1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,540 Alright, let us pray before we go further. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the wonderful 2 00:00:10,540 --> 00:00:17,280 blessing that you are a God who speaks, who speaks to each of us, who has spoken through 3 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:24,040 the ages and spoke through Jesus Christ. We pray that as we reflect on the words that 4 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:31,240 have been read, that you continue to bless us, help us to remember this teaching of Jesus's, 5 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:38,440 help us to understand it and transform it into our lives. And we ask this in his name, 6 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:47,680 Amen. Well, I'm going to start by telling you the story of our wheelie bin. So, and 7 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:53,160 even before I get to the story that's important about our wheelie bin, you need a bit of wheelie 8 00:00:53,160 --> 00:01:00,240 bin backstory. And it all began when we moved into our house. We've recently moved to Perth, 9 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:06,960 found a house after, you know, six months or so, moved in. And when you move in, you 10 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:14,440 know, you start a relationship with your new bin. And our bin was our recycling bin. So 11 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:20,520 this is, you know, the general waste that's not in this story. That was fine. The wheelie 12 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:27,360 bin was, it had a broken lid, you know. It just wasn't going up and down right. It was 13 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:36,760 coming off. It just moved in. So we rang up the council, told them about our bin. You 14 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:42,400 know, we're really hoping that they'd come over and fix, you know, just fix it. You know, 15 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,360 I don't know what they're going to do to it or maybe even give us a new bin. Anyway, 16 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:52,800 they're very good about it. They came over, which was fantastic, responded well. But when 17 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:58,200 they got there, they just whacked a cable tie on it, which was a bit disappointing. 18 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:04,120 But that's all right. It went up and down all right. And it was great to have. But the 19 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:09,140 point of that, point of telling you about that part of it is that we could easily see, 20 00:02:09,140 --> 00:02:14,160 we knew which was our bin pretty easily because it was the one with the council cable tie 21 00:02:14,160 --> 00:02:19,720 on it. And the other thing about our bin, our recycling bin, even though it was a little 22 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,320 bit, you know, it wasn't the prettiest bin, you know, with its council cable tie, but 23 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:30,120 it was a good smelling bin, right. I mean, it wasn't a good smelling bin, but you know, 24 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:35,200 for a bin, it wasn't, you know, there wasn't a problem with its smell. It was nice, you 25 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:44,000 know. And so our driveways, we've got this kind of thing going on where we all put our 26 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,880 all, there's like three driveways that all come together. And we all put our bins on 27 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:53,320 the other side of the road, kind of in a little cluster. That's just the way it works there 28 00:02:53,320 --> 00:03:03,000 on Jugton Way. And so we've put our bin out and research recycling, we've got the recycling 29 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:10,920 bins out there. And we're a bit slow to get it in, you know, not looking at anybody who's 30 00:03:10,920 --> 00:03:17,720 sitting over there in sort of the back row over there. Bit slow to get it in. And when 31 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:26,000 we do go out there, there's one recycling bin left. And this is not the bin with the 32 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:32,760 council cable tie, right. Somebody else has got our bin and left us this bin. Now this 33 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:40,440 bin, I'm telling you, this bin stunk, right. This bin was, this is something else. This 34 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:47,760 was like, I don't know what had gone on there. It was like somebody has, somebody's like 35 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:52,440 put the pizza boxes in the recycling, but they forgot that the pizzas were still in 36 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:57,760 there. And they've left it there like three to six months and they'd ordered the seafood 37 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:03,400 pizza. And that was all there, right. That's, it was like something had crawled in there 38 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:09,720 and died. It was not just smelling bad, but it was smelling bad in a way that that badness 39 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:17,840 was kind of bonded to the plastic at the bottom of it. And the thing about this is that it's 40 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:25,480 kind of really obvious who's nicked our bin, right. Because it's the bin with the council 41 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:30,560 cable tie. And it's kind of obvious like they haven't done this by mistake. Like you can't 42 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:37,080 mistake our decently smelling bin for this bin that smells like you need a priest to 43 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:43,440 exercise this smell, right. So, and there it is. There's the bin down the way. So how 44 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:51,960 do we respond to that, right? How should we respond in that kind of a situation? We're 45 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:57,440 going to get to that in just a little while. That's just kind of an ordinary suburban 46 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:02,640 story, right. We all kind of have things that go on in our lives and go on with our neighbours. 