How a Christian Responds to Mistreatment

A few months ago, the Jewish community of New York was shocked at the murder of Rabbi Meir Kahane. The Rabbi was known around the world for his militant Zionist views. As far as he was concerned, the government of Israel was being far too soft in dealing with the Palestinian problem. His solution was that all the Palestinians should be deported from Israel, with no apologies made. As you can imagine, his explosive political views made him a very controversial man.

Kahane was gunned down in cold blood as he was addressing a meeting. The assassin, who was immediately apprehended, was a Moslem immigrant from Egypt. Just this past week, he was brought to trial in New York. During the preliminary hearing, the son of Rabbi Kahane, along with his supporters, burst from their seats in the courtroom and lunged at the defendant. Screaming the Hebrew word for “Vengeance”, they vowed to shed the blood of the assassin in retaliation for what he had done to the Rabbi. The court adjourned in chaos as the bailiffs struggled to restore order.

This is an extreme example of the very subject that we come to today in our studies in the Sermon on the Mount. How do you respond when someone injures you? How do you act when you are insulted, or mistreated, or wronged? What do you do?

As usual, the Pharisees had an answer. Their answer was “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” They were quoting from several OT passages in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.

Now our immediate reaction to that law - the law of retribution - is that it seems very harsh and severe. But let me give you a little more background on it, and perhaps you’ll see it in a different light.

In the Middle East, from ancient times, society was based on the tribe, or the clan. That was the basic unit of society. Everyone was part of a clan, and you were loyal to your clan. Now if somebody from another clan came along and wronged one of the members of your clan, then your whole clan, according to the customs of tribal society, was obligated to pay back the offence. Your clan sought vengeance from the other clan. It no longer was an individual matter - the whole tribe became involved. It became what was known as a blood feud.

Now you can see how easily, in that context, that a blood feud would escalate. It almost always happened that a tribe would go far beyond the original offence in seeking vengeance. The extent of the original offence would be forgotten in their single-minded desire for revenge. And if a tribe succeeded in taking revenge on another tribe, then that tribe would turn around and seek revenge for the revenge, and the whole cycle would start all over again.

So it was against that background that God gave Israel this law of retribution. The very purpose of this law was to limit retribution, not to encourage it. If somebody injured you by carelessness or deliberate cruelty, then according to this law, your clan was not allowed to launch a blood feud against that man and his tribe. You were not allowed to go on a rampage of revenge. No. You were only allowed to seek just and equitable payment for your injury. That payment had to be proportional to the wrong that was done to you. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And you had to seek that satisfaction through the courts. You couldn’t try to get it yourself. This biblical law of retribution became the basis of our whole modern legal system of torts.

Down through the years, the Jews built up a tremendous body of interpretation around this law. It quickly became obvious that you couldn’t apply the law literally, because in doing so, you might cause further injustice. If someone knocked out your tooth, and you sued him to have the court knock out his tooth, you might end up further ahead if the tooth he knocked out was rotten but the tooth he lost in payment of damages was a good tooth. So the rabbis came up with an intricate system of assessing damages. They tried to calculate the severity of what you had lost in monetary terms.

The idea behind it all was that when somebody treated you wrong, you should try to get what you had coming to you. You couldn’t go beyond that, of course, but you should try to get your just desserts. You had a legal right to it.

Now Jesus comes along and says something entirely different. He says “Look, if you want to be a follower of mine, you’re going to have to turn your back on all this stuff about getting what you deserve when you are mistreated. If you’re going to be a citizen of my kingdom — and that’s what the Sermon on the Mount is all about — you’re going to have to be willing to give up your rights as a citizen of this world. Because when you insist on having your rights, what you’re really doing is insisting on putting yourself as Number One - and that’s something you cannot do if you want to be a citizen of the kingdom of God. You cannot be my disciple if you insist on looking out for No. 1.”

