"You have heard it said": How (not) to resist ~ Matthew 5:38-48

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 the irreverent film Life of Brian, Monty Python’s spoof about the ministry of Jesus, an odd group of people are standing on the very edge of the crowd listening to Jesus deliver his sermon on the mount Due to their distance, they struggle to hear all that Jesus is saying and out of boredom they begin to bicker with one another until one of them shushes the others and asks, “What did he say?”

I think it was "Blessed are the cheesemakers,” a shepherd replies. 

“Ah, what's so special about the cheesemakers?” a woman asks. 

Her husband, the wise interpreter, says, “Well, obviously it's not meant to be taken literally; it refers to any manufacturers of dairy products.”

Hmmmmm. And we hear Jesus say again, “You have heard it said . . .” But the question is, “What have you heard?”

Maybe you have it heard it said that Jesus said, “don’t fight back, accept shame, allow for abuse.” Maybe you have it heard it and said, “fat chance.” I’m not going to put up with this. You want to fight? Bring it and I give as good as I get.” Of course, both read the text the same way, that Jesus is suggesting a passive acceptance of injustice and oppression, and that the Christian response, for example, of “going the second mile” is a simple platitude which means nothing more than accepting injustice. 

But how does this make sense of Jesus’ ministry? Jesus obviously never behaved in any of these ways. He did resist evil doers but without violence. So whatever interpretation we have must make sense of Jesus’ teachings in light of his actions, his life and his death, which itself was a form of resistance. 

It’s important to begin by recognizing the traditional righteousness that Jesus quotes: Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. That traditional righteousness 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 like we find at the end of the Cain and Abel story, “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold” (Genesis 4:24). The traditional righteousness sought to cut through the vicious cycle of retaliation.

But Jesus pushes us farther than that. What is he saying in vs. 39? What are we NOT to do?

At the very least, Jesus is clearly saying don’t retaliate in kind. This statement is not a passive acquiescence to abuse but a clear, yet hard, teaching that one is not to hit back, sue in kind, etc. In this way, turning the cheek is not about allowing yourself to be a doormat but it does take off the table any response that would have you return what you have received. Clarence Jordan, the Christian activist, once paraphrased vs. 39 “When someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn both cheeks and run.” But is that the only interpretation? Is this only a teaching of non-retaliation? Well, in part that would depend on how we translate “don’t resist” and “evil” or “evil doer.” 

I would argue that it’s not “Don’t resist” but “Don’t resist in this way.” The Greek word “resist” often refers to violent rebellion or retaliation. Over 50 percent of its use in the OT (Septuagint) refers to opposition with physical force. 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 rendering of Jesus’ teaching (cf. Romans 12:17, 1 Thess. 5:15). By doing this we break the cycle of retaliation and open up the possibility for peace and reconciliation, even while resisting evil.

But apart from this literary interpretation, are there other reasons to imagine that Jesus’ words function as a sort of non-violent resistance to evil? Historically – yes.

During Jesus’ own life time, Pilate erected images of Caesar known as standards in Jerusalem, which broke Jewish law that didn’t permit any graven images in the city.

In response Jews rushed off to Pilate in Caesarea, and begged him to remove the standards from Jerusalem and to respect their ancient customs. When Pilate refused, they fell prone all around his house and remained motionless for five days and nights.

The next day Pilate took his seat on the tribunal and summoned the mob that he was ready to give them an answer. Instead he gave a pre-arranged signal to the soldiers to surround the Jews in full armor, declaring that he would cut them to pieces unless they accepted the images of Caesar, nodded to the soldiers to bare their swords. At this the Jews as though by agreement fell to the ground in a body and bent their necks, shouting that they were ready to be killed rather than transgress the Law. Amazed at the intensity of their religious fervor, Pilate ordered the standards to be removed from Jerusalem forthwith.” Josephus, Antiquities

So here we have a historic example of resistance (A.D. 26) that was non-violent without being retaliatory that Jesus himself could have known about. So this nuances our understanding of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus might not be opposing resistance to evil per se but differentiating HOW one should oppose it. And that’s what leads us to our three brief examples which then represent imaginative and surprising responses that engage oppressive evil rather than merely refuse to simply respond in kind. 

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 at that time the left hand was used only for unclean tasks. 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 right hand. When we recognize this we begin to understand that we are talking about an insult, a way of belittling someone, and not a fist fight. The intention is not to injure with violence but 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 Rabbinical sources, he’s basically acknowledging the lower person as an equal. So this was a way to engage without violence and yet oppose humiliation and poor treatment.

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

The point is that the 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. 

Now, 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 you have, 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. Such an act would have revealed the plaintiff’s greed and exposed 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, perhaps for the first time in his life, what his greed caused.

