Several weeks ago we started into the section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus reinterpreted some of the Old Testament laws, to make them a lot tougher—no, make that IMPOSSIBLE—for us to keep in our own strength and ability.  In the message addressing “murder” I made a point about our culture and what we do when someone wrongs us.  I did it by offering a common expression, and letting you fill in the last word.  Here it is again, “Don’t get mad---get _________.”  (“Don’t get mad---get EVEN.”)  The reason you found it so easy to fill in the blank is because it isn’t just our culture that feels that way.  Every culture down through history has responded to being hurt, by hurting back.  Hurting people hurt people.  In the Old Testament era, when the Israelites were a relatively young nation under the leadership of Moses, God gave them commands that would identify them as His people.  We’re going to look at one of those commands this morning.  As we look at it, we may think:  That is NOT something God would say.  How in the world would THAT command identify anyone as God’s people?  Let’s look at the command.  Jesus quotes it in Matthew 5:38.  I’m not going to have you stand, but would you please read it with me, first from the MOT, and then from the NLT:  [Jesus said] “³⁸You (all) have heard that it was said, ‘An eye instead of an eye and a tooth instead of a tooth.’  MOT   [Jesus said] “³⁸You have heard that the law of Moses says, ‘If an eye is injured, injure the eye of the person who did it.  If a tooth gets knocked out, knock out the tooth of the person who did it.’ NLT

      Does that sound any different than:  Don’t get mad—get even?  Believe it or not, when God gave the command to Moses, it was a radically new concept, with an extremely specific goal: LIMITING retaliation for wrongs suffered.  Let’s go back 3500 years.  It’s 1500 BC.  Moses is a young man in Egypt. He’s grown up in Pharaoh’s  household, reared as a Prince of Egypt.  Then one day he watches an Egyptian slave driver beat a Hebrew slave.  How does he respond?  He kills the slave driver.  As a result Moses is forced into exile.  For 40 years he tends sheep in the wilderness. Then God calls him to become the leader of Israel.  Part of that leadership was receiving laws from God for Israel.  When God started handing down the laws, He wanted to eliminate situations where a person was injured by another and as a result the injured person “got even” by killing the one who had injured him.  In fact, in that day injury often led to murder, which led to more people being murdered.  It was a time of “escalation.”  Retaliation for offenses got harsher and harsher until at times an entire village or city was wiped out, because of an offense against a single person.

     Enter a new law, a law restricting retaliation.  We know it as:  “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  The law literally means what it says.  If I live in that day among the people of Israel, and got in a fight with a person and poked out his eye, or even if I accidentally poked out his eye, the law permitted him to respond by poking out my eye---AND NOTHING MORE.  It may sound barbaric to us, but it was vitally important to Israel.  It eliminated “escalation” by limiting retaliation to “an eye for an eye,” an injury for an injury, a life—one life, for one life. But when Jesus came along, His goal for His disciples was more than “limiting retaliation.”  So, as we’ll see Jesus took the “eye for an eye concept” and offered four separate situations where we’re no longer to get mad, or get even.  We’re to FORGIVE and go beyond what anyone would imagine in that forgiveness!  Actually, if we wanted to summarize all Jesus’ teachings in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, we could say:  “Don’t get mad—FORGIVE!”  Let’s take a look at the four situations Jesus offers, one at a time:

            Please read Matthew 5:39 with me:  ³⁹But I myself, tell you do not oppose the one doing evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him also the other; MOT  ³⁹But I say, don’t resist an evil person! If you are slapped on the right cheek, turn the other, too.

