# On the 4th Sunday of every month, Pastor Mizuguchi gives a lecture of reflections upon, “The Sermon on the Mount.” This session today, is the seventh of the series.

1. To Forfeit a Natural Right

Today’s lecture concerns Jesus’ antithesis on retaliation, which in fact deals with the law of compensation for injury. In the time of Jesus, and perhaps from earlier times, Exodus 21:24 was understood as allowing an injured man to claim damages. Jesus replaced this reasonable practice by instructing those injured not to insist on their rights, but to give more than is demanded of them: “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” (Matthew 5:38-39).

The phrase, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” is very well known in Japan, even by those who have never read the Bible. Shortly after I received my baptism, one of my colleagues teased me by saying, “I’ll strike you on the right cheek, so turn to me the left one too.” I thought he challenged me because he was almost sure that I couldn’t do so. Generally, if we are struck by someone, the majority of us seek revenge by striking back, or by taking revenge in some other way. Or we just walk away from such aggressors. We would never invite them to repeat that kind of conduct.

I had such an experience when I was a soldier during the World War II. One of our commanders struck me on the cheek with his fist. The punch was so strong that I fell down on the floor, and the terrible pain remained in my cheek. Besides the pain, there was also the feeling of great humiliation.

Being struck on the right cheek had a special meaning in Jewish society. Normally a blow, given with the right hand strikes the victim on the left cheek. So a punch received on the right cheek tells that the aggressor attacked with the left hand, an act which was a deliberate humiliation for Jewish people. Contrary to a slap across the face, it was the back of the hand which touches the cheek. That was another humiliating element for them. So such a conduct signified a double humiliation. But, despite that indignation, Jesus tells us to dare the aggressors to strike again.

Jesus was drawing his reference from the ancient book of Leviticus: “If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured” (Leviticus 24:19-20).

The rule above seems to us, who live in modern societies, to be very cruel and savage. But its fundamental purpose might be to prohibit aggression without justification. Causing pains to others was permitted only as pay back and with a similar degree of damage.

Nonetheless, when we happen to fall victim to certain aggressions we have a tendency of wanting to revenge ourselves excessively against the aggressor, because of anger. So the aim of “eye for eye” might be to limit the degree of revenge.

Nevertheless Jesus compels us to forfeit that legal right, which was largely permitted in the world of that era. Why ? Because vengeance, even if socially justified, creates a vindictive chain of reaction, which breeds and spreads evil.

In order to stop that we must abandon the right of revenge. Because, Jesus says that is the way of living for Christians, as citizens of God’s kingdom. But we must wonder whether such an attitude will allow us to survive in this severe earthly world.

2. Active Obedience

Then Jesus continues: “And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well” (Matthew 5:40). If ’someone wants to sue you’ signifies a creditor seeking to get back the loaned money from a debtor, and if the debtor does not have enough money, he must pay the debt with his material possessions. In the case above even one’s clothes could be taken to defray the debt.

In Jesus’ time, a cloak was not only a garment to wear, but it was also used as a sleeping bag, which protected the body during the night. The Old Testament reference: “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate” (Exodus 22:25-27).

But Jesus says, “let him have your cloak as well.” It seems too severe to compel the poorest to give up their minimum necessities of life. Further, the following verse reveals: “If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles” (Matthew 5:41).

In that period of time, Judea was under Roman rule, and the phrase “someone forces you to go” probably meant that Roman soldiers sometimes ordered Jewish men to go with the troops, and carry the munitions. One (1) Roman mile is about 1,480 meters, a distance which is painful to walk when carrying a load. Furthermore, it caused not only physical pain but also humiliation for the Jewish people. Nonetheless, Jesus says: “go with him two miles.” That teaching also seems to us to be very contradictory.

What Jesus is telling us to do is extremely painful, take part inactive trails, bear humiliation, and exploitation, without applying any defensive reaction. Rather one is to accept all of this with a benevolent attitude. “Turn to him the other also,” ” let him have your cloak as well,” and, “go with him two miles.” Our response is to be non-violent with expressions of love.

