God’s Constitution, Pt 17: Eye for an eye

Matthew 5:38-42                   38“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  39But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.  If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.  40And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.  41If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.  42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Exodus 21:22-25                    22“If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. 23But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

Commentators seem to use specious reasoning to do away with the apparent intent of the Exodus verse.  They say those words are intended to establish an upper limit to our response to injury; that eye-for-an-eye response is intended to be the most a person should do.  But the language in the Exodus verse seems very direct, even commanding.  What is not readily apparent is that in those days an offended person was not allowed to engage in these responses without approval and direction from the ecclesiastical courts.  The Rabbis determined appropriate response; a person was not allowed for instance to murder someone because that person caused a bruise.  So in spite of the imperative tense, the Rabbis controlled just how far an injured party could go to seek recompense.

But Jesus is telling us that even these adjudicated responses don’t go far enough.  The thing is that fleshly human minds often pervert Godly precepts, and in the last sections of chapter 5 Matthew lists 6 examples (of which the current verse is number 5) of human thinking which limit the intent of Godly instruction.  In Jeremiah 31:31-34 God speaks of a new covenant:

31“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them.” 33“This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD.

This New Covenant manifested with the arrival of Jesus Christ and is all about the establishing of individual rather than national relationship with his people.  Whereas the Exodus verse talks about national guidelines in settling disputes, the Matthew verse talks about individual responses.  The examples given in the Matthew verses are not so much about retribution, but about limiting matters of pride and self-importance in favor of showing love to others.  For example, since most people are right-handed a slap to one’s right cheek meant one had been given a back-handed slap.  In the Middle East then and now such a slap was one of the utmost insult and contempt.  Also, ecclesiastical law forbad the confiscation of one’s coat on humanitarian grounds.  In all the examples Jesus is telling us to make the extra effort, to do more than necessary, to help the other guy through his difficulties rather than focusing on our own.

All of this has application in our modern impersonal society.  Just recently, my daughter and I had stopped at the local fast-food restaurant and arriving at the pickup window found a young woman with her back to the window, leaning against the counter, texting on her phone.  I didn’t say anything because I wanted to see just how long it would take before she acknowledged us.  We waited a full minute!  Such things happen more and more these days don’t they?

In most circumstances one has choices in how to respond:  Will he choose grace or will he choose revenge.  This is the question Jesus is addressing in these verses.  The world will generally choose revenge, and indeed that seems to be the intent of the Exodus verse.  But Jesus is saying that in any situation grace is the proper response.  So let’s get down to the basics here:  All of us are frail, fragile persons loaded with wounds, weaknesses, and insecurities.  Some of us are so loaded that we insult and criticize others to cover up our own injuries.  I know a woman that even  makes fun of national trademarks:  A national automobile manufacturer name becomes an acronym-“Found On Road Dead”, and a food chain becomes “Taco Smell”.

In the face of modern tumult it is more important than ever to offer small pieces of grace to those we encounter.  When we come across someone who seems intent on insulting us or taking from us or demanding of us, the first thing we ought to recognize is that this person is hurting inside in some way.  Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” In such situations it is important the hurting person is given that kind word or small piece of grace.  Such things are balms for the soul and bind up wounded hearts.

On the flip side, when we find ourselves inclined to crab at someone we might ask ourselves just what is going on inside us.  Why did our pride or anger rise up when the other person did the thing?  Is there some root of offense inside?  Were we injured in some way earlier in our lives that causes us to act the way we do?

But let’s look beyond that for a moment.  It occurs to me that when I am thinking about getting things ‘even’ between an opponent and me, that I am basically giving that guy control over my life.  If he hurts me, I want to hurt him back!  But I don’t want to live that way; the only person I want to give control over my life is Jesus Himself.  So when he says to go the extra mile and to love abundantly, that’s what I’m going to do.  We can make the choice to live above other peoples’ pettiness, and more than that we can choose to reflect God’s grace in difficult situations.  There is a book out that describes various peoples’ near-death experiences.  In every single experience, no matter what the person’s life experiences were like, whether poor or affluent, educated or not, when meeting Jesus they were asked one question: “Did you learn to love?”1 Let’s all decide to make a difference.  Here is one way.

1 Burke, John. (2015).  Imagine Heaven.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.  Available on Amazon.