This is one of my favorite verses in the Sermon on the Mount, not because it calls us not to resist or oppose an evil person, but because of how subtly Jesus makes His point.  You may have read this command many times, and we’ve all heard and used the admonition to “turn the other cheek.”  But have you ever really considered what Jesus was saying?  Let’s assume for a moment that Jesus was right-handed (which would be a logical assumption since unfortunately 93% of the world’s population DOES suffer from that affliction).  Now, think about what Jesus said, “…whoever strikes you on your right cheek…  If I’m standing face-to-face with an adversary, my right cheek is not easily struck by a right-handed opponent’s dominate hand.  In fact, in order for me to strike someone on their right cheek, if I’m right handed, I must “back hand” the person.  Most biblical scholars believe, as I do, that Jesus was talking about being insulted, not about being engaged in a fist fight or a boxing match, when He made this statement.  So, if someone insults you, “back hands” you, attempts to engage you in a fight, DON’T retaliate, rather expose the cheek that the person really could wallop. 

     Why would Jesus say such a thing?  Why would Jesus want us to expose ourselves to being beaten by our opponent?  Was He a wimp or something?  No way! In fact, when Jesus was arrested at the end of His ministry, He stood up to the most powerful people of His day:  the Jewish leaders, the Roman Governor and King Herod.  He didn’t stand up to them with His fists.  He stood up to them with the truth.  Jesus didn’t fight His battles the way most of us fight our battles—with brute force, with abusive language, with retaliation and escalation.  Jesus “fought” with words of wisdom and life, with actions of love and forgiveness.  He didn’t just turn the other cheek—He turned over His life.

     We say, “But He was Jesus, the Son of God.  Surely, He can’t expect us to be like Him?”  That’s EXACTLY what Jesus DOES expects.  He expects us to be LIKE Him, so our lives will reflect His life in us to others.  That’s why He taught us not to retaliate, not to exact an eye for an eye, but rather to turn the other cheek, to humble ourselves in order to gain the credibility that only comes when we DON’T retaliate.  When we exact our “pound of flesh” for every injury we receive in life, when we insist on getting even, we may “win” in the short run, but we lose the opportunity to win others to Jesus.  Jesus was never weak, but Jesus always gave Himself to save the weak.  He calls us to do the same.  Let’s turn to this morning’s worship drama to see a powerful example of a man being called to “turn the other cheek”:

Worship Drama:  “To Err Is Human, to Forgive…” Act I

What would you do in that situation?  What HAVE you done in that situation?  All of us have friends and relatives who have “taken” us, don’t we?  Can you think of someone who “borrowed” money from you and never paid it back, or someone who was “getting help” with a problem but never got any better?  What do you do in situations like that?  What does it mean to turn the other cheek, when someone just keeps taking advantage of you?  Let’s see what happens in Act II of our drama:

“To Err Is Human, to Forgive…” Act II

     As Jesus’ followers we’re never called to do the easy thing.  Getting even is the easy thing.  Escalating is the easy thing.  Turning our backs on those who have hurt us, even if at one time they’ve really helped us is the easy thing.  But remember, the easy way is always or almost always the wrong way in the Kingdom of God. Let’s go on to the three additional situations where Jesus tells us not to get mad, but to forgive.

     The first one sounds like it could be taken right out of today’s newspapers.  Please read Matthew 5:40 aloud with me:  ⁴⁰And to the one wishing to judge you and to take your tunic, allow him also [to have] your outer garment;  ⁴⁰If you are ordered to court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too.  So, maybe the stakes are a little smaller—a shirt, but we live in a day when people are suing one another ALL the time.  You hurt me, I sue you.  I get coffee that’s “too hot”, or a knife that’s “too sharp,” hurt myself and sue the company that sold the coffee or made the knife.  Jesus doesn’t tell us whether the law suit is legitimate.  There ARE times when law suits are legitimate, but all Jesus tells us is:  If the court gives your opponent your shirt, give him your coat, too!  Remember, in Jesus’ day people didn’t have closets filled with clothes.  Some people may only have had a shirt and a coat.  Few would have owned more than a couple of shirts and most only one coat. Yet Jesus says, “Don’t stand on your rights. Go beyond what the law requires.”  Here’s what it takes to go beyond getting even to giving forgiveness:  We must give up our rights.  As Americans most of us know our “rights.”  We know what the law permits us to do, and commands others to do, and we often demand our rights.  Jesus says in effect, “Never stop giving others THEIR rights, but never demand YOUR rights.”  You’re probably thinking, “That’s not FAIR.  That’s not RIGHT.”   That’s right.  It isn’t.  Jesus wasn’t about FAIR and RIGHT.  Otherwise, we’d all be heading to hell one day.  Jesus was about going WAY BEYOND what’s fair and right.  He was about mercy.  When it comes to rights and fairness mercy and forgiveness mean the same thing: to pardon.  While Jesus’ example is of one person suing another for a shirt, the result He calls us to is an act of mercy and forgiveness---give more than the person deserves—give your coat as well. 

