Revenge Is God’s Responsibility

David W Palmer

Today, we are sitting at Jesus’s feet with his apprentices: Pete, Jim, Jamie, John, Bart, Matt, Phil, and others. We are here for some classroom teaching before we go back to on-the-job-training, yoked to the Master. Let’s see what he has for us in this session:

(Matthew 5:38–42 DKJV) “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ {39} But I say to you, do not take a stand against anyone who does you evil; instead, whoever hits you on your right cheek turn to him the other as well. {40} And if anyone wants to take you to court to get your shirt, let him have your coat as well. {41} And whoever compels you to go a mile, go with him two. {42} Give to him that asks you, and don’t turn away the person that wants to borrow from you.

“Turn the other cheek”; “Go the extra mile.” These aspects of Jesus’s teaching have become famous sayings. Are they simply self-demeaning ways to prove our insignificance and intrinsic lack of worth in a religious self-deprecation? Or is there something very important, uplifting, and kingdom-oriented that Jesus is getting at here? In truth, Jesus really does have our best interests at heart.

One of Jesus’s focuses was on changing our values from the prevailing worldly, temporary ones, to true and eternal Kingdom ones. He listed several areas in which the religious leaders had imparted wrong values—leading to a misunderstanding of authentic security and significance. Then he replaced them with the true eternal values of his Kingdom.

For example, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was originally said to people of old, ‘You shall not murder.’ … But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause, will be liable to judgment” (Mat. 5:21–22 DKJV).

Therefore we must begin the process of mind-renewal, by changing our perceived values to Jesus’s true values—primarily as outlined in his mountaintop teaching.

To succeed in being completely transformed from fleshly thinking and worldly ways, we need to renew our minds to what Jesus taught in Matthew 5–7. If we obey him, Jesus said we would be like a wise man that built his house on a solid rock foundation (Mat. 7:24–27).

In particular, here he says, “Do not take a stand against anyone who does you evil” (verse 39). In other words, don’t take it upon yourself to resist them, protect yourself, exact revenge, or to force them to back down through your own strength. If you do, you would be acting based on the old thinking that your security comes from your physical strength, reputation, possessions, and self-respect. Instead, Jesus says to remain submissive, soft, and vulnerable. Why? What is his thinking here?

Jesus wants us to base our actions on the new and eternal mind-renewing truths of God’s kingdom: security comes from being in right relationship with God, and true lasting significance comes from obedience to Him. Furthermore, God’s first priority in this scenario is to win these people into his kingdom by showing them his love and goodness; this is his first approach with them:

(Romans 2:4 NKJV) “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”

If we obey Jesus’s directives (as highlighted in his lesson in today’s reading) God’s goodness will be revealed in our actions, which will hopefully lead the offenders to repent. And even if they don’t respond to His goodness as He would like, God says it’s still not up to us to judge them, punish them, demand restitution, or to exact revenge:

(Romans 12:19–21 NLT) Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD. {20} Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” {21} Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

What will happen if we do as Jesus says when slapped, compelled, or ripped off—turn the other cheek, give more than is demanded, go the extra mile, and give generously? That is, if we stay soft hearted, open to God, and obedient to him—what will he do? He will step in for us, and he will multiply back to us what has been released from us; God receives our obedience as seed for his kingdom.

We don’t find it easy to remain vulnerable when encountering a face-slapping attack or demeaning compulsion. But if we do, we are not so much staying vulnerable to the “evil person” as we are remaining humbly submissive to God; he told us to do it. When we trust him enough to obey him, he will always reward and repay us far more than we deserve. And remember, there’s no salvation without submission:

(Hebrews 5:9 NKJV) “… He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

Can I encourage you to begin putting into practice what Jesus taught in today’s lesson? Your security is in Him; it’s not in your possessions, reputation, self-respect, or relative standing in the world. Give up the hard work of self-protection; instead, stay right with Him and he will make everything right for you … eternally!

Jesus is coaching us in light of the irrefutable, unstoppable law of sowing and reaping. If we always sow love, vulnerability, absolute trust in God, obedience to him, and prayer, we will have an amazingly bright future to look forward to:

(Galatians 6:7 CSB) Don't be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap.