Our country is in one of the greatest battles we have been in, and it is not a battle for the White House but a battle for our soul. It matters little which candidate gets elected. We could have the best President we have ever had, and if our integrity is gone, there is nothing that President could do to save us. Or we could have the worst President we have ever had, and if our nation is righteous, the effect of that President is going to be minimal. Therefore this post is not about which of the candidates is the better option but about what it means to be followers of Jesus in a very charged, divisive political and social climate. I want to focus in particular on Jesus’ teaching to love our enemies in Matthew 5:38-48.
This passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus starts this sermon with the beatitudes, where he announces that the ones God truly blesses are the poor, the mournful, the meek, those longing for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted (Matthew 5:3-12). Then Jesus calls for his disciples to be different than the religious teachers of their time (Matthew 5:13-20). They teach the law of Moses, but it doesn’t really hit home to them, so in a series of statements Jesus notes what the disciples have heard about the law and how his teaching is different (Matthew 5:21-48). Then he highlights the problem of the other teachers: they do things merely to be seen by others as righteous. Not so the disciples of Jesus: we are to practice righteousness in secret, so that our reward will come from the God who sees what is done in secret (Matthew 6:1-18). It is in this midst of this that we find this teaching.
Eye for Eye and Tooth for Tooth?
Matthew 5:38-48 includes the fifth and sixth laws that Jesus addresses: “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth” and then “Love your neighbor.” Both of these can be easily misinterpreted. “Eye for eye and tooth for tooth” is a partial quote of a longer instruction about how the justice system in Israel is to be set up. Exodus 21:12 calls for the death penalty in ancient Israel when someone has murdered another person, but the next two verses qualify this: If the murder was not premeditated, there should be cities of refuge where the killer can flee and be protected from the person who wants to avenge the death of their kin. Verses 18-19 qualify this further: If someone strikes a person and injures him, he is not to be put to death but instead is “to pay for the loss of time and to arrange for full recovery.” Then verses 23-25 give the rule: “you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” This was not intended to be literal, because the next two verses specify what could serve as compensation for damage to an eye or tooth, and Jews in Jesus’ day also understood this to allow for monetary compensation at whatever an eye or a tooth was deemed to be valued at.[1] The purpose of this law was to set down rules for restitution and compensation and to prevent people from seeking vengeance that would be inappropriate for the crime.
Jesus recalls the law and then says, “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person,” and he gives four examples: if someone hits you, let him hit you again; if someone sues you for one article of clothing, give him all your clothes; if a Roman soldier demands that you carry his pack a mile, carry it twice as far; if someone wants to borrow from you, give what he wants (Matthew 5:38-42). Now Jesus is using hyperbole, making overstatements to get his point across, but his basic point is this: The law, “eye for eye and tooth for tooth,” gives you rights, but Jesus wants his disciples to stop thinking in terms of rights and start thinking in terms of love.
You have a right to be compensated, but don’t use that right. I once had a man I was ministering to steal my wallet. I reported my credit cards stolen, and the credit company asked me if I would be willing to help them identify the person who stole the card before they would refund the $200 in charges on my card, and I said, “no.” Or some of you may be familiar with the story of Les Miserables, where the Bishop of Digne tells the police that the silver they found on Jean Valjean was a gift, and then he offers Jean Valjean another gift. This is what Jesus is talking about: Jesus calls for us to cut our losses and continue in love.
Think about how rarely we see this in America right now. We have utterly failed to live in a Christian manner. That’s not the fault of unbelievers; that’s the fault of the church here! We have been given principles that could transform the world, and instead we have become like the world, caring more about our “rights” than about following the teaching of Jesus! As we get closer to election day, I have watched my Christian friends on Facebook posting deceptive things about Trump or about Biden to try to turn people against whichever candidate they hate. Do you know what the Bible calls this? Bearing false witness against our neighbor. It is a violation of one of the Ten Commandments! I received a political ad in the mail Friday that gave three quotes by one of the Presidential candidates, and I decided to look up these three quotes. In two of them the ad left out an important part of the sentence that would change the meaning of what the candidate said. To quote someone in a way that makes it sound like they are saying something they would not say is to misquote the person. This happens on both sides of the aisle, and it’s not just among those making ads, but among Christians as we talk about the candidates. We have fallen more in love with the ideas of our political party than with the teachings of Jesus, and once our beliefs become more important than the truth, we lose our ability to hear the truth altogether!
