New Thoughts (12/6/05-12/9/05)
One thing that comes out of this study is a recognition of the connection between what Jesus had previously addressed and what He addresses here. I had always viewed the previous ‘you have heard’ clauses as covering the basics of Mosaic Law, the Ten Commandments, and these last few seemed to turn from that to other matters of Torah. Granted, those other matters were still matters of Law, but somehow everything else always seems to be on a lesser scale than those items from the tablets. What I notice this morning is an expansion on the Law found in Deuteronomy 19:21, addressing that very statement of just retribution which Jesus is addressing. It is neither the only place that phrasing is used, nor is it the first. What is interesting, though, is that whereas in other places, the just retribution is for harm done to a fellow man directly, this last instance addresses those who provide false testimony.
Indeed, this example shows that what Jesus explains about Mosaic Law is in full keeping with what Moses understood! The application Moses provides does not speak of one who successfully lies in his testimony and thereby brings punishment upon his target. He addresses the one who has tried to do this, whether or not he has succeeded. The mere fact that he wanted to cause that punishment to be put upon another under false pretenses was sufficient to make his own punishment just. And, the just punishment decreed for such a one was that he should bear the very punishment he sought to inflict by his lies!
There is much that can be said of this. For one, this is exactly the form I often see justice take when it is properly left in God’s hands. It is almost a definition of just punishment that as a man seeks to harm, so shall he be harmed. Indeed, this even ties together well with the concept of sowing and reaping. As a man has sown, so shall he reap. That is not solely a positive statement. In fact, if one looks at the context from which that phrase is taken, it is really a very negative statement. God will not be mocked…
Getting back to this passage, however, consider how these two thoughts are connected as Jesus develops His lesson. He has been considering the nature of false vows just moments ago, which are really false testimonies in their own right. As a vow falsely made declares God a liar and requests Him to provide a false testimony on our behalf, it is itself a crime of the same sort. To have sworn in such a fashion as to leave oneself a loophole for escape (at least in one’s own mind) is to have lied, pure and simple. That verse from Deuteronomy shows the connection, a connection that should not have been lost on His hearers. An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth, whatever their lies would have caused another to suffer, so let it be done to them.
What genius on the part of Jesus! He has managed in this one brief message to both remind His hearers of the severity of the punishment due to them if they have sworn falsely, and to make clear that it leaves them no room to seek the same sort of retribution! He both gives men cause to tremble for their cheapening of the Law, and cause to pray that His own teaching will be accepted, if they can but see it. One who, having been reminded of the full force of Law, has been forced to see his own guilt; having now also been reminded of the punishment befitting such guilt, must surely be relieved to hear it advised that this vengeance not be brought to bear, but rather love ought to be the Law.
There is the Good News of the kingdom, if you please. Even as Jesus lays out the Law in a fashion that must leave every thinking man aware of his own guilt, He declares the mercy of God in His application of justice. Love is the Law, the greatest overarching principle of the Law. It has been shown in each aspect of Law that Jesus has touched on. Why is it so important that even our thoughts and words comply? Because in this compliance we exhibit the required love toward others. Why seek out your brother and be reconciled? Because otherwise you might be providing him cause to sin himself, which would be most unloving.
Now, in this heightened view of retribution and justice, Jesus raises that love to its highest place. We shall see this developed more thoroughly in the ensuing passage, but the seed of that thought is already being planted here. Don’t seek vengeance, don’t even seek justice for yourself. That’s the message He delivers. Yes, you would perhaps be within your rights to seek that justice, but if it’s righteousness you seek rather than mere legality, then you must surely recall that vengeance is the sole province of God. Knowing this, if you truly trust your God and King, then that trust must leave vengeance in His most capable hands. As for you, your high purpose is to manifest His glory by manifesting that same Love which has caused Him to forgive you rather than give you justice.
Luke mingles this section and the next sufficiently that I have not completely untangled them. That is reasonable on his part, for as I have suggested, the two sections demarked by ‘you have heard’ in Matthew are deeply connected subjects. What Jesus teaches us in regard to vengeance here is a prelude to the larger message of love. He is already edging His students toward a selflessness that is a necessary prerequisite for the love that is commanded. Therefore, Luke does no great harm to the message by combining the two points as one. The love to which we are called must necessarily preclude the vengeance which is forbidden.
In some cases, the disciples were long in learning this. I think of James and John, wanting to call down vengeance on that town that would not hear the words of Jesus. They hadn’t understood yet. They had not yet come to the place where they could exhibit the mercy of the Lord even in the face of opposition. Yet, this is exactly what Jesus calls us to do here; and it is a lesson that they would learn more effectively when they had been witness to His own great exhibit of mercy upon his enemies. Indeed, having witnessed His mercy towards those who put Him to death, how could they fail to understand the mercy that was required of them?
