Matthew 5:38-48
Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In the case of many people today, it appears, the god of this world has blinded their minds...The evil one has kept them from seeing the light of the gospel of the Glory of Jesus Christ and what He teaches...We all are created in the Image of God, and this means something...Even though we each are different, each of us are created in the Image of God...So we also have similarities...It seems like the time is coming when people will not endure these sound teachings of the gospel or believing the Word of God, but have itchy ears and are accumulating for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and beliefs, and are turning away from listening to the Passions of the Absolute Truths and wandering off into their own myths and non-truths...The Christian believer has to wonder what has happened to the Word of God and the teachings of the good news, and why are people changing it...This question must be ask by the believer, because the Word of God is Truth...Why believe in anything else but the Absolute Truth, or in Truth itself...It seems we are in a current time when people do not believe that the teaching of Jesus on the two Greatest Commandments...The Two Great Commandments are to love God and to love neighbor...
Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, raises the bar on the Ten Commandments and raises the bar on morality and in how we ought to live our lives and treat others...If we firmly believe in an eye for an eye concept, we are in trouble...Jesus put it this Way...He teaches about the old eye for eye, and tooth for tooth concept... But He tells us, do not resist an evil person...If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also...And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well...If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles...Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you...
If we are firmly entrenched in the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth belief, then pretty soon the whole world will have no eyes and no teeth...We will have a world blinded, with sunken faces, and little, if any, reason to smile (having no teeth) that this lower moral bar has caused us...
Loving God and especially loving neighbor means we have to leave our comfort zone and realized everyone will not hold to our belief system and our ideas of what we think is right...Again we are all made in God's Image...Jesus teaches that our Father sends sun on both on those who are good and those who are evil...He sends rain on the righteous and the the unrighteous...So when Jesus teaches us to love our enemies and tells us, "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’...But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven...He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous...If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?...Are not even the tax collectors doing that?...And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?...Do not even pagans do that?...Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is Perfect."...
In the past the non-believer had a seemingly more Biblical worldview...We are sadly losing that...Now one's view is clouded with his own beliefs and become a more paganistic view, a secular view...He seems to miss the teachings of Jesus and Moses and how we are to love our enemies, and treat strangers and foreigners with dignity and respect...The foreigner was not like the Hebrew or Jew...He was from a different culture and a different country, with his own customs...But Moses wrote, " ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them...The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born...Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt...I AM the LORD your God."...
We cannot be blinded and unsmiling...Let us be kind to one another, and to want to be able to unblinding see the smiles of others...Let us follow Jesus' Word, "A new command I give you: Love one another...As I have loved you, so you must love one another."...