Sermons

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How Deep Love?
February 2, 2003
Associate Pastor Steve Lympus
7th in a sermon series on the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 5:38-48

We're back in the Sermon on the Mount today, the second of three sermons on Jesus' Great Sermon in Matthew chapter 5. Last week, Dan left us with a decision to make: "Is this Sermon for us?" Dan told us how Jesus was traveling around Galilee and conducting healing services as he went, healing those with various diseases and chronic pain. And as the crowds gathered to him, he climbed up a mountain, sat down and called these people blessed. The poor, the grieving, the humble people who seek mercy and peace and righteousness, and those who are persecuted for these longings. Jesus called these people the blessed ones…not because of what they had achieved, but because they needed God, and they knew it. They had to depend on Him. Is this sermon for us?

Now the Sermon continues. Like Moses coming down from Mount Sinai centuries before with God's Law for God's people, Jesus sitting on this unnamed mountain offers his people a new look at the old Law, a new way to live that will truly fulfill the Law. It's not just about following rules anymore. For the blessed people, it's about a change of heart…

For the blessed people…It's not enough anymore to just know the truth, Jesus says, to just be right all the time. Now he calls us to share it from our hearts, to be shaped by it in such a way that we become like lamps shining God's light. Is this part of the sermon for us?

For the blessed people…It's not enough anymore to just not murder, Jesus calls us to stop using words that kill, and begin using words that will reconcile our hearts with other people. Is this part of the sermon for us?

For the blessed people…It's not enough anymore to just not commit adultery, and make sure you don't break any marriage rules. You can be married and not commit adultery and still deprive your spouse of your heart, secretly offering it to someone else, real or imaginary. Jesus calls us to a purity not just with our bodies but within the deepest passions of our hearts, a lifelong commitment not just to stay "faithful," but to love one person faithfully. Is this part of the sermon for us?

For the blessed people…It's not enough anymore to just keep your promises, now every word must be backed up with true intentions -- in all you say, speak from your heart. Is this part of the sermon for us?

In The Sermon on the Mount, we follow Jesus as he repeats the old laws and then takes us to a new level, a fuller way of living not just by following the rules but by living with a changed heart. And so we follow Jesus to our passage today, where Jesus says that it's not enough anymore for us to just love the people who will love us back. Now he calls us to love those who hate us, who hope the worst for us, love even those enemies who try to hurt us…if we still think that this sermon is for us, will we follow Jesus this far?

I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 5:38-48.

"You've heard it said…an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." The idea was part of the Law God gave Moses at Sinai (Exod 21:24, echoed in Lev 24:20 and Deut 19:21).

It's sort of the anti-Golden Rule…instead of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," it's "do unto others as they have done to you." It sounds harsh to us now, but at the time, this was considered a just and even merciful law. Penalties were not to exceed the crime. You were forbidden from taking someone's life if they just knocked out your front teeth…you only took their front teeth.

This was a huge improvement over the more ancient systems of tribal blood-feuds, where a single injury could escalate and lead to an entire tribe wiping out another tribe. Personal vengeance was now checked, and others were now involved -- a judge, a community, seeking justice and mercy together. The old commandments allowed retribution, as long as it was fair… "You've heard it said…an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

"But Jesus says to you…do not resist the evil one." The word resist in this instance means to resist with equal force -- pay them back, evil-for-evil. Jesus says do not stand up against them to get even yourself, do not hold your own private court of justice to hand out punishment, and do not fight back with personal revenge.

But are we called then to be passive in all our relationships and conflicts? Doormat-Christians, stepped on for God's Kingdom? Weak and wishy-washy people who will be walked all over by everyone, taken advantage of all the time? Just as we begin to wonder what in the world Jesus could be calling us to do instead of vengeance and instead of passivity, he gives us 4 examples:

1. If you're slapped on the right cheek, turn your other cheek toward your assailant. In those days, you didn't use your left-hand to hit someone, only the right. To be slapped on the right cheek meant to be slapped with the right backhand of the slapper, like this (demonstrate). And a backhand slap like this was one of the most insulting blows, given only to inferiors (women, slaves, kids). But if the person who is slapped then turns the left cheek, the "slapper" cannot slap this way again. If you faced me and turned your left cheek toward me, and I cannot slap with my left hand, my only option is to hit with my right fist. But hitting like this would be recognizing the inferior as an equal, as a human being -- only equals fought with fists.