     Did Jesus really mean this?  Of course He meant it.  Otherwise, He wouldn’t have said it.  All four of Jesus’ commands in this statement move us beyond getting even, to forgiveness and mercy, to showing others what HE has first shown us.  According to God’s word everyone of us sitting here in this room this morning was born with a “debt” that we couldn’t repay.  That “debt” is owed to God and it comes from the inherent nature of sin in our lives.  You and I are born separated from God, because of sin.  At some point in each of our lives that “debt” becomes apparent.  We lie. We steal. We murder—remember how Jesus defined murder? – calling someone a fool or an idiot or an “empty head”, being angry with a brother or sister.  We commit adultery actually or in our hearts.  The “debt” is there in each of us, and it DOES come out in each of us, although in some it may not seem as obvious as in others.  The reality is, though, that each of us owes God a debt we can’t pay.  If God had decided to “get even” with us, we’d all be in deep weeds.  Instead, God sent Jesus to live a perfect life, and die on the cross to pay our debt, our penalty, so He could pardon us.  As a result, Jesus tells us, who follow Him NOT to insist on our rights, but to show mercy and forgiveness—specifically, when we’re involved in a lawsuit.

     Then Jesus moved on to another situation, a situation that we won’t find ourselves in literally in our day as citizens of the United States of America, although there are many analogies we can draw from the principle.  Please read Matthew 5:41 with me:  ⁴¹and whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two.  ⁴¹If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles.  In Jesus’ day the Romans occupied Israel.  A Roman soldier had the right to “conscript” any Jewish citizen and have that citizen carry his gear for a mile.  At the end of the mile the Jewish citizen could put down the gear and walk away, but NOT if that Jewish citizen was also a follower of Jesus.  Jesus added “the second mile” principle.  We’ve all heard of “going the second mile.”  We talk about “second mile giving” in the church.  Jesus’ point is clear and obvious:  When you have an obligation, don’t just meet the obligation, go beyond it. 

     What would happen if you and I would “go the second mile” in everything we do in life?  The world would be a far different place, wouldn’t it?  What if you went to work tomorrow, and did TWICE as much as the boss requires of you?  How long would it be before he or she would notice?  How long would it be before your co-workers came up and said, “Hey, you’ve got to stop that!  You’re making us look bad.”?  What if you went to baseball practice, or band practice, or football practice tomorrow and at the end of practice said, “Coach, Let’s do that all again! I'm committed to being the best player I can be and to having this be the best team we can be.”  The coach or band director wouldn’t believe it, AND most, if not all, of your teammates would be all over you, because they only want to do what’s required.  Most don’t want to do even that much!  What if you husbands who are here this morning went home today and started doing not just what is REQUIRED to be a good husband, but TWICE that?  And what if you wives did the same?  Do you see Jesus goal here?  Jesus’ goal was to transform the world.  He DID his part:  He came.  He lived a perfect life and told us what that meant.  He died on the cross to pay our debt.  He rose from the dead to show us that He really IS the Son of God.  He went back to heaven and He sent the Holy Spirit to FILL us and empower us to be, as Martin Luther put it, “little Christs” or “little Jesuses” all over the world.  But where is that happening?  Where are Jesus’ followers going the second mile in every area of our lives?  Do you realize that if we were all second mile givers here at New Life—not just of our money, but of our time, our talents and our lives--and to be second mile givers, that would mean that we would already be giving the first mile of our money, time, talents and lives to the Lord, we’d already be worshiping at 127 Knoch Road every, single Sunday, and we’d already have reached all of our neighbors in this region with the Good News of Jesus’ salvation, and we’d be seeing God’s blessings in hundreds and thousands of more lives than we are right now.  