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 that among non-citizens in occupied territory, like Judea and Israel, a Roman soldier had the right 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, which might call our adversary to a new level of consciousness. 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?

Each of these examples includes an element of surprise and some subversive correction or naming of the hostility, domination, exclusion and injustice that characterize our world. They are meant to inspire an imaginative element of peacemaking. Each of these teachings aims to show us the way of deliverance as participation in the new things of God. Christians have always had to be creative as we seek justice while living peaceably with others. 

Paul expressed this creativity in Romans 12, where he argued that it meant we feed our enemies when they are hungry and give them something to drink when they are thirsty; to grieve with them when they grieve and rejoice with them when they rejoice. 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.” But is this realistic? Does this interpretation have any teeth to it?

Story of Clarence Jordan’s daughter, Jan and the Klu Klux Klan (go the audio at mcchurch.org to hear the full story)

Of course, all of this is heading somewhere – the big reveal, the big surprise – the most striking element of Jesus’ teachings, vss. 43 and 44. It’s not simply that we face injustice with non-retaliatory resistance but that we act in such a way that shows that we are children of God by loving our enemies.

Now I could give you a powerful story, a funny anecdote, an examination of the Greek to make the point but I would rather do something else, say only one more thing: “Friends, he means it.” 

We need another Reformation that takes Jesus at his word with respect to violence and enemies. The issue is no longer, “what must I do in order secure my salvation?” (we go that!) but rather “What does God require of me in response to the needs of others?” It is not, “How can I be virtuous?” But, “How can I act in such way that demonstrates the love and justice of God?” Otherwise, our actions are simply about what secures our own purity in the eyes of God, and salvation is only about me, which is nothing less than a satanic temptation to die with cleans hands and a dirty heart.”

Friends, have you heard it said?

Tales from the Dark Side: Why God Uses Messed Up People to Teach us about Faith ~ Hebrews 11:29-12:2

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. ³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. ³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient,^[a] because she had received the spies in peace. ³² And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵ Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two,^[b] they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— ³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. ³⁹ Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,^[c] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of^[d] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ~ Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Hebrews is an interesting book because we don’t know much about it: who wrote it? To whom it was written? But we know it’s one of the earliest written Christian sermons, that it reflects some of the most thoughtful Greek in the whole New Testament and that the preacher of Hebrews is addressing real and urgent pastoral problems – ones that seem quite contemporary. His congregation is exhausted. They are tired – tired of serving the world, tired of worship, tired of Christian education, tired of being whispered about in society, tired of trying to keep their prayer life going, tired even of Jesus. Their hands droop and their knees are weak, we’re told (12:12). Attendance is down at church and they’re losing confidence (10:25). And what is his answer to such obvious pain and turmoil? What is the preacher’s prescription for a church that is struggling to find its way? 

          1.    Tell the Story of Faith in all its forms

Not just any stories – but stories of faith – that evince faith, extol faith, encourage faith, promote faith, and declare faith.

But what is “faith” in Hebrews? Earlier the preacher declares – “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). The word translated as “assurance” is hypostasis. Previously, it’s used to describe how the Son is the expression of God’s hypostasis – God’s “very being (1:3). So faith also is a hypostasis the “very being” of God’s promises active and embodied in the world. It’s both an inward reality and an outward force. Faith as an inward reality sings, “We Shall Overcome.” Faith as an outward reality marches at Selma. Faith as an inward reality trusts God’s promises that in the world to come “mourning, crying, and pain will be no more.” Faith as an outward reality prays boldly for those who mourn, serves tenderly those who weep, works tirelessly to ease the pain of those who are wounded. Inwardly faith moves hearts; outwardly faith moves mountains. Despite all the horror that we may see, faith reminds us that this is God’s world (11:3).

Then, in chapters 11 and 12, our preacher begins a roll call of faith. This is where I resonate because in vs. 32 the preacher declares that he is struggling with the sermon’s length (so see, I’m biblical) – “time” is failing him so he shifts from a fairly detailed use of story to an annotated version. He assumes a level of biblical literacy as he races through stories of the Bible at a break-neck speed. Stories of conquered foes, long-awaited justice, and promises being fulfilled. Could you have kept up?

We now interrupt this regularly scheduled sermon for a Bible pop quiz – do you know enough to tell the story? Do you know it without the Cliff Notes? Could you find these stories of in the Bible? 

Who was Barak?

Answer: Judges 4, Barak the son of Abinoam, was ordered by the judge Deborah to take ten thousand men to Mount Tabor to fight Sisera, the Canaanite. 

Who was Jephthah? 

Answer: Judges 11 - God placed his Spirit upon Jephthah the Gileadaite in order to route the Ammonites.

Who “through faith” shut the mouths of lions?

 

Answer: Daniel 6

How many women received their dead by resurrection?