47 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:12,320 I bought a letter box the other day just and the guy was telling me a story about, you 48 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:18,280 know, there's two neighbours and somehow they've got, I don't know what's going on in their 49 00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:24,480 street, but one of them, he gets a chain and he wraps it around his neighbour's letter 50 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,960 box and attaches it to his car and drives off with his letter box down there. These 51 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:35,040 things happen, right? I'm sure you've had something in your life where somebody's done 52 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:41,080 something wrong to you, maybe in a big way, maybe in a small way, something at work or 53 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:50,800 school, something in your family, maybe you've got scammed. And Jesus is talking here about 54 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:58,100 those kind of situations. The situations in this passage are all something that somebody 55 00:05:58,100 --> 00:06:03,880 has done something wrong to the person in question, to the disciple, something sort 56 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:13,600 of morally wrong or something that they won't be liking. And what Jesus says here about 57 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:21,520 how to respond is incredibly powerful. It's interesting that there's just four verses 58 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:28,760 that were read out to us and in those four verses there are three things that have become 59 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:37,560 sayings in the English language. These are things that stick in our minds. Firstly, I 60 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:45,960 mean it tells you that Jesus is an amazing teacher, that he has these kind of pictures, 61 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:55,880 those pictures that just stay with us. But also it shows us that this is memorable teaching. 62 00:06:55,880 --> 00:07:05,260 This is something that is radical and sticks in our mind. These are culture shaping statements. 63 00:07:05,260 --> 00:07:09,840 So we have an eye for an eye which is actually a quote from the Old Testament. So you may 64 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:16,920 say that doesn't really count. But then we have turn the other cheek is an English expression 65 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:25,760 from verse 38 and go the extra mile comes from verse 41. Two statements that are radically 66 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:33,240 different to the way that our culture understands an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. And 67 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:38,600 when people do talk about those they're usually talking about them in some kind of revenge 68 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:44,520 or retaliation to even up the score. Whatever bad thing has happened to them they'll do 69 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:51,560 something equal in return. And it seems by Jesus' but I tell you and his illustrations 70 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:57,160 that follow that the people at the time were thinking about it in much the same way in 71 00:07:57,160 --> 00:08:08,080 terms of taking revenge or evening up in retribution. But this understanding of an eye for an eye, 72 00:08:08,080 --> 00:08:18,840 a tooth for a tooth, really lacks a proper understanding of the moral issues involved. 73 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:25,160 Interestingly there are at least as far as I've counted there are at least six films 74 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:32,120 that have been made in the last 40ish years that have the title of the film An Eye for 75 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:39,480 an Eye. The first one as far as I'm aware was a Chuck Norris film in the 80s and it 76 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,960 was just that it was a Chuck Norris film from the 80s. The second one was a lot kind of 77 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:52,240 more interesting and complex in terms of the moral issues involved. And it was about a 78 00:08:52,240 --> 00:09:02,720 mother taking revenge on the man who raped and murdered her daughter. But interestingly 79 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:11,600 the film got terrible reviews despite the fact that it had Sally Field in it and Sally 80 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:20,080 Field is just amazing in everything she does. But there's a Pulitzer Prize winning critic, 81 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:27,680 this guy called Roger Ebbett who put his finger on the problem with the film and he explained 82 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:36,240 that the film exploited the audience by showing the revenge, right, that's the basis of the 83 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:43,680 film, without exploring the moral issues involved. And that's kind of a really interesting criticism 84 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:49,160 to make of the film. It says that we can't just have the audience sit there and watch 85 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:55,440 a character take revenge, like in this case she was taking revenge through murder, without 86 00:09:55,440 --> 00:10:02,520 an adequate kind of exploration of the moral issues. So even though it's kind of what the 87 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:10,000 audience wants, right, at first the audience almost wants to be exploited because there's 88 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:16,160 kind of a side of us that is fascinated with the idea of revenge. That's why there's six 89 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:28,720 films called An Eye for an Eye. But at some point in the movie we're all going to kind 90 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:35,680 of wake up and see that it's kind of morally bankrupt and the whole issue requires closer 91 00:10:35,680 --> 00:10:45,720 examination. And at that point as an audience we feel kind of cheap and dirty and manipulated. 