All right, well this morning we're continuing our way through Jesus' sermon found in Luke chapter 6.
! And last week we heard Jesus give some very challenging instruction.
! He said we must love our enemies.
He said we must do good to those who hate us.
He said we must bless those who curse us.
He said we must pray for those who mistreat us.
And we spent all of last week's message just reflecting on those four imperatives.
Well this morning we continue on the same subject.
Jesus isn't finished yet.
He has more to say about this challenging issue of how we respond to those who mistreat us.
We're in Luke chapter 6 and I'll read our passage for us starting in verse 29.
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.
If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
Give to everyone who asks you.
And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Now many questions arise as we hear Jesus say these things.
What does Jesus mean when he says, turn the other cheek?
What does he mean when he says, do not withhold your shirt?
What's wrong with demanding that someone return what they have taken from us?
Is Jesus saying that we must simply put up with the abuse and mistreatment of others?
Is he saying that we should just allow them to hurt and take advantage of us?
Are there exceptions to these words?
And how do we apply these words in everyday life?
So many questions come up and Christians for centuries have been discussing these words of Jesus
and trying to answer these questions.
Let's start at the beginning with Jesus' first statement in verse 29.
If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.
We first remember the context.
Jesus is talking about enemies.
He's talking about how we respond to those who mistreat us.
And so this slap in the face is another kind of mistreatment that we may experience
from an enemy or from someone who hates us or is in conflict with us.
And from the study that I've done, I think it's significant that it's a slap or strike on the cheek.
Various commentators and pastors that I read made mention of how in their culture,
a slap on the cheek was widely understood as an act of insult
rather than an act of violence intended to injure.
The Mishnah, a written record of Jewish oral traditions and laws and teachings.
It was written to interpret how to live according to the Torah.
It predates Jesus' birth by centuries and it wasn't written down until about 200 AD.
But this is what it says in the Mishnah,
the teachings of the rabbis from around the time of Jesus.
One who strikes another must give him a selah.
That's an amount of money.
Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Yosei Hagelili that he must give him 100 dinars.
If he slapped another on the cheek, he must give him 200 dinars.
If he slapped him on the cheek with the back of his hand,
which is more degrading than a slap with the palm, he must give him 400 dinars.
So notice how in kind of their mindset, their culture at that time,
hitting someone or striking them required only 100,
but slapping them on the cheek was even worse.
It was a denigrating, a humiliating act, an act of insult.
That was worth double in compensation.
And then backhanding them, which would be the right hand across their right cheek,
required four times as much, 400 to be paid.
So this kind of just illustrates how they conceived of a slap on the cheek.
It was an act done to humiliate, to insult, not mainly to injure.
And according to the Mishnah, at least,
if you did this, you were liable to pay compensation for that.
So, if someone does this deeply humiliating and insulting thing to you,
what does Jesus say we should do in response?
Turn to them the other cheek also.
And here's where the questions and the discussion really begin.
What does that mean, to turn to them the other also?
We'll start with what everyone agrees on.
The natural response of a person who is slapped in the face is what?
Slap them back.
How dare you do that to me?
I'll slap you.
Insult them back.
Hate them back.
Respond in kind.
And so what everyone agrees on is that turn the other cheek means at least,
do not retaliate.
Do not respond in kind.
Don't try to get even.
Don't take revenge.
Now, let's wade into the more difficult discussion here.
At some point, we need to acknowledge that these words give us a broader principle.
Is Jesus only forbidding us from retaliating to slaps on the cheek?
I think we all know the answer is no.
What if we're kicked in the shins?
What if a bully at school sneaks up behind us and pulls our pants down?
I think we know that Jesus means for us to apply these words to those situations as well.
It's not just for slaps on the cheek.
And so the slap on the cheek is representative.
It's a representative example of all kinds of things that might be done to us
that are wrong, to which we're to respond by not retaliating.
And I think it helps us a bit because in our culture,
getting slapped across the face is not nearly as common as it used to be.
I think I can only remember one time in my life ever being slapped in the face
when I said something rude to somebody, and I probably deserved it.
I don't know what you guys can remember from back in your years.
We can talk about that after the service.
But what are some of the other ways that people commonly retaliate today?
It could be a push or a shove or an elbow.
That's usually about as physical as it gets between mature adults.
Whether you're on the ice, that's a whole other story.
But it could be other things too.
