Jesus On Cheek-Turning
Part 8 in series Hearing Jesus Again
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
July 5, 2008
Let’s summarize where we’ve been. We started our series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount by discussing why it’s important to really give Jesus a new hearing. The following week we talked about who is well off, which is what Jesus dealt with in the Beatitudes. The next week we talked about Jesus’ focus on cultivating kingdom hearts – in other words, becoming the kinds of people who find it logical, natural, and easy to live the way God wants us to live. From there we moved into some illustrations Jesus gave that showed the difference between a rule-keeping, legalistic/rigid rightness, and a true rightness of the kingdom heart. The first was about anger – Jesus’ concern that we not only avoid killing people but that we tend to the anger and contempt that leads to violence. The second was about sexual attraction – that it’s not good enough to avoid committing adultery, but we must deal with the fantasized desire that leads to it. The third was about casual divorce –thinking it’s okay to divorce someone as long as we have followed the proper legal procedure. Jesus said we need to tend to the coldness in our hearts that often leads to divorce. Two weeks ago we look at oath-making. Jesus said, “Don’t make oaths – let your yes be yes and your no be no.” Jesus was concerned about the need we have to look right, and appear honest, and seem trustworthy, and present ourselves as genuine by pouring on more and more words that often manipulate people. Instead of trying to persuade people that we are trustworthy by guaranteeing, swearing, pledging, promising, etc., we should instead simply focus on being trustworthy and leave it at that. Last week I wandered off topic and we took a break from our series. Today we’re back at it, and we’ll deal with the last of Jesus’ contrasts between the old (and inadequate) righteousness and the new righteousness he was presenting – the righteousness of the heart. A righteousness that goes far beyond just whether or not we do bad things and gets down to why we do them, and addresses the evil hearts from which evil deeds inevitably flow. Before I get into the content of today’s message, I want to make sure we’ve understood and settled something. We will never ever become good people if we merely focus on our actions. Jesus understood way back then, and psychologists understand now, that our actions spring from our hearts (emotions, feelings, desires, leanings, affections, etc.). Of course we should not abandon doing right things, but we must pay attention to cultivating right hearts, because right actions easily, logically and naturally spring from right hearts. You can do right things from an unrighteous heart, but you will do them awkwardly, resentfully, and gritting your teeth all the way because you are acting against your own nature. It’s far easier to do right things from a right heart. Then you do what is right easily and with peace because your actions are in harmony with your basic nature. Make sense?
In this last direct contrast between the old righteousness (dikaiosune) and the new righteousness, Jesus takes on the topic of how we respond to personal injury – how we act when someone has wronged us, or is intending to. Perhaps nothing is more telling about the state of our heart than this. If you are curious about how you’re doing with cultivating a kingdom heart, ask yourself how you respond to people who are trying or intending to harm you. Nothing is more personal. Again, notice the progression in Jesus’ sermon. Let’s say you have already dealt with the anger and contempt in your heart. Let’s say you have confronted and dealt with fantasized desire (lust) and have determined to be long-suffering and patient in your marriage and to value marriage the way God does. Let’s say you have dealt in your heart with your need to persuade others of things against their will and you are comfortable simply leaving them in the hands of God. Do you think that if you have taken these things seriously and brought yourself to where you are able to do these things that it will affect how you respond to people who harm you? Of course. See, you have already committed yourself to cultivating a heart that is God-centered and God-directed – a heart that is free from anger and contempt, from lust, from selfishness and shallowness, from manipulation and the need to control others. Certainly from time to time you will still find yourself tested and tempted by these things, but for the most part you are uncontrolled by them. They do not master you. You have embarked on the journey to empty yourself of yourself! Your greatest concern is no longer for yourself. And so you are free to carry through with your sincere intentions to do what is good and avoid what is evil.
In this context Jesus delivers to us the greatest challenge. When others do evil to you, do good back to them. When others hurt you, wish them well. Let’s read the text.
Matthew 5:38-48 (NIV)
38 "You have heard that it was said, ’Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
39 But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
43 "You have heard that it was said, ’Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Jesus begins with, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’” Contrary to popular opinion, this Old Testament law was not given to allow people to take revenge. It was in fact put in place to keep people from taking excessive revenge. Under this law, if someone poked out your eye, you could not go and poke out BOTH of his eyes. If someone stole a goat, you could not go and steal all of his livestock. The purpose of the law was to prevent punishments that went far beyond the crimes that provoked them.
So Jesus begins with the old standard of righteousness the people had known and practiced. “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.” And then, sticking with the pattern already established in earlier parts of the sermon, Jesus goes on to present the new standard based on the rightness of the Kingdom Heart. He begins with “do not resist an evil person.”
