Be Better, Just As We Know We Can Be

Matthew 5: 33 - 48

Jesus is still speaking to the crowd and laying out His way, the way of a changed and renewed heart and mind, not the way of rule making and rule breaking.  Jesus goes into talking about how society of the time spoke of promises as made to each other or to God.  He wants our word to be what makes our promises right.  He wants us to be true to our promises, to uphold our duties, to be true to what we say, not try to qualify or quantify our words and duties with extra words and hollow promises.  Be people bound by our word.  Do things because you know they are the right thing to do.  Be the people we know we can be.

Ok, we aren't too bad on that one then He has to talk on vengefulness and retribution.  Hmmmm, this is a little more that we wanted to get into, wasn't it?  I can keep my word, I can be a dutiful person, but I've got to swallow my pride, hold my temper and be docile?  Jesus is talking about the old traditions that told the people not to take more retribution than they are due.  They were taught to pay back in a manner in how they were wronged - "An eye for an eye"...Don't drop a bomb on someone if they have hurled a firecracker at you.  Don't curse at someone who looks at you wrongly.  Ok, that is against our human nature, but turn the other cheek?  Did you see just how hard I was hit, Jesus?  This is one that me as a principled person really struggles with.  Sometimes, I see evil done or people wronged, and I want to strike back, I want to speak up.  I want to unwrong the wrong they have done.  But Jesus speaks to us differently.  If someone hits you, let him hit you again.  If someone curses you, let it go.  If someone maligns you, let it pass.  He goes on to speak of giving more to those who take from you than even they want.  Jesus then tells us to go the extra mile.  This too, is as so many instructions in this chapter illustrative of who we are to be in Christ and how we are to show Him to the rest of the world.  Love our enemies?  Pray for those who persecute us?  Just what do we have to do to get it right?  We have to step out of our fleshly desires and wants and step into the spiritual framework of Christ.  We have to realize as a part of His body that we cannot strike a brother and bless another at the same time.  Jesus is wanting us to get a perspective on what really counts.  After all, if we are just loving and serving those who look like us, think like us and act like us, are we not just serving ourselves?  Are we not just loving those who are just like us?  Is this love or self worship?  We need to realize that this is the temporal.  These things we are getting protective of, mad over, insulted by are just dust in the wind of time.  Invest in what is eternal.  Take what the earth considers your "duty", your "mission", your "reaction" and turn it upside down.  Take a smack upside the head, catch an insult or two.  Get taken advantage of and get beaten in an unwise deal.  This too shall pass.  And by investing our time and effort into living as Jesus would have us live, we shall see the eternal reward and peace that He is pointing out to us through living as He would have us live.

33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the LORD.' 34 But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

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 someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

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 sons 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 brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.