Turning the cheek meant not hitting back in vengeance, but it also made a statement: If you hit me with your fist, you have to acknowledge that I'm a human being, like you. It might be harder for that person to hit again.

This kind of personal non-retaliation, this giving good-for-evil, will often take the wind out our enemy's sails, "deflating" their anger, and helping them to reconsider. Returning evil for evil will surely feed their anger; but returning the unexpected will often confuse anger and bring it into question. This kind of "turning-the-cheek" is not passive, but it's not vengeful either. It's returning something good for evil, saying something true in the face of injustice.

2. Same with the coat example. If someone sues you to take your shirt (inner-garment, worn next to the skin), give your accuser your coat (outer-garment, cloak) as well. No one will expect that! Jesus was basically telling those who were unjustly taken to court to be sued for the shirt off their back, to give their accuser all they were wearing, "go naked." And in effect, show the community what injustice has been done to you. Don't miss Jesus' humor here -- the naked man sauntering slowly out of the courtroom and onto the public street. "Look what they did to me in there! What more can they take from me now, my naked body?" Give them something good, something true, instead of returning evil-for-evil.

3. Roman law allowed a soldier to force a Jew to carry their baggage and battle-gear for up to 1 mile. If a soldier does this to you, Jesus says, carry his gear a 2nd mile. The soldier won't expect that, and maybe he and any onlookers will reconsider the unjust law. In these ways, give back good-for-evil, surprise them.

4. To the one who keeps on asking and demanding of you, give that person something good -- don't just turn them away because they have no right to ask. You don't have to necessarily give them what they ask for -- but give them something good: time, conversation, companionship, mercy.

It's worth noting that Jesus does not say, "If someone slaps your neighbor, turn your neighbor's cheek" or "If someone takes your neighbor's shirt, give them your neighbor's coat." This is a word to us as individuals, not a word to us for someone else, and not even a word primarily to our civic communities and governments. The justice we seek in protecting and defending our communities is not prohibited here…we're not called to turn our collective cheeks in ignorance and allow injustice to reign. We are not here called to stand by and watch as others are exploited or abused, and turn our faces away to pretend we don't see.

Passivity can be a terrible sin of silence. Down the road, Matthew will narrate Jesus' teaching about the final judgment (Matt 25:31-46), when the King will banish those who ignored the hungry and the sick, who rejected the stranger, who did not clothe the naked or visit the prisoner. Passivity in the face of injustice is dangerous, both for the oppressed who are ignored, and for those who will be judged for ignoring them.

In all 4 examples Jesus gives, the response is active, not passive: turn the cheek, give the coat, walk the 2nd mile, give to those who have no right to ask. And before the end, Jesus will demonstrate all 4 of these himself. Jesus will be slapped on the cheek and not slap back; Jesus' coat will be taken from him and Roman soldiers will strip him naked; Jesus will be forced to walk carrying the Roman cross; and Jesus will give his life for those who have no right to ask.

In our fallenness, we can so easily move from an inner sense of injustice to acting out our individual vengeance, handing out our own personal justice and calling it God's. Or on the other hand, we so easily shrink back and passively accept injustice. Jesus calls us to see a view of life that is bigger than both vengeance and passivity, where God is in control and not us. Jesus' words point to a deeper justice, God's justice, and a secure trust that God will bring this justice about (Rom 12-13, Matt 25:31-46, Deut 32:35). We can leave the final judgment to Him, but the abused can also take the initiative, and together we can expose the abuse, come out of secrecy and ignorance, and help break the cycles of injustice. You don't have to hit your enemy back, but you don't have to just take it either.

So what do we do with our enemies?
"You've heard it said…you shall love your neighbor (and hate your enemy)."

"But I say to you…love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors." The old commandments may have encouraged love, but they allowed a classification between neighbors and enemies. Jesus removes this classification between friends and enemies. Jesus doesn't say, "don't have enemies." He affirms that we do have enemies, especially as his followers. So what do we do with these enemies?

