Pastor Dan Eddy
Matthew 5:38-48
Living the very
happy Life
Part 4: Living
well is the best revenge!!!
2-27-11
THE GOSPEL READING……………………………………Matthew 5:38-48 ESV
P: The Holy Gospel according to Apostle, St.
Matthew, the 5th Chapter:
C: Glory to
You, O Lord.
Jesus continues with His sermon on the mount.
38 [Jesus
said]: “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.
P: This is the
Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to
You, O Christ.
I. Introduction
– Seeking Revenge.
Seeking revenge. Let’s say you are up for a
promotion at work. A coworker, who you have never gotten along with, is
competing for the same position. Wouldn’t you know…he maligns your reputation
through gossip and subtle innuendos. The results of his actions are you’re not
getting that promotion. Not only aren’t you getting an increase in income and
greater authority but your reputation has suffered. Now you plot revenge on
your enemy.
Or let’s say you are relaxing at home after
having a good morning at church. You check your email and your friend again has
another “sob” story about how they are short on cash again…and need money from
you, again. “When will it end with the help” you think. You feel like you are
being taken advantage of. You’ve helped them out over and over. Your revenge….you
delete the email and ignore their request. “I have helped them enough,” you say. “Let someone else take care of them. I need
to live well for me.”
When the scales of justice have not tipped in
our direction…revenge seems like the logical way to avenge wrongs done to us.
After all…aren’t Republicans avenging the ways Democrats have treated them? Aren’t
Democrats countering with revenge against Republicans? Unions plot revenge
against management. Management looks for ways to strip the union’s power. Rebels
in the
Where does it
end? When is enough revenge, enough? When are hurts done to us avenged? When is
retribution satisfied? Greater embarrassment, a more ruined reputation, a
complete stripping of power, lots of financial compensation for losses to one’s
reputation…when does it end?
And how is living
well is the best revenge?
In this morning’s
Gospel reading, Jesus shows reviews, corrects, and expands the way to look at
revenge. It’s living well for Him, and is often doing the opposite of what our
instincts tell us. Living well is the best revenge for ending misery and the
unquenchable, unsatisfying results of vengeance.
II.
Relooking at justice and replacing it mercy…always
being willing to forgive
The key to living
well as a form of godly revenge is found in verses 38 and 39: Jesus said: “You have heard that it was
said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 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.”
An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth was God's means of
maintaining justice and purging evil from among His people. Jesus was quoting
Deuteronomy 19:20-21. Christ emphatically corrects misunderstandings about this
passage in two ways. One the law was intended to prevent inappropriate
punishment and it was to be enforced by civil authorities not individuals.
But it can look as though Jesus is
advocating that we allow people to abuse us…physically, emotionally, and
financially. After all isn’t that what turning the other cheek means?
Yet if we allow
Scripture to interpret Scripture, we see that is not the case. In Luke 4:29
when a mob wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff…did He let them? No, He somehow
defended Himself by merely walking through the crowd. Or in John 8:59 He
somehow prevented people from stoning Him to death. The key in both of these
situations is He never sought revenge on those who wanted to hurt or kill Him.
The key here is
you can defend but not avenge. Jesus is saying avoid kindling
hatred toward another. Remember hate sin but love the sinner.
There’s the evil
done to us…but often times evil is also in our response. When our reputation is
maligned by another…what’s our first instinct? Get ‘em back by maligning theirs.
Return insult for insult.
But Jesus here is
saying when you seek justice apply mercy
instead. The happiness is not settling the score…because that rarely brings
satisfaction but only accelerates the problem.
There’s a fine
line between defending and avenging, and that fine line is forgiveness. Hate
sin not the sinner.
“You
hit me…I hit you back.” Here
Jesus is saying do the opposite. Defend not avenge. No revenge…only
forgiveness. That’s what turning the cheek means. Always be willing to extend
the hand of forgiveness. Give them what they don’t deserve…that’s mercy. By the
way there is not a Scripture that supports us hating people…hating their
actions, yes, but not hating them.
Jesus’ response to all injustice was to
have His cheeks slapped, for Him to be spat upon, for Him to be stripped naked, to have His head stabbed with thrones, His back beaten, and nails driven into His hands and feet.
1 Peter 2:22-24 (ESV): “He (Jesus) committed no sin, neither was
deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return;
when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him
who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might
die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”
Jesus took on the
justice that should have been done to us. His suffering took our eye for an eye
and our tooth for a tooth and God the Father put the punishment on Him. God the
Father took out His revenge on you by putting it on His Son when Christ spoke
from the Cross: “My God, My God why have
you forsaken me?”
Perhaps,
living well as the best revenge can be summed up in the words of Psalm 32:1-2
(ESV): “Blessed (or happy) is the one whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed (or happy) is the man
(or person) against whom the Lord counts no
iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”
In other words, only
the forgiven are truly happy.
I’ve told this story
before but it really fits here. World War II Nazi concentration camp survivor
Corrie ten Boom understood the happiness of forgiveness. For most of the war, her
Christian family successfully hid and protected Jewish people from the Nazis
military. But they were caught and her family ended up in various Nazi concentration
camps.
Despite all the
tragedy she saw and endured, including the deaths of her parents and some
siblings, she remembered the words of her sister Betsie shortly before Betsie
was killed by the Nazis: "There
is no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still."
Corrie survived
and just a few years after the war, she was approached by one of the former
Ravensbrück camp guards, who were so cruel and abusive to her and her family.
She said he wanted forgiveness but she was reluctant to
do that, but prayed that she would be able to. Corrie said, “For
a long moment we grasped each other's hands, the former guard and the former
prisoner. I had never known God's love so intensely as I did then.”
Only the forgiven
are truly happy. Seek revenge on sin not the sinner.
But Jesus wants
us to go beyond accepting His forgiveness, and forgiving others. He wants us to
find a deeper happiness by forging relationships with people with whom we don’t
want to.
III.
Relooking at the ones taking advantage of
you…developing good relationships
Like in verse 42 when Jesus said: “Give to the one who begs
from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
That sounds good
until it feels like people are taking advantage of your generosity. But Jesus
here is not saying help people by enabling bad behavior.
For example,
Jesus is not saying give money to people who say they need it to pay a bill
when you know they could be using it to support a drug, alcohol, gambling or
other bad habit. No, Jesus wants us to be wise and further develop a
relationship with the people who are asking for our help. Go the extra mile. Throwing
money at them is not caring. And ignoring their deep need for help only creates
apathy.
Helping in a more
thoughtful loving way involves not just looking at what people needs but what
strengths do they have? What gifts has God given them, and how can we help them
use their strengths to help resolve their ongoing problems?
But that involves
time and patience, and investment in developing relationships…like Pastor Eric
Salhberg at
How can we seek
revenge against sin by helping bring the
Jesus gave up all
for you. He did more than walk the extra mile for you. The value of what He did
is worth more than tunic or cloak. Jesus is always there to provide forgiveness
when beg, even through we have abused His gift of grace over and over. Jesus
has not giving up on you and me. And so He does not want us to give up on one
another.
Empathy, not
apathy, is a powerful tool toward exhibiting compassion. Understanding, not
endorsing, the sins and struggles people are going through. With compassion,
happiness comes in realizing how much more God has blessed you, so you can pass
some of those blessings onto others less fortunate.
Remember only the
forgiven in Christ are truly happy.
IV. Going beyond
forgiveness to minister Turning enemies into friend for Christ
But Jesus wants
us to go one step further than accepting His forgiveness, passing on His
forgiveness and helping those who are difficult to help. He actually wants us
to pray for and do good things for our enemies.
Who’s your enemy?
I guess you could say it’s anyone who you’re perceiving as wanting to
intentionally hurt you.
Doing good to
those who hate you sends an incredible witness of faith in Christ to the rest
of the world.
Look at God’s example for His creation.
Does He just feed those who have faith in Jesus? Does He only provide medical
care to those who have been baptized into Christ? So, if God cares for those
who hate Him overtly or are just indifferent to Him…Jesus is saying, what gives
you the reason to act any differently? Anyone can love those who return the
love…but Jesus is saying what will you do when that doesn’t happen? The
temptation is to act like the rest of the world.
But Dietrich Bonhoeffer didn’t. He was a German Lutheran pastor who
spoke against Hitler and the Nazis before and during World War II with the
Gospel message. And that included speaking out against the persecution of the
Jews. That, of course, landed him in prison. But even in there, facing his
pending execution, he witnessed to his prison guards. As a result they loved
him so much they even offered to help him escape. But Bohoeffer refused, not wanting
retribution against his family.
Instead days before his execution after
his last Sunday service, he asked a fellow prisoner to pass a message on to a
bishop friend of his. Bonhoeffer told him to tell him “This is the end – for me the beginning of life.”
Seek revenge on sins not sinners. Live
well for the Lord. Hell is not something you would want to wish on your worst
enemy.
Because of
Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, we are no longer enemies of God
but became His beloved children at our baptism.
And you are
considered perfect in God’s eyes because of the faith His Son put in our heart,
and therefore we are perfect because He is in our hearts.
The Lord’s
revenge will be completed against Satan and his minions on the Last Day. And on
that Day, for those who have faith in Christ, our perfection will be fully realized
with the creation of New Earth and the New Heaven. Revenge against evil will be
over.
Only the forgiven
in Christ are truly happy by turning the other cheek in always offering
forgiveness and letting God’s mercy sooth their bitterness. Only the forgiven
in Christ are truly happy by experiencing joy in helping those who seem to want
to take advantage of you. And only the forgive in Christ are truly happy
because the Holy Spirit is inside them as they prayer for, love, and do good to
their enemies.
Let the forgiven
in Christ be you experiencing true happiness.
God’s blessings
as you live well in happiness as the best revenge, not against the sinner, but against
sin. Amen.