Maybe it's leaving a smelly surprise on someone else's doorstep
after their dog takes a poop on your lawn for the umpteenth time.
Another common thing done today is keying a person's vehicle.
Or how about calling the town office or the RM office frequently
to complain about how your neighbor is managing their property.
So we need to think beyond just the slap here.
Because I think for most of us it rarely comes to blows.
Probably the way in which this applies the most is how people speak to us
when they say something that's unkind to us or rude, insulting, or impatient.
It could be someone's written communication to us.
That nasty letter or email.
A hurtful text.
An unkind or humiliating comment on social media.
Or it could be something they tell us face to face.
A word of insult.
Speaking to us condescendingly or rudely.
Calling us a name.
Saying something that's not true about us.
Making fun of us in front of others.
I think this is where these words of Jesus apply to us most.
Because people seldom wind up and physically smack us on the cheek.
Most of the time it's a verbal smack.
Lashing out or striking a blow with their words.
And so turning the other cheek means more than just not hitting people
that hit you.
It means responding to all kinds of mistreatment with non-retaliation.
Not taking revenge.
Not insulting back.
Not being rude back to them.
Not doing something to get even.
Another thing we should talk about here is whether there are exceptions to this.
Some see these words of Jesus as a prohibition of all violent behavior outright.
All physical force.
Others, I think, wisely suggest that these words of Jesus have to do with our conduct in personal relationships.
And so these words are not intended to apply to situations of law enforcement.
Or to situations of war or battle.
The apostle Paul taught that governing authorities are established by God and serve his good purposes
even by bearing the sword.
That's Romans 13 verse 1 and verse 4.
John the baptizer called people to repent.
And among the people that he was speaking to were soldiers.
He didn't tell them to quit their jobs.
Saying it's immoral to do that job because it involves using force.
He told them rather to stop extorting people.
And so this isn't mainly a prohibition of violent behavior.
It's a prohibition of retaliation.
Getting revenge.
Getting even.
And it's just sort of understood that it applies to our personal day-to-day interactions with people.
A possible other kind of realm of exception here, I would suggest,
is that turning the other cheek does not mean we must simply sit there and allow others to repeatedly abuse us.
In the case of physical violence, it doesn't mean that we must simply sit there and let them beat us to death.
The slap on the cheek is a humiliating blow.
It's an insult.
Not an attack with intent to wound or kill.
And so fleeing is an option.
Of course, removing ourselves from the situation.
Self-defense is an option as well in cases of physical violence.
Whether it's blocking, parrying, disarming, restraining.
In the case of verbal abuse, it doesn't mean that we just have to sit there quietly and let them continue to berate us.
There are times for rebuke.
There are times for correction.
So turning the other cheek does not mean that we just simply allow ourselves to be injured or repeatedly abused.
It means not retaliating.
Not responding in a spirit of revenge to get even.
Or to pay them back.
We also have to be careful about the way in which we turn the other cheek.
And this is something that's maybe a little lost in translation from their culture to ours.
But if someone was to actually wind up and slap you on the cheek.
And you were to actually turn to them the other also.
What would that communicate to them in that moment?
Okay.
Maybe.
That didn't hurt.
Is that all you got?
Okay.
So it kind of depends on the way in which you turn the other cheek.
Right?
Are you doing it with a smirk on your face?
Like is that the best you can do?
And if so, don't be surprised if you get slapped another time.
Jesus is not commanding us to invite them to slap us again.
We see this kind of brutish arrogance in movies.
You know, come on, hit me again.
Is that the best you've got?
That kind of cheek turning is not what Jesus has in mind.
He's talking about a kind of cheek turning that's not proud.
That's not arrogant.
That's humble.
That's gracious.
Rather than taunting.
And it's probably a sort of graphic exaggeration that Jesus gives to make the point that we're not to strike back.
Jesus sometimes used very graphic illustrations or examples to make the point.
Like if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
And so Jesus is not suggesting that we go so far as to invite the further mistreatment or abuse.
Rather, it's something like be willing to be slapped a second time rather than return slap for slap.
It's better to be shamed or humiliated again than to return insult for insult.
When someone wrongs you, don't immediately lash back.
Bear it with grace.
Don't repay it.
Let the insult fall on you and show them mercy instead.
Be willing to take a blow and let your response speak of love and not revenge.
Jesus now gives a second very tangible example here.
