Resist, Pray, Love: Jesus Said What!? ~ Matthew 5:38-48 (Jesus Said What!? Series)

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 an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; ⁴⁰ and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well; ⁴¹ and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. ⁴² Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. 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 and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ~ Matthew 5:38-48

In a memorable graduation speech, the scholar James Ryan articulated five basic questions that he believed helped foster a fulfilling life. The first of these questions, he said, was prominent among teenagers: “Wait! What?” He admitted that his kids typically posed this question when he was asking them to do a chore. They hear “blah blah blah . . . clean your room” and then quickly respond, “Wait! What?” But “Wait! What?,” he said, is not a bad a question. It’s an important way of asking for clarification and a question that one should ask before drawing conclusions or making a decision. It’s the proper pause for when we hear something that doesn’t quite seem to make sense or that challenges a traditional way of thinking. That makes it a great phrase for when we read our Bibles. Our text today finds us in the Sermon on the Mount, Matt. 5:38-48. Where Jesus begins by citing the “law of retaliation” recorded in Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. That teaching was not a relishing of violence or even a promoting of it so much, as offering reciprocity. Its aim was to limit the kind of vengeance one could enact but counseled violence nonetheless. But Jesus announces to his followers that this teaching is being upgraded, “But I say to you, do not resist an evil doer” (vs. 39). And the appropriate response is . . .  Wait! What?

Wait! What is he saying in vs. 39? What are we NOT to do? Is Jesus counseling us to do nothing in the face of aggression, to accept violence and shame with no recourse? Should we counsel a woman experiencing abuse, for example, to simply “turn the other cheek”? Does such advice make sense of Jesus’ ministry? He did resist evil doers but without violence. So whatever interpretation we have must make sense of his teachings in light of his actions, his life and his death, which were forms of resistance against evil. As we begin you’ll

notice that you have a card in your bulletin. This is here to help us remember that we are learning something that Jesus intends us to do.

Jesus argues that we are to resist but not retaliate.

Jesus is not suggesting “Don’t resist” but “Don’t resist in this way.” The Greek word “resist” [antistenai] often refers to violent rebellion or retaliation. Over 50 percent of its use in the Greek version of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, refers to opposition with physical force. Stasis, the noun form of stenai, means “a stand,” in the military sense of facing off against an enemy. It came to mean a “violent rebellion,” or “revolt.” It’s the term used for Barabbas’s “insurrection” in Mark 15:7 (Luke 23:19, 25), “rioting” in Acts 19:40, and “violent dissension” in Acts 23:10. Furthermore, the word “evil” in the Greek can be translated as “the evil one” or “by evil means.” Greek grammar makes either meaning equally acceptable. So a

more accurate translation of Jesus’ teaching might be, “Don’t strike back at evil in kind.” Or, “don’t react violently against the one who is evil.” This seems to be Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ teaching (cf. Romans 12:17, 1 Thess. 5:15).

But what about Jesus’ three examples? Do they substantiate this reading? Yes. In fact, when read carefully they offered Jesus’ audience clear, imaginative, and surprising responses that engaged oppressive evil. Let’s explore them together.

Example One: “If any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Why the right cheek? How does one strike another on the right cheek anyway?

We must remember that this is a right-handed-world – the right hand was the only hand that you could use because the left hand was used only for unclean tasks. (Please don’t make me be more specific than that. Suffice it to say, this was not a Charmin world.) In some communities, even to gesture with the left hand could result in a penalty of exclusion and some form of penance (see The Dead Sea Scrolls, 1QS 7). So, the only way one could strike the right cheek with the right hand would be with the back of the hand. When we recognize this we begin to understand that we are talking about an insult, a way of belittling someone. The intention is not to injure with violence but to humiliate or put someone in his or her place. So backhanding someone was a way of admonishing inferiors: Masters backhanded slaves, husbands/wives; parents/children; men/women; and Romans/Jews. So we have here in one simple phrase a summary of a complex set of unequal relations in which retaliation would be suicidal. The only response was cowering submission. To turn the other cheek, however, created a dilemma for the would-be slapper and robbed him of his power to humiliate. He can’t strike the left cheek in the same way because he would be using his left hand, which was a punishable offense. If he hits with a fist, according to Jewish sources, he’s basically acknowledging the lower person as an equal. In that world of honor and shaming, the “superior” has been rendered impotent to instill shame in a subordinate. He has been stripped of his power to dehumanize the other.  Jesus’ point is expressed well by Gandhi who said, “The first principle of nonviolent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.”

