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.”
—The words of Jesus from Matthew 5:38-42
When was the last time you heard someone preach a sermon on the Scripture passage at the beginning of this blog post? In our current culture of always looking out for Number One, such teaching seems very radical.
Imagine what it would be like if you made a deliberate choice to live your life according to this brief paragraph from Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.”
:
First of all, you would never resist an evil person. If the evil person hits you, you must turn your other cheek and allow him or her to hit you again. This applies not only to physical hitting, but also to emotional “hitting” and psychological “hitting,” as well.
As if that’s not enough, if such an evil person sues you seeking your underwear—yeah, that’s what a tunic was in New Testament times—you must give him or her your other clothing, too. So, there you stand naked and the evil person simply walks away with your clothing. Imagine that!
Even more, if an evil person compels you to walk a mile, willingly walk two miles. In other words, do above and beyond what’s required of you by someone who doesn’t have any right to ask you to begin with.
Lastly, if this same evil person wants to borrow from you, give willingly whatever he or she asks.
At the heart of this radical teaching of Jesus is the compelling reality that God cares for those He loves. If you willingly give away what an evil person compels you to give, then God will supply your need. The question for every individual believer is quite simple: Do we believe what Jesus said? Are we willing to take Him at His word? Are we willing to live our lives this way?
Suppose an evil person takes your job away. That’s happened to me and to several of my friends. Do we willingly give our jobs away? Or, do we do everything in our power to defeat the evil person and obtain “justice?”
Suppose a bunch of evil people tell lies about you or say things that damage your reputation. Do you willingly give away your good name and surrender the truth about yourself? Or, do you rise up and defend your reputation and the truthfulness of what you’ve said or done?
Radical teaching—that’s the kind of teaching Jesus taught. That’s why the pathway of obedience to Christ leads to a radical discipleship.
I have to start every day asking myself if I’m willing to submit to God’s way. It surely doesn’t come easily. How about you?
Will you pray with me?
Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.
How we need Your mercy and grace to even begin to think we can fulfill such teaching of Your Son. It’s radical teaching. Jesus wants us to be radical disciples. We don’t want to surrend our wills to His will.
Please help us, precious Father, to learn to trust You so completely that we can let everything that defines us slip through our hands without trying to defend ourselves. Help us to learn what true obedience means.
And, thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
2 comments:
...and thank you, dear Heavenly Father, for sending us dear Dean Wilson to help us face these difficult teachings and call us to attend to them, that we may grow more Christlike in our walk. He is truly a gift. In Jesus' Name.
Thanks for your challenging commentary on this important passage, Dean. It may be true that it is seldom a sermon text in mainstream Evangelical churches, but this passage, along with its broader context in the Sermon on the Mount, is at the heart of the Anabaptist commitment to "biblical nonresistance." I would note that this teaching primarily applies to retaliation in kind against an enemy who intends to do us harm. It is not, I believe, grounds for inaction and unconcern regarding injustice against the weak and the poor. Even in those cases, however, violence and hostility are not consistent with kingdom values.
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