He says,
If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
Now there's two different explanations given for this one.
Some think this refers to a robbery situation where a person's coat is stolen from them.
It could be that they just left it lying there and it was unattended.
Or because of being held up by thieves who demanded it under threat of violence.
A second explanation comes from the parallel passage in Matthew chapter 5.
Here in Matthew 5, it's a very similar statement, but it comes in a legal context.
It says in Matthew 5 verse 40,
If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
Probably they were two different statements that Jesus made,
but just notice the legal flavor of that second one.
They're suing for the shirt, so give them the coat as well, says Jesus.
And so some think this taking of the shirt in Luke is along those lines of legal and lawsuit rather than robbery.
Either way, it's an example of how someone might wrong you.
It's your coat.
It's your shirt.
I mean, it might sound funny in today's world,
but back then in this culture,
your coat was one of your most valuable possessions.
And you usually only had one.
Probably, as with the first, Jesus is giving this as a sort of representative example.
And also an extreme way of saying it to make the point.
Like if they take your coat,
give them the shirt off your back rather than retaliate.
Allow yourself to be wronged a second time rather than striking back at them.
Some even construe the giving of the shirt as an act of kindness.
Jesus is explaining in this passage how to love our enemies.
And so if your enemy is so desperate that they steal your jacket, give them your shirt to go with it as a gift.
They must really be in need.
Now that doesn't condone the theft, of course, but it sure does meet it with unexpected kindness.
Now, of course, it's well within our rights to seek legal recourse against a person who has wronged us.
We have the right to do that.
But Jesus is instructing us here not to go after our rights,
but instead to yield them and let ourselves be wronged.
Forgive them and move on.
Give to everyone who asks you.
And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
What's wrong with demanding it back?
After all, it belongs to you.
But can the Lord help us get by without it?
Or can he replace it for us with a new one?
He can.
You could turn it into a fight.
Or you could just leave it to God to deal with them and choose to forgive them and move on.
It's just stuff.
Give to everyone who asks you.
It's just stuff.
God can supply you with more.
And if we're generous to others with what we have, he can always provide what we lack.
Notice that word everyone.
Give to everyone who asks you.
Not just give to your friends or to your family or to those who are nice
or to those who are especially responsible.
Give to everyone who asks of you.
Now obviously this is a general principle.
There are times when we need to be careful what we give so as not to enable an addict or a freeloader.
I'll buy a bag of groceries for someone but I won't give them cash if they're begging right outside the liquor store.
It's a general principle.
Be generous to others.
Be rich in mercy to those in need.
If they ask to borrow a tool and you have three of them, why not just give it to them?
Tell them to take it home with them and keep it.
With all of this, Jesus is teaching us the way that he wants us to live.
The way that he wants us to stand out in the world.
We're not to be people who push and shove and demand our way and our rights.
We're not to be people who cherish our belongings over other people.
When we're mistreated, we're not to retaliate.
We're to bear the blows and the unkind words of others and forgive.
But boy, this is hard to actually live out, isn't it?
What about me?
What about my stuff?
What about my honor?
What about my reputation?
What they said was not true about me.
What if they really hurt us?
They deserve to be held accountable for what they did or said to me.
There should be consequences.
Am I just supposed to sit there and let them take it?
Or take it from them?
These are the kinds of thoughts that go through our minds when we hear Jesus say this.
And it's the reason that we often struggle to turn the other cheek and let them have the shirt as well.
We might wonder, Jesus, are you crazy?
Am I understanding you right here?
Is this really how you want me to live?
Let's just look at one other passage.
This comes from 1 Corinthians.
Paul's writing to the Corinthian church.
And we're kind of jumping into the middle of this.
So I'll just explain the context briefly.
Paul's lamenting the fact that the people in the church at Corinth are taking one another to court
and suing each other when they should be able to resolve their disputes
with the help of brothers and sisters in the church.
And this is what he says there.
He says,
This is almost the same thing
that we hear from Jesus.
Better to allow yourself to be wronged
than to seek retribution,
to be cheated
than to go after your brother
in court.
Solomon said, I think,
what is another way of saying the same principle
in Proverbs 19, verse 11.
He said,
It is to one's glory
to overlook
an offense.
The way of our world
is to demand
justice,
even to take revenge
and pay them back.
But we can give glory to God.
