Jesus rejects karmic thinking.

Matthew 5.38-42, Luke 6.27-30.

There are plenty of people who incorrectly believe when we’re wronged, humans automatically, instinctively want justice and fairness. Nope! Humans are inherently selfish, and have to be trained and raised to want fairness and justice. Otherwise we’ll want vengeance and satisfaction. And vengeance and satisfaction are neither fair nor just.

Satisfaction doesn’t say “An eye for an eye”—it’s not at all about a proportional response. It’s about punishing people until we’re satisfied. Sometimes for sins against us; sometimes because they simply got in our way, and we’re petty like that. Some of us are satisfied with a sincere-feeling apology, but far more of us are only satisfied with our enemies dying in agony. It looks more like John Wick taking out an entire crime family because one of ’em killed his dog. Or, to use the bible, like Simeon and Levi ben Jacob killing a whole city of Hivites because Shekhém, the son of its prince, raped their sister. Ge 34 Killing Shekhem ben Hamór, I get; killing the city of Shekhém is literally overkill.

In order to mitigate this kind of vengeance, and keep it from escalating into generations-long feuds or genocide, God commanded the Hebrews to limit things to proportional responses.

Exodus 21.23-25 Schocken Bible

23But if harm should occur,

then you are to give life in place of life—

24eye in place of eye, tooth in place of tooth, hand in place of hand, foot in place of foot,

25burnt-scar in place of burnt-scar, wound in place of wound, bruise in place of bruise.

Leviticus 24.17-20 Schocken Bible

17Now a man—when he strikes down any human life,

he is to be put to death, yes, death!

18One who strikes the life of an animal is to pay for it, life in place of life.

19And a man—when he causes a defect in his fellow:

as he has done, thus is to be done to him—

20break in place of break, eye in place of eye, tooth in place of tooth;

as he has caused a defect in [another] human, thus is to be caused in him.

Deuteronomy 19.16-21 Schocken Bible

16When there arises a witness of malice against a man,

testifying against him [by] defection [from God],

17and the two men who have the quarrel stand before the presence of YHWH,

before the presence of the priests or the judges who are [there] in those days:

18the judges are to inquire well;

and [if] here, a false witness is the witness, falsely has he testified against his brother:

19you are to do to him

as he schemed to do to his brother.

So shall you eradicate the evil from your midst!

20Those who remain will hear and will be-awed;

they will not continue to do any more according to this evil practice in your midst.

21Your eye is not to take pity—

[rather] life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot!

I mean, if God hadn’t said anything, you’d get the more common practice of the death penalty for minor infractions; of an entire nation getting wiped out for one person’s crime. I was gonna say “more common ancient practice,” but it still happens. World War 1 started with an assassination.

But regardless of even these commandments in the Law of Moses, God’s standard is not proportional response, reciprocity, or karma as it’s often called. It’s not criminal justice. It’s grace.

And that’s the core of Jesus’s teaching in his Sermon on the Mount. He doesn’t want his followers to seek vengeance, or call it “justice” but really it’s vengeance. He wants us to be generous. And that includes generous attitudes towards those who wrong us.

Matthew 5.38-42 KWL

38“You hear it being said,

‘Eye for eye’ and ‘tooth for tooth.’ Ex 21.24, Lv 24.20, Dt 19.21

39I tell you:

Don’t hold your ground against evil.

Instead, whoever strikes your right cheek:

Turn the other to him as well.

40To one who wants judgment against you,

and wants to take your tunic:

Give them your robe as well.

41To whoever presses you into service for one mile:

Go with them for two.

42To whoever asks of you:

Give!

You ought not turn away

one who asks to borrow from you.”

Luke 6.27-30 KWL

27“But I tell you who listen:

Love your enemies.

Do good to your haters.

28Bless your cursers.

Pray for your accusers.

29To one who whacks you on the cheek:

Offer the other as well.

To one who takes from you your robe:

You ought not hold back your tunic.

30Give to everyone who asks you.

From anyone who takes away what’s yours,

don’t ask it back.”

In other words, stuff the Romans did to them.

