Overcoming Our Vengeful Hearts | Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus leads us through three steps toward overcoming our vengeful hearts: (1) recall the limitation: justice; (2) grasp the implication: retaliation; and (3) adopt the application: goodness. This sermon is part 6 of “Messiah's Righteousness,” Bryan Craddock’s verse-by-verse sermon series on Matthew 5.
In 1687, Sir Isaac Newton observed that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s one of the ideas that you see in a Newton’s Cradle--one of those toys with the metal balls suspended in a row. You pull one back and let it go. It smacks into the others and causes the one on the opposite end to swing out. When it swings back the reverse happens.
Now you might assume that it should work the same way in our relationships with people. Whether good or bad, every action should produce an equal reaction. That would be nice and predictable, but we all know that it is seldom the case, particularly when you start with a negative action. It often seems as if someone replaced one of those metal balls with one that’s highly explosive! You never know when one hard knock will cause everything to blow up.
It can be a painful surprise when you set someone off like that. You might even be more surprised when you’re the one exploding. Why does that happen? We blame it on all sorts of things--stress, hormones, upbringing, or other negative experiences. Those realities can all add fuel to the fire, but the root of the problem is our sinfulness.
In Romans 3:10-18, Paul strings together several quotes from the Old Testament to describe our depravity. He says,
as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Those are hard truths to accept. We think, “Maybe it’s true about some other guy, but not me!” We find ways to excuse all our sins. We insist that we are good people. But the truth we see in biblical passages like this one is that we are all lost and in need of salvation.
Jesus leads us to the same conclusion in his Sermon on the Mount, but he does it in a more subtle way. His teaching recorded in Matthew 5 shows us that just staying within the outer boundaries of God’s commandments is not enough. The stipulations of the Law all point toward perfect righteousness of heart. So, as Jesus unpacks some of the commandments, we are forced to confess that even when we do not cross those lines, our hearts still have murderous, adulterous, and deceitful impulses. As we continue now in verses 38-42, we can add vengeful to the list.
But the good news that Jesus announced in Matthew 5:17 is that he came to fulfill the Law. Other New Testament passages explain that He satisfied the Law’s demand for atonement through his sacrificial death so that when we trust in him we are forgiven of our sins. He also met the Law’s requirement for God’s blessing through his perfect righteousness so that when we believe in him, his righteousness is credited to our account and we receive eternal life. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, but one day he will return to fulfill the Law’s hope for a king who will vanquish all evil. As we wait for that time, he fulfills the Law by sending the Holy Spirit to help all who believe in him overcome our sinful hearts here and now.
So, in Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus leads us through three steps toward overcoming our vengeful hearts. He recalls the limitation, helps us grasp its implication, and calls us to adopt its application in our lives. Walking through this process is how we defuse that explosive impulse in our lives, and Jesus starts off by taking us back to the Law to recall the limitation of justice.
Recall the Limitation
Justice
We often picture justice as a balancing of the scales. We say that the punishment should fit the crime. But your heart says something very different if you or someone you love is the victim. No punishment seems adequate no matter how severe.
God used a memorable phrase to prohibit that kind of escalation. Jesus recalls the limitation of justice in Matthew 5:38. He says,
You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
That expression is used three times in the Law that God gave to Israel through Moses. In Leviticus 24:19, it explains what should be done when someone injures a neighbor. In Deuteronomy 19:21, it describes the punishment for those who bear false witness in court. They were supposed to receive the punishment that the person they accused would have received.
But the phrase is first used regarding an even more emotionally charged situation. Exodus 21:22-25 says,
When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
The pregnant woman seems to be an innocent bystander who gets roughed up in a brawl and goes into labor. The big question is whether harm relates only to the mother or to the mother and her child. This interpretation has even been debated before the US Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. Some people claim that the passage refers to a miscarriage. The old Revised Standard Version translates it that way. If so, then the fine that was to be paid would compensate for the loss of the child. People used that view to argue that abortion is not the same as taking a life.
But since the Hebrew term used in verse 22 normally refers to bearing children not to having a miscarriage, the child could still be alive. So, harm probably relates to both mother and child. The fine may have been to cover costs related to the delivery. But any injury to mother or child would require additional punishment commensurate with the injury. The life of the unborn child is just as valuable in God’s eyes as that of the mother.
Many fathers in that situation would demand a more severe response than eye for eye and tooth for tooth, but the Law sets that limit. The punishment must not exceed God’s standard of justice. The death penalty only applied when there was a loss of life.