We can do what is truly
noble
and honorable
by overlooking
the offense,
by turning the other cheek,
by letting them have
the shirt as well.
What is truly amazing
is how Jesus himself
lived
this way.
For three years,
the disciples got to see
how he handled himself.
They watched as the Pharisees
and the teachers of the law
slandered him
and said nasty things about him.
They watched as people
rejected him
and pushed him away,
drove him out of town,
a little later
in this gospel,
Luke chapter 9,
there's a sort of
comical story.
Jesus sends messengers
ahead to a Samaritan village
and asks them
to make things ready
so that he can stay there
with his disciples.
And the Samaritans
in that town
don't welcome Jesus.
They don't want him
coming there.
They won't receive him
in the village
because he's on his way
to Jerusalem.
And the Samaritans
considered the Jews,
their enemies.
And so,
we read there
in Luke chapter 9,
verse 54,
when the disciples
James and John
saw this,
that Jesus
was not received,
they asked,
Lord,
do you want us
to call fire down
from heaven
to destroy them?
I guess their
newfound ability
to do miraculous things
went to their head
a little bit.
Like,
should we kill them
for you, Jesus?
Jesus,
this is the natural response.
This is the response
of our flesh.
Anger.
How dare they?
Payback.
Revenge.
Jesus responds
in verse 55,
but Jesus turned
and rebuked them.
then he and his disciples
went to another village.
Like,
don't you guys,
haven't you guys
been listening?
Jesus just turned
the other cheek
and went down the road
to the next village.
Then there was how
Jesus treated Judas,
the one he knew
would betray him.
He stooped down
with the towel
to wash the feet
of the man
who was making
arrangements
to hand him over.
When they arrested
Jesus in the garden
of Gethsemane,
how did Jesus act?
He commanded Peter
to put the sword away.
He said,
no,
I'm going to let
this happen.
He surrendered himself
to his enemies.
Then there was the trial
in the middle of the night
as he stood before Annas.
I'll just read
a little bit of that.
Meanwhile,
the high priest
questioned Jesus
about his disciples
and his teaching.
I have spoken openly
to the world,
Jesus replied.
I always taught
in the synagogues
or at the temple
where all the Jews
come together.
I said nothing
in secret.
Why question me?
Ask those
who heard me.
Surely they
know what I said.
When Jesus
said this,
one of the officials
nearby
slapped him
in the face.
Is this the way
you answer
the high priest?
He demanded.
If I said
something wrong,
Jesus replied,
testify as to
what is wrong.
But if I spoke
the truth,
why did you
strike me?
Then Annas
sent him
bound to Caiaphas,
the high priest.
Christ.
I'm always amazed
at this moment.
Of course,
Jesus knew
this was not
a just trial.
He knew
they already
had plans
to kill him
and he was
exposing them
in those moments.
He was calling
them out on it.
He was slapped
in the face
by order
of the high priest
and how did
he respond?
He spoke
no insults.
He didn't
curse them.
He didn't
threaten them.
He didn't
call them names.
We do
notice,
though,
that
he did
ask why
he was
struck.
It doesn't
mean to
turn the
other cheek.
We just
have to be
totally
silent.
We can't
say anything.
He asked
them to
state the
reason,
to testify
to what
he said
that was
wrong.
But other
than that,
he did
not retaliate.
And then
from there
he was
taken before
Caiaphas
and the
Sanhedrin.
This
time
we read
in Matthew
chapter 26
that the
chief priests
and the
whole
Sanhedrin
were looking
for false
evidence
against Jesus
so that
they could
put him
to death.
But they
did not
find any,
though many
false
witnesses
came forward.
Finally,
two came
forward and
declared,
this fellow
said,
I'm able
to destroy
the temple
of God
and rebuild
it in
three days.
Then the
high priest
stood up
and said
to Jesus,
are you
not going
to answer?
What is
this testimony
that these
men are
bringing
against you?
But Jesus
remained
silent.
Amazing.
They were
falsely
accusing him,
they were
slandering him,
they were
making things
up out of
thin air.
And this
time he
chose to
remain silent
through all
of it.
He didn't
retaliate,
he just
turned the
other cheek.
He didn't
say anything
until the
final question
of the
high priest
where he
admitted that
he was
the Messiah,
the Son
of God,
and told
them that
one day
they would
see him
sitting at
the right
hand of
God.
