Matthew 5:38–48

How can we be perfect? Jesus tells us to love our enemy. Loving your enemy means to not strike back when he strikes you. It means if someone forces you to carry a load for him one mile, carry it two. It means not refusing to lend to someone who wants to borrow from you. It means if someone hits you on the right cheek, turn the left cheek to him so he can hit is too. Than may be what it means to be perfect, but it sure doesn't seem like very practical advice. It doesn't even seem like something we can do.

The fact is, it is not something we can do. Life is not fair. We are not treated fairly. There is injustice all around in our world today. But can we even come close to doing what Jesus says here? No. But there is someone who did do this for us. We rely not on what we do, but on what he did; on the one who did turn his other cheek so his enemies could strike it too. We rely on the one who did not defend himself in court when falsely accused. On the one who carried cross more than a mile for us. On the one who did love his enemies and when they were executing him, he forgave them. That one is Jesus. Who by his death on the cross took all of our injustice, our evil, our hatred, our fighting into his own body and let it stay there. He did not strike back, but absorbed our evil in his flesh and then took it to the cross where it was put to death.

And so, baptized into Jesus, we will one day be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. The literal meaning of perfect is complete or finished. It is the word used for when a fruit is ripe, or a painting is finished, or a building under construction is done. It is what we will be on the Last Day when our bodies are raised from the dead. We will then have a new body; we will be sinless. We will be a finished product. God is working on us to rid us of sin and make us into his image, and on that Last Day he will be finished. We will be like a painting that is complete; a beautiful work of art, God's art, splendid and beautiful in every way that shines with the glory of God in eternity.

³⁸"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'

³⁹But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

⁴⁰And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

⁴¹And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

⁴²Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

⁴³"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

⁴⁴But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

⁴⁵so that you may be sons of your Father who is 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.

⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

⁴⁸You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Speak to the congregation of the people and say: "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." "You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another; you shall not do injustice; you shall not hate your brother; you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. For I am the Lord."

God's law is good. Sometimes we think of law as bad; gospel good. But the law is still God's good and perfect Word; it is to be desired, it is something we are to pursue; it is a way of life, a cosmology, part of God's creation which when God saw he declared, "It is good."

What makes us think that God's law is bad is that it does not justify us before God. No, we are not saved by the law, nor by works of the law. We are saved by God's grace, and because we are saved, we are the salt and the light of the world. God's law tells us how to go about the business of being salt and light.

In other words, in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing the life of the believer. He is not telling us how to get to heaven or how to be saved, he is telling us how the saved person, the Christian, lives in this world. How the believer uses his body, his arms, legs, mouth, hands and feet to love and serve others.

But, Jesus was not Pollyanna-ish. He didn't have his head buried in the sand. He was a realist. He tells it like it is. Life is not fair. There is injustice, violence, evil, hatred and even death in this world. And we Christians are victims of the evil of this world. First we are victims of the evil that is inside us; that dwells in our own sinful flesh. We are sinners and we do sinful things. Second we are victims of the evil and violence of others. So, Jesus addresses how his people can survive in this kingdom of darkness. How his people deal with evil and injustice.

The world and our sinful flesh tell us, if someone bites us, we must bite back. If someone strikes you, strike back. Get even. Justice must be done, injustice must be righted, there must be punishment, some penalty or some retaliation or payment.

But Jesus says, "Do not resist the evil one. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, give him the other to slap too. If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to serve him by going one mile, go two for him. Give to the one who begs. Love your enemy." Basically, Jesus says that justice is not done by getting even. Righteousness is not established with the sword. The force of law will never create a just and equal society. Getting even does not set things to rights.

The problem with what Jesus says is that it is the opposite of common sense. It goes against our natural inclinations. Most people think these teachings of Jesus are just useless advice, unworkable in our world today. They appear week and foolish.

