Experiments In Forgiving Series

Matthew 5:38-42 [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 the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. [40] And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. [41] And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. [42] Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. (ESV)

This has been a difficult back to school for kids this year. Some have been out of school for a year and a half. They have experienced the withdrawal of lost sports, social clubs, music, drama and other activities of getting together with classmates. Throw into the mix the demands for vaccines, screening and vaccine passports and the frustration and hostility just escalates. Individual liberties are clashing with public demands. What then is the proper response for balancing public expectations with individual liberties? The response has been one of hostility for many

How should we deal with the expectations of others and the hostility that inevitability that results? Some cite Jesus’ sermon on the mount as a solution. But no part of the Sermon on the Mount has been so misinterpreted and misapplied as Mt. 5:38–42. It has been misinterpreted to mean that Christians are to be sanctimonious doormats. It has been used to promote pacifism, conscientious objection to military service, lawlessness, anarchy, and a host of other positions that it does not support. The Russian writer Tolstoy based one of his best-known novels on this passage. The thesis of War and Peace is that the elimination of police, the military, and other forms of authority would bring a utopian society. The modern Antifa and defunding of police movements would concur. But Jesus already had made plain that He did not come to eliminate even the smallest part of God’s law (Mt. 5:17–19), which includes respect for and obedience to legitimate human law and authority.

Therefore, how can we come to grips with Jesus` extraordinary directives here while living in a world of hostility, greed and vengeance? The way not to do it, was the way of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5:20). Their plan included their insistence on personal rights and vengeance. In His fifth illustration contrasting their righteousness with God’s, Jesus again shows how rabbinic tradition had twisted God’s holy law to serve the selfish purposes of unholy people.

Here in Matthew 5:38-42 we see Jesus presenting us God’s standard as an Experiment for us in Forgiving. Jesus outlines: 1) The Principle of Mosaic Law (Matthew 5:38), and gives four illustrations on: 2) The Perspective of Divine Truth (Matthew 5:39-42).

Jesus presents us God’s standard as an Experiment for us in Forgiving as He outlines:

1) The Principle of Mosaic Law. (Matthew 5:38)

Matthew 5:38 [38]"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' (ESV)

Please turn to Deuteronomy 19

This quotation in Matthew 5:38 ]"You have heard that it was said”, is taken directly from the Old Testament (Ex. 21:24; Lev. 24:20; Deut. 19:21) and reflects the principle of lex talionis (“law of kind”), or justice of equal measure, one of the most ancient law codes. Simply put, it required that punishment exactly match the crime. The same idea is carried in the expressions tit for tat and quid pro quo. The earliest record of lex talionis is in the Code of Hammurabi, the great Babylonian king who lived a hundred or so years before Moses (eighteenth century B.C.). It is likely, however, that the principle was in wide use long before that time. Nevertheless, in light of prevailing ethical thought Jesus contrasts radically with most others of his day in stressing the need to decisively break the natural chain of evil action and reaction that characterizes human relationships. (Blomberg, C. (1992). Matthew (Vol. 22, p. 113). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

Moses outlines the principle in Deuteronomy 19

Deuteronomy 19:18-21 [18] The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, [19] then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. [20] And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. [21] Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. (ESV)

• Most people, including the Scribes and Pharisees, have completely missed both the context and intent of this passage. Verse 18 specifies that it is the state who is to take action. This is not an issue of personal vengeance. This passage is meant as a guideline for state punishment to be proportionate to the crime.