Answer: At least 7

·       The widow of Zarephath, whose son Elijah restored, even though she was not an Israelite (1 Kings 17:24);

·       the woman of Shunem who called Elisha to raise her dead son (2 Kings 4:8-37);

·       the widow of Nain, whose son Jesus raised (Luke 7:11-17),

·       Mary and Martha who received Lazarus (John 11:38-44), and

·       the widows in Joppa who rejoiced when Dorcas was restored by Peter (Acts 9:36-43).

How did you do? Not so good? Me either. But friends, we can’t tell stories of faith if we don’t know them. And we tell them so that we know where we come from and so we know who God is and what God promises. 

But did you also notice something about most of these stories? They’re messy, tragic, many are even R-rated. So the preacher is trying to get the congregations attention – maybe they’re sleepy – and alludes to stories that are hardly “good” in any conventional way. It’s not simply Rahab but Rahab “the prostitute.” Barak was chastised for a lack of faith and Jephthah, the son of a prostitute, will kill his own daughter. Many times a story of faith is about sinful people who do stupid things. The family of faith has crazy cousins that are part of our stories – own them. Tell them anyway - all of them, even the hard ones, the awkward ones in which God uses sinful people, tragic stories in which people fail even as God is faithful. So feel free to tell the story of Pastor Jon the divorced guy if you see me acting faithfully. I’m happy to be a story of faith “out of weakness” (11:34). These stories are not meant to be moral tales. They are fundamentally stories about God who uses broken and messed up people to get done what God wants. 

Why are we shocked at scandalous stories in the church? Scandal has always been part of our story – also human weakness, frailty and failure and the inability of any of those things to stop God. Faith sees all that is; it does not pretend there is no army of pharaoh breathing down our neck, no evil, no wickedness, no disease, no sin. But faith also sees God, the God who promises to bring an end to all that harms and destroys. The God who will not allow sin, particularly our own, to thwart him. Why?

We must tell awkward stories of faith, even about bad people, because otherwise we might be fooled into thinking we did it ourselves or that God chose us because we were good or cute.

          2.    Remember that we are part of their story – and they are a part of us.

He doesn’t only tell Biblical stories but begins to weave stories from the Old Testament with the present - of those recently or currently in the community vss. 35-39 (N.B. the use of “other” instead of names). Illus. Pauline’s story about the family in the post card (go to mcchurch.org/sermons to hear the story). The story of the Bible and these people of faith is our story as well. We are both spectators and participants. This is always the Biblical way of speaking about covenant identity: to speak of long-dead saints as with us, as us and ourselves as them.

What about vss. 39-40? ³⁹ Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect [whole].

Now the congregation could surely see how we need the previous generations. These biblical ancestors are after all, the heroes and representatives of the faith; helped us get to where we are. What was staggering to the imagination was the claim that these faithful of old somehow need us, that “apart from us” they could not be made perfect [whole].” God’s faithfulness, his covenant loyalty, has always been to make a people – to bring together the near and the far, the Jew and the Greek, the male and female, the slave and the free. We are their inheritance. Salvation has always been a team sport of which Jesus himself was the captain, the anchor leg. They need us to finish the race that they were running – to continue carrying and passing the baton of faith – our own stories of God’s covenant faithfulness. So we need to keep telling our stories – they are important for the dead as well as the living. But despite their importance, always remember to . . .

          3.    Tell “something better”

  In vs. 40 the preacher speaks of God for the first time and declares that “God provided something better.” The word “better” is a constant refrain in Hebrews to talk about Jesus: Jesus is better than the angels (1:4), introduces a better hope (7:19), and guarantees a better covenant (7:22) with “better” promises (8:6), sealed with “better” sacrifices (9:23), allowing all of us to possess an inheritance from God that is better. So even these faithful people of old needed Jesus. Jesus satisfied and fulfilled the covenant requirements that, even in their faithfulness, they failed to perform. So tell stories of faith that help us look at Jesus – to fix our eyes on him.Tell the Gospel story and how it changed your life, helps you persevere, informs how you live.

So I would like you to end with a visual parable of today’s sermon. To invite you to put on your spiritual goggles and see through the eyes of faith. To watch this clip as a spiritual parable for what we have been talking about today. The clip is from the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona where Derek Redmond was poised to medal in the 400 meter dash.

Watch the clip: Derek Redmond's Emotional Olympic Story

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2G8KVzTwfw

Given all that you’ve heard today I want to leave you with one word – run. The crowd is cheering, the victory is secure, God is good, joy is on the horizon – run! Let go of the weight of sin and run! Run with abandonment. Run without fear. Run as if you can’t fail and when you do remember that Jesus is better – better than Moses, better than Jephthah, than me, or you. Put your faith in Him and run!