The Extent of Love…
04.13.25
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”
(From chapter 27 of What if Jesus Was Serious? By Skye Jethani)
“Perhaps nothing in the Sermon on the Mount makes people more uncomfortable than Jesus’ words against retaliation. The call to not resist an evil person, to turn the other cheek, to walk the second mile, and to give more than what is demanded all seem like nonsense to any sensible person. Anyone actually living this way, we are told, would never get ahead in the world.
For this reason, many people have tried to reinterpret Jesus’ teaching in light of practical realities, to make His counterintuitive commands appear more conventional or at least less ridiculous. Behind this is really a desire to justify ourselves. We desperately want to rationalize our hatred and anger. We want to retaliate and resist those who interfere with our desires. We want to believe our selfishness and devotion to self-preservation are not only acceptable but admirable qualities for a Christian.
Jesus, however, leaves no room for such arguments. The ethic of love that dominates His kingdom is all-encompassing. Our call to self-sacrificial love must override and restrain our instinct for retaliation.
Rather than reading these statements in the Sermon on the Mount as commands or laws to be obeyed, we ought to see them as illustrations of a life shaped by God’s kingdom. They are examples of what happens when we consider what is best for the other person rather than ourselves, even if that other person is our enemy.”