When they
heard that,
they charged
him with
blasphemy
and condemned
him to
death.
We read a
little just
down the
page in
verse 67.
Then they
spit in
his face
and struck
him with
their fists.
Others
slapped him
and said,
prophesy
to us,
Messiah,
who hit
you?
Then Jesus
was taken
before Pilate.
Pilate had
Jesus flogged,
even though
in the trial
he stated
three times
that he
couldn't
find any
basis for
a charge
against
him.
We read
there in
John 19,
the soldiers
twisted together
a crown of
thorns and
put it on
his head.
They clothed
him in a
purple robe
and went
up to him
again and
again,
saying,
Hail,
King of
the Jews,
and they
slapped him
in the face.
this mistreatment
of Jesus
by his enemies
continued on
until he
arrived at
Golgotha,
the place
that he was
to be
crucified.
And what
did they do
there
when they
arrived?
They stripped
him of his
clothes
and they
hung him up
to die
on the
cross.
The soldiers
cast lots
for his
shirt
in a
manner of
speaking.
Jesus did
not withhold
his shirt
from them.
As Jesus
hung there
dying,
they hurled
insults at
him.
They mocked
him.
When the
soldiers
crucified
Jesus,
oh,
sorry,
the people
stood watching
and the
rulers even
sneered at
him.
They said,
he saved
others.
Let him
save himself
if he's
God's
Messiah,
the chosen
one.
And this
is just a
small sampling
of the
things they
said.
How did
Jesus respond?
There are
seven things
recorded in
scripture that
he said while
up on the
cross and
not once did
he curse his
enemies.
Not once did
he insult
those who
were mocking
him.
Not once did
he spit on
them or
retaliate in
any way.
instead he
uttered the
ultimate
turning of
the other
cheek and
he prayed
for God
to forgive
them of
their sins.
He
allowed
himself to
be wronged
in the
ultimate way
though he
didn't deserve
it.
He gave
up his
rights.
He did
not
retaliate at
all.
He received
the blows
and the
insults of
others and
he left
justice.
in the
hands of
God.
The cross
and all
that led
up to
it is
the
ultimate
turning
of the
other
cheek.
It's the
ultimate
letting people
have the
shirt as
well.
Jesus
perfectly
lived out
what he
instructed his
disciples to
do in
Luke chapter
6 where
we're
reading.
He made
his life
and his
death the
ultimate
example of
it.
In other
words,
turning the
other cheek
is the
gospel.
It's our
opportunity
whenever we
are wronged
to proclaim
the gospel
with our
actions.
To say,
yes, I
follow the
one who
loved his
enemies,
who did
not
retaliate.
Just as
he bore
the wrongs
of others
to death,
so too
will I.
I think
this is
maybe a
part of
what Jesus
was talking
about when
he said,
whoever wants
to be my
disciple must
deny
themselves and
take up
their cross
and follow
me.
And so I
want to
encourage you
this week
just to
look for
opportunities
to turn
the other
cheek and
to let
people have
your shirt
as well.
And again,
it may not
be physical
situations where
they're trying
to slap
you, but
probably things
they say.
Hurtful
words,
insults,
rude tone.
And I'll
just leave it
at that for
the application
part.
But right
now, let's
just keep our
eyes on
Jesus for
a moment
and what
he did
on that
cross for
us.
We're going
to pass
around the
bread and
the cup
momentarily
and as
we think
to the
cross, as
we look
to the
cross,
we're
reminded of
what that
bread
represents.
It
represents
Jesus'
body,
which
received
those blows,
that
treatment,
that
mistreatment
for us.
as we
think of
the cup,
we're
reminded of
what it
represents.
It
represents
Jesus'
blood,
which was
poured out
for us
to save
us,
to reconcile
us, to
forgive us,
to cleanse
us.
And if
you believe
in Jesus,
if you've
made that
good confession,
that he is
your Lord
and your
Savior, I
invite you to
partake with
us as we
do this
together.
If not,
just let
the cup
and the
bread pass
you by.
But let's
take a few
moments now
to reflect
and just
talk to
God quietly,
to think
about how
Jesus turned
the other
cheek for
us.
And then
after a few
minutes,
we'll have
Charles and
Rod will
come up and
serve us
the elements.
And as
usual, we'll
just hang on
to them until
everybody's been
served.
And then
we'll
partake
all
together.
Amen.