Matthew 5:33-48 – Redirection part two
In light of what has been going on this week in the United States, I was going to suspend this week’s Sermon on the Mount study in favor of something else until I saw what the next three aspects of law Jesus dealt with. Last week we saw that Jesus redirects our attention from the obvious problem to the deeper issue of the law. With murder, adultery and divorce, He led us down a deeper path to the heart. God doesn’t look at the outside, but the inside. What is in our heart is the important thing. This week we are dealing with oaths, an eye for an eye and loving your enemies. The timing is pretty incredible.
Do Not Break Your Oath: “Again, you have heard that it was said to our ancestors, You must not break your oath, but you must keep your oaths to the Lord. But I tell you, don’t take an oath at all: either by heaven, because it is God’s throne; or by the earth, because it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King. Neither should you swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black. But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.
To understand this passage, I needed to find out what is meant by an oath. The word oath in Hebrew is shebhu’ah. The root of the word is shebha, which is the Hebrew word for seven which opens up the deeper meaning as the number seven is associated with perfection or sacredness. For instance, Abraham named the place where he took an oath Beersheba which means “the well of seven”. So, an oath is not just a promise, it is a sacred binding covenant. God has made many oath’s throughout scripture including ones to Abraham, David and the people of Israel. In Hebrews 6:13-20 we find that God swore an oath to Abraham and He swore by Himself. When oaths were taken, they were sworn on by something greater than yourself. God swore on Himself because, well, there is nothing greater! When an oath is taken, we basically bind ourselves by that oath. This reminds me of a scene in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the book and movie The Return of the King, Pippin (a hobbit) offers his service to the steward of Gondor. He swears his allegiance to him thus binding himself to this guy. As it turns out, the steward of Gondor is not the best person to have bound himself to. Unfortunately, he took this binding oath and ended up having to pay a bit of a price for it.
In this passage, Jesus says don’t make oaths at all. Again, it’s all about what’s in the heart. What are we binding ourselves to by taking an oath? What is our motivation – the why? To figure that out, we must restate what Jesus said. He wants our righteousness to be more than that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees would tend to swear these grand oaths – by heaven, by earth, by Jerusalem. They sounded impressive and looked great… on the outside. But the inside had no intention of binding themselves to a sacred covenant. They were instead, committing fraud. In reality, there is really only one thing we should be binding ourselves to, and that is God Almighty. He is the One who never breaks His word. Instead, Jesus said, let your yes be yes, and your no be no. This is echoed in James 5:12, “Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No.” Otherwise you will be condemned.”
An Eye for an Eye: “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to the one who asks and don’t turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Today I read on my online newspapers that thousands have taken to the streets in cities all around the U.S. again to protest and riot. The reason? Racial inequality, police brutality, deaths of innocent people, injustice… People wanting answers, people wanting to make a difference, people wanting change and people who want revenge. An eye for an eye. Stated three times in the Torah, an eye for an eye is a form of retribution – payment back for loss. Exodus 21:22-25 – “When men get in a fight and hit a pregnant woman so that her children are born prematurely … If there is an injury, then you must give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound. Leviticus 24:19-20 – If any man inflicts a permanent injury on his neighbor, whatever he has done is to be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Whatever injury he inflicted on the person, the same is to be inflicted on him. Deuteronomy 19:16-21 – If a malicious witness testifies against someone accusing him of a crime, … the judges are to make a careful investigation, and if the witness turns out to be a liar who has falsely accused his brother, you must do to him as he intended to do to his brother. You must purge the evil from you… You must not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.
In all three of these, an eye for an eye is a judgment against someone who has wronged someone. The wronged person is entitled to retribution. He would take that person to court and get back in kind what he lost. If you lied in court, then you ended up paying that person in kind. Jesus is saying – no, don’t take them to court. Why – it’s a matter of the heart. Retribution can often become retaliation and selfishness. When someone does something wrong to us, we want to get back at them. It clouds our thinking – all we can concentrate on is getting even. Jesus is not saying we should allow evil to reign. He isn’t saying we shouldn’t stand up for what is right. He is warning us that bitterness can enter our hearts when we want to get back at someone. What is our motivation? Is it for real justice, or just revenge? I see this in the riots and protests that are going on right now. There are those who are standing against the evil of racism and brutality that has been in the news way too often these days. There are those who are standing in the gap for those who have been wronged. Then there are those who want revenge. They want get back what they think they’ve been robbed of. The message is – check your heart.
Love Your Enemies: “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Loving your neighbor as yourself is not a new concept. It comes from Leviticus 19:17-18 which says, You must not harbor hatred against your brother. Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him. Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh. When asked what the most important commandment is, Jesus answered “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and the 2nd is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.”
Hating your enemy is not a difficult concept either. It’s natural and, on the face of it, even seems righteous. But Jesus makes a radical statement. Love your enemies. This is a huge departure from the norm. It’s easy to love those neighbors who agree with you, those who are your friends or even polite acquaintances. It’s another thing altogether to love someone who is your enemy. But that’s what Jesus is asking of us. And then He asks us to go a step further: pray for those enemies who persecute us. This is really an extension of all the beatitudes. Asking us to be gentle, merciful, peacemakers, pure in heart… Making sure our heart is in the right place. Because it’s all about what’s in the heart. Is it love or hate, because there isn’t room for both in the same space. Once hate gets in there it drowns out all the love with it’s bitterness and deceptive righteousness. It is no accident that Jesus follows the concept of an eye for an eye with love your enemies. He wants to drive the point home – we can’t harbor the bitterness that comes from wanting revenge. We can’t have hate in our heart and love unconditionally. Hate accelerates fear and distrust in our lives – only love will drive it out. Hate will keep us trapped in a web of lies and keep us focused on selfishness. Maya Angelou says it better than I ever could – “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in this world, but it has not solved one yet.” The only thing that solves the problem of hate is love. And the love that is going to have the most impact on the world is loving your enemies.
If we are going to be salt and light in this world, hate has no place. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” If we want to change the world – if we want to thirst and hunger after righteousness – if we want to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect – then love is the key. Because none of this can happen if we hold hate in our hearts.
In this time of upheaval in America, I have been praying that God would shed light in my own life as I seek to respond. Racism and prejudice is an unholy act of hate toward God and His creation. Yes – toward God, because all sin is against God. Jesus called it murder. Why? Because if we say of someone Raca, Jesus says we have murdered them. (Raca is a word that means empty, worthless, spat upon.) If you call someone a fool you have murdered them. (Calling someone a fool is the same as saying I hate you.) And that is what racism and prejudice are – considering someone else worthless or empty. Hating them because they are different. Prejudice takes many forms – race, religion, political values… Sound familiar? Here are some truths – God loves us all. Jesus died for us all. His desire is that not one should perish. All of us – ALL – have sinned and fall very short of God’s glory. None of us are worthy. Yet – He loves us. If we are going to be a light in the darkness that is racism and prejudice, we are going to have to let go of our hate, let go of unforgiveness and retaliation, and let go of the selfishness. Then we can allow the light and love of God to flow through us.
Question to Ponder:
1. How can you truly be a light in this time of darkness?
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