92 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:54,720 And to take the Old Testament teaching, An Eye for an Eye, in the way that was being 93 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:01,840 done at the time of Jesus and as people still do today, and to take that as revenge while 94 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:09,760 failing to understand the moral complexities is to exploit the text, right, it's not to 95 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:19,480 engage in the real issues. And to take a text out of its context is exploitation. And what 96 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:26,360 we need to do is we need to kind of go back and see what was meant in the Old Testament. 97 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:34,200 And when we do that we see that Jesus isn't contradicting what's written there but showing 98 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:43,000 us its true meaning. And what he's going to do is show us it and then raise it one. He's 99 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:49,200 going to plummet the complexities, draw out their true meaning and then reconfigure this 100 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:55,360 in a new covenant kingdom framework that is going to show us the heart of the matter. 101 00:11:55,360 --> 00:12:03,040 And that's what we need to do now. But as we turn to the Old Testament, the thing that 102 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:11,080 we should be paying attention to is the point of view of the actions that are going on. 103 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:21,000 So to explain that, what I mean is that kind of what we want to be doing is think about 104 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:29,680 the direction. So if I kind of think about myself as the person who has done something 105 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:37,160 wrong to somebody else, then that's kind of one thing isn't it? Like I've done wrong and 106 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:43,360 I need to think about what I am going to do to set that right for the other person. So 107 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:47,760 that's one point of view that I want us to consider. But then there's another point of 108 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:52,920 view that we might consider and that's from the point of view of the person who has been 109 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:59,720 wronged by that other person. And that's a different point of view and the Bible handles 110 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:04,840 that in a different way. And that causes us to question what do I do when I'm in this 111 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:09,720 position and what do I do while I'm in that position. And that's what I want us to kind 112 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:20,760 of have a look at as we get there. So an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth is found three 113 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:25,960 times in the Old Testament in the law. The first two of them are quite similar. They 114 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:36,040 deal with personal injuries. And then the third one uses the same concept but in the 115 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:43,880 context of being a witness in court. But what we're going to do is take the first of those 116 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:52,680 which is the most in depth and that is in Exodus chapter 21 verses, well we'll start 117 00:13:52,680 --> 00:13:58,600 with verses 23 to 25. So it's worth turning to that because we're going to be having a 118 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:12,480 look at that. So Exodus 21 verses 23 to 25. Right, so there we have it. So I'll read that. 119 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:20,720 But if there is a serious injury then you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth 120 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:30,720 for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. 121 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:38,640 And taken by itself that's pretty full on isn't it? But there are good reasons to see 122 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:45,440 that this is not about taking personal revenge. So firstly, even before we kind of get to 123 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:54,000 the context of these verses, we need to recognise the law in general taught against revenge. 124 00:14:54,000 --> 00:15:00,840 So we see that in Leviticus 19 verse 18. So that's a really significant verse. That's 125 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:07,520 the verse that the second great command comes from to love your neighbour. But if we go 126 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:13,040 back before love your neighbour it says, do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against 127 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:18,560 anyone among your people. So don't seek revenge, don't bear a grudge against anyone among your 128 00:15:18,560 --> 00:15:24,880 people, but love your neighbour as yourself, I am the Lord. Alright, so that's kind of 129 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:30,160 the bigger picture. The law does not teach revenge. But we can see that even here in 130 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:35,760 the context. The first thing to notice is if we go to the verse before, the ones that 131 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:44,000 we read. So if we go back to verse 22, it says, if people are fighting and hit a pregnant 132 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:50,080 woman and she gives birth prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the offender must 133 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:59,360 be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. So we can see from that 134 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:07,360 that the context of how this is meant to play out is in the context of the law courts. The 135 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:12,880 courts are involved, other people are