Whiteboard: Eye for an Eye

This Sunday's sermon scripture follows an interesting rhetorical pattern.

Jesus says "You have heard....but I tell you..."

And he doesn't just say it once. No, he does it twice.

‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.'

‘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.'

Jesus is contrasting the ways of the world ("You have heard it said...") with the ways of God ("But I say to you..."). It would easy to dismiss those ways of the world as ancient conceptions that need not bother our modern sensibilities. It would be easy to think that; and wrongheaded too.

We still hear an eye-for-an-eye and we still hear hate your enemies in today's world. What's more, we hear all sorts of other vain glories and selfish attempts by the ways of the world to lay claim souls, to take ownership over us, and to impose themselves at the center of our lives. Christ Jesus calls us beyond all of that nonsense. He calls us past the shallow, greedy, empty promises of the world to the fullness of life lived in God's name. And those are not the same thing. They weren't when Jesus first uttered "You have heard...but I tell you..." and they aren't today.

So the question for us this Sunday becomes: What have you heard?

What have you heard the world telling you? And what ways do the promises of the good news of the gospel replace those hollow words with a life that is worth living?

Come join us this Sunday in worship at First Christian Church Scottsdale as we seek and celebrate God's ways of love, grace, forgiveness, and transformation!

-----

Matthew 5:38-48

‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

‘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. 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.