Jesus is offering examples of resistance¡¡which aims to confound the more powerful, restore dignity and initiative to the oppressed, and publicly shame or disarm the aggressor.

3. True Righteousness

We chose 1 Peter 2:22-24 for today’s invocation verses: “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

Jesus’ teaching concerning retaliation is sometimes difficult to follow. It seems too idealistic to accept exploitive or aggressive conduct without seeking revenge against the perpetrators. This attitude goes beyond the reality of the world, where illegality and fraudulence prevail. Nevertheless, when we look back through Jesus’ life we recognize He remained perfectly loyal to His own teachings.

He committed no sin, no deceit, no retaliation and accepted suffering and pain caused by his persecutors. Even though he is the Son of God, he humbled himself with the poor and lonely, and was executed as a criminal. All of this symbolises the behaviour of a man who would give his cloak to a predator. Jesus would have done what he preached and gone willingly two miles if he were ordered to do one mile.

Peter understood the meaning of Jesus’ life by following Him. And he says: “so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

Through today’s lecture portion, Jesus tells us about the ruling righteousness in the Holy Kingdom that God will establish in this world. It should be realized not by vindictive methods against evil, but by absolute love. That love should lead us to accept pain and suffering, without revenge or retaliation, in order to overcome evil. Jesus exhorts us to believe in God’s rule, and to find the joy of living, as people of God.

Jesus’ teaching, which rejects every type of vengeance is closely connected to the ideal of God’s Kingdom. Emancipation from vindictive minds and hatred will only be realised by the establishment of God’s Kingdom, which will be achieved through Jesus. In a first century CE Palestinian context, the term Kingdom of God would first call to mind the Roman imperial system of domination and exploitation. Jesus’ annunciation of the Kingdom of God offered an alternative vision to that of the Empire of Rome.

The teaching itself is still meaningful in this secular world too. For example, the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York, 9-11, 2001, caused death to more than 3000. The incident was equivalent to “punch on the right cheek” against the USA. Then the U.S. retaliated by invading Afghanistan with their air force and then invading Iraq, all in the act of revenge. Since then the war between Afghanistan and Iraq has continued for 7 years. The number of dead casualties has increased to 6000 on the American side, and including the Afghans and Iraqis, more than than 100, 000.

Once the principe of an “eye for eye” is practiced in the world of international relations, outcomes like this will remain. If the US had not sought revenge, today’s world might have been different. They could have made efforts to use the international organization, which aims to settle conflicts and disagreements caused by general inequity, unfairness or worldwide poverty.

We must try to find within Jesus’ words an accurate perception and deep wisdom for the truth. And we must recognize also that he is not merely a patient and pacifist person. Even though he accepted all the insults and brutal conduct of aggressors, he condemned energetically those who distorted the holiness of God.

For example, priests who made the Temple a ”‘den of robbers” (Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, Luke 19:45, John 2:13), or law teachers who changed the law into simple human yolks (Matthew 12:1, Mark 2:23, Luke 6:1).

We know very well that in this real world the powerful very often torment and exploit the weak. To protect those weak people modern societies established the police and judicial systems. And social welfare systems too are provided to support the basic physical and material well-being of people in need. Because even the most poor should not be stripped of his cloak.

And before everything else, we must learn to live and find a lifestyle deserving of God’s Kingdom, and be defensive against evil in a non-violent way. Jesus’ love allows us to enter God’s kingdom. Jesus came into this world as a human, he lived, suffered and died on the cross for our sin and salvation. So, in Christ, we live a new life free from hatred and vengeful minds.

Christians are encouraged to live a life between the “already here” and “not yet achieved” kingdom of God on this planet earth. We are on the way toward the fulfillment of the promise. Meanwhile, we will be tested and tried. Jesus summoned the twelve disciples and told them to go out among the lost sheep of Israel. He issued instructions and teaching on how to accomplish their mission (Matthew 10: 5-15).

Everything Jesus said to the twelve disciples then, is just as relevant to his disciples gathered here in this church today. He warned them as he warns us now about coming persecutions: “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). May God be with us.