Lectionary Reflections on Matthew 5:38-48 When I hear these teachings about love of enemies and non-retaliation, I feel the way I feel when I go to a Mavericks basketball game in Dallas. I stand next to the big backdrop in the first floor lobby of the arena that shows you how high Dirk Nowitski can jump. The display challenges you to see how you measure up. It is discouraging. I am 5\u2032 6-\u00bd\u201d tall. I will never be able to jump as high as Dirk Nowitski, no matter how hard I try. It is not a matter of practice. It is a matter of impossibility.<\/p>\n Sketchy Scenes<\/strong> These sayings picture a specific scene and make a command. They are specific, exaggerated, and extreme. They are not meant as blanket principles to fit all situations. They function like a proverb, which is an ethical flashlight, not a floodlight, appropriate for some situations but not all. Think, for example of \u201cA soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh words stirs up anger\u201d (Prov. 15:1). In some situations, that\u2019s a wise word, but in others, a harsh, blunt word is called for.<\/p>\n Jesus\u2019 \u201csketchy scenes\u201d contrast his teaching with conventional human behavior and induce a new way of looking at such topics as judging others (Mt. 7:3-5), inward motives and outward behavior (Mt. 5:29-30), retaliation (Mt. 5:39-42), private piety and public opinion (Mt. 6:1-7), family ties (Mt. 10:34-36) and the call of God\u2019s kingdom (Mt. 8:21-22) (McKenzie, Preaching Proverbs,<\/em> 76; Hear and Be Wise,<\/em> 145-6). Jesus doesn\u2019t intend for us to cut off our own feet, tear out our own eyes, pull logs out of our eyes, stand still while someone slaps us twice, and skip our own father\u2019s funerals. He wants to make our habitual, deeply ingrained patterns of behavior seem strange to us.<\/p>\n
\nFebruary 20, 2011<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nAt this point we could shake our heads in disgust and discouragement and give up on relating this text to our lives. Or we could take the genre of this text into account. Matthew 5:38-42 is what New Testament scholar Robert Tannehill calls a \u201cfocal instance.\u201d I prefer to call it a \u201csketchy scene.\u201d \u201cIt is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.\u201d \u201cIf your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.\u201d \u201cFirst take the log out of your own eye.\u201d \u201cLet the dead bury their own dead.\u201d \u201cIf anyone strikes you . . . If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat . . . If anyone forces you to go one mile . . .\u201d<\/p>\n