Jesus is speaking to His disciples about the importance of their heart and is warning them about the teachings of the so called religious crowd (scribes and Pharisees) of the day. The “religious” people emphasized conformity to rules rather than conformity of the heart; they were simply interested in the outward actions instead of attitudes of the heart, which drive actions. These were the people who said that hatred is permissible as long as you never murder (5:21-26). They also prided themselves in the fact that they had never committed adultery, but Jesus said the standard is not just outward actions, but also the heart, making lust just as wrong as adultery (5:27-30). In this particular passage, Jesus addresses how the scribes and Pharisees had taken the Old Testament law out of context and used it to their own advantage. They knew the Old Testament (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21) designed laws as to how punishment was to be carried out in matters of personal disagreements; however, they were using these laws to condone personal revenge on someone else. This Old Testament law was termed lex talionis and was established in order to make sure the punishment fit the crime, not go beyond it. Jesus tells his followers that the law was never meant to permit people to take matters into their own hands and administer punishment on wrongdoers (5:38-39a); however, Jesus wanted them to give up their rights, not claim them. Jesus desired followers who were humble and not always looking to make sure that everything is fair. He addressed a couple areas where a disciple should give up his rights: matters of personal attack (v.39), matters of lawsuit (v.40), matters of personal gain (v.41), and matters of peronal property (v.42). The insteresting thing about Jesus asking His followers to give up their rights and be humble is that it is against who we are. Whenever someone does something wrong to us, takes advantage of us, or falsely accuses us we immediately want to get revenge. But, Jesus says that His true disciples are willing to give up their personal feelings in order to make peace.
Dear God, Help me to be willing to give up my rights and personal feelings when someone offends or takes advantage of me. Help me to react with humility and gentleness as I commit the situation to you. May I not take matters into my own hands and seek to harm someone else because of what they’ve done to me.