With that in mind, I want to consider briefly that love which He requires of us, though it is, in the order of this study, a bit premature. That love which Jesus tells us we are to have for our enemies is not simply tolerance. It is not any such thin emotion as the world promotes in the name of love. He calls us to befriend our enemies, to actually have a preferential concern for them. What does that mean? It means I must be more concerned with their wellbeing than my own. Far from reviling my enemies and seeking out vengeance, I am instructed to find joy in them, to will my will toward that very end, and to welcome my enemy as I would something longed for.
This is no simple task. It is not a nice little platitude that I can simply enjoy for its sound or its elegance of phrase. He is essentially telling us to love as God loves. He who loved us so greatly while we were still enemies that He gave His only Son to end the hostilities between us, instructs us to follow His example. It is a tall order. Yet, if I consider the impact of His own selfless love, I can only take hope. After all, the love He showed to His enemies has won many an enemy over. If not every child of God then certainly a majority case came to love this One they had hated. We have laid down our arms, renounced our former rebellion against His rightful rule, and come home to Him.
Earthly examples abound of children estranged from their parents not by any accident, but by a deeply entrenched animosity. In so many cases, the feelings are not mutual. In so many cases, there is one party standing at the edge of this emotional divide longing for a way to bridge the gap, to restore the relationship to what it ought to have been. The other party in such a case remains an enemy to that one. He is an enemy because he has chosen to be an enemy, and refuses to be reconciled. Indeed, so great is his anger that he will not even allow for the possibility of reconciliation. So, the first party remains as he is, willing and desiring to be reconciled but not knowing how he might bring such reconciliation to pass. He hurts not simply because his own desire for fellowship has been denied, but even moreso because he realizes the unnecessary pain that self-declared enemy of his is causing himself by refusing to be restored.
This is exactly the scene that was occurring in heaven in each of our cases. God stood looking upon His estranged children, longing for their restoration to His household, but they would not accept any offer of clemency, any terms of capitulation, such that He might have them back. We each one of us insisted upon remaining at odds with Him, would speak against Him at every opportunity, contradict His every pronouncement, even those we agreed with, simply because He had pronounced them. We were not only sworn enemies of His, but we were most vindictive about it. Consider that even as He came to our rescue, the Son incarnate come to restore His brothers and sisters, for the most part we rejected Him outright, and more than that, sought His harm. He represented the hated Father, so He must be destroyed. Yet, His love was great enough that He submitted to this humiliation. His desire for us, even as we fought against Him, was so great that He willingly suffered and died on our behalf, knowing that it was the only way that we could possibly be restored to Him.
What has been the outcome of so great a love? Restoration has come! Not every man has responded to that Love which died on their behalf. Not every man has rejoiced to see the Light breaking into his darkness. No, many even now prefer their darkness, prefer their supposed liberty in sin to the true liberty of a righteous life. On the other hand, look at how many have been turned from enemy of God to child of God! Look at the power of that love which so desires the fellowship even of its enemies! That is the love He is calling us to here, and in the power of His example I find both hope and reason to try His way. In that it is the very love of God that I am called to thus display, I know that it is impossible in this weak flesh. Apart from Him, there is no possibility that I could exhibit even the weakest imitation of such a love. But, with God, all things are possible!
Turning to those examples that Jesus provides for this love that forgoes vengeance, I see the genius of my Savior. As He builds His case for such a love, He turns to the simplest of examples, to such experiences as any man amongst His hearers must surely have experienced for himself, or at least witnessed as it happened to another in his presence. Is there any man or woman who has made it to adulthood without having witnessed men coming to blows? Is there any who does not understand the basic concepts of such fighting, whatever they may think of them? Of course, any man in a fight will defend himself. If he has been tagged by his adversary, he will redouble his efforts to defend against another blow being landed. Even a child knows this much. But, Jesus takes this basic knowledge of worldly ways and stands it on its head. No! He says, don’t get defensive, neither go on the offense. Forget about seeking your own advantage in any way. Instead, smile and offer your adversary a free shot. Can you imagine the shocked disbelief on the faces of those listening to Him? He asks the impossible!
Yes, He does indeed! He tells us not to be offended by those who seek the advantage on us. I mean, look at these examples He gives to explain what He is driving at. Has somebody sued you? Notice that His instruction gives no regard for whether that suit was right or wrong. He doesn’t say, ‘do this if you know you were innocent,’ nor ‘do this if you know you were guilty.’ There is no ‘if’. It’s simply ‘do this.’ Give beyond what the courts have awarded. What? But, Jesus! How can You say this?
Well, if it’s not enough that He requires you to behave this way towards your fellow country men, consider the next example He offers. If the hated Romans come to you, these soldiers who defile our country by their very presence, if one of these comes and grabs you from the crowd, insisting that you carry his shield, or do him some other service, don’t revile him, don’t grudgingly do the bare minimum required. The first, in this case, is foolishness, and the second is nothing but self-interest. No, gladly render the service he requires and in fact, offer to continue on when the legal limit of impressed service has passed. Love your enemy.