involved, the husband of the woman involved is brought 136 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:19,960 into it. This is not personal revenge. This is something that's meted out carefully and 137 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:32,000 evenly by society through the courts. And yeah, there's no sense that a person can take 138 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:41,480 personal revenge. The idea there is that the principle is guiding the courts, right? So 139 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:48,280 the principle of evening things up, that people need to be, there needs to be a punishment 140 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:53,360 that fits the crime, that's the principle behind. And we don't have to take that an 141 00:16:53,360 --> 00:17:01,120 eye for an eye kind of as a tight idea that if one person's eye is lost then the other 142 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:05,560 person has to get their eye poked out. It doesn't work like that. And we see that in 143 00:17:05,560 --> 00:17:13,440 the exact like the verses after the one with eye for an eye in there. So you see it applied 144 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:22,480 straight away. So we see this in verse 26, an owner who hits a male or female slave in 145 00:17:22,480 --> 00:17:31,040 the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye. So they 146 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:37,520 don't lose their own eye, they let the slave go free. It's not kind of that correspondence 147 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:42,840 there. And then exactly the same, interestingly the other one that's picked up is the tooth. 148 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:48,120 Verse 27, an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave 149 00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:58,800 go free to compensate for the tooth. So the person is compensated and the appropriate 150 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:04,600 value says God, like this is God's law, the appropriate value for those things is the 151 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:11,120 freedom of the slave. And notice in these the point of view that it takes. It's not 152 00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:17,200 saying that if somebody takes your eye out that you get to do such and such. It's not 153 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:22,720 kind of taking that point of view. It's more objective and it takes the point of view of 154 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:28,280 the court and what to do in that situation. And in doing that it's more focused on the 155 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:36,200 person who does wrong. It's showing us when we do something wrong that we have to respond 156 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:44,960 appropriately. So the overall concept that applied to both physical injury and property 157 00:18:44,960 --> 00:18:51,200 is that if you've done something to someone then they need to be compensated in some way. 158 00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:56,560 And in this case the value is like a one to one. In other cases, especially in property, 159 00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,960 you have to pay back double if you've been particularly malicious in the way that you've 160 00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:07,080 taken it and sometimes four times. And the person in the Bible who really got this concept 161 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:16,520 was Zacchaeus when he encounters Jesus in Luke 19 verse 8. So Luke 19 verse 8 says, 162 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:24,360 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Look Lord, here and now I give half my possessions 163 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:31,840 to the poor and if I've cheated anyone out of anyone I will pay back four times the amount. 164 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:39,520 He got it. He understands that he's done wrong and has a debt to those people. And this is 165 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:46,120 a really important concept for us to grasp. If we are in a dispute and we're the ones 166 00:19:46,120 --> 00:19:54,040 who have it wrong then there's been a debt created that we need to make up for. We might 167 00:19:54,040 --> 00:20:01,200 have spoken badly or created physical or financial damage and we need to compensate by that by 168 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:07,360 giving back if it's financial or perhaps in a kind of more abstract way like speaking 169 00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:13,320 well to somebody, caring for them, expressing our sorrow as it would be appropriate in that 170 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:19,840 situation. But the Bible doesn't encourage us to do the same when we're on the other 171 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:25,800 point of view. It's not saying that if you're wronged make sure that you extract your due 172 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:33,000 compensation. Jesus teaches us that when we take the point of view of the other, the one 173 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:41,120 who's been wronged, then we should forgive freely without forcing the other to make up 174 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:51,800 for it just like God did for us. And in this way we put the other person first. We're always 175 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:58,800 applying the principle in the way that's not best for us but is best for them depending 176 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:06,080 on our point of view. And if we could apply that principle that when we've done wrong 177 00:21:06,080 --> 00:21:11,880 we make up for it and when the other person has done wrong we forgive them freely without 178 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:19,600 forcing them to make up for it, then we will all have stronger marriages, we'll have better 179 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:28,640 relationships within the church and we will be a radical model of God's love and justice 180 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:35,720 to the world. And here in the passage Jesus is looking from the point of view of the Christian 181 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:42,680 who has been wronged by another person. So in all the examples that he's given there's 182 00:21:42,680 --> 00:21:49,320 a person who is doing something wrong or something that we wouldn't want and Jesus teaches, this 183 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:58,200 is kind of the main point that he's making, do not resist an evil person. Alright not 184 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:07,760 only do we not retaliate against that person but Jesus' examples show us a way that we're 185 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:16,600 so not active in resisting them that we take a step further away from it by kind of ensuring 186 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:24,760 that our hands are completely clean of any kind of speck of revenge or retribution. 