This would be a good time to note that everything Jesus has said flies in the face of what comes naturally for human beings. Anger and contempt, lust, faithlessness in marriage, verbal manipulation – these are all things we come by naturally. And perhaps nothing comes more naturally than resisting someone who is harming us. Here Jesus gives us five specific examples of how a God-shaped heart responds to personal injury.
First is the command to turn the other cheek. (Get volunteer). Most people are right-handed. A person who slaps someone with his right hand has to use the back of his hand in order to hit the person on the right cheek. Some scholars suggest that what Jesus is saying here is that after you have been back-handed on the right cheek, simply turn and face your persecutor, giving him a chance to slap the other cheek if he wishes. If you do this, you look him in the eye. When violence is met not with more violence and not with fearful running away, violence tends to wither. If I hit you in the cheek and you take that in, then turn and look me in the eye, I might hit you on the other cheek. Or I might stand there looking at your quickly swelling and bruising face and bleeding mouth and not be able to bring myself to hit you again. If you hit me back, I will then hit you naturally in defense. If you run away, I will not have had to deal with my sin against you. On the other hand, if you do not resist me but simply look me in the eye, then my sin against you is what stares back at me. Oftentimes this in itself will prevent another strike.
Other scholars don’t get into it this deeply and say that Jesus was simply suggesting that we do not take our defense into our own hands – that we remain vulnerable. Jesus is saying that a kingdom-hearted person will do this naturally. Remember, if we have taken seriously everything Jesus has said so far, that will be true. This is the kind of people we will become as we live the way Jesus told us to live.
Next Jesus mentions that if someone is suing you for your cloak, give him your tunic as well. Now this is radical. The cloak was an outer garment, but the tunic was an inner garment. Jesus is saying, “Do more than is demanded of you, even if it means sometimes you end up standing naked in a courtroom.” This would have a similar effect to looking a slapper in the eye. But since Jesus is focused on the heart here, we must be very clear. Jesus is not saying, “Here are some great ways to take revenge on people who wrong you. Don’t hit them, just stand and look at them – that’ll burn them up. And if they want your cloak, get naked and give them your tunic. Yeah! Stand there with your hands on your hips and say, “Sue me, will you? Oh no you di’-ent – Here, just take all my clothes – now I’m standing here naked, how you do you like that?” If we do these things in this spirit, we have completely missed the point. Jesus is telling us what it means to have Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom hearts are hearts that genuinely love others. They have dealt with their sin-sick needs to control others, to be held in high esteem, to manipulate people, and to form their opinions of themselves based on what others think of them. They don’t need the praise of others but can live selflessly in service to all – even those who do not appreciate them and seek to harm them.
Next Jesus tells us that if someone forces you to go one mile with him go two miles, an idea from which we get the phrase, “going the extra mile.” We read this in 2008 and think, “Who forces us to walk a mile with them, ever? How is this relevant to my life?” In Jesus’ day Palestine was occupied by Rome and it wasn’t unusual for a Roman soldier to go to the door of a Jew and force him to carry military equipment, or water, or other stuff, for a mile. By the way, one mile was the Roman law. By law a Roman soldier could not require a Jew to walk more than a mile. So Jesus is saying, “Go above and beyond. Take the needs of this person into account. Don’t get down into the dirt of resentment toward this person, but take their burdens on yourself and offer to do more than what is required of you.” And remember, what Jesus is telling us is that this is what the kingdom heart looks like. It is not always fending for itself but considers the needs of others.
Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV)
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Is this relevant in our lives today? Of course! How many of us play the “I’m so put out” card? Without even thinking about it, I just did it Wednesday night. I had just made PB & J sandwiches for myself and the girls. I got downstairs and Christy, who 20 minutes earlier had indicated she wasn’t interested, changed her mind and asked me to make her a sandwich. Now I didn’t whine and complain about this. I didn’t argue with her. I turned and went upstairs and made her sandwich. But I probably rolled my eyes a little bit. And even if I didn’t, I felt “put out.” What Jesus is saying to me here is, “If your wife asks you to make her a sandwich, go up and make her a sandwich. Don’t cop a “tude” about it. Pour her a glass of milk (which I did) and see it as an opportunity to love and serve her. The TV show you were watching or the book you were reading isn’t as important as serving someone else.” How often do we find ourselves reading the Bible or some other “Christian” book when suddenly someone interrupts us for some reason and we get so upset and offended and play the “put out,” card. “Do you mind not asking me to love and serve you right now – can’t you see I’m being spiritual?” I hate when I find myself doing that. I used to try to get up early in the morning to pray and read the Bible and almost invariably one of my girls (who were small then) would get up and come downstairs and start doing the kid thing, demanding my attention. I struggled so badly with that. Here I was praying, reading God’s Word, becoming the man of God that I needed to be – and along come these little pests demanding my time and attention. Who did they think they were? Opportunities for me to become what I believed, that’s what they were. Chances to put into practice what I was reading about. I had to step back and realize that as soon as one of my children needed me in the morning it was not an interruption but rather time to stop reading about being spiritual and really go out and get in the game. Go the extra mile. Take every opportunity to love and serve people – even if they are people you don’t know who are taking advantage of you. Look to their interests as well as your own.
