• In the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, Tevye and his neighbors have been informed that the Tsar has evicted all Jews from their village and confiscated their land. There is a great upheaval and anger in the community, as you can imagine. If someone told this to you and all the people in your area, how would you feel, and what would you do? There is talk of an uprising and revolt. One of the villagers says to Tevye, “We should defend ourselves. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth!” “Very good,” mutters Tevye. “That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.”
• Tevye’s insight is the same as Jesus’ reinterpretation of the Old Testament law. They knew the law was good, as far as it went, but it was inadequate and could perpetuate a cycle of violence. Jesus and Tevye were quoting the book of Leviticus which said, “If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Leviticus 24:19-20
• There were good reasons for this law. First of all, the fear of justice would limit violence. If you realize that if you injure someone that you will be injured in the same way, it gives you pause. And secondly, there was a limit to how far retribution could go. If someone shoves you, according to the law, the most you can do is shove them back, you don’t hit them with a club. If someone kicks you, you cannot legally cut off their leg. If someone shoots you in the arm with a pistol, you don’t shoot them with a shotgun.
• But this is what happened recently. David A. Slagle, an operating room nurse from Lawrenceville, Georgia, tells a wild story about an experience he had: “I served as a nurse in the operating room for several years. One day a couple arrived, both with gunshot wounds. The man had awakened late for his first day on the job because his wife did not set the alarm. He expressed his displeasure by shooting her in the arm. Not to be outdone, she retreated to another room, got a shotgun, and shot him in the arm. As I gathered their paperwork in the preoperative unit, I heard something one would only expect to hear in a country song. Separated by a deputy sheriff and handcuffed to their respective stretchers, the husband began: ‘I love you, baby, and I’m sorry I shot you.’ The wife responded, ‘I love you too, baby, and I’m sorry I shot you.’”
• What is the meaning of what Jesus is saying in our Scripture today?
1. Jesus is teaching us to stop the cycle of violence and revenge.
• Jesus is saying that we are to stop trying to get “one up” on people who have wronged us. We stop trying to get even. We even stop keeping score.
• In Judith Viorst’s book for children entitled I’ll Fix Anthony, Anthony’s younger brother complains about the way his older brother treats him. The little brother says: “My brother Anthony can read books now, but he won’t read any books to me. He plays checkers with Bruce from his school. But when I want to play he says, ‘Go away or I’ll clobber you.’ I let him wear my Snoopy sweatshirt, but he never lets me borrow his sword. Mother says deep down in his heart Anthony loves me. Anthony says deep down in his heart he thinks I stink. Mother says deep deep down in his heart, where he doesn’t even know it, Anthony loves me. Anthony says deep deep down in his heart he still thinks I stink. When I’m six I’ll fix Anthony. . . . When I’m six [and we go swimming] I’ll float, but Anthony will sink to the bottom. I’ll dive off the board, but Anthony will change his mind. I’ll breathe in and out when I should, but Anthony will only go glug, glug. . . . When I’m six my teeth will fall out, and I’ll put them under the bed, and the tooth fairy will take them away and leave dimes. Anthony’s teeth won’t fall out. He’ll wiggle and wiggle them, but they won’t fall out. I might sell him one of my teeth, but I might not. . . . Anthony is chasing me out of the playroom. He says I stink. He says he is going to clobber me. I have to run now, but I won’t have to run when I’m six. When I’m six, I’ll fix Anthony.” Most of us know the feeling of Anthony’s little brother — whether we want to fix a family member, a person at work or a one-time friend who did us wrong.
• The problem is that even if Anthony’s little brother could do all those things when he was six, would he really get even? No, because there is no such thing as getting even, there would just be another ugly response from Anthony. And then Anthony’s little brother would dream up another scheme to get back, and there would be one more ugly response, and the whole thing will keep going until someone stops the vicious cycle.
• Jesus is saying that if you belong to him, you get the privilege of stopping the cycle. Aren’t you glad? You stop trying to exact a tooth for a tooth, and you let God be the dentist.
• And you see, Jesus was not just saying this, he followed it as our divine example. When the authorities and their guards came for him in the garden, Peter started a fight with a sword. And what was Jesus’ response? He said, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Then he healed the man Peter had wounded. And be sure that he was quite able to take great revenge on his enemies at that point, for he said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” Matthew 26:52-54
• The song says,
“He could have called ten thousand angels
To destroy the world and set Him free.
He could have called ten thousand angels,
But He died alone for you and me.”
