By: Joel Ramirez
I learn so much about behavior from watching my children. One child will come in from outside crying with the second one not far behind, also crying. As a parent, you have the challenge of finding out what happened. The first child is holding their head and the second is gripping their leg. “What happened?” Through tears, the first child states “She hit me in the head.” The second child is quick to add “He hit me in the leg first!” It only takes a second to realize the first child hit the second and the immediate reaction was to hit back. It’s human nature to exact revenge. It is unfair by human thinking to expect that someone hurting you deserves a taste of their own medicine. One could be quick to incorrectly reference Exodus 21:23-25 “But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, v24 “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, v25 “burn for burn, wound for wound, strip for strip.” A more correct translation would be to take no more than an eye for and eye, take no more than a tooth for a tooth and so on. This was a law of checks and balances to help guide the Israelites but is easily overlooked for what it doesn’t say. This law was to set a limit on what another was owed but the mistake that the people made then, and those who choose to take it out of context today, is that you must obey the whole law of God. For the Israelites, they could not overlook Leviticus 19:18 “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord.” Now let us combine these two laws and we see that you may take no more than what was taken from you but you shall not do it out of vengeance or with a grudge. This negates the argument of the childish understanding of you hurt me now I want to hurt you back. But Jesus takes this even further. As the Old Testament gives us the letter of the law, the New Testament brought to us by Christ gives us the spirit of the law in which God intended the law to be understood, thus fulfilling the law. In Matthew 5, where Christ explains the difference between the letter and the spirit of the law, Christ shines a righteous light to the concept of an eye for an eye in v38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ v39 “But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also.” This goes against every human urge but it shows control over our anger and it proves our love for our neighbor. The lawyer in Luke chapter 10 tries to test Jesus on the point of who counts as our neighbor. During this time, the Jews thought of a neighbor as only a fellow Jew, allowing them to hold themselves to only love those who are Jewish. Jesus answers the lawyer with the parable of the good Samaritan and turns the question back on the lawyer to emphasize it is not who our neighbor is but what does being a neighbor to others mean. Jesus takes the law of “love thy neighbor” and turns it into “be a neighbor and show mercy to all.” Once again, Jesus takes this further in Matthew 5, starting at v43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ v44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, v45 “that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” The human mind quickly answers “so easy for you to say!” Yet, Jesus went beyond this through His actions by sacrificing His blood through His death for His enemies and then through His resurrection is preparing a place in Heaven for those who will repent and obey Him. You were His enemy and I was His enemy and Christ did that for us and for every sinner that ever was and ever will be. The actions of Christ go beyond what any man could make of God’s law. Christ took the framework of what the Israelites understood as the law and brought a color and meaning beyond what anyone could comprehend of the law. We are so quick to strike out against someone who has hurt us in some way and in effect, we let anger guide our actions and taint our hearts into sin. Romans 13:8 states “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” It is not for us to discover who is our neighbor but to be a neighbor to all. Jesus concluded in Matthew 5:46-48 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? v47 “And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? v48 “Therfore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” We have the ultimate goal after being saved to help those around us to be saved as well. Love is the brightest light in a dark and dying world, and it is our duty to emulate Christ by loving our enemy. By doing so, we can make our enemy our brethren and perfect the law of God.