Now I need to make a couple of observations about this passage before we go on to see the specifics of how it applies. This passage probably qualifies as the most misunderstood and misinterpreted passage in the whole Bible. People come to it and use it to support all sorts of strange ideas, because they take it out of its context in the overall teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

We have to note carefully that Jesus addresses this teaching to his followers. This teaching applies to people of whom the Beatitudes are true - people who have become poor in spirit, people who have learned to mourn over their own sinfulness, people who are hungering and thirsting for God’s righteousness. It is for Christians as individuals.

This teaching is not addressed to nations, or states, or cities. It is not meant to be a pattern for government, or civil service, or law enforcement. It is not meant to be a blueprint for international politics. The reason I say this is that many people have taken this teaching as a sort of manifesto for society at large. Leo Tolstoy, the man who wrote War and Peace, took it that way. He said that we should not have any armies or any police forces, because Jesus said that we should not resist evil people. We should be pacifists, both individually and collectively.

Now I realize that there are many fine Christians who hold to this view, or some version of it. I respect them, and I have fellowship with them. But I think that they are wrong on this point. There are many places in Scripture where God teaches the importance of human government and the responsibility of that government to punish evil-doers and to maintain law and order, both domestically and internationally.

God instituted his law in this world to serve as a check and a restraint against evil. He intends human government to serve as the instrument of that law. And, insofar as we are citizens and subjects of our government, we have an obligation to aid our government in maintaining law and order. This is God’s will for us as citizens of the state.

So if you see a mugger attacking someone in Central Park, you have a God-given duty to intervene and stop him, or at the very least to call the police. Or if a robber breaks into your house and threatens you and your family, you have a God-given duty to resist him and stop him from breaking the law. If the government calls upon you to serve in the armed forces so that an aggressor nation can be prevented from attacking its neighbors, then you have a God-given duty to serve.

But these situations are not the issue here in the Sermon on the Mount. The issue here is what your response is going to be when you personally are mistreated. What are you going to do when someone goes out of his way to put the hit on you? We’re not talking here about law-breaking. We’re not talking here about anyone else being involved. It’s just you. Are you going to go for revenge? Are you going to defend your reputation? Are you going to sue for damages? Are you going to look out for No. 1? Your response will reveal whether you are operating according to the Pharisees definition of righteousness or Jesus definition.

Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

Most people are right handed, correct? As far as we can tell, it has been that way throughout history. How do you strike someone on the right cheek? Well, you use your left hand. Unless, of course, you use the back of your right hand. In the world of Jesus’ day, if someone struck you with the back of his hand, that was the worst possible insult. That was worse than striking you with an open palm, or even with a fist. The back of your hand was what you used to hit a dog. This is what Jesus is talking about here. If somebody deeply and intentionally insults you, what are you going to do? Are you going to strike back? Are you going to retaliate? Are you going to launch a blood feud against that person?

Jesus says, “No. Be ready to turn the other cheek. Don’t resist. Don’t get into a fight with this person.”

Matthew 5:40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Back in those days, you could take the shirt right off a man’s back in payment for a debt, but you couldn’t take his outer cloak. The Law of Moses said that a man’s cloak was his most personal and prized possession. It protected him from the heat of the sun during the day, and he wrapped it around him as a blanket by night. The Law specifically said that a lender could not keep a man’s cloak as security for a loan - he had to give it back to him at nightfall. So there were certain legal rights wrapped up in that cloak.

Now here, Jesus said if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. In other words, don’t stand on your rights. Don’t defend your right to keep something that he wants.

Matthew 5:41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

Remember that Judea was an occupied country. The Romans had conquered the Jews and they were the occupation army, and had been for many years. Under the law of occupation, a Roman soldier had the right to commandeer the services of any Jew to carry his pack for one mile. A soldier could come up to a farmer, or a merchant, or a student - anyone, and interrupt whatever he was doing. By placing the flat of his spear on his shoulder, that soldier could say “You’re mine, mister. Here’s my pack. Forward, march!”

Now, as you can imagine, the Jews just hated it when this happened. Not only was it inconvenient, it was humiliating as well.