Long gone is the day when a Presidential candidate could hear a woman say, “I don’t trust [your opponent, because] he’s an Arab,” and the candidate would respond, “No, ma’am. He is a decent family man and citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.” Long gone is the day when a Presidential candidate could hear a man say “I am afraid of [your opponent becoming President],” and the candidate could say, “He is a decent person and we do not need to be scared of him being President.” If America loses its soul that’s one thing, but if Christians in America will follow the national hatred of enemy rather than Jesus’ call to love our enemies, the church in America will close its doors.
If we fail to love our enemies, we fail to be poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and the persecuted, and if we fail here, our blessing is gone.[2] Think about Jesus: Jesus was mocked and struck. His garments were taken from him. When they forced him to carry his cross, he carried it as far as he could. When they asked him to give his life, he freely laid it down. When these same things happen to us, should we be like Jesus or like the world?[3] If we want to call ourselves Christians, we have to be more focused on love than on our rights. We have to lay down the American way and take up the way of Jesus, take up our cross, and love others when we are wronged.
The apostle Paul says, “Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ No, ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:17-21, NRSV).
What does this mean? It means that when we hate our enemies, we become like them, but when we love our enemies we can defeat the evil in them and potentially transform them to be like Jesus! Martin Luther King said, “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”[4]
Love Your Neighbor and Hate Your Enemy?
This brings us to the second statement Jesus makes: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45, NRSV).
Now the law of Moses does not say to “hate your enemy.” Instead it says if you see your enemy’s ox or donkey running away, you should help your neighbor retrieve it (Exodus 23:4-5), and you should even treat foreigners as you would treat citizens (Leviticus 19:33-34). But because Leviticus 19 said “love your neighbor,” some people debated who we needed to love (see Luke 10:25-37).
In our passage, Jesus connects love for our enemies with being children of God (“that you may be children of your Father in heaven”). A true child does what the Father does. God doesn’t cause his sun to rise only for the righteous, and he doesn’t send rain only for the good. God blesses both friend and foe, and we should do the same. The Apostle Paul says, “Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2, NRSV). If God is truly your Father, you will live as God does, by love. Remember the beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:7-9, NRSV). This is what it means to be a Christian: we love those the Father loves, and that is everyone!
Jesus continues: “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:46-48, NRSV). If the previous verses showed the who God loves, these verses show who the godless love.[5] The tax collectors of Jesus’ day had turned their backs on their own country and agreed to work for the enemy, but even they loved people who loved them. The Gentiles worshiped other gods, but even they would express care for their fellow countrymen. If that’s all we are doing – loving people who love us and caring for our own country – then we are no better than the godless. If we want to call ourselves children of God, love for the lovely is not enough. Our love must extend to our enemies!
In today’s society our expectations are so much lower than Jesus’s expectations were. We don’t aim for love, we aim for “tolerance.” We have bumper stickers with the word “coexist.” The sentiment is nice, but the tax collectors and Gentiles of Jesus’ day could have expressed the same message. They tolerated their enemies well enough. The Christian call is much higher: “love your enemies.”
The law about loving our neighbor is found in Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19 starts with God saying to the Israelites, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” God then gives a series of instructions about what this means: revere your parents, keep the sabbaths, do not worship idols, offer proper sacrifices (Leviticus 19:3-8). These are instructions about how to love God with all your heart. Then God continues: Do not harvest all your crops, but leave some for the poor and for immigrants (19:9-10). Do not steal or deceive others (19:11-13). Do not mistreat the underprivileged (19:14). Do not show favoritism (19:15). Do not profit from the loss of others (19:16). Do not hate your neighbor or take vengeance against anyone (19:17-18). And then it concludes with the words, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, NRSV).
