Matthew 5: 38 – 48
The Golden Rule
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
In addition to the apostle Matthew who recorded this part of our Lord’s teaching, the disciple Luke also felt led by our Precious Holy Spirit to list this important truth.
Luke 6: 20 – 36 27 “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. 32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Some teacher’s say that Luke just gives us the condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount which is highlighted in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 5 through 7. It could be a condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount, but this I believe is not so. I do want to point out a significant difference today. If we turn to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5 we read this in verses 1 and 2, “1 And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. 2 Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying…” Now look again at verse 17 of chapter 6 of Luke, “17 And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases.” In Matthew we see our Lord go up and here in the Gospel of Luke we see Him coming down.
Our Lord had just picked His 12 men who would receive more teaching and insight than His other disciples. The level place was probably a plateau on the mountain. Here our Lord Is addressing both His disciples and the faithful believers.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Our Lord has set up for us which He lists here certain principles the first is His rule of ‘Return’. What you do will come back to you.
Have you ever seen the ‘Rambo’ movie series? Well, I along with probably a lot of other Christians have failed to obey our Lord with this directive. I would like to call all of us ‘Lambo’s’. We are Christians who have taken marital arts. Our version is that if a person wants to slap us up the side of our heads then we would like to pray for them. By this I mean we would like to lay hands on them, which means we quite a few hands. It is hard to maintain a position of not striking back. We need our Lord’s direct care and control to prevent this counter action. I do believe however, if someone wanted to harm others then we should be ready to stop those crimes no matter what.
40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
We next receive direction from our Adoni Yeshua, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that address how we ‘Respond’ in certain situations. If we all live during this time in history, the Roman Empire was in control. Their soldiers are stationed in captured territory. They could walk up to you and demand your cloak or grab you and tell you to carry their equipment for a mile. Our Lord wants us through love to blow the enemy’s minds. If someone wants to take away from you something valuable then tell them they don’t have to take you to court. They can have the item. In the long run it is all worthless anyway. We are only passing through. This world is not our home.
If they demanded you do something that they should be doing, such as your co-workers assignments, then do double without taking the credit.
You know that any person doing something like these two examples will definitely draw attention. Hopefully, the Lord will get the glory.
42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Now here is something that we all want to skip. We say that, ‘the person is a lazy bum who squanders his money, and you are expecting me to bail this person out?’ Yep! This isn’t my rules it is our Master’s Policy.
The next principle is our Lord’s rule of ‘Rewards’. If you are investing in the things He wants us to invest in then we will receive from Him – ‘34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.
Have you ever heard of the ‘Golden Rule’? Well here it is.
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
The next rule is His law of ‘Relationships – ‘36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.’
We need to remember that we are all adopted sons and daughters of our Precious Holy God. Our purpose in life is to represent our Loving Dad to the perishing world. May He give us all the strength and resources in order to accomplish His Will in our lives?
Now, before we end, I want you to think about something regarding this Scripture. Who wrote this Gospel? - Matthew. What was his profession before he came and followed the Lord? – Tax collector. Put yourself in his position as he is listening to our Lord’s teaching when He says, “46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
‘Twice’ he hears our Lord say, ‘Do not even the tax collectors do so?’
Our Lord will call on Matthew to do exactly what has been said later on in his life. The service of Matthew is familiar to all who call themselves Christian. His close association with The Lord Jesus Christ tends to obscure the man who shed the ignominious role of tax collector to become the most intellectual of the twelve apostles chosen by the Lord. The awesome task of carrying the word of Christ to a people oppressed for centuries and suspicious of any newcomer was assumed by St. Matthew with a determination that could not be denied, If the fifteenth century civilization could laugh at Columbus who said the world was round, what did they say to Matthew fifteen hundred years earlier when he declared that Jesus was the Son of God. In simple terms, it wasn't easy. Matthew says it in Chapter 10 verse 16 when he quotes our Lord Jesus as saying to his disciples: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves."
Matthew preached the Gospel for many years after the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, traveling throughout the Holy Land and finally meeting a martyr's death at the hands of pagans in Ethiopia. His final verse is his epitaph. "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
