"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'"

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

- Matthew 5:38-48

Over the past week, we have been reading the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter 5. We began with the Beatitudes, in which Jesus set out the blessedness of the life of a disciple, then to You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Jesus then taught about the essential importance to the life of the world of this discipleship. Next, He expanded on the commandments of the Law: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." Jesus gives us examples of His fulfillment of the Law, and His commandments. He begins with "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder.'" In yesterday's reading, He taught His expansion on the statute against adultery, and His teachings on marriage: "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.'" Jesus reaches into the depths of the heart, where adultery begins, and teaches us about the discipline of the inner life. He taught that it was better to cut out some part of ourselves which is faulty, than that this part should demean the whole body. He taught about the union of marriage and its true character. And He taught, finally, about the need for personal integrity: "Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away." Here Jesus takes the Law of justice, and expands it with the laws of the heart. It's important that we understand the intent of the law as given by Moses: "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was intended originally as a mediating influence on concepts of vengeance. In the ancient world, "justice" could mean depending on private action of family, kin or tribe in response to any sort of violation. Moses gave this law in order to curb escalations of violence in revenge. (For a Scriptural understanding of the state of the world after the Fall, and its escalating violence, see Lamech's song in Genesis 4:23-24.) Now Jesus expands this law that was originally intended as a curb on vengeance. For His disciples, this formula of justice is not enough. Personal vengeance isn't to be indulged. Rather, the law of the heart takes in a deeper place within us, and is about an attitude, a perspective. I do not believe this teaching was intended to tell us that we are to be victims of abusers. Rather, it is an understanding of what it is to have God's peace, the desire to reconcile. Earlier, in Jesus' teaching on the statute against murder, He councils against the cultivation of anger. Here, in the same spirit, we are taught about a disposition of grace in which conflict is not given a chance to escalate. Note that these are at some level actions involving law: the avoidance of escalating private violence, another who claims something of ours is owed him as in a lawsuit, being compelled (as a legal term denoting being pressed into public service), and the desire to borrow or be lent money, which in Mosaic Law was also a part of covenant. In the law of the time, for example, a fine was the penalty for striking another. In effect, it is an enforcement of covenant in community and avoidance of personal vengeance and hence escalation. Taking the whole of Jesus' teachings together, what we understand here is not a recipe for injustice or victimization, but for an attitude of reliance on God, rather than our capacity to force or control.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." Again, we go back to disposition or attitude. We also must remember the context of community in the Jewish understanding. In addition, we have to understand the subtlety of His teachings in context of His other teachings: this is not a recipe for masochism. When Jesus sends out His apostles on their first mission, He counsels them to "shake the dust off their feet" in rebuke and leave a town that will not welcome them -- nor hence His message. Jesus' teachings are not to be used as an abrogation of justice, but rather as an attitude of love, a disposition in the world that does not seek out conflict nor desire its escalation. Again, we rely on God and not our own means of force or manipulation for ultimate justice. Consider a prayerful disposition; it waits on God for reconciliation and peace. The attitude Jesus describes here is clearly with the image in mind of our relationship to God first, and from there comes right-relatedness to neighbor.

"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Jesus is counseling in us an attitude of learning to love by learning the love of God. We look toward the reward of God, the spiritual life, and not merely the worldly. If only our own kind is acceptable in terms of common courtesy, how do we rely on the peace of God? To be perfect here is to understand things in the fullness of God's commandments for us, God's message of discipleship and spiritual fullness. In this "fullness" is the fullness of Christ's teachings of fulfillment of all things in the Law, even the least of them. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus will tell the story of the Good Samaritan in response to a lawyer's question: Who is my neighbor?

Let us understand Jesus' teachings in the light of what He will tell us are the greatest commandments, and the summing up of the Law and the Prophets: The first is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind. The second is to love your neighbor as yourself. In these teachings, Jesus is quite consistent, and this is displayed in today's reading. All things point first to the love of God, as taught in relationship to God, and from there that love teaches us what it is to be engaged in right-relatedness to others. When Jesus says that this is so "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust," He is teaching us, in other words, the effect of these two great commandments -- and how the first leads to the second. So, in prayer, in our lives in relationship to God, do we give all things to that relationship and ask that we be taught how right-relatedness to our neighbor expresses the will of God? I don't think the potency of these teachings can be overestimated. It is in the Reconciler of all things that we find reconciliation in ourselves, for our lives. It is a recipe for community, for right-relatedness, and for discernment. It is the fulfillment of true justice.