Does this mean that someone’s hand would be cut off if they caused someone else to lose their hand? Not necessarily. Just like today, judges could have set some kind of financial compensation for that kind of injury. In fact, the next two verses in Exodus 21 address the situation of a slave who is beaten by a master and loses an eye or even just a tooth. God calls for that slave to be set free, a significant financial loss for the master. (For more on the Law’s view of slavery check out “Freedom to Rest,” my 2022 sermon on the Fourth Commandment.)
Why does the Law go into all these details? God gave these commands to Moses and the people of Israel so that they as a nation would begin to reflect the justice that he himself will ultimately bring. Justice matters to him. The Prophet Nahum describes his character in Nahum 1:2-3 by saying,
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
These are comforting words for those who are experiencing injustice. That is why Nahum wrote them. At the time, his people were being oppressed by the Assyrian empire. But those words are also frightening.Eye for eye and tooth for tooth, but what is the just recompense for sin against an infinitely holy God? Jesus spoke of eternal punishment in the fires of hell (Matt 5:22; 10:28; 23:33; 25:46; Mk 9:43-48).
Thankfully, in Romans 5:8-9, Paul says,
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
God’s justice and his love intersect at the cross where Jesus paid the price for all our sins. So, when we believe in him, we receive forgiveness. But something must change in how we, as followers of Christ, think about justice and mercy. Jesus wants us to grasp the implication for retaliation.
Grasp the Implication
Retaliation
As Americans, many of us have an independent do-it-yourself mindset. We do not hesitate to take on a project. Even when we have no clue about what to do, we’re confident that we can figure it out. Skilled trades people may spend years developing their skills, but after watching a three-minute video online we decide that we are ready to dive in.
Now I love that characteristic, and I am certainly wired that way. But we need to admit that it can get us into a lot of trouble. The problem is that we implicitly trust our own perception and judgment, even when our knowledge is minimal and superficial. A project can be way over our head, but we think that we understand it better than any contractor.
We take the same approach with matters of justice. We assume that we know better than any judge, police officer, or government official, even better than God himself. To some degree, we all want do-it-yourself justice--eye for eye and tooth for tooth. We take the standard that God set for government and use it to justify our personal vendettas. But Jesus confronts that impulse. He wants us to grasp the implication of God’s justice for personal retaliation. At the beginning of Matthew 5:39, he says,
But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil.
Some people take this statement to mean that we should just give up and be completely passive when faced with evil. But that view contradicts God’s Law. Exodus 22:2-3 allowed individuals to defend themselves, their family, and their property from a thief in the night. Now you could argue that Jesus was changing that standard, but in Matthew 5:17-19 he said that he did not come to abolish the Law, that neither an iota or dot of it would pass away, and that it should not be lessened.
So, “resist” may not be the best way to translate the Greek term that is used here. In other passages, it often speaks of active opposition. Jesus is probably confronting the impulse that we have to personally retaliate and punish evil in our arrogant do-it-yourself approach to justice. The Law clearly speaks to this heart issue in Leviticus 19:18. There God says,
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
You might not ever consider taking vengeance on someone through a violent act, but what about bearing a grudge? Doesn’t that flow from the same impulse? You feel that someone has treated you in an unjust way, and you want them to pay for it, eye for eye and tooth for tooth… or at least to feel really bad about it. You probably stop short of laying a hand on them, but that bitter, vengeful spirit can take control of your thoughts. It might leak out in your words, or you might just browbeat the person with dirty looks. Your vengeful heart tells you that some kind of retaliation is just and right, but God commands you to love your neighbor as yourself.
How can we overcome that vengeful impulse? It starts with faith. You must set aside your do-it-yourself approach to life to believe in the perfect justice of our all-knowing, all-powerful God. Proverbs 20:22 tells us,
Do not say, "I will repay evil"; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.
We must trust that God can deliver us from the evil acts of others and from the evil thoughts in our own heart. We must also trust that God will bring ultimate justice. Paul explained this truth to the Christians in Rome a few years before they faced an intense time of government persecution. In Romans 12:19, he told them,
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
No sin will go unpunished. God will take care of it. It’s not our personal responsibility. But as I said before, the thought of God’s judgment is both comforting and frightening. It reminds us of our own need for salvation. So, as Jesus suffered for our sins, he set the perfect example for us. First Peter 2:23-24 says,
When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Jesus lived what he taught. He did not retaliate but kept trusting his Heavenly Father. His perfect obedience was necessary for his saving work, but it also shows us how to overcome our vengeful hearts. It starts with faith. We must trust the promise of God to judge and to save. But then we must seek to live out God’s love and righteousness. So, Jesus gives us an application to adopt. We must pursue goodness.
Adopt the Application
Goodness
Some objects serve a humble purpose. The doormat endures sun, wind, and rain. Everyone steps on it. It gets filled with dust and smeared with mud. Someone might shake it or brush it off, but no one ever really cleans it. That’s what it’s made for.