Example #2: “If anyone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat, too.”

The context of this example is that a person who has borrowed money is being sued for his undergarment because he is so poor all he has left are his shirt and coat – literally, the clothes on his back. At this time, Jesus’ world was drowning in debt, due to the high taxation required by Herod Antipas to pay Rome tribute. It is no accident that the first act of the Jewish revolutionaries in 66 A.D. was to burn the temple treasury, where the record of debts was kept.

Now, do you remember that the OT law actually envisioned just such a scenario and declared that taking someone’s coat was forbidden (Exodus 22:26-27, Deut. 24:12-13, cf. Amos 2:8)? If you took a man’s coat in pledge for a loan you had to return it every night else what would he sleep in when it gets cold? So in Jesus’ teaching the greedy lender sues you for the only other piece of clothing he doesn’t have to return, your shirt. Jesus counsels a shocking initiative: take off your coat

and your shirt and give them both to the greedy person while you stand naked in the court (this is also a no underwear world, sorry). Such an act would reveal the plaintiff’s greed and expose an unjust system. Moreover, in Judaism, nakedness was taboo and shame fell not on the naked person but on the person viewing or causing the nakedness (Genesis 9:20-27).  But this stripping was more than punitive, it offered the creditor a chance to see what his greed caused. In a striking parallel, shortly before the fall of political apartheid in South Africa, police descended on a squatters' camp they had long wanted to demolish. They gave the few women there five minutes to gather their possessions, and then the bulldozers would level their shacks. The women seized the initiative and stripped naked before the bulldozers. The police turned and fled.

Example #3: “if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”

In the third example, Jesus’ is acknowledging a particular legal feature of the Roman Empire called Angaria, which involved compulsory service among non-citizens in occupied territory, like Judea and Israel (this is what happened to Simon of Cyrene, i.e. Mark 15:21-22; Matt. 27:32; Luke 23:26).  Angaria allowed a Roman soldier to force a Jew to

carry his pack for one mile. So the actual act referred to the oppression that an occupying force had over a conquered people. In that context, Jesus is not simply saying, “Do what he is forcing you to do, comply with oppression, and live with powerless resentment.” Instead, he is instructing his followers to take the initiative, and carry the pack further at their own volition. It shifts from resentful powerlessness to the power of our own surprising initiative. We can almost imagine a scenario by which the disciple of Jesus carrying the pack further begins a conversation with the Roman soldier who is stunned by the act. Maybe the soldier asks why he is doing that which would lead to a conversation about Jesus, about the occupation and its impact on Jews, maybe even the soldier talking about his family and where there was only hatred we see the beginning of healing.

So what do we learn?

• If a saying is hard, get some help. Go to experts and look at the broader witness of Scripture. Paul expressed this same interpretation Romans 12:17-21 by quoting Proverbs 25:21-22, where it says we should feed our enemies when they are hungry and give them something to drink when they are thirsty and in doing so pour “burning coals on their heads”; that is, prick their conscience.
•  Each of these examples includes an element of surprise and some subversive correction or naming of injustice without resorting to violence. 
•  They were meant to inspire peacemaking and justice which allows for the dignity of every human being and the conversion of enemies.

This does not mean we affirm everything our enemies do. Jesus often confronted Pharisees and others leaders’ injustices. It does mean, however, that we act in such a way that allows for our enemies conversion. Martin Luther King, Jr. understood Jesus perfectly, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

Of course, all of this is heading somewhere – the big reveal, the big surprise – the most striking element of Jesus’ teaching, vss. 43 and 44. It’s not simply that we face injustice with nonviolent resistance but that we do so in order to pray for and love our enemies because that’s what God does.  We do these things, “so that,” Jesus says, “we can look like God.” Loving our enemies is our spiritual DNA.

Being a child of someone is a funny thing. To share the genetic makeup of someone: to look like them and act like them. I’m a delightful mixture of my parents – Dad 6ft., Mom 4 ft 11 in. I look just like him and act just like her. I look so much like my dad that I’ve had complete strangers come up to me and ask me if I was Gary Lemmond’s son. Do you want to look like your Heavenly Father? Break the cycle of violence and retaliation in working for justice. Resist wickedness. Refuse to hate. Pray for your enemies. Loving them is a genetic trait of children of God, Jesus tells us. It’s how we look like him.

