A New Kind of Freedom
Matthew 5:38-39 (NIV)
“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 anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
Exodus 21:22-24 (NIV)
“If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely[a] but there
is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the
court allows. 23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot…
Leviticus 24.17-201
“‘Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. 18 Anyone who takes
the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. 19 Anyone who injures their
neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury.
Matthew 5:38-42 (NIV)
“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 anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone
forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not
turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
1. We move from undisciplined chaos to the first half of life of religion and
then to the second half of life of grace and freedom
i. Unlimited revenge is the law of the jungle in a lawless society
ii. Religion provides for limited revenge or the law of karma
iii. The freedom to receive and give unlimited love is the power of grace
Matthew 5:42 (NIV)
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from
you.
"I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith," Gandhi told Millie Polak,
the wife of one of his earliest disciples. "The gentle figure of Christ, so patient, so kind,
so loving, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retailate when abused
or struck, but to turn the other cheek, I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect
man..." (Mahatma Gandhi)
1
See also Deuteronomy 19.15-21
"Of all the things I have read what remained with me forever was that Jesus came
almost to give a new law - not an eye for an eye but to receive two blows when only
one was given, and to go two miles when they were asked to go one. I came to see that
the Sermon on the Mount was the whole of Christianity for him who wanted to live a
Christian life. It is that sermon that has endeared Jesus to me." ('Gandhi and Christianity'
edited by Robert Ellsberg and published by Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York 10545.)
“For many of them contend that the Sermon on the Mount does not apply to mundane
things, and that it was only meant for the twelve disciples. Well I do not believe this. I
think the Sermon on the Mount has no meaning if it is not of vital use in everyday life to
everyone.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
When the protest [in Montgomery] began, my mind, consciously or unconsciously, was
driven back to the Sermon on the Mount, with its sublime teachings on love, and to the
Gandhian method of nonviolent resistance. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I
continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from
the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: 'Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and
persecute you.'" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
To our most bitter opponents we say: “We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering
by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force.
Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you. We cannot in all good
conscience obey your unjust laws, because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral
obligation as is cooperation with good. Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Send
your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and
beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you. But be ye assured that we will
wear you down by our capacity to suffer. One day we shall win freedom, but not only for
ourselves. We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the
process, and our victory will be a double victory.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
2. Respond proactively without retaliation to our perceived enemies after
encountering God’s forgiving grace and then offer what we have received
3. How does grace help us?
a. Understand that if we harbor hate and bitterness, we are not free
because our perceived opponents still control our reactions and
responses
b. But just like our perceived opponents, we need forgiveness for we
don’t know what we are doing, neither do they
c. But we cannot offer a gracious, unconditional forgiveness that we
ourselves have not enjoyed or fully understand – we cannot give what
we don’t have
d. Admit to God that we have no strength to forgive and love while
beginning to under the fullness of the forgiveness and grace we
continue to receive