As some of you remembered back in May, four weeks before my very first cruise, I fell at the local Y injuring my shoulder. What followed was accident reports being filed, doctor visits, ex-rays, MRIs, and the diagnosis of shoulder surgery. Looking on the internet I was discovering the cost was to be between $25,000 to $50,000. The insurance company felt they were not fully liable and would settle for $5000 in medical bills. Needless to say I contacted an attorney.
He began to talk about suing for negligence and pain and suffering. My goal was just for them to agree on paying all of the doctor bills. He informed me to keep my arm in a sling at all times including while I was on the cruise. The problem was my arm did not bother me unless I tried to raise it over my head. I did not want to be uncomfortable while on the cruise so I did not wear the sling. Pictures on Facebook upset him very much. And as some you remember the surgery was not necessary due to the healing touch of Jesus. I was compensated for the $500 in medical care that was billed to me.
People tend to go crazy with the idea of getting rich through frivolous lawsuits. I spent an afternoon reading some examples and was fascinated with some of them. Let me share three with you.
A volunteer fireman was responding to a fire with his light bar on. He was driving slowly due to the snow that was falling. He approached a T intersection where he was planning on turning left. He noticed a vehicle approaching from his left. Since the other vehicle had the right of way, he stopped 10’ short of the stop sign. The driver of the other vehicle slammed on his brakes, left the roadway, and ran over some bushes before slamming into the fireman’s stopped vehicle. The fireman was sued for being “negligently stopped” because the other driver expected him to run the stop sign which would have been illegal. This was a contributory factor to the accident. The fireman’s insurance paid the claim to settle out of court.
Another interesting case was the Bodine lawsuit. On the night of March 1, 1982 Ricky Bodine a 19 year old along with three other friends decided to steal a floodlight from the roof of the Enterprise High School Gymnasium. Ricky climbed the roof, removed the floodlight, and lowered it to the ground. As he was walking across the roof, he fell through the skylight, suffering terrible injuries. His injuries left him a quadriplegic. Since the accident occurred on school property, the school system was sued for $8 million. The lawsuit was settled for a sum of $260,000 plus Ricky would receive $1200 a month for life.
And of course the lawsuit that many have pointed to as the most frivolous lawsuit, Liebeck vs. McDonalds for the hot coffee spill. In 1994 79 year old Stella Liebeck was with her son when they stopped at a McDonalds drive-thru for coffee. She placed the cup between her legs as she took off the lid to add cream and sugar. When her son accelerated, she crushed the Styrofoam cup and spilt 190 degree coffee between her legs. She suffered third degree burns, spent eight days in the hospital, and two years of medical treatment including skin grafts.
In the lawsuit against McDonalds it was argued that the temperature of the coffee served was extreme. The coffee in coffee makers at home is set at a temperature of 140 degrees.
McDonald’s argument was that the coffee was heated at 10 degrees to retain its heat until arriving at the location where it would be consumed. The cup was clearly labeled that the contents were hot.
Mrs. Liebeck’s hospitalization cost $18,000. The jury granted her $160,000 to cover the $18,000 hospital bill plus $2.7 million in punitive damages. The trial judge reduced that settlement to $640,000. The case was ultimately decided out of court for a non-disclosed amount.
In a two year span premiums for malpractice insurance for doctors rose by 15%. The insurance premium is currently between $15,000 and $36,000 annually. This has resulted in older rural physicians retiring and a decrease in the desire for younger doctors to become a rural physician.
Lawsuits have gotten out of control and we are all affected. When God delivered his people from Egypt He gave them laws to live by in order for them to function as a society. They can be found in Exodus chapters 20-23. Don’t panic. We are not going to read all 4 chapters. Rather I want us to read Exodus 21:22-25.
“Now suppose two men are fighting, and in the process they accidentally strike a pregnant woman so she gives birth prematurely. If no further injury results, the man who struck the woman must pay the amount of compensation the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve. But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.”
Let’s first understand that God was not endorsing mutilation. He never expected anyone to have their hand cut off because they caused someone to lose their hand. His point was for the restitution to fit the loss. According to the courts Mrs. Liebeck deserved compensation. Based on God’s principal that compensation would have been for the $18,000 for medical bills, not the $640,000 awarded to her.
In today’s vernacular you might say a bumper for a bumper when it comes to car wrecks. Wouldn’t it be great if car insurance worked under God’s principal? About two years ago Debbie’s van got totaled. It wasn’t new but we had no issues with it. Best of all it belonged to us debt free. That changed after the wreck. The blue book value, on which the insurance company based their settlement, would not even come close to buying a vehicle to replace the van. It would have been satisfactory with me if they had found another van as close in mileage and age as the one we had and simply gave it to us. But that is not how it works and so now we have a car payment.
God commanded that justice fit the crime. If in a fight you knocked out someone’s tooth they could not demand your hand. Instead they would be awarded the value of the tooth. That is where the idea of the tooth fairy came from. (I’m sorry. That’s not true. I made that up!) Seriously though, God wanted to prevent situations from getting out of hand and leading to blood baths.