But Jesus said “Look, if this happens to you, don’t just go with him one mile. Don’t just do what’s required of you while you’re muttering under your breath about how inconsiderate and unfair this is, and how much you hate the Romans. Go ahead and walk the second mile with him”

Matthew 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

There were a lot of laws in Jewish society about lending and borrowing. God’s intention in the OT was that the Jews should look out for each other and help each other, and especially to help the poor. But the interesting thing was that there was a law that said that every seventh year, all debts were cancelled. God’s intention behind that law was to keep the wealth equally distributed. He didn’t want a class of rich money-lenders to get rich at the expense of their brothers. He didn’t want any Israelites to get into a kind of debt-slavery to their brothers. So every seventh years, all debts were cancelled.

Now you can imagine what the attitude would be in the sixth year. Everybody would be saying “Boy, I sure don’t want to loan any money to my brother-in-law Levi this year, because next year, the debt will be cancelled, and that schnook won’t have to pay me back.” So people became very tight-fisted with their money. They became very intent on keeping what was theirs. Now God knew that this would happen, so he included in the OT Law a warning…

Deuteronomy 15:7-10 If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

Here’s a good example of the fact that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, he came to fulfill it. What he says here in the Sermon on the Mount is precisely in the spirit of the OT law. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Don’t be a tightwad. Don’t be a pennypincher. Don’t be hard and cold when it comes to sharing your resources with a brother in need.

Now you may be asking “Wait a minute. Does this mean that I should give something to every street person who approaches me for a hand-out?” No, it doesn’t mean that. Jesus is talking about much more personal situations than that. He’s talking about someone you know who is truly in need, and you have the ability to help him.

Most of those street-people are professional beggars. What they don’t need is a hand-out. What they do need is some motivation to get a job and work for a living. (By the way, that is a biblical concept. In 2 Thessalonians 3 it says “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”)

What Jesus is saying here is that you should not have a legalistic, pennypinching tight-fisted attitude toward your possessions. Beware of thinking “What’s mine is mine and you can’t have it.”

Now in all of these very personal situations, Jesus is telling us that we just need to stop looking out for Number One. We need to give up our demands for fair treatment. We need to give up our rights. We need to stop hoarding our possessions. What he’s getting at here is the issue of whether or not we have really died to self. Let me see if I can explain it to you in a picture…

There’s a strange old legend that comes from Florence, Italy. The legend says that if a man murdered someone and became a fugitive, that man could receive a pardon if he could succeed in going to his victim’s tomb and having a meal there within nine days after the burial. If he could eat bread and drink wine at his victim’s grave within nine days, he would go free. So that gave rise to the custom of the relatives of the victim guarding the grave. They didn’t want the murderer to get a pardon, so they went and stood guard over the grave.

There’s a lesson in that legend for us. When we commit our lives to Jesus, we are literally dying to self. God takes our old sinful self and puts it in the grave - it’s dead now, and Jesus puts a new life within us. But we all have a tendency to go back to that grave and stand guard over it. Even though our old self is dead, we still want to defend it. And this matter of retaliation is one way we try to guard the grave.

Jesus says “Don’t guard the grave! If somebody hits you on the cheek, turn the other cheek. Don’t guard the grave! If somebody takes your tunic, give him your cloak as well. Don’t guard the grave! If somebody forces you to go with him one mile, go willingly with him for two. Don’t guard the grave! Give to a person who’s truly in need, even though you might not get it back. Don’t guard the grave!

When we guard the grave of self, we become bitter and defensive and defeated. We completely ruin our testimony for the Lord. That’s why some Christians look as if they’ve been baptized in lemon juice. They’re guarding the grave.

When we become bitter over some insult or injustice, you know what we’re doing? We’re assuming a right that doesn’t belong to us - the right of vengeance. Only God has the right to vengeance. And when we take that right and claim it for ourselves, we’re going to be slowly crushed under the weight of it. We reap devastating consequences in our physical, spiritual, emotional, and psychological life. And our example affects others also.

Hebrews 12:15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

Jesus has a better way. It is the way of non-retaliation. It is the way of grace.