Love them, Jesus says. Don't put them into a different mental category than your friends and write them off. Love them. Love them? How ridiculous! How can you love the one who hates you, the one who wants to see you fail? How can we do this without losing our sense of justice? How can we do this without going insane? This love is impossible.

But in his very next breath, Jesus says, "and pray for those who persecute you." Only in God's presence can this impossible love be found. Something happens inside us when we pray for our enemies. It becomes more difficult to hate someone if we take them with us, in prayer, into God's very presence. In that place of God's presence, a miracle happens: our enemies become human again, and not the devils we made them out to be. They can't be Satan anymore if we're praying for them in front of God. It doesn't make what they've done to us right, but it makes it harder for us to attack them in hateful vengeance. In our own thinking, our enemies come back into the reach of God's loving mercy, God's forgiveness. We are changed when we pray for our enemies, and God hears our prayers.

This love of enemies is primarily God's work, but by following Him into this kind of love, we "show ourselves" for who we really are: sons and daughters of the King. Because this is how God loves.

The world practices an easy kind of love…Love whatever and whoever is lovable, love those who will love you back. The love Jesus calls us to is a deeper love, a revolutionary, countercultural kind of love. But it's also an everyday kind of love.

C.S. Lewis wrote that, "If a man cannot forgive the [neighbor] next door whom he has seen, how shall he forgive the Dictators whom he hath not seen?" In many ways it's easier to be someone who asks for peace between nations than one who asks for peace with our own neighbors, our family members, and our friends who have hurt us. Jesus' challenge here is a challenge both to the militant and the pacifist alike, and to all of us who are somewhere in-between: seek peace, seek the whole peace, inside and out, close and far away. And when you seek peace, like Dan said last week, seek it at peace's source: seek Jesus, the peacemaker, the reconciler.

And if this kind of loving doesn't already sound impossible, Jesus tells us why we should do this in verse 48: "so that you may be perfect, like your heavenly Father is perfect." Don't think of our modern ideas of perfection, being without mistakes…the word here has more to do with being complete, whole. It's about maturity…it's about growing up. No more just-getting-by with the bare minimum of ignoring your enemies.

This maturity is entering into the width of God's completeness. Only with our confidence in God can we release the tight grips we have on our own security, rights, and welfare. Our confidence is elsewhere anyway, our source is in God, and we live in His Kingdom now. The less we're thinking about our own security and our own rights, the more we will seek justice and mercy for others. Jesus knew that -- and he will demonstrate it as he makes his way to the Cross…

You've heard it said…Stand up for your rights…take back what is yours…give them a taste of their own medicine…hit them where they hit you and make them hurt…

But Jesus says to you…Love like your Father loves you, love to the point where you love and pray for your enemies…love this deeply. Let the God of the Impossible show you impossible love, and then show that love to your enemies.

Who is it impossible for you to love right now?

Maybe they're near: coworkers who took advantage of your trust, friends who betrayed your confidence, family members who knew what to say that would really hurt you.

Maybe they're far away: leaders of economic and political systems who oppress people you care about, leaders of nations seeking to destroy us, your own government whose actions you are appalled by, or an enemy with whom you cannot be in contact with.

I don't think that this text tells us exactly what to do in each and every conflict, but it tells us how to love. I don't think this text even tells us as a nation whether or not to go to war in any given situation, including the current conflict with Iraq. But does Jesus speak here into the current international conflict? Does he tell us as Christians how to love when our nation is on the brink of war? Yes, he does. And if this Sermon is indeed for us, then it is for us no matter who we are calling our enemy this week:

"You've heard it said…crush them in your hate, seek vengeance, make sure they get what they deserve. But Jesus says to you…love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you."

Only God can call us to love like this. Only because Jesus calls us "blessed" can we love like this. Only by receiving His deep, deep love into our hearts can we begin to experience and show this same love for our enemies. The inside of our bulletin lists the ministers in this church as "You, who are touched by His grace, being healed by His love."

Who can love those who hate us? Who can love those who long to see us fail, and rejoice in us being wrong? Who can love an enemy in a time of war, no matter what side you're on? Who can do this? We can, with God's help, because we "are touched by His grace, being healed by His love." We can love this deeply, because Jesus called us blessed. This whole Sermon is definitely for us. Amen.