• Actually, twelve legions would not be 10,000 angels, but 72,000. But that’s beside the point. The point is that Jesus could have used his divine power and prerogatives, but he didn’t. He did not strike back or even protect himself. He took the worst that evil had to give and triumphed over it. He surrendered his case to God and God vindicated him in the end. The evil perpetrated against him did not end in the destruction of the human race, but its redemption.
2. Jesus was saying that we have nothing to fear, and there is therefore no reason to seek vengeance.
• Psalm 135:14 says, “For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.” Isaiah the prophet heard God saying to him, “‘No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,’ declares the Lord.” Isaiah 54:17
• Jesus deeply cares about what you are going through. He understands the hurt and his heart goes out to you. And he wants you to know that in the end, God is our Judge and Vindicator. He will take on your case. He takes even the evil that happens to us and redeems it in the end. It does not ultimately matter because we have a God who rights the wrongs of the world and turns evil into good. There is ultimate justice. On The Day he will put all things to rights.
• The only way you can follow and obey what Jesus says here is if you understand that you don’t have anything to lose. You are not just living for this world, and it is not in this world where all the scores are settled. It does not matter what people do to you here and now, because there is a Divine Judge, and what people do does not alter your eternity in the least. So you don’t have to resist the evil person. So you can go two miles when commanded to go one. So you can turn the other cheek, because it does not ultimately matter — except, of course, to the other person. You can lend and give with no expectation of return, because your happiness is not tied to what you own here, but the treasure you have built up in heaven. It is more important to be a follower of Jesus than a person who always gets their way, and of whom no one can take advantage.
• So we can be people of peace. We seek to bring healing rather than getting even. We give forgiveness, even when it is undeserved. We seek reconciliation and restoration of relationships. We seek to build up rather than tear down. We pull others toward us rather than push away. We want to reconcile our relationships, even when the other party does not.
• The apostle Paul wrote: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:17-18). Sometimes it is possible and sometimes it is not. Sometimes your efforts to bring about a reconciliation will work wonderfully and surprisingly; sometimes you will be surprised that they have no affect on the other person. But you are obligated to do what you can do. You are to look for opportunities. Love will find a way. Paul went on to say, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:19-21). We are not to be passive about ruined relationships. We are to be intentionally proactive — even if we believe it will do not good.
• Forgiveness is not a matter of saying, “Oh, that’s alright. It doesn’t matter. I forgive you.” No, real forgiveness says, “It’s not alright, and what you did does matter. It was hurtful and wrong, but I forgive you anyway.” Forgiveness does not dismiss the wrong, it acknowledges it, and still extends mercy and grace. We can do it because we remember the truth of the scripture which says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
3. Jesus was telling us to take on the character of God.
• Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 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.” Matthew 5:43-45
• Being a person of grace, mercy and forgiveness is to take on the loving nature of God. As Jesus said, God does not just bless those who are good, he does good even to those who are not. All people have the blessing of life and the good things available in this life. What is amazing are the many people who do not seem to be affected by God’s goodness and do not understand it or recognize it. Nevertheless, God is good to them. If they treat him well, he blesses them. If they do not treat him well, he blesses them. And we are to model the character of God, if God indeed lives in us.
• Jesus said, “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:46-48
• Don’t wait until you feel like you love someone. Love is not a feeling, it is an act. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”
• There was an amazing story recently that took place during the riots in Egypt. As a backdrop remember that on New Year’s Day of this year there was a suicide bombing of a Christian church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, which killed 23 Christians, and wounded 97 others. And another incident took place days later when three men in a car sprayed automatic gunfire into a crowd of churchgoers, in the southern Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, killing at least seven people as they left a midnight service. But in spite of that, something dramatic took place during the Egyptian riots against the government. Government soldiers and police where everywhere, and many had been killed or beaten. But the time for prayer for Muslims came, and as these Muslims knelt for prayer, with their face to the ground, they were vulnerable and susceptible to attack by government soldiers. Dramatically, Christians began to surround the praying Muslims. They held hands and faced outward in a large circle to protect these men, even though they may have been their enemies and may have inflicted a great deal of harm on them or their fellow Christians. The reporter covering the story posted a picture of the Christians holding hands in a circle on Twitter and stated, “Bear in mind that this picture was taken a month after the Alexandria bombing where many Christians died in vain.”
• Perhaps there were those among the men praying who cheered the bombing of the church. Perhaps there were even collaborators. But the Christians there did not take justice into their own hands, they left justice to God. They were following the scripture which says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:19-21
• They did not take revenge, but left room for God to work, and by so doing may have done more to stop the cycle of violence than all the legislation and intervention of global powers. They did what Jesus had shown them by example. They were followers of the Lamb.
Rodney J. Buchanan
Amity United Methodist Church
February 20, 2011
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
