Retaliation

We all know what retaliation is. 

 One night my daughters were fighting and it got carried away.  My oldest hit her sister and the youngest is supper feisty and took off after her sister to hit her back.  I am yelling at them to stop, to only hear “SHE hit me first!!”

In another setting in the Middle East, there was an interfaith dialogue going on between a Christian leader and a Muslim cleric. They were discussing the differences between Islam and Christianity. The cleric stated that the difference is simple: “Christianity teaches that when struck you should turn the other cheek; however, Islam teaches than when you are struck you strike him back – this is better for you and him.”

Too much of the world’s ethic is to: 1) If they hit you first hit them back; 2) get even. Many times the justification for retaliation is that ancient law, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” And this retaliatory ethic to right an injustice is appealing to me, especially initially when I feel I have been wronged.

So is it wrong?

Matthew 5:38-42 reads:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”

Jesus’ teaching here is confronting the popular misuse and abuse of the Old Testament law, known as the law of retaliation, in Latin, “the Lex Talionis.” The law of “life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth,” etc.

Why is He doing this?  We need to ask ourselves some questions.

 

       First – What does the Old Testament law say about retaliation? What was the purpose of the Law?

Second - Who is Jesus speaking too? Does His teaching contrast with that of the Jewish leadership and culture? Jesus stated earlier that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Third – How are we to re-act to violence or terrorist acts in this day and age? 

Does the teaching go beyond what we as Christians are able to realistically do?

1st - Imagine yourself for a moment in ancient times in a situation where you and your family lived in a place with no police force, no courts, no government – no king or other authority ruling over you. Then one day as you are going about your business, you are shocked that one of your neighbors had intentionally hit your daughter so hard that four of her teeth are permanently knocked out. What would you do? There is no authority to report it to – to seek justice. What if the situation was worse, and your child was intentionally killed? You would probably want to take the matter into your own hands and seek revenge. Maybe you would even want to punish him in greater degree than his offense. After you take revenge, the other family may feel that they have been mistreated and may want to respond, setting up a cycle of retaliation and revenge between you and them – the Hatfields and the McCoys.

Genesis 34 records an actual incident like this between Jacob’s family and the family of Shechem. After Jacob’s daughter Dinah is physically abused, Dinah’s brothers, Simeon and Levi, seek revenge by first deceiving Shechem’s family into getting men circumcised, and then they take the retaliatory action of killing all the males. Of course, it is clear from later in Genesis 49:5-7 that God did not approve of this action.

So God knew this and instituted the law of retaliation into the Mosaic law for the nation of Israel, designed to prevent personal acts of retaliation and revenge. The injured person or relative of the injured person could go to the governing judicial authority in Israel to seek justice. The appropriate punishment in the case of murder or maiming is where the law comes into play: “a life for a life,” “an eye for an eye,” “a tooth for a tooth.” The punishment must fit the crime – no more than the crime but also no less. It was strict but fair. It was designed to prevent and deter such crimes. It was there to remove punitive actions for crimes from the hands of the victim and his family and put them into the hands of the governing judicial system. It was designed to appropriately punish the offender.

Yet this is the irony and abuse of how people misunderstand this law. It is misunderstood now the same way it was misunderstood at the time of Jesus. A very law that was designed to prevent actions of personal retaliatory revenge is used to justify it!

The misunderstanding of the law would say if someone slaps you on the cheek, slap him back (after all “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”). If someone sues you, sue him back. If you are forced to go a mile by a Roman soldier, resist and fight back.

 

So what was Jesus view on the Eye for Eye Law.

Matthew 5:38-42 reads:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.”

Notice that unlike the three Old Testament passages, the first part of the formula “life for life” is not cited; rather “eye for eye” is the first element. 

Jesus is dealing with issues of insult, offense, inconvenience, and bother not murder or life threating actions.

 2^nd - So who is Jesus speaking to?  Jesus was talking to his disciples and the crowd that gathered to hear him. 

What should the disciple do?   He told them that the call to discipleship goes beyond a passive response. He further calls us to take a positive action: 1) turn the other cheek; 2) give your cloak as well as your tunic; 3) go the extra mile; and 4) give or lend to the person who asks you.

 

But someone might say “No one has ever given me a backhanded slap, sued for my clothes, forced me to carry a pack for a mile, or asked me for a loan as a really needy person.” But the point is these are just examples of offending situations.

Let me give a modern example. One day I was driving in to work and all of a sudden, this car came whizzing alongside and quickly cut in front of me causing me to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting him. The next thing I know I floor the gas pedal, catch the guy who cut me off, and starts to tailgate. Then after about a minute of that, I realize what I am doing and back off.

When we are confronted with situations like this, when we are offended, when we are insulted, we have two choices: we can escalate the conflict with retaliation, or we can de-escalate the conflict. We can be a “war maker” or a peacemaker. Jesus said in the beatitudes, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). We are peacemakers when we de-escalate these situations of conflict and extend a blessing instead.

When we turn the other cheek, we are a peacemaker.

When we forego the lawsuit, we are a peacemaker.

When we go the extra mile, we are a peacemaker.

When we give to our brother in need, we are a peacemaker.

Too much of the world’s ethic is to: 1) If they hit you first hit them back; 2) get even. And not one of a peacemaker. 

So Jesus is trying to confront that type of teaching and mindset. He addresses the issue on what you should do if offenses of conflict or insult happen to you.

 God wants us to take actions of personal revenge out of our hands. We can turn them over to the governmental authorities if appropriate, and even if that doesn’t work, we need to turn them over to God Himself. As Paul states in Romans:

Repay no one evil for evil… . Beloved do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord (Romans 12:17, 19).

3^rd – So how are we to re-act to violence and terrorist acts today.  How are we to feel about people who have committed heinous crimes against innocent people?  Do we look at what Jesus says here in Matthew and say we need to turn the other cheek?  Do we pray for these people that do these acts?  Do we or should we seek revenge?

We now know that the Law - “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth…..” was established by God for the judicial system and not the individual.   These capital punishments are to be determined by our judicial system.  Our Government should seek to uphold what God has established for Jesus said “5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them. ¹⁷  5:18 I ¹⁸  tell you the truth, ¹⁹  until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter ²⁰  will pass from the law until everything takes place. 5:19 So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others ²¹  to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” 

But as disciples we should never seek revenge on an offence committed against us.  For God promises vengeance is Mine.  We do need to pray for those that hurt us whether physically or verbally.    We need to always show them Christ. 

III. Conclusion

It is difficult to determine Jesus’ teaching on this regarding its scope of applicability.

But in some church groups today, these verses are used to argue for governmental pacifism in relation to war or even capital punishment. This is where I feel it does not extend.  He is not addressing the Roman government or even the Jewish judicial authorities. See Matthew 5:1, when He is seated, that “His disciples” come to Him. The teaching is what a disciple of Jesus should do when personally confronted with these types of situations. It is more of a bottom-up approach to diffusing conflict and more than that, giving a blessing instead.