Next Jesus says that we are to give to the one who asks and not turn away from the one seeking to borrow from us.
Matthew 5:42 (NIV)
42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
I’ll be honest, I struggle here with how to preach this fairly. Whether nor not it sounds too bleeding-heart liberal, I just have to say that we have gotten pretty good at finding reasons not to give. “Oh, he’ll just use it to buy beer.” “Didn’t I just see her down on that corner a week ago?” Where it gets tough is that these examples , as I have taught already, are not commandments. They are examples. There may be times when we should not give, just as there will be times when we cannot stay and give extra assistance to someone. If I’m helping someone with something and get a phone call suddenly that I am urgently needed at home, I don’t say, “You’ll have to handle this without me – I’m busy obeying God.” We are to use our judgment at all times. So there will be times when we maybe should not give. But if it’s the heart Jesus is concerned about (and it is), we must be very careful here. When it comes to money, our tendency will be to not give and then find “good sounding” reasons for having not given. We can always find a way to make it seem reasonable and prudent not to give. But think about it. Jesus is saying to turn the other cheek, willing to let someone hit us again, to be willing to give to someone ALL of our clothes, to have hearts that seek to go the extra mile with someone. Would the same Jesus who suggests these things suggest also the rigorous drill we put ourselves through in regard to giving? Will this guy buy booze with my money? Is he poor because of his own bad choices? If so, why should I have to help him at all? Jesus has shown us that a kingdom heart is an above and beyond, extravagantly others-centered heart. Jesus wants us to be open, to live freely in God’s hands, to trust him, to not cling tightly to our own agendas and well-being. Does this change just because money might be involved? Of course not. Ironically, I think there are some people who would find themselves able to consistently turn the other cheek and let themselves be struck again before they would be able to consistently drop a few bills in a poor person’s basket. [Remember last week. I love you. I love you, and we gotta look at this.
Finally Jesus shows us the general principle that all these amazing behaviors are coming from:
Matthew 5:43-44 (NIV)
43 "You have heard that it was said, ’Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
It’s all about the love. A kingdom heart is a loving heart. A kingdom heart has let go of its selfish concerns and embraced God’s heart for the redemption of every man, woman, and child in this world. And Jesus’ plan to do that is not the way of the aggressor, who becomes part of the cycle of violence by hitting back or seeking revenge. But on the other hand, neither is Jesus plan to simply flee from violence, or to resentfully give our clothing and possessions to others, or to offer to go an extra mile so we can tell off the person who’s making us do it. Jesus offers a third way. Take violence into yourself. With love, confront your persecutor with their own violence and anger by quietly standing and taking it. Both fleeing and hitting back let him off the hook. Give more than you’re being sued for, and walk farther than you’re required to walk. Give to the person who is in need. Lay down your interests so that you can genuinely take up the interest of others.
“he who makes himself a servant can never be made a slave.”
When you make yourself a servant, people will seriously not know what to make of this and you will have a shot at playing a part in helping God redeem those who have harmed you.
When Jesus was born God set into motion a divine conspiracy. A plan to take back the souls of men and women from the kingdom of darkness – one at a time – not through force but through love – and bring them into the kingdom of light. Once this happens to you – once you are rescued – you become part of that conspiracy and your mission in life is to be useful to the king in bringing as many people as possible into his kingdom.
Colossians 1:12-14 (NIV)
12 …giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
If you are going to be of any value in the divine conspiracy, you must develop the heart of your king. In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus shows us what that heart looks like, how it thinks, how it sees itself and others, how it relates to God and our fellow man.
I pray today you will consider that heart. I pray that you see God’s heart developing in you, for that’s what I see when I look at many of you. I pray as we finish up Matthew 5 you will have gotten a powerful vision of what the kingdom heart looks like, I pray you have seen your own heart more clearly. Most of all, I pray that you have found a deeper desire to have a heart where it will be pleasing for God to dwell and work through you the same miracle in others that God worked, and is working, in you. Let’s pray together.
