Retaliation, revenge and radical lifestyle.
Matthew 5:38-42
We’ve got a touchy subject this week! Relationships!
Some of us are really thick-skinned and don’t seem to feel hurts of any kind; insults, insinuations, criticisms – they just flow over us and we are able to ignore them. Others – perhaps most – are more sensitive than that, and things said or done to us may have hurt deeply.
So relationships get spoilt, rifts develop and friendships are destroyed.
Worse still, we might even entertain thoughts of getting our own back!
Yes, that does happen, perhaps even in Christian circles.
This week read, and reflect on these matters seriously.
Our peace with God, as well as with one another, depends to some extent on the relationship we experience with our fellow Christians.
This week may be time for action as well as reflection.
v 39 But I say, do not resist an evil person!
This seems to suggest that we should allow evil people to continue unchecked, so it is worth quoting the commentary by Matthew Henry – the noted writer of around 200 years ago.
‘You must not be revengeful to the evil person that is injurious to you. Yet this does not repeal the law of self-preservation, and the care we are to take of our families; we may avoid evil and may resist it, so far as is necessary to our own security; but we must not render evil for evil, must not bear a grudge, nor avenge ourselves, nor study to be even with those that have treated us unkindly, but we must go beyond them by forgiving them.’
Jesus’ words cover the three most often abused areas of our lives: Our bodies (If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.), our property (If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.), and our liberty (If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles).
These are three areas of life that we protect most carefully, and the laws of the land surround us to help guard what we consider to be valuable. So the whole attitude which Jesus encourages in us runs counter to the normal expectations in society. What others may see as weakness in forgiving and not retaliating is in reality great strength of character and a willingness to hold lightly to both our possessions and our so-called ‘Human Rights’. The discipline of trusting God in these circumstances does not come easily for any of us, but God’s grace will be sufficient for all those needs.
—