Many a preacher has pointed out to me: A right-handed opponent is likely to hit the left side of your face. The only way they’d strike your right cheek is if they backhand you. And somehow this is more degrading or insulting than just getting slapped… although I’m not sure how. People tend to be outraged when you hit ’em in the face. Doesn’t matter how.

In the Luke passage, Jesus uses the word τύπτοντί/týptontí, “one who whacks.” This is a word used to describe getting hit with a stick. (Or cane, but usually Romans caned your back, not your face.) And yeah, Romans would do that too. They wouldn’t say, “Move aside!”; you were supposed to see they were coming, and if you didn’t move fast enough, they’d knock you out of the way with the blunt ends of their spears. Getting whacked in the face was a possibility. Again, it tends to outrage people.

As for suing your tunic off: Jesus is actually using hyperbole. He didn’t mean someone who was literally suing for your tunic; he meant someone who was suing you for every quadrans you had, and if you had no money, they’d supposedly take the shirt off your back. But if you gave ’em your robe too… well the Law required creditors to give back one’s robe every night at sundown, so people could at least have something to sleep in. Dt 24.12-13 No guarantee the Romans would observe the Law of Moses though. But giving “thy cloke also,” (KJV) was therefore also hyperbole: If creditors wanna take everything, stop fighting and give ’em everything.

As for going the extra mile: Roman law stated a Roman soldier had the right to draft non-Romans to carry their gear for 1,000 paces; and their word for thousand, mille, became our word “mile.” A Roman pace was 1.48m, so a Roman mile was 1.48km. (Our miles are 1.6km.) Problem is, Romans would regularly cheat—they’d miscount the paces, or make extra-long paces. Or, once you did your thousand and put down their gear, they’d immediately draft you again for another mile.

But rather than embrace the hurt feelings and outrage—“Hey, I did my service; I’m done!”—Jesus instructs us to quit thinking, “What’s the least I have to do before I’m done?” and just fulfill the whole obligation. If you have to carry a burden a few more steps, don’t pile a grudge on top of it. You’ll be carrying the grudge long after you put down the other burden.

Christians have historically read this extra-obligation idea back into the previous verses. And they don’t necessarily belong there. If someone sues your shirt off, you do owe the money, so accept your circumstances. If someone punches your jaw, don’t escalate things; again, accept your circumstances. If a Roman makes you walk 1,300 paces, that’s annoying, but don’t let it eat you up inside; accept your circumstances.

None of this is about inviting extra abuse upon ourselves. It’s about the fact life will sometimes suck. Stop looking to balance the score. Stop seeking fairness or reciprocity or karma, whether it’s merited or not. Accept the circumstances and get on with your life.

Because if you didn’t accept the circumstances… well, the Israelis weren’t in any position to fight the Romans. Imagine a first-century Judean or Galilean approaching a well-trained Roman veteran. Yeah, the Israeli might imagine he’s righteous and clever like David ben Jesse, and the Roman is like Goliath—mighty, but David killed him anyway. Still, who’s gonna win this scuffle?—even if the Israeli is entirely sure God’s on his side? Right you are: The Roman. If the Israeli’s lucky, he’s getting stabbed and dies right there. If not, he’s getting crucified.

In our day, same deal. If you’re an overzealous protester facing off against a National Guardsman, or a gun nut planning to fight the ATF, let’s get serious: The righteousness of your cause doesn’t matter. You’re not gonna win. Use your head!

Jesus’s instructions are all about using our heads. If an oppressor demands we do something, fine: Give them nothing they can grumble about, or use as an excuse to hassle you further. He smacks you; you didn’t push back, and give him an excuse to shoot you. He demands your stuff; give him plenty. He demands your labor; give him plenty.

And if our criminal justice system isn’t hopelessly corrupt (as it was in Jesus’s day), and prosecutors will actually go after your oppressors and you can actually get justice out of it, do so. But vengeance? Satisfaction? Nope! Resist the temptation. Vengeance belongs to the LORD, not us, Dt 32.35, Ro 12.17-19 because he’s the only one who can sort things out so they’re truly fair.

Of course, Christians today ignore this.

Have you ever seen someone turn the other cheek in real life? Probably not. Most of the time, when someone gets socked in the jaw, they don’t get back up and offer the other side of their face. They punch back. Christians included. John Eldredge in particular.

