Matthew 5:38-48 God Wants Me to Do What?

A few weeks ago, we looked at where Jesus said, that we should let our lights shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. This begs the question, what kind of works cause people to glorify God? Answer: The kind of works that no one in their right mind would do unless they were motivated by the Spirit of God. 

What we are looking at today is something that it takes the Spirit of God to do. Naturally, we don’t have the power to do what Jesus is calling us to do here. In our flesh, it is the last thing that we want to do, but when we have been saved, when we are indwelled by the Spirit of Jesus, he gives us supernatural strength to do things that we cannot do naturally. Today, we see how Jesus calls us to do good to those who want to hurt us. Jesus calls us to give up our rights to revenge, and to love our enemies. No one can do this without Jesus.

Let’s read our text:

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 the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would 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 sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

 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, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In one way, Jesus continues what he has been doing in the past few passages that we have looked at, but he does something different as well. It is the same because it continues the same pattern, “you have heard that it was said…, but I say to you….” Today we are looking at two statements that Jesus does this with. However, there is something different in these two. The other passages up to this part were in the form of negative commands. “You have heard that it was said, you shall not…murder,...commit adultery,…bear false witness…” However here, it changes. The first thing that Jesus says is, You have heard that it was said, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” This comes from Exodus 21:24, Leviticus 24:20, and Deuteronomy 19:21. This phrase, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” is called the “lex talionis,” or the “Law of the tooth.” When we here this, we think of Jesus teaching in this passage and we think that an eye for a eye is bad…that it encourages revenge; however, this rule actually had a different purpose. If you look at the ancient law codes around Israel retaliation was much more drastic than this. Many other ancient law codes did not place the same value on human life. So, by using this phrase, “an eye for an eye” it is limiting the punishment required for a crime. The law would not require capital punishment for punching someone and knocking their tooth out. Rather, the punishment could not exceed the crime.

Now, Jesus quotes this law that limits punishments so that they fit the crime and cannot be excessive, and he tells us what his followers should do. Jesus says, “But I say to you, ‘do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’” By saying this, Jesus is not telling us that we should ask for more mistreatment, but he is telling us that if someone PERSONALLY wrongs us, we should not seek revenge or retaliation.

There is one difficulty here. Jesus says, “do not resist the one who is evil.” Sometimes when the Bible talks about the “one who is evil,” it means the devil; however, I don’t think that is what it means here. In James 4:7 we are told to resist the devil and he will flee, and in 1 Peter 5:8-9 it tells us that the devil prowls like a lion seeking whom he may devour but we should “resist him.” When Jesus tells us not to resist the one who does evil, he is telling us not to retaliate against someone who wrongs us. We are not to seek revenge. We are not to retaliate.

Next Jesus says, “if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” The tunic would be the inner garment, and the cloak would be the outer garment. Jesus is saying, if someone takes you to court, maybe unjustly, maybe just because they don’t like you, if want to take you to court to get your inner garment, give them the outer as well. No one in their right mind would do this. Only one who has been changed by Jesus can “let goods and kindred go” like he is sayin, g here.

Next Jesus says, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” By Roman law, if a soldier needed help and he was going by you, he could just grab you and force you to carry his baggage for a mile, but no more. Jesus is saying that if you find yourself in that kind of a situation, don’t just do the minimum, but go the extra mile. Who would do this? The world looks at this and says it’s crazy to do this, but one who has experienced the gospel will do what the world thinks is crazy because of the change that Jesus makes.

Then Jesus says, “Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” Now, Jesus isn’t saying to throw out discernment. I don’t think he is calling us to give to beggars. In fact, when I have traveled to India, we had beggars who followed us everywhere we went. We were told by those who were there not to give because this reinforces some bad things. In India, some parents will intentionally mutilate their children so that they will have more sympathy from tourists and will be more effective at begging. When you give, that encourages more of this behavior. There are times when giving with good intentions actually makes things worse. Rather, I think Jesus is telling us to do what he tells us elsewhere. Luke records similar words, Luke 6:34-35, Jesus says, “And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is there for you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend expecting nothing in return.” What Jesus is telling us here is that when someone needs help, we shouldn’t be looking at whether that person can give anything in return. We shouldn’t give with any strings attached or to try to get someone to do what we want them to do. Instead, we should be people who will lend to someone with a real need, and be willing to never see anything in return.

Then Jesus quotes another Old Testament passage. He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” Now, the first part of this is found in the Old Testament. Leviticus 19:18 says, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This isn’t just what Jesus taught, it started in the Old Testament. However, you can search through the Old Testament and you won’t find it say the other half anywhere. The Old Testament doesn’t tell us to “hate our enemies.” What Jesus says here probably refers to the way people commonly practiced the command.

Jesus again restores the command to its original intention. He says, “But I say to you, ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’” Of course, when Jesus said this, people must have thought he was crazy. “Really, Jesus?! You want me to love my . . . enemies?! But they hate me! That’s what being an enemy means! You want me to love them?!” That is our natural reaction to what Jesus says here. Someone asked Jesus who our neighbor was, and he responded by telling the story of the Good Samaritan, so we might ask, who is our enemy? The Old Testament word for enemy is built off the word for hate. It is a person who hates, not a hated person. Your enemies aren’t the people you don’t like. Your enemies are the people who hate you. And Jesus tells us we are to love them. We are to have a genuine care and concern for their welfare and to seek their good.

Then Jesus tells us why we should love our enemies. Jesus says, “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” Why does Jesus want us to love our enemies? So that we will be like our Father. He is not saying that by loving our enemies we become sons of God, as if we had to do this in order for God to accept us into his family. No, because he says “so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” It’s only those who are believers who can say that God is their Father. What Jesus is saying is that when we love our enemies we are acting like our Father. Just as my son, Joshua, will imitate me, and some of the things that he does and says are things that he has heard me say and saw me do, so when we love our enemies we imitate our Father.

Then Jesus explains more of what he means. He says that God, our Father, “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.” These are two good gifts that God gives to all people regardless of whether they are good or bad, believers or not. God causes the sun to rise and give light to all people, and he brings rain to all people regardless of whether they are good or bad. In this way, God loves even those who hate him. And Jesus tells us that as believers, we are to be like our Father and do good and be a blessing to our community whether they love us or hate us. That is how we bring glory to God. Nothing can make someone do that apart from God’s Spirit working in the lives of believers.

And this is the point that Jesus continues to make. Jesus goes on, “And 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, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” When Jesus says, “what reward do you have?” He means, how is there anything about that that is any different than what other people do? When Jesus saves us and we become God’s children, we are called to imitate him by loving even those who hate us and mistreat us. We go above and beyond what is “normal” so that what we do can only be explained by giving glory to God.

Finally, Jesus says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” The word for perfect can also mean “whole” or “mature.” It is clear that none of us will be perfect in this life, but it is possible to imitate our Father, to love those who hate us, and to do good in ways that cause the watching community to glorify God.