187 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:29,800 So let's kind of get into it and let's look at these four illustrations that Jesus gives 188 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:35,680 about not resisting an evil person. The first three of them are right on point and then 189 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:42,760 the fourth Jesus kind of gives us a more general principle. So the first is in verse 39 it 190 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:50,560 says if anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to them the other cheek also. So the 191 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:55,680 thing that we need to understand that we would have understood if we were in kind of like 192 00:22:55,680 --> 00:23:01,800 Matthew's audience reading this, different to us reading this, is that in their culture 193 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:08,880 a slap on the cheek is a public insult. I guess it is in our culture as well to a degree 194 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:16,400 but to them with their culture with this honour shame kind of system it was a public insult 195 00:23:16,400 --> 00:23:23,840 and if you think about getting hit on the right cheek so it's natural to assume that 196 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:29,920 the person doing the hitting is going to be right handed because that's the law of averages. 197 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:35,400 So if you imagine getting hit on that's like slapped on the right cheek, how do you slap 198 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:42,240 somebody on the right cheek? You backhand them right? If you're using your right hand 199 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:50,320 and that's like the double insult to backhand slap somebody across their cheek. And what 200 00:23:50,320 --> 00:24:00,920 Jesus is saying is that we need to accept the insult so we don't retaliate right and 201 00:24:00,920 --> 00:24:07,740 they could have in their culture there was a way to actually sue for a slap on the cheek 202 00:24:07,740 --> 00:24:13,360 not because you've hurt your cheek but to regain the honour and Jesus is saying don't 203 00:24:13,360 --> 00:24:21,720 regain the honour in fact make yourself vulnerable to further insult. Right so just to be clear 204 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:26,680 about that Jesus is not condemning violence, he's not telling you to stay in an unsafe 205 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:34,000 situation, he's certainly not standing, he's not telling you to stand by and watch injustice 206 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,720 happening like as if you could kind of watch a weak and vulnerable person and then you 207 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:44,160 just kind of say to them well just suck it up. Okay what he's talking about is honour 208 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:51,160 and what he's saying is let the score stay uneven. Okay we need to be willing to endure 209 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:59,880 shame and Jesus is our ultimate model in this. So in John 18 verse 23 Jesus is actually in 210 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:06,600 front of the high priest who is in a Jewish situation and he's struck, right not specifically 211 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:15,720 on the right cheek but he is slapped in the face. He doesn't just sort of let go of the 212 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:22,000 injustice, he actually points it out. So he points out that that was wrong that he was 213 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:29,160 slapped but then he doesn't retaliate. So it's not that he doesn't understand the wrongness 214 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:35,960 and he doesn't think the wrongness is unimportant but he doesn't retaliate and he in fact allows 215 00:25:35,960 --> 00:25:43,400 himself to be crucified which is the ultimate indignity, the death that is only fit for 216 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:49,920 slaves and the worst criminals and he has a sign above him ironically stating that he's 217 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:57,860 the king of the Jews, absolute insult. The second one is in verse 40 so it says if anybody 218 00:25:57,860 --> 00:26:06,200 wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. Right so with modern 219 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:12,440 manufacturing shirts are a lot cheaper, it wouldn't really seem worthwhile to sue somebody 220 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:23,480 for their $30 flannel from Lowe's like I got this week but 2000 years ago your shirt right 221 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:31,200 which is actually like a full length robe was a much bigger deal and it would seem like 222 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:36,240 even in that even though it's a bigger deal that this is a pretty bad situation like the 223 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:42,840 person is being sued for their own clothing clearly they don't have much left to be sued 224 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:54,440 for. It's kind of outrageous then that the person should also be willing to give up the 225 00:26:54,440 --> 00:27:04,200 outer robe. Okay so just to explain that people had like a long garment thing, there's no 226 