He Can't Be Serious!
Posted on Feb 23, 2014 by David Whetter
It is not often that we get to celebrate the 7th Sunday after Epiphany. Most years, because of the calendar and where Easter falls, we only get 5-6 weeks to celebrate Epiphany and so we do not often get to talk about these texts we hear today. In years like this we actually get to hear the entire reading of what theologians call the “Six Antithesis.” That is the “You have heard it said…, but I say to you…” statements that we began hearing last week and today we get the final two. Now, if you remember, two weeks ago, just before we began reading these antithesis statements, Jesus said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20). That could not have been good news to his listeners, because they knew that the scribes and Pharisees were experts in the law and they followed the letter of the law better than anybody. How on earth could a simple, everyday person exceed such actions? Well, with those tough words spoken, last week Jesus began to explain what he meant. You have heard it said do not murder, but I say, do not even be angry with your brother or sister… (5:21-22). And in making these antithesis statements, Jesus offered a whole new perspective on the law. That I,s our goal should be not following the letter of the law, anyone can do that, no our goal is to follow the spirit of the law and today we hear the final two antitheses and they do not appear any easier to follow than the four we heard last week.
In fact, when you hear Jesus say things like if someone hits you, don’t hit them back, let them hit you again, pray for your enemies, or if a soldier makes you carry his pack for a mile, go ahead and carry it two miles, doesn’t it make you just want to say, “Jesus, you can’t be serious!” There is no way we can, nor should we, do these things.
After all, scripture does allow for the protection of oneself under the law. Even Jesus quoted such laws. These laws were known as the lex talionis, or the codes of retribution. You know them, because they are often used to justify our actions even today, “an eye for an eye…” For centuries, the world, and the church, has used these laws to justify our violent actions of retaliation, but if truth were told, these laws were less about authorizing retaliation and more about restricting it.
Now, many of you heard me say last week that these demands Jesus places on us are impossible to live up to, and they are, but, as I also said last week, that does not give us permission to not try to make them part of our daily living practices. In our Gospel text this morning, we begin with Jesus’ fifth antithesis statement and we hear him address the world’s misunderstanding of what most call the law of retribution, head on. “You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth…” Now, this is a quote from scripture. In the Exodus story, as God continues to offered his people ways to live in harmony with each other, he offered words of what are acceptable responses to harmful actions, so he said , “If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe” (Exodus 21:23-25). There you have it, God approves retaliation. But this law is not about retaliation. The purpose was to restrict the offended parties from enacting unlimited revenge. For example, in the book of Genesis, we are told that Shechem raped one of Jacob’s daughter’s, Dinah. Now, we are also told that Shechem loved Dinah and asked to take her in marriage, which would have been an acceptable retribution as that meant he would now take responsibility for her. However, Dinah’s brothers, were not satisfied with such a deal, and so, without going into the whole story (you can read it in Genesis 34), through deception, two of Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, killed not only Shechem and his father, Hamor, but all the men of Hamor’s tribe. That was the retribution they sought for the defilement of their sister, but as we will read later in that story (Genesis 49:5-6), God cursed them, because the punishment did not fit the crime. They exacted excessive punishment and the law of an eye for an eye was intended to prevent such retaliation.
Jesus offers hard words today as he brings his sermon to a close. Words that many of us find difficult to swallow. “But I say to you, ‘Do not resist an evildoer… if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other…if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well… if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile (5:39-41). Is Jesus saying that to be a follower of his, to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees that we have to be the “doormats” of the world? Is he saying, to be able to enter the kingdom of heaven, we will have to have stand by and passively let evil walk all over us? No, of course not, but he is telling us that to respond to evil with evil will fail. He is saying that if we want change the world; if we want to overcome real evil, then we must do so by blessing the world. Violence, Jesus is saying, will only bring more violence.
The responses Jesus commands his followers to offer, such as offering the other cheek, are actually, responses of strength, but they are subtle. For example, if someone strikes you on the right cheek… turn and let them also hit your left check. Well, in a world that was dominated by right handed people, to be struck on the right cheek would usually have been considered an insult as that meant the one doing the hitting was hitting you with the back of his hand. The action of challenging the aggressor to hit you now on the left cheek was like saying, “you want to fight, hit me with your best shot.” The one turning the cheek was now in control. Such is the case in each of these counter actions Jesus commands us to take. To offer one your second cloak would most likely leave you naked, which would be breaking the law and the one suing would be shamed. To walk more than a mile carrying a soldier’s pack would most likely get the soldier in trouble as it was against the law for a soldier to allow one to carry his pack over a mile. Jesus was telling us, if you want to fight evil, and end evil, do so with kindness and non-violent responses.
Respond with love, Jesus says, because that is what my Father does. You see God offers his love to all of us, both the righteous and the unrighteous and for that I say, thanks be to God, because that means, God’s love is offered to me, an unrighteous sinner, who cannot live up to God’s fullest expectations, and if God can continue to offer his love to me, then surly I ought to be able to offer my love to those who turn on me, just as I so often turn on God.
“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (5:46-48).
Brothers and sisters, Jesus is quite serious as to how we are to act. We are not perfect, but our God is generous with his love, his mercy and his forgiveness and today we are challenged to be like him. In a world that responds to violence with more violence, Jesus says, be like your Father in heaven, and respond to the world with generous amounts of love, mercy and forgiveness. Amen.