Then, He turns his attention to the powerless. So far, He has required this selfless love towards those who have some degree of power over us, but now He turns to those we could safely despise and ignore. He looks to the poor around us, the helpless, and He tells us that we are not to ignore any plea for assistance. The beggar is not to depart from us empty handed. The desperate ought find in us a source of hope. How expansive is this giving love He requires from us. If one seeks to borrow, it is not ours to contemplate the likelihood that he will ever return what was borrowed. Just give. Furthermore, He makes this command so strong as to include those who would take our goods by force. Even if they have stolen what is rightfully yours, don’t push for your rights.
As I said, these are things that were common enough events to those listening to Him then. Apart from the matter of impressed servitude, they remain common enough events for us today. So much for cultural irrelevance! His genius lies in choosing these common, everyday occurrences to lay before His listeners a reaction to those occurrences which is unthinkable. Why? Because He is directing their attention away from the ways the world has taught men to treat one another and upward to the ways in which God deals with men; and because this is what it means to be men – that we would behave as the Father behaves.
This strikes me as a precursor to the method of parable that would so characterize the ministry of Jesus as time went on. Ever and always, He looks to the everyday, to the things happening around Him as He is teaching, and draws His examples from what is at hand in the experience of His listeners. He chooses the common because He knows that those listening to Him will reach the common conclusion as to the natural course of such events. Here, He takes that common knowledge and turns it on its head to demonstrate just how far man is from God’s intent. This was particularly necessary in waking up the nation of God’s choosing, because they thought themselves to be doing well in serving Him. It was necessary to figuratively slap them into awareness of their situation. Later, dealing with those that are awake and those who stubbornly remained asleep in spite of these alarms, He would turn to those things that men rightly understood of their daily encounters and explain how these right reactions reflect heavenly truths. But first these misconceptions of godliness must be swept away.
Going back to the last verse from Matthew, I learn that there is some disagreement as to the exact meaning of that word translated ‘asks’. In two of the texts I generally consult in matters of Greek words, the word used here, aitounti, is contrasted with erootaoo. The one distinguishes them as being between the way one might ask for something from a superior as opposed to how one asks an equal. The other text discounts this distinction, indicating that instead it is the difference between asking that something be given and asking that something be done. So, depending on which you accept, we are not to refuse either the one who asks us as their superior, or the one who asks us to give them something. Whichever view one takes, the meaning of the instruction is not greatly changed, as I see it. Indeed, for the most part, we tend to take the verse without any such distinction. Yet, with that distinction in mind we are perhaps given a sensible boundary for applying this instruction.
If, for instance, we set the limit based on that issue of being asked as one asks a superior, we stand clear of the barrage of supplications that tend to come by mail to any Christian who has ever been part of any national organization, attended a conference, or otherwise let slip the fact of his existence. They come daily, seeking offerings for this, that, and the other great cause. Indeed, any of them are certainly good causes, at least so far as one can tell by their printed material. However, we are at a loss to know whether these are legitimate Christian efforts to begin with. Nor can we ascertain what portion of our giving would actually be applied directly to the stated mission. Furthermore, if one were to take every one of these requests and act upon them, he would rapidly find himself in need of such a mission on his own behalf! We are not compelled by this instruction to blindly and blithely respond to every appeal that is made for global efforts. These are clearly appeals made to equals by equals.
In another sense, they are likewise appeals that have no personal relation to us. It is one thing to send money to some unknown organization to assist some unknown people suffering unknown trials in an unknown land. It is quite another to hit the streets in your own neighborhood and become familiar with the needs of the suffering near at hand, to deal with their need personally. How many will gladly mail in their checks to these large organizations, and yet absolutely refuse the beggar on their own street? It happens, and we all know it happens. We are all guilty, I suspect, of having done the same thing. The beggar on another continent is nothing but a cause for sorrow. The beggar we are walking by, however, is dangerous, threatening. But, it is that beggar we are passing by that Jesus has in mind here. He has not asked you to do anything. He has not asked you to find him a job, build him a house, or do any such task. He has simply asked you for something that you can spare, and you know you can. Don’t refuse him.
Some will promise to make return on what you give. Yet, this is not to influence your decision. “Don’t turn away from the one who would borrow from you.” Don’t give thought to his ability to restore what you have given. Just do it. Even if they rob you, take your goods by force, understand their desperate need. Yes, you are legally in the right to demand your things back, but don’t. Let your compassion overrule your justice, as your Father in heaven has done with you.
Having said all this, I am put in mind of the fact that the churches Paul planted throughout the region did indeed contribute to such a global cause in supporting their fellow believers in Jerusalem. Given that, I can hardly say that all support of the needy must be local support. That is not the case, neither is it the point. What I would say is this, that giving to such grand causes is no substitute for personal involvement.
In the end, Jesus is really declaring that we have no rights. As a people with no rights, we will be less concerned with defending our rights. Lacking that need for self-defense will free us to love as He requires: in a way that considers the needs of others as more important than our own. That is the love God has given to us, and only in Him can I ever hope to manifest such love.