00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:08,480 word for it in English so they translated it as shirt and there's kind of an outer one 227 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:13,520 that goes over that and your outer one is what keeps you warm and for poorer people 228 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:18,360 they might have just had one of each, one under one and certainly only one over one 229 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:25,880 which doubled as your blanket for night. And the thing to understand about this is that 230 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:31,600 outer one is protected by the law. There's actually laws, there's actually in the Jewish 231 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:38,520 law that you cannot take somebody's outer garment. It's protected, you can't take it, 232 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:47,240 if they owe you money you cannot take that away from them as payment for that. So for 233 00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:56,200 us losing a coat would just be an inconvenience I guess but it's more like if you imagine 234 00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:02,200 somebody who's sleeping rough, they only have one coat and you somehow try and take 235 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:10,040 that away from them. So here the disciple, the member of the kingdom gives up or is willing 236 00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:17,880 to give up the thing that is legally protected. Okay he's giving up his worldly comfort, 237 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:25,320 the thing that keeps him warm when he's not required to by the law. To somebody who is 238 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:33,400 already against him, that is outrageous sacrifice. The third illustration is in verse 41, it 239 00:28:33,400 --> 00:28:38,120 says if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles and you might want 240 00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:43,720 to know, you might be asking like why would anybody want to force you to go like one mile 241 00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:51,520 anyway other than of course a PE teacher. And it has to do with Roman occupation. So 242 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:58,760 the soldiers weren't paid very much but they had the right to enlist civilians into forced 243 00:28:58,760 --> 00:29:06,160 labour. So here it would be a Roman soldier who is demanding that somebody carries his 244 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:13,640 belongings for him. So he's just taken a civilian, you're going to carry this, come with me. 245 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,680 Not only is that hard work but it's really inconvenient because you can't do your normal 246 00:29:17,680 --> 00:29:27,560 work and also it rubs your face in the fact that you are oppressed by these people, by 247 00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:37,080 this foreign power. So going back to Jesus' main teaching, don't resist an evil person. 248 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:43,040 The evil person, the bad person in this situation is a foreign occupier and Jesus shockingly 249 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:52,120 says don't resist this occupation. Not only that but go as far as to graciously do more 250 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:58,280 for the soldier than is required. Right but again like all of these we don't want to press 251 00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:03,520 that too far. This doesn't mean that when we look around the world and we see oppressed 252 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:10,920 people, like especially if we see civilians or women and children who are being wrongfully 253 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:17,400 treated. We don't just sort of sit back and from our comfort of our TVs and say well guys 254 00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:25,760 you know go the extra mile. It doesn't mean that if we lived in occupied Holland during 255 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:32,880 World War II that we would go and help the Nazis find hidden Jews. That would be morally 256 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:38,200 wrong. That would actually be benefiting you because you might sort of get better treatment 257 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:47,560 from the Nazis for somebody else's suffering. But it comes back to that point of view. Being 258 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:59,480 self-sacrificial is very different to offering up somebody else who is a vulnerable person. 259 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:05,400 And then the last illustration is more general in the sense that there's no particular oppressor 260 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:15,200 involved or an evil person. But it's the same general attitude of non-resistance and overflowing 261 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:20,680 generosity. So in verse 42 it says, give to the one who asks you, do not turn away from 262 00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:31,320 the one who wants to borrow from you. It might be like somebody asking for money, like a 263 00:31:31,320 --> 00:31:39,480 beggar on the street. It might be a neighbour. But the attitude is always one of overflowing 264 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:46,800 generosity. Don't resist or turn away their request. Now there's some things that need 265 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:55,000 to be said as we bring these kind of four illustrations together as a collection. First 266 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:02,520 we need to see that Jesus, as he often does, is talking in extremes. These things actually 267 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:10,560 become problematic if you take them too literally. Like ending up naked is more than just a small 268 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:19,440 cultural problem. We could point out that giving without reserve to somebody with a 269 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:27,680 drugs problem is helping no one. But they're not meant to be literal instructions. They're 270 