     Why don’t you and I ALWAYS go the second mile in every area of our lives?  We could offer a lot of reasons, couldn’t we?  It’s too hard.  It takes too much time.  It’s hard enough going the first mile.  But all of our reasons really boil down to one:  Living in the second mile requires ABIDING in Jesus ALL the time.  Remember what abiding means?  Abiding means staying ATTACHED to Jesus the way a branch stays attached to a tree, or leaf of a pumpkin plant stays attached to the vine.  Do you remember the pumpkin leaf I brought in a few weeks ago, the one I had cut from the vine the night before?  Living in the second mile is something we CANNOT do on our own.  It’s living in the power of the Holy Spirit.  It’s God’s part in our lives.  If Jesus isn’t Lord of our lives, we’ll seldom go the first mile, let alone the second.  You may be thinking, “Chris, I know people who aren’t Christians and they get more done than most Christians I know.”  I grant that.  But is getting the most done the sign of second mile living?  Some people work harder because they think money and position make for success, and once they achieve them they realize something’s still missing.  Some never realize that, but there IS something missing nevertheless:  the ABIDING in Jesus that brings true significance that allows us to move beyond getting EVEN to love and forgiveness.  Friends, these five verses have the potential to radically impact us, and our world---if we abide in Jesus and live them out.

     Let’s look at Jesus last statement in this section.  Please read Matthew 5:42 with me aloud:  ⁴²To the one asking you give, and to the one wishing to borrow from you do not turn away.”  ⁴²Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.”  Again we could ask, “Is Jesus really serious?”  After all, if we gave to everyone who asks of us and loaned out everything people wanted to borrow from us, we wouldn’t have anything left.  What if that’s the point?  What if Jesus wants to loosen our grip on our stuff, so we can grab hold of the only thing that matters:  HIM, and sharing Him with others?  Jesus’ statements throughout the Sermon on the Mount are radical.  If we truly lived them out, people would see Jesus in and through us all the time.  Jesus knows the nature of humanity separated from Him. It can be summed up in one word:  SELFISH.  Dictionary.com defines selfish in this way:  devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one's own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others.  When Jesus comes into our lives, when we ATTACH ourselves to Him, a new kind of life starts to course through our veins—it’s the opposite of selfish. It’s altruistic.  Dictionary.com defines altruistic as: unselfishly concerned for or devoted to the welfare of others.  Bingo!  That’s what Jesus was talking about.  But following Jesus is even more than altruism.  Altruism is just being the best human being we can be in our own effort and strength.  Following Jesus is BECOMING like Jesus, by letting the Holy Spirit fill and control us!  The harder we try to live out the Sermon on the Mount, apart from Jesus’ presence and power through the Holy Spirit, the more frustrated we become.  So, here’s TODAY’S CHALLENGE:  I will let the Holy Spirit fill and empower me constantly, so I can live in the second mile daily!  Do you know what’s going to happen this week if we actually do that?  Family’s are going to be healthier; work places, ball teams and bands are going to be more productive and more excellent; people who don’t know Jesus will “see Him” at work, and will want to know Him, too;  God’s kingdom will become more and more real each day!  Wow!  How many of you are up for that?  If you are then say the challenge with me right now:  TODAY’S CHALLENGE:  I will let the Holy Spirit fill and empower me constantly, so I can live in the second mile daily!  Let’s pray…………………… Amen.