The Law of the Jungle

Mt. 5:38-42

Recently the author of "Lord of the Flies" received the Nobel Prize for writing. This book shows the natural inclinations which generally take over and the result is destruction and death.

We are all guilty of trying to get even. In the world we have the philosophy - "the survival of the fittest." In some cases this has been interpreted as "the one with the biggest stockpile of weapons is superior and will survive." The world is a jungle filled with treachery, deceit and violence.

You may remember the story of "Peace Child". The natives of Papua/New Guinea thought Judas was a hero because of his treachery and his betrayal of Jesus. The culture with which Don Richardson worked had sunk to such a low level that deceit was seen as a virtue, trickery especially as revenge was the ultimate of heroism.

Jesus commands us that we are to be careful not to take personal revenge but that we are to return good for evil.

The scribes and Pharisees used this law to justify retaliation. Every man would take the law into his own hands and privately take revenge. Originally these laws were designed for the magistrate but the leaders fell prey to their evil natures and failed to show the proper restraint. What Jesus was refuting was the taking of private vengeance on those who wrong us.

Jesus said "You individually are not to resist an evil person." Here resist means to "oppose, withstand, set oneself against." You should not take the law into your own hands, requiting (paying back) the adversary as he has done to you. Don't cherish against him the spirit of revenge, but be motivated by nobler principles.

Jesus is not suggesting to allow the wicked to get away with murder. Rather He is speaking about private revenge. The judge is authorized to bring justice. How can a judge meet out a sentence to one who violates another when the victim has personally tried to get even?

Jesus is not teaching a new principle. We read in Proverbs 25:21,22

21. If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
    if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
    and the Lord will reward you.

The meaning is obvious -seize the moment of distress to show kindness to him that hates you and thus win a new friend.

We must ever be on our guard to keep a close watch over our spirit A follower of Christ is to be a man of peace, meekness, enduring wrong, suffering loss, accepting hardship and full of compassion. Only good will overcome evil. We seek to save sinners not punish them. We look for ways to love not hurt others. Turn our weapons of war into instruments of peace. (Micah 4:3)

Christ amplifies His teaching with three practical examples

1 If someone strikes you on the right cheedk, turn to him the other also. We must stop and examine what this means. If I hit you with my right hand, I would strike your left cheek with the open hand. Here Christ talks about someone hitting you on the right - not the left cheek. He would have to use the back of the hand. According to Jewish Rabbinic law, to hit a man with the back of the hand was twice as insulting as to hit him with the flat of the hand. Jesus says that rather than to be guilty of violence and vengence we are to be victors by being willing to submit to further insults. It takes two to make a fight.

2. Whereas the first example concerned insults to our person, the second example makes reference to our possessions. I know of a contractor who built an $80,000 house in 1971 and the owner kept back $10,000 because the toilet was too noisy and there was a crack in the basement wall. The contractor attempted to make sure that these were corrected but never received his money because the owner felt that he may have a further problem the next year. This was to me a powerful example of how materially minded I was when the contractor was willing to give up the money to keep peace with a man who called himself a Christian.

The preservation of inward tranquillity is of a greater price than a few temporal goods. The author Arthur Pink states that "though there may be cases where duty requires us to take legal action against one who defrauds us, yet this must be the last resort for it is extremely difficult to handle pitch without the fouling of our garments."

3. The third example was an example which was very practical. The Roman soldiers had the power to ask able-bodied men to help carry their backpacks and armaments. An example n the scriptures is the case of Simon of Cyrene who was compelled to bear the cross of Christ. This was despised by the Jews especially if they were headed in the opposite direction which was usually the case. Jesus says we are to have the proper attitude toward those in authority even when they put us out by excess demands.

Jesus summarizes these three illustrations by telling us to give to those who ask our help and if someone wants to borrow , we are to help them. I have found this difficult to de especially when I felt that the reasons for the economic dilemma the person got into was because of careless spending.

Jesus implores us to have a generous spirit to all. We are to freely part with the blessings He has bestowed upon us and give to the needy and poor. We are to have kindness even to our enemies which Christ goes on to explain in vers 43

It isn't easy. God asked us to do what seems impossible to man but with Him all things are possible.

Showing extra love and mercy goes against our human inclinations. Why should we be obedient?

1. We need to obey the expressly revealed will of God and His ways are best. His ways not our ways and when we go our own way we get into trouble. Is 55:8.9

2. Vengance belongs to God. He will repay and if we take it on ourselves to privately get even, we rob God of His right.

3. Christ is our example that we should follow in His steps 1 Peter 2:23

If we fail to forgive man their trespasses we will not receive the forgiveness of Christ.

How far do we take this non-resistance stance? Arthur Pink suggest, "When the injury received is a personal and private one it is the Christian's duty to bear it in the spirit of meekness so long as by so doing he is not encouraging evil-doers and thereby rendering them a menace to others." We do not help others when we allow them to destroy themselves and others by their evil actions. Reporting a drunk driver who hits your car and takes off is not violating Christ's command. Next time the drunk may kill someone if not stopped. We may report violations of the law to authorities without a spirti of reveng but rather a spirit of concern and love

Orillia CFC Oct 27, 1983