When Jesus quotes Leviticus 19:18 at the beginning of this section and then closes this section with “be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” which paraphrases Leviticus 19:2 (cf. Deuteronomy 18:13, LXX), he is thinking of this whole section of Scripture. What does it mean to love our neighbor? It means to do the things listed in Leviticus 19. It means to feed the hungry, to welcome the stranger, to provide clothing for the needy, to visit those in prison (Matthew 25:31-46). It means when you find a foreigner beaten and left for dead, you nurse him back to health (Luke 10:25-37). Jesus gives countless examples in his ministry that build upon the teaching in Leviticus 19. This isn’t just “tolerate your enemies.” This isn’t just “coexist.” This is a radical love for our enemies.
Here is where we are failing. We are fighting the wrong battle. We are fighting with words and votes rather than with radical love for our enemies. That’s why America seems to be falling apart at the seams. The church has lost its voice. Our voice was always love, not words. As soon as we forgot that, we went from being Christian to simply being American.
Consider the way of Jesus: he was born into a condition far worse than the one we live in. The Romans had taken over Jerusalem. Soldiers marched down the streets and enforced heavy taxes on the people. The Romans had let a group with some Jewish sensibilities have some autonomy, but the Herodians demonstrated that they had little interest in the common people. There was a Jewish high priest, but even he would ask the Romans to crucify Jesus. Could Jesus have stopped this? Could Jesus have overpowered them all? Could Jesus have called down a legion of angels to drive them all out of Jerusalem? Yes. But this is not the Christian way. We don’t win by taking over the government. We don’t win by overpowering our enemies. We win by loving our enemies. Jesus set aside his rights, he was not governed by fear, he overcame evil with good. The way we defeat evil is by starting with the evil within.
Application
How can we do this? I want to suggest three ways we can work on loving our enemies in the current political climate:
- Trust God. Our tendency to act more like the world than like Jesus is rooted in fear of an uncertain future. If we can replace this fear with faith, we will find it easier to put our fleshly ways to death. Jesus knew that a loss in the short run would be the greatest gain of all in the end, because he trusted God to turn evil into good. We don’t need to be afraid of either candidate getting elected. We can trust that God can work through either candidate.
- Repent of our sinfulness, especially in the way we have engaged in political discussion. Even when we are not portraying our political enemies in an unfair light, we are often insensitive to the people we talk with about politics. Love is more important than winning arguments. Let us repent of our focus on politics rather than the kingdom of God. Let us repent of our engagement in the way of the world rather than the way of Jesus. And let us do better in this regard.
- Listen to people who differ from you. We have a tendency to read only the articles and watch only the videos that say what our “itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3, NIV). We tend to listen to people who disagree with us only in order to argue with them. The Bible says we should be “quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19, NRSV). If we haven’t gotten to the point where we understand why some Christians vote differently than we do, we probably haven’t listened carefully enough to the other side.
We have been fighting hard (and often unfairly!) to get our favorite political candidate elected. But who gets elected is not what matters. What matters is what happens inside our hearts. Lay down the hate, and embrace love. Only in this way will the darkness be driven out of America. Trust God to take care of the institutions, and work on your heart. Love your enemy, and live in the only way that has the power to transform the world! God bless you all, and God bless America.
[1] See Josephus, Ant. 4.280, and b. Ketub. 32ab; cf. Craig S. Keener, The Gospel of Matthew: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 196.
[2] W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, International Critical Commentary (New York: T&T Clark, 1988-1991), 1:539.
[3] Davies and Allison, Matthew, 1:546; Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone, Part 1: Chapters 1-15 (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 52–53.
[4] Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love (Boston: Beacon, 1963), 47.
[5] Keener, Matthew, 204.