Let’s return to the card for a moment. So where has “Wait! What?” lead you today? What is Jesus calling you to do? How then should you live?

Do You See?: Falling in Love on the Road to Emmaus ~ Luke 24:13-32

¹³ Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?’ ¹⁹He asked them, ‘What things?’ They replied, ‘The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²²Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.’ ²⁵Then he said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. ²⁸ As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?’~ Luke 24:13-32 

Happy Easter. Take the Selective Attention test. Pay careful attention. 

 Click here for the test (it only takes 1 minute)

 It’s hard to see, isn’t it? Particularly something you’re not looking for. Faith is like that too. It’s also about seeing, about what you’re paying attention to. In the Bible, Jesus was interested in people seeing and would often describe a lack of faith as those with eyes who cannot see.

The Selective Attention Test with the “gorilla” in plain sight reveals how people can focus so hard on something that they become blind to the unexpected, even when staring right at it. And this is no less true with spirituality. When one develops “inattentional blindness,” it becomes easy to miss even a Resurrected Jesus when one is not looking out for him. The psychologists who conducted the experiment write: “Although people rationalize why they missed the gorilla, it's hard to explain such a failure of awareness without confronting the possibility that we are aware of far less of our world than we think.” Easter Sunday also confronts us with that “failure of awareness” and seeks to correct our vision problem. What should we see?

1.    Even when we can’t see, Jesus comes first.

Our resurrection account begins with two disciples on the road, fleeing Jerusalem. They’re sad (vs. 17), hurting (vs. 20), hopeless (vs. 21), and bewildered (vs. 22). And into that reality, while they’re on the run, Jesus enters. And Jesus, it

turns out, likes to wear disguises, likes to pretend (we’ll learn why later), and they don’t recognize him. They cannot see.
The first thing that Easter wants us to see, is that the Jesus will always come first, pursue us whether we see him or not. Jesus arrives BEFORE things are perfect, or problems are solved, or before we believe. The spiritual journey is less about whether your good or not, or worthy or not, or even intelligent are not. It's about whether you can see or not. I meet so many people who try so hard to make God like them, to find love, and fail to realize that they're counting the wrong things. God in Jesus is already present, walking alongside and loving them. They fail to see that God has already approached. We simply need to recognize that the walls that aim to separate us from God: sadness, wickedness, shame and death cannot stop God. The Resurrection is proof that nothing can keep God’s love from us and Jesus loves us whether we see him or not.
Before we change, before we recognize him, before we even crack open a Bible, Jesus is at work. In French they don’t use the word “work” the way we use it. They don’t say, “Now my computer works.” Or “I called the repairman so the dryer is now working.” No, they use the word “walk.” If something walks, “C’est marche.” – it works. The message of Easter is that Jesus is the love of God walking with us that can’t be killed. He’s alive. Jesus still walks and finds us, still works and saves us. But just because Jesus works, whether we see him or not, doesn’t mean that there isn’t something for us to do. Our tasks, the poet Mary Oliver says, is “standing still and learning to be astonished.” We don’t have to woo Jesus to love us but see that he is present and already does and love him back.

2.    If you’re going to see Jesus, you’re going to have to read.

So Jesus in disguise holds an impromptu Bible study “on the road.” Why? You see Jesus loves the Bible. He’s crazy about it. He talked about it all the time. It’s interesting to see his relationship with it.

·       He read and often quoted it (Luke 4:4-12 / Deut. 6:13, 16; 8:3),

·       acknowledged its authority and importance for his disciples (Matt.  5:17-19)

·       prayed it (Matt. 27:46 / Psalm 22),

·       raised questions from it (Matt. 22:43-44 / Psalm 110:1) ,

·       argued with others about it (Luke 20:17 / Psalm 118:22-23),

·       chastised others with it (Matt 15:7-9 / Isaiah 29:13),

·       taught about God from it (Matt 22:37-39),

·       claimed authority over it (Matt 5:21-48 / Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy),

·       enacted it (Mark 11:1-11 / Zech. 9:9),

·       interpreted it (Matt. 26:31 / Zech 13:7),

·       refused to do critical parts of it (John 8:1-11 / Deut. 22:22),

·       referenced himself by it (Mark 14:62 / Daniel 7),

·       gained his mission from it (Luke 4:17-19 / Isaiah 61:1-2),

·       and claimed it was a story about himself (Luke 24:27)

A spirituality that hopes to see Jesus will have to struggle with the Bible. Jesus says so. One of my theology teachers in Seminary taught us a valuable truth about coming to seeing God. He said it this way, “The object to be known determines the method of knowing.” Nice. Here’s what he meant. If I wanted to “know” this stand, which my notes are on, I could take out a knife, shave a piece off, place it under a microscope and talk about its chemical make-up and structure. I could know it more fully, see it more accurately. But, if I took this knife out into the congregation and said I wanted to get to know you, I don’t think it would offer the same results, the same ability to see. In the same way, Jesus, the one we wish to see, determines the method of knowing. If you want to know Jesus you’re going to have to slice into this book, read its stories, encounter his teachings, listen to eye-witnesses. You’re going to have to read in order to see.