In January of 1865 Harmon McCoy, who had joined the Union army, was found murdered, presumably by a group of men led by William Anderson Hatfield. This was the beginning of decades of violence and conflict that we have fondly come to know as the Hatfield and McCoy Feud. The violence escalated years later over a sow and her pigs. The McCoys claimed that since the pig was on their property it must be their hog. The Hatfields countered the claim – because they could – and the matter was taken to court. The McCoys lost their claim in court because of the testimony of Bill Staton who was later murdered by two McCoy brothers. The feud later intensified when Roseanna McCoy began an affair with Johnse Hatfield. Johnse later abandoned Roseanna and married her cousin. This only stirred the fires of hatred. Two years later Ellison Hatfield was brutally murdered by three of Roseanna’s brothers who in turn were murdered as the vendetta reached epidemic proportions. Eventually eight men were tried in West Virginia for the murders. Seven were given life sentences and the eighth was hanged in public, even though it was against the law, as a sign to the warring families to stop it. Both sides agreed to end the fighting in 1891. By then 13 people had died over the cost of a hog. Hardly an eye for an eye but it did escalate into a life for a life.
The Jews understood the principal of equal justice in the material things. But Jesus was about to upset yet another applecart.
Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.” There are things we need to understand about the culture of the time of Jesus to fully grasp these teachings and how to apply them to our lives.
We are told not to resist an evil person. The word “resist” in Greek is a military term. It spoke of an armed resistance. The evil person is not evil within themselves but rather evil in their actions. Jesus is declaring that we should not take up arms to battle those with evil intent. Rather we are to disarm them with kindness and love. Turning the other cheek is not about allowing someone to beat you up anymore than cutting off your hand would be acceptable.
Remember the old movies where a man would slap another man across the face as a challenge to a duel? That was a custom from the Middle East. It was the ultimate insult to slap someone on the cheek. But as a Christian we have the power within us not to allow insults to fester into anger. Jesus says if you are insulted by someone rather than retaliate, speak words of kindness and love opening yourself up for more insults. He wanted them and us to understand that being his follower was more demanding than being a follower of the Law. But let me state once again we are not obligated to be defenseless punching bags.
He continues Matthew 5:40 “If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.” God gave the Jews judges because they lacked the wisdom to settle their own cases. Jesus never intended for his followers to need judges.
1 Corinthians 6:1- 10 “When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life. If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are not respected by the church? I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues? But instead, one believer sues another—right in front of unbelievers!
Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated? Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers.
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.
How serious are lawsuits among believers? As serious as those sins that drive us to get on our soapboxes to preach against. Accept the injustice. Give them more than what they have asked for. That way they have no power over you.
He continues. Matthew 5:41 “If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.” During this time their was a practice know as "impressment" (to press into service) which, among other things, allowed a Roman soldier to force a Jewish native to carry his equipment for one Roman mile, no easy task considering a Roman soldier's backpack could weigh upwards of 100 pounds. It was a way to remind them of the fact that they had been conquered. It was especially an inconvenience if the direction was the opposite of their intended journey. As you can imagine, they were very resentful of this.
However, rather than show resentment and to also show that this evil action had no control over an individual Jesus said “Go the extra mile. Now you are serving, not from compulsion, but from love and kindness.” Imagine how staggering this would have been to a Roman soldier intent on ruining someone’s day. Not only that but now they had a companion as opposed to a captive.
Paul gives us a perspective on dealing with laws that we feel are unjust in Romans 13:3-4. “For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong. Would you like to live without fear of the authorities? Do what is right, and they will honor you. The authorities are God’s servants, sent for your good. But if you are doing wrong, of course you should be afraid, for they have the power to punish you. They are God’s servants, sent for the very purpose of punishing those who do what is wrong.”
Have you ever had a police car get behind you and start following you? You know you haven’t broken any laws. But you start to slow down to be sure you are at the speed limit. The longer they follow you the more you wonder why. You turn and they do also. Now you are really nervous. Finally, they grow tired of you poking along and pass you when they can.
Do what is right and there will be no need to fear. In fact go overboard to do the right thing. That way you will never be guilty of doing the wrong thing. Go the extra mile. The authority will actually have less power to control you.
And lastly Matthew 5:42. “Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.” I will not loan money to anyone. If someone asks me for a dollar with the promise of paying me back, I say “No.” However I will give them a dollar and if they choose to give it back later, that’s great. That way no one is ever in debt to me and I don’t become bitter over them not repaying a loan. I do have my limits on how often I can afford to “give” money away. Jesus is teaching us if we have it to give, give. If we do borrow, do so interest free. In this manner, even those with evil intent are disarmed.
It was a lot easier for the Jews to follow the written law. It probably would be for us to do so also. But God’s law is written on our heart. It can be hard to follow at times. In Luke 14:28 Jesus tells us to “count the cost.” Following him will cost us our pride, our possessions, our service, and our finances. But the result is living a life free of evil influence in your life and peace beyond understanding.