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:34,240 graphic illustrations. And they're graphic illustrations that work very well, seen by 271 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:41,560 the fact that two of them have become part of the English language. When I was telling 272 00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:49,320 you about when Jesus got slapped on the cheek, he doesn't literally kind of turn his other 273 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:56,160 cheek and kind of ask for another one to be planted on the other side. That would actually 274 00:32:56,160 --> 00:33:04,240 be really kind of in that situation kind of cheeky and disrespectful. But he does demonstrate 275 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:12,960 the attitude of non-resistance to the point of outrageous generosity. And from the examples 276 00:33:12,960 --> 00:33:17,920 that he gives, it seems clear that in Jesus' day, people were wrongly applying an eye for 277 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:26,240 an eye to promote revenge and retribution. But Jesus says, no, kingdom behaviour is quite 278 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:34,880 different. When somebody hits us, what we want to do is we want to hit back. But Jesus 279 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:42,920 says, be vulnerable for another shot. When somebody nicks our recycling bin, we want 280 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:53,400 to nick theirs back. But Jesus says, no, be willing to give them the general waste too. 281 00:33:53,400 --> 00:34:04,440 Your boss or your teacher has been unreasonable. Jesus says, do some more work. Often making 282 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:16,080 peace involves being vulnerable to being hurt again. And here we really come to understand 283 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:20,640 the Beatitudes. So remember back to the start of the chapter. It might seem like a long 284 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:32,000 time ago. It says, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those 285 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:40,200 who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, 286 00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:46,800 for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 287 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:52,480 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those 288 00:34:52,480 --> 00:35:00,520 who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed 289 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:07,440 are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against 290 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:12,960 you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the 291 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:19,480 same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. All of that seemed really 292 00:35:19,480 --> 00:35:26,960 nice at first when you first read it. It's all this lovely picture of the kingdom, all 293 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:34,880 kind of cotton wool clouds and bouncy sheep. Isn't it nice to think that the meek get included, 294 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:40,400 that everyone's so inclusive that those poor guys in society get brought in, as if it's 295 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:48,200 some kind of wet blanket religion. But here in this passage we see that the Beatitudes 296 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:55,560 are not just about who happens to be included in the kingdom, but it's actually about the 297 00:35:55,560 --> 00:36:05,640 type of behaviours we need to actively pursue. Right? So being a child of the kingdom means 298 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:14,520 actively pursuing meekness. It means actually pursuing righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees. 299 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:25,280 It involves being a radical peacemaker, including outrageous self-sacrificial behaviour. It 300 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:32,720 involves a willingness to subject ourselves to persecution. In the illustrations Jesus 301 00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:39,880 gave we see that he calls us to sacrifice our honour, our legal protections, our freedom 302 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:46,920 and our finances. There's a branch of Christianity that is all about fighting for our liberty, 303 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:56,800 our rights and our freedoms. But that Christianity doesn't match up with what we see here. And 304 00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:05,360 we can be sacrificial in this way, in the way that Jesus calls for, because of where 305 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:12,480 we find our identity as disciples. We don't find our identity in our finances, or in our 306 00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:18,840 national borders, or our freedoms. We don't find them in our civil rights or our physical 307 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:27,600 defences. We find our identity in Christ. Right? The one who demonstrated meekness on 308 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:33,400 the cross, the one who was righteous, the one who was pure in heart, the one who brought 309 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:43,280 us peace, the persecuted man of God, that is our identity. And while Jesus worked in 310 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:52,760 every way for the good of others, he gave up everything for himself. And that is the 311 00:37:52,760 --> 00:38:03,360 attitude that we should take. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, these things are so hard 312 00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:16,240 and so big. It is so radical to be a disciple of your Son Jesus. Heavenly Father, we know 313 00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:26,360 that on our own we can't be that person. We pray that you fill us with your spirit of 314 00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:36,960 peace and grace. Help us take this teaching with us, that it might change us, and work 315 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:57,280 towards being the disciple that reflects Jesus. Amen.