“Blaine, look at me.” He raised his tearful eyes slowly, reluctantly. There was shame written all over his face. “I want you to listen very closely to what I am about to say. The next time that bully pushes you down, here is what I want you to do—are you listening, Blaine?” He nodded, his big wet eyes fixed on mine. “I want you to get up… and I want you to hit him… as hard as you possibly can.” A look of embarrassed delight came over Blaine’s face. Then he smiled.

Good Lord—why did I give him such advice? And why was he delighted with it? Why are some of you delighted with it, while others are appalled? Eldredge, Wild at Heart, 80-81

Why are some of us delighted? Because it’s exactly what our fleshly nature desires. We’d love to punch bullies. It’d be so satisfying.

It’s not Christlike at all, though. It’s not what Jesus does; it’s not what he teaches. Eldredge tries to justify his advice with pious-sounding pseudo-psychological horse manure, but honestly his entire book Wild at Heart is about trying to disguise toxic masculinity as “This is how God made men.” No; it’s how the fall of humanity made us. It’s how our sin nature, not created by God at all, but adopted by the first humans and passed down to us their descendants, makes us. Jesus means for his followers to adopt his nature, deny our sinful impulses, and follow him. Not revel in a “manhood” which defies the world’s only sinless man.

It doesn’t matter that punching a bully is extremely satisfying. Our fleshly desires are not spiritual discernment, and anybody who says otherwise is following Satan, not Jesus. Which you can kinda tell because Eldredge bluntly admits he’s not doing as Jesus says, ’cause he insists the bullies cannot win. Yet he’s still considered Christian, and ever since his book was published in 2001, Christians have actually promoted it in men’s bible studies. Ever wondered why American Evangelical men really aren’t all that Christlike? There’s a big chunk of the reason.

Eldredge actually shirked his duty as a father, as a responsible adult, to deal with bullies. He’s supposed to get parents, teachers, and sometimes even police, involved. Telling his boy to hit back?—what if his boy accidentally kills the bully? The bully falls, hits his head at just the right angle, cracks his skull, dies, and Junior goes to juvie. “That’s so unlikely” is no justification; battery is often a felony for just this reason. He’s supposed to use our existing systems of due process. One men created, y’know. (Hence its flaws.)

Now, let me also be clear that Jesus isn’t telling us to let bullies win; he’s telling us to not hold your ground. I’m aware his word ἀντιστῆναι/antistíne, tends to be translated “to stand against,” as if we’re only facing off against mean bullies. But antistíne is used in ancient Greek literature to describe war. It’s Achilles facing Hector, or Theseus facing the minotaur, or Leonidas and the Spartans facing the Persians. None of these guys are planning to simply tell their opponents, “I’m putting up with your evil no longer; now stop it and leave me be.” They intend to smite their foes, and kill ’em.

Jesus’s brother James, elsewhere in the scriptures, tells us to ἀντίστητε/antístite, “resist!”, the devil, and it’ll flee from us. Jm 3.7 Same word Jesus used. James encourages Christians to stand against Satan—because its power is entirely psychological; it may be clever, but it can’t actually win any fight against us when we’re following the Holy Spirit. So it flees. We can, and should, go to spiritual war against Satan and temptation.

But physical conflict? Beating up bullies? Fighting a National Guardsman? None of this sounds Christlike—but y’know, fleshly Christians are happy to find any loophole which lets ’em follow their own evil impulses instead of Jesus, and kill, steal, destroy, and devour like their father the devil.

Passive-aggressive obedience.

In movies we occasionally see someone turn the other cheek—but they’re not doing it because they’re following Jesus. It’s solely to intimidate the person striking them. “Look what a badass I am. That was the best you could do? Your mother kisses harder. I could stand to take another punch. Go ahead. Hit me again. I dare you.” Yep, it’s a hostile act.

Ever seen someone have an item taken away from them, and in response they offer to give up something else? Again, they’re not doing this ’cause they’re following Jesus. It’s part of a tantrum: “Oh, so you’re repossessing my car? Well here! Why don’t you take my driver’s license while you’re at it! