The King's Children Love

Love. Can any other word stir the heart like that word? Perhaps there are words which rival in meaning—forgiveness, mercy, grace, acceptance—but those words find their basis of meaning in the word “love.” We know love when we experience it. We know what it’s like to miss out on love. We may know what it is to give love and not have it given in return. Such hurt from love doesn’t result in giving up on love. Pity the person who has hardened their heart so that love cannot penetrate it. The truth is that when one loves, one will get hurt. It isn’t possible to love and not feel pain as well. Tennyson wrote “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” The pain of loss when love has been extended must not keep us from loving again.

There are thousands of stories about love. Some are very powerful. Some are sweet. Richard Selzer, a surgeon, told a story of love which captures the heart. Selzer had performed surgery on a young woman to remove a cancerous tumor from her cheek. Even with his skill, he could not avoid cutting part of a facial nerve which left her mouth with a clownish pull to one side. After surgery, he was explaining the life long result of the surgery to the woman and a man standing in the room with her. Selzer isn’t sure who he is. The young woman speaks. “Will my mouth always be like this?” she asks. “Yes,” I say, “it will. It is because the nerve was cut.” She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. “I like it,” he says, “It is kind of cute.” All at once I know who he is. I understand and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a god. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works. A beautiful story. This kind of love encourages.

Jesus talked about love. His discussion encourages, challenges, and leaves us scratching our heads in amazement. Can Jesus mean what he actually says here? Are there some loopholes for us to jump quickly through? Of all parts of this initial chapter, these next two sections pose the greatest threat to us. They call on us to have hearts that are completely opposite the ways of this world. Will we hear these words and hearing them will we follow? That is the real challenge.

Retaliation

Verses 38-42 deals with one of the most difficult texts in the Sermon on the Mount. It is a passage which seems to be clear cut and yet so difficult for us to accept. It is probably the one text that we want to quickly clarify and add exceptions to. It was taught that an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was demanded. If someone wronged you, then you had a moral responsibility to exact the same amount of suffering from them. It was taught that justice must be done. This insistence was based on passages from Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. God initially gave this law as a way of avoiding undue punishment against someone. Human nature hasn’t changed much. When we are hurt, we want to retaliate in some way. We want the one who has hurt us to know how much we have been hurt and we assume the best way is to hurt them.

Based on Deuteronomy 19:21, the instruction was that no mercy was to be taken in an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth. The Pharisees understood this law as not being optional. Every ounce of suffering caused must be met with an equal amount of suffering. However, the Deuteronomy passage speaks of what is to be done to a witness that intentionally lies against someone. In such cases, the witness is to be treated in the way he was trying through his false testimony to subject the accused to. Jesus however, places the spirit of the law back in place. There is no demand for retaliation. In fact, the spirit of the law is not to retaliate at all. The phrase “do not resist an evil person” must not be understood to mean that the king’s children are to be willing to be hurt or must not protect themselves. That phrase can be understood in terms of a legal action. What Jesus seems to be saying is that the King’s children do not pursue legal action or as we might say “don’t make a federal case out of it.”

To the Pharisees, retribution was a matter of justice. Jesus says such an attitude is not a part of his followers. Jesus shifts from legal proceedings to everyday life.

Jesus is not being literal about taking a backhanded slap across the face. The point is to not have an attitude of retaliation. The King’s children are not interested in finding justice by hurting others. Instead we are to have a spirit of giving for the benefit of others.

To be sued suggests animosity. Someone wants to hurt you. Jesus says give him the cloak as well. The tunic is the outer garment; the tunic would have been the garment worn next over the body. There is a bit of humor here. It is the idea of an unfair judicial process resulting in lose just take off your tunic as well. Walking out of court naked would have been a symbolic rebuke of the court’s injustice.

The forcing of the mile was the right of soldiers to demand that the conquered carry equipment for a distance. This was the right of government. Jesus says the King’s children will have an attitude to go beyond what was required.

The attitude of giving encompasses the very heart of the King’s child. We give when asked because our hearts are set on helping others.

Retaliation is not the way of the King’s child. We patiently endure mistreatment. We practice self-control and restraint. We do not seek to hurt others. We do not resist but wait on God to bring about his will. This is what Jesus did. 1 Peter 2:20-23. No retaliation. No quick come backs. No words intended to sting. He took the worst from evil. And he says his followers will do the same.

Love

The final example Jesus discusses is love for enemies. The Pharisees taught that love for neighbor must be done. But their definition of neighbor included only Jews. Those who were not neighbors did not deserve the same treatment. The word for “hate” should be understood to love less. What Jesus is saying is that the Pharisees believed and taught that fellow Jews were to be treated well but those who were not Jews did not have to be treated as well.

Jesus says the intent of loving neighbor is much broader. In fact, God allows rain and sun to be a part of all. He doesn’t differentiate between the good and the evil. He lets the good man’s grass grow and he lets the evil man’s grass grow. One cannot make a distinction between God’s treatment of the good and the evil. So Jesus says are we to be in our dealings with people. Those who are good and evil deserve equal treatment. In fact, Jesus says that if we only treat those that we like well, then we are no different from the evil people in the world. Even evil people, tax collectors and Gentiles, treat those who like them with kindness. If we will not treat all people with kindness then we are no better than evil people.

Part of the mixup in this section is our personal understanding of the words love and hate. For us to love someone we must have good feelings about that person. We must have warm fuzzy feelings toward someone. For us love becomes defined as an emotional response. And hate is just the opposite. Hate means the absence of warm fuzzy feelings and more feelings of despising someone. Jesus is not using these words in such an emotional way. Love and hate are not emotional words. They are words which designate calculated actions toward a person. Love then is seen when we intentionally do what is good for another. Hate is seen in not intentionally doing something good for another. Ignoring someone’s need is the same thing as hate. Jesus is saying that his people will not be known for their indifference toward others. Instead, they will be known as people who love.

Jesus ends this section with a call for his people to become like God. Perfection in verse 48 does not mean sinlessness, but maturity and completeness. Jesus calls on us to be like God in the way we treat the law and people. Kingdom people choose the life of restraint and giving of self rather than a life of self-centeredness and manipulation. The King’s children imitate God in his approach toward us. What did God do? He loved us when we were his enemies. He gave of himself when we didn’t want him nosing in our business. He emptied himself so that we could be with him. So we are to be like our Father in the way we treat others. Never easy. But great joy in loving those who hate us. This is what Jesus calls his people to. Will you hear his call?

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