GodSprings - 16, March, 2017

Can I Follow Jesus’ Version of Eye for an Eye?

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Matthew 5:38-42

Once a little boy named Johnny was in the garden filling in a large hole. The neighbor seeing this peered over the fence. Interested in what this young boy was up to, he politely asked, “What are you doing, Johnny?”

“My goldfish died”, replied the boy with tears rolling down his cheeks. Looking up at the neighbor he said, “I’ve just buried him.”

The neighbor was concerned. But looking at the size of the hole the neighbor asked curiously, “isn’t that an awfully big hole for a gold fish”?

Little Johnny patted down the last heap of earth and then replied, “That’s because he’s inside your dumb cat.”

When we are wronged in some way, our natural inclination is to fight and get even. Deep down in our human heart is a vengeful and retaliatory spirit. The strong, tough, courageous and macho kind of guy is whom the society terms as heroes. Those who are forgiving, and gentle are considered to be a coward.

The Jewish understanding about paying the due comes from the phrase ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ This phrase gave them the license for vengeance or sort of a biblical permission to strike back.

But Jesus said something that is absolutely antithetical to everything in human society. In our society, everyone fights for their rights. We have a vengeful society if they don’t get their rights.

When we go through the Old Testament we find the phrase eye for eye and tooth for tooth being used three times in Exodus 21:22ff, Leviticus 24 and in Deuteronomy 19:21ff. This was a condition for the law courts and legal system. It was not at all a mandate for personal revenge. We need to understand this. God gave us laws like this law which simply means equal punishment for the crime. It was to control justice so that justice is fair and equal. The human heart always seeks to go beyond how it’s been offended.

The Pharisees missed this point. They perverted this great truth into a personal vengeance principle. Instead of taking it as a limit on vengeance they took it as a mandate. Their emphasis was wrong. They removed it from the courts. They made it a personal revenge. They used it to justify hearts full of hate

What exactly is Jesus saying? Jesus approaches their mentality with a new instruction. Jesus is saying don’t repay evil or evil. Paul too tells this in Romans 12:17-19 – “Repay no one……vengeance is mine I will repay says the Lord.”

Through this new instruction Jesus is saying is that when someone treats you in a way that is less than you deserve, when someone takes the right to dignity that you have, don’t retaliate. Take as much as they want to give, but don’t retaliate.

Is Jesus prohibiting justice when He asks us to show the other check, to give the last piece of garment, go an extra mile and give our resources? I don’t think so. What he wanted to show the Pharisees and even to us is that justice belongs in the courts. But in human relationships He wants us to be forgiving and loving.

When it comes to human relationships Jesus says don’t retaliate, if our rights are stolen, our liberty and property is taken away.

The Bible is filled with stories of such acts and attitudes. Abraham rushed to rescue Lot who had cheated him. Joseph, generously forgave his brothers and loved them, the same brothers who had sold him to slavery. David spared the life of Saul twice even though he was made to chase to slaughter David. Stephen who while lying crushed beneath the bloody stones, asks that the sin of stoning him be not laid to the charge of those who did it.

This Lenten season can we lay aside vengeance and retaliation? Can we be more forgiving and loving?