Of course they do, because this is the way of the cross, and the cross is an offense. What Jesus teaches us here is the theology of the cross. But the cross is folly to those who are perishing (I Cor 1:18). It is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the gentiles (I Cor 1:23). The cross appears foolish to men. It is through foolishness that God has chosen to confound the wise. It is through weakness that God has chosen to shame the strong (I Cor 1:27), to unleash his power on the world. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (I Cor 1:25). The cross of Jesus is the power of salvation for mankind. For by his cross, Jesus became to us the wisdom of God; he is our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption (I Cor 1:30).

And Jesus is our righteousness and redemption because he lived by these very words he spoke. He established righteousness by not resisting evil, but rather by absorbing it into his own body. He took a stand against evil by not taking a stand against evil, but by submitting to the evil one in the name of mercy, truth and love. He submitted to the evil and put himself under its curse without speaking a word in his own defense. This text is not about us at all, it is about Jesus. It is about the one who when reviled, did not revile in return; who when he suffered, did not threaten. The one who himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Who by his wounds you have been healed (I Peter 2:23). It was Jesus who did not strike back, but turned the other side to be struck as well. It was Jesus who put up no defense when accused in a court of law; it was Jesus who carried his cross more than a mile to dark Golgotha for you; it was Jesus who gave his back to the lashes; his face to the smiters, his head to the thorns; his hands and feet to the nails; his side to the sword; and his body to the cross. He is the one who loved his enemy and forgave him from a cross. He restored justice to the world by absorbing injustice into his own body and there putting it to death. He took your sin and evil into his flesh and give you His love and righteousness in return.

This text is not about what you do with your body, but what Jesus did with his by subjecting it to your injustice. This is true love. He demonstrated the utter fullness of what it means to love by loving his enemy and not taking a stand against him. This is the power of the cross; Jesus refusing to use the sword against you, his enemy by nature. And by this power of the cross he freed you from sin and evil. He loved you to the utter fullness of love; a love that loved his enemy.

And now that you are justified by the power of his cross, he has drawn you into himself in your Baptism. And in Holy Communion he joins his flesh to your flesh and dwells in you. So this pericope is about what you do with your body in the face of violence. God dwells in your body so that you must not use your body for the purpose of evil, but like Jesus, absorb evil into your body and suffer it and never let it out. Evil died in Christ's body on the cross. Let the evil of others die in your body rather than give it back in revenge and retaliation and anger and hatred. Take it into yourself and let it die there.

This text is about how you use your body to love others. Not your friends; not the people you like. For even the sinners, the pagans, the unbelievers love the people they like. The love of the Christian is not to love your friends, but to love your enemy. Being a Christian is not being nice to those who are nice to you. That is what sinners do. It is to love the people you can't stand. The people you don't want around you. The people who hurt you; who treat you wrong; who hate you. Love is to love the person who is different from you, the one who is of another race; another language; a different color of skin. That is the love of the God who lives in you...

Yes, God loves his enemies, he does good to them, he makes the sun shine and the rain fall on the good and the evil, and it's good that he does, otherwise you would not be here today. God forgives sinners, and it's a good thing, or you would not be here today. God came to seek the lost, and that's a good thing or you would not be here today. Jesus shows us what true love is by loving his enemies so that you can take up your cross and love your enemies as well.

The definition of real love is to submit your bodies to the evil that others do to you, as Christ submitted to the evil you did to him. Then you will be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. The word "Perfection" means complete. Perfection is the word used for a fruit that has ripened; or a project, like a building, when it is completed. Perfect means to be finished, a finished product. It is the same word Jesus used when he said from the cross: It is finished.

On the Last Day, when you are raised from the tomb, you will be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. For then you will be complete. God's project to perfect you will be finished; you will be a finished product. Your flesh will be renewed, stripped of its sin and evil. This verse is as much a promise as it is a command. In Christ it will be done; it will be completed. You will be a finished product, a precious work of art, a vessel made for the glory of God.

Amen.