As we continue our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we come to the climax of Jesus’ reinterpretation of the law. He’s taught about anger, adultery, divorce and oaths to this point. This reinterpretation continues with its focus on two themes: the law of retaliation and the law of loving your neighbor and hating your enemy. By reinterpreting them, Jesus takes the meanings of these laws in a completely different direction. You can recognize this shift right from the start when Jesus says the phrase, “you have heard that it was said…But I say to you”. He’s taking the meanings of these two laws to a new level. Jesus takes the original as a starting point and builds from there. He is offering a new sort of justice; a creative, healing, restorative justice.
The old justice found in the Law of Moses was about limiting retaliation to be an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Once upon a time in the ancient world the practice of retaliating for the loss of an eye was to kill the opponent. For an insult made by one warrior on another, you burn down their village. The new justice Jesus is expressing is for us not to mirror evil with evil, but to confront the evil with good and without violence. “But I say to you do not resist with force an evil one. But if someone slaps you on the right check, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.” (Matt. 5:39-42)
Jesus’ focus is not to retaliate by doing nothing, but rather to confront an evildoer and retaliate with non-violence. The goal of an evildoer is to humiliate the other and require their submission. So we are not to simply sit back and soak up whatever the evildoer wants to do. We are called to resist with non-violence. Each of Jesus’ examples is a response of non-violent resistance to an evildoer.
To turn the other cheek…if someone struck you on your right cheek, it was intended to be an insult. Of course, if someone hits us we want to hit them back with ever growing intensity: confronting evil with violence. But Jesus calls us to turn the other cheek and force them to strike you again on the other side of your face without bowing your heard or signaling submission; to strike you as an equal. So to turn the other cheek is to refuse submission and to force the other into striking you again. The objective is to bring shame on the one who is doing the evil act, to demonstrate it is immoral and wrong.
To take your coat…Jesus shares a radical non-violent practice for anyone who finds themselves being sued for their garments. In such cases, the law in Exodus and Deuteronomy forbid the taking of a person’s last piece of clothing. What Jesus is suggesting here is that the person being sued for their coat or their next-to-last piece of clothing, should also give them their last piece of clothing. They are to strip naked in the courtroom and require the rich plantiff to experience the shame of requiring a person to have no clothes at all and thereby break the law. Again, it is a non-violent, aggressive action intended to bring shame on the evildoer.
To carry a soldier’s pack…it was common practice among the armies of the ancient near East to require the people in the lands they were passing through and conquering to carry their huge, heavy packs. To prevent abuses, the Roman government of Jesus’ day limited how long someone could carry the soldier’s pack and that was one mile. So, if someone was required to carry a pack one mile and carried it two miles instead, it was a violation of Roman law, leading to the risk of sanction by his commanders.
Jesus is not recommending passive responses, nor is he recommending a violent counterattack. Jesus’ teaches us to find a third way, a non-violent way, an alternative way that demonstrates the injustice of what is being done.
Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King were influential in promoting the principles of non-violent resistance in the last century. Non-violent resistance is not for cowards. One is passive and non-violent physically, but very active spiritually.[1] The goal is not to defeat or humiliate the opponent but rather to win them over to understanding new ways to create cooperation and community.[2] With a non-violent approach, one accepts suffering without retaliation; accepts violence but never commits to it. One learns to avoid physical violence toward others and also learns to love the opponents with “agape” or unconditional love – a love given not for what one will receive in return, but for the sake of love alone. It is God flowing through the human heart.[3]
Both Gandhi and King discovered through non-violent resistance you were able to learn to love your enemy. Virtually everyone, both in ancient times and today, practice the hate of the enemy. Loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you was a radical reversal of this practice. It was an idea whose time had come.
For Jesus the kingdom of God is good news for our enemies as well as for the people of Israel. Jesus made peace by healing his enemies and doing good for those who hated him. Jesus’ words and actions about loving your enemy were an extension to practicing God’s goodness. Since God is good toward those who do evil as well as who do good, we are called to follow the example of God who does good to all and whose desire is peace for all. This is required from each one of us if we want to live our best life now.
Theologian G. K. Chesterton said, “The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.” To be complete, mature, full-grown adults, perfect in the sense of having attained the end or purpose of human life, is not to pursue the mentality of the warrior who becomes a hero by killing the enemy. The chief purpose of human life is to love the enemy, finding ways of non-violent resistance to evil that will in turn create the possibility of God’s kingdom on earth. The formation of such a non-violent practitioner of the law of love is the fulfillment of God’s purpose for every human being.
What Jesus came to show us through the Sermon on the Mount is it’s about Jesus himself. It was the blueprint for his own life. He asks nothing of his followers that he hasn’t faced himself. It’s about discovering the living God in the loving, and dying Jesus, and learning to reflect his love into the world that needs it so badly. It shows us how to live our best lives now in community because the life you live matters in the lives of others. How you care for a laborer matters. How you care for a widow matters. How you care for the orphan matters. How you care for the poor, the downtrodden, the outcast, the weak: it all matters.
Most people just give up living where they slowly die little by little, piece by piece. They shrink from the responsibility of serving one another, failing to grow and mature in their life and their faith in Christ. We are called to be like God; we are called to engage the world in our journey of faith and to do so is to care and love one another.
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