaved people Africans required to take on new names in the Americas. Both of these things reminded people of their subjugation
· Jesus recommends confronting this coercion by finding a shocking occasion of freedom. Choose to continue service. The first mile is co-erced, but the second mile is an independent act.
i. Example manipulation
Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
· St. Augustine points out that we give and lend, but that does not mean it must be exactly what they ask to have or borrow.
· This does not seem to address commercial lending, with normal collateral, terms, etc.
· This is more the loan or gift requested on personal terms: the in-law asking for money. Again. So the situation is mundane manipulation, for money or something else.
· How will you be generous in the face of someone who is relying on the relationship with you largely for their own benefit?
B BLOCK
5. Person: What do Jesus words reveals about who he is?
· He certainly knows how people behave and misbehave toward each other.
· Jesus wants us to actively engage with evil actions in the world, but not to pay them back. This is very much like his own incarnation. The Son of God became human to engage with our need for salvation.
· Jesus lived and died by this principal. He engaged Jewish and Pagan authorities. In his capture and trial, Jesus could have talked his way out of things, but he chose to face and confront those before him
6. Theology: What theological idea can we draw from this teaching?
· We must remember the grace of the beatitudes if we are going to actually live with grace in the face of contempt, coercion and manipulation
7. Eternity: How does this teaching link our everyday life and eternity?
·
8. Ethics: What ethical teaching or guide can we take from this teaching?
(Bruner’s little steps; Willard’s dikaiosune –how is a good person to live?)
· Contempt, coercion and manipulation are common in human life, so we need to know how to stand and confront them in a Christian way.
· What ways can you think of contemporary examples of how you experience, witness or perhaps act yourself out
o Contempt
o Coercion
o Manipulation
· Is there a way to stand with humanity? Turn the other cheek
· Is there a way to retain freedom in the face of coercion? Cloak/extra mile
· Is there a way to point out the manipulation for what it is?
CLOSING
Thanks for listening to the podcast for the Journey Sunday School class. A Production of Simply Stated from Hey, Vern! Media.
Invite comment or questions
God bless you