When you read Matthew 5:39-42, you might wonder if Jesus is calling us to be human door mats who let people walk all over us. But that is not his purpose. He wants us to overcome our vengeful hearts, so that we can reflect his character. We must learn to adopt the application of goodness, and he walks us through five scenarios. He starts with the most difficult one. In the second half of Matthew 5:39, he says,
But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Now a slap is not as violent as a punch, but it was more insulting. In those days, it showed utter contempt for someone. The only other use of the word in the New Testament describes what the Jewish council did to Jesus. Matthew 26:67 says that they spit in his face and struck him, and some slapped him. They treated him shamefully, yet he turned the other cheek.
Jesus wasn’t being a passive doormat. He suffered to accomplish something good. He glorified his Heavenly Father, purchased our salvation, and set an example for us to follow. Peter explains this truth to encourage Christians who were slaves of unjust masters who might punish them for their faith in Christ. In 1 Peter 2:19-21, he says,
For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
So, we should be willing to turn the other cheek for the sake of our witness to the gospel. That same good purpose should also guide us, secondly, in a legal scenario. In Matthew 5:40, Jesus says,
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
Would someone really sue you to take the shirt off your back? Probably not. However, Exodus 22:26 does speak about taking a neighbor’s cloak in pledge. It might be the only thing of value that a poor person owns. In that case, God says it should be returned before sunset. Here Jesus’ point is that we should do whatever we can to avoid legal proceedings. He may have had in mind a scenario like the one that Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 6:5-7.
Apparently, church members in Corinth were suing one another. Paul was concerned that their contentious pursuit of justice was damaging their witness for Christ in their city. So, he writes,
I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
Our gospel witness is more important than winning some disagreement. It’s better to give someone your shirt or your cloak. It’s also better to give up your rights. Jesus describes a third scenario in Matthew 5:41, he says,
And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Some commentators say that Roman soldiers could require people to carry gear or baggage for them up to a mile. Imagine the inconvenience and humiliation. That was probably the case with Simon of Cyrene. Matthew 27:32 tells us that soldiers forced him to carry the cross for Jesus.
The Jewish people must have deeply resented such demands from the army occupying their homeland. But Jesus tells his followers to go farther, and Paul gives similar instructions to the Christians in Rome. In Romans 12:20-21, he quotes from Proverbs and says,
To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
People debate whether these burning coals are good or bad. Is it a literal way of keeping a person warm, a figure of speech for making them burn with conviction, or an allusion to God’s fiery judgment? It’s hard to say, but Paul’s point is clear. We should gladly serve people for the sake of the gospel, even those who are evil. Meet their needs. Go the extra mile. Overcome evil with good.
How do we prepare our hearts to live this way? Jesus describes two more scenarios in Matthew 5:42. They are the easiest ones of all, so they make a good starting point. He says,
Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
These people are not hostile or demanding. They are simply in need. The first person cannot pay you back, but the second one can. Are you willing to give to meet a need or even just to lend to someone? There are certainly situations when it is not good to give to those who ask. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10-15, Paul tells the church to not share food with an idle busybody who is unwilling to work. But he still encourages them not to grow weary in doing good. By practicing consistent generosity, we train ourselves to show goodness for the sake of the gospel even in the face of hostility.
__________
In our sinfulness, we all have vengeful hearts. To overcome them we must first recall the limitation of justice. The standard of “eye for eye and tooth for tooth” was part of Ancient Israel’s Law that reflects the ultimate judgment of God. So, we must grasp the implication that it is not a justification for the do-it-yourself justice of personal retaliation. Wait upon the Lord. Trust him and adopt the application of turning the other cheek and doing good for the sake of the gospel.
As I mentioned earlier, this transformation starts with faith. None of us can escape God’s judgment through our own goodness. We have all fallen short. We have sinned against our holy God. But God the Father allowed his Son, Jesus, to be reviled, beaten, and crucified so that we could be saved. In the generosity of his grace, he paid the price for our sins. So, if you have never done so, I invite you to seek God’s forgiveness and to trust in his promise of salvation. If you would like to learn more about the transformation he wants to bring about in all of us who believe, I encourage you to read Romans 12.
If you are a believer, are you facing unjust treatment from someone? Are you still bearing a grudge about some incident from your past? Would you entrust that situation to God today? Give it up to him. Trust him to bring justice in his time in his way.
We must all commit ourselves to doing good for the sake of the gospel. How could you do that this week? Are there needs you can meet? Do you need to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile? May the grace of God shine through us!
Reflect
In what situations are you most tempted to retaliate?
How can you prepare yourself to trust God in those situations?
How can you prepare yourself to show goodness in those situations?