vengeance is mine

Matthew 5:38-42

This continues the formula Jesus has used so effectively in his sermon so far: "You have heard that it was said... But I tell you..." In this case, he is challenging their interpretation of the Law when it comes to just punishment. The Law that Jesus references is summed up by "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" and was originally intended to prevent revenge and to put limits on the punishment that the judges could hand out. The premise was that the punishment must fit the crime: if the crime cost an eye, then no more than an eye could be demanded. In our broken humaness, we always demand more than what we lost. I think this is because we want the other person to hurt as much as we have but we cannot feel their pain so imagine that our hurt at losing an eye (for example) is more than their hurt at losing an eye so they must also lose a hand or tooth. The Law was there to prevent this cycle of revenge.
However, in Jesus day, it was being abused and was actually being interpretted, by some extremists, to mean the exact opposite of what was intended - people were using the Law to give permission to their acts of personal vengeance. Jesus opposes this and reminds his audience that they are to treat everyone - even their enemies, their abusers and their occupiers - with the dignity, honour and respect they deserve as humans created in the image of God. The specific examples Jesus points to are: if someone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek to them; if someone sues you for your shirt, give them your coat as well (it was against the Law to sue someone for their coat 0r outer garment); if a soldier presses you into service forone mile, go two miles with him. Jesus is calling people to a deeper level of obedience than a strict intepretation of the Law promotes. Jesus is calling people to reflect God's character when it comes to mercy, grace and love. There is nothing compelling me to "go the extra mile" except that God loves that person and may want me to demonstrate His love to them. I am completely within my rights to demand justice when I am struck except that I have surrendered my rights to Christ and he loves that person and may be asking me to demonstrate his radical love to them.
In this world where everything is about defending my rights and taking revenge, Jesus' message cuts right against the culture. Can you imagine what this world would look like if revenge was removed from the system? Most of the superheroes, especialy the darker ones, would not exist because they are almost always motivated by revenge, not justice and love. Most of the movies would not be shot because many of them are based on revenge. Court houses would be relatively empty because people would not be suing each other for ridiculous amounts of money over some perceived slight (like my coffee being too hot) - there would still be cases about justice but the cases motivated by revenge would all be gone. Gang wars and cycles of violence would come to an end. There would be fewer wars (if any). I can barely imagine it and yet it seems to be the world, or kingdom - to use a biblical term, that Jesus wants to create.
Before he creates this kingdom of love in the world, he is at work creating it in my heart and I have to say that there is still a long way to go. I am so aware of my rights and when they have been trampled. I am so quick to defend myself against any perceived attack. I find it very hard to turn the other cheek, to give up my coat and to go the extra mile. I am not very good at reflecting God's character of love, mercy and grace and I am more concerned with myself than the image of God in others. Please, God, continue to form the character of Christ in me and may it be seen in the way that I deal with people who slap my cheek, sue for my shirt and force me into service.