It's funny that the first thing Jesus does with the Bible is criticize his own followers, not unbelievers, with it. His first criticism is that they’re “foolish,” vs. 25. I understand that to mean that they have not brought to bear there critical thinking to the text. They’ve not read it as carefully as they should, haven’t understood that to see Jesus isn’t a blind act of faith but engages the mind. It demands the best of our intellectual ability and integrity, a willingness to wrestle with hard questions. You’re going to have to learn about the world of first-century Palestine, you’re going to have to study the

Old Testament, you’re going to have to learn the story in order to see. That’s why we’re engaging our next Sermon Series, “Jesus said what?!”

Jesus explains to the two disciples that the Bible is essentially a book about himself, a story of sacrificial love. A story of God’s gracious act of creating and saving the world.  A story that Jesus brings to completion. So you need to know the beginning of the story – you can’t watch the Easter story as a YouTube clip and think you understand what’s happened, you can’t only hear Darth Vader say, “Luke, I am your Father,” and understand truly what is going on without knowing what came before.  Resurrection means Jesus is alive in the present but to know him you still have learn his story in the past. You have to read to see. But there's one more thing.

3.    If you’re going to see Jesus, practice the Bible on strangers.

But intellectual effort isn’t enough. Jesus’ second criticism of the two disiples is also instructive – “Slow of heart,” vs. 25. “Slow of heart” is not so much an intellectual issue but a willingness to let the Bible impact us emotionally and move us to do what it says. It must also be put into practice. You can’t know it fully, until you do it. When I started climbing one of the things that was most difficult was “reading the

route.” I would stand with a few people, men and women, discussing a climb. They would say things like, “Okay, the crux is placing your right hand on the sloper, then a gaston, use a knee-bar so that you can hold the crimp, and then do a drop knee.” I had no idea what they were talking about. It was only after a climbed awhile, read a book about climbing, talked with other climbers, that I finally understood. It’s knowledge plus experience that allows us to see. The fact is – we’re not trying to simply know the Bible. We’re trying to see Jesus and live his way. Jesus doesn’t want sight-seers or fans but followers.

I’m struck by the fact that Jesus’ impromptu Bible study did not immediately produce seeing in the two disciples. That despite his words they couldn’t see who it was that was walking along with them. So Jesus does a bit of a ruse – “pretending” to go farther, vs. 28. What do they do? They practice his teachings on him as the stranger. Prior to his death, Jesus had taught them that the Bible could be summed up in the greatest commandment using two verses from the Old Testament, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ So basically, Jesus is giving them an eye test. This is why he wears the disguise. Will they hear the word of God and do it? Will they read what it says about the stranger, a neighbor, God’s saving love – and act on it? Will they follow Jesus’ teachings like, “As you did to one of the least of these you did it to me.” Or, “Blessed are those who listen to the Word of God and do it.” And when they do act on it, what does Jesus do? He offers them meal and it’s there that they see Him.

When I was a grad student at the University of California, I had an atheist friend who approached me one day and said, “Okay, prove to me that God exists.” I looked at him and said, “No.” But then as I thought about it, I said. “Okay, if you want to see if God exists come to church with me.” And he responded, “No.” “That’s the problem,” I said. You think that this question can be answered in the abstract, as if Jesus, God, the resurrection are mere ideas. You need to meet people who are trying to live the Bible, who have encountered Jesus, you need to struggle with things Jesus said. You need to hang out with people over dinner, come to a Bible study. You need to understand that seeing is a lot like falling in love.

The seeing disciples asked ^“each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32). So that’s what I’m inviting you to. That’s the pattern. The way to see is this: meet people where they are, encounter strangers and a strange God, open the Bible to make sense of your life in light of Jesus’ story, practice what you read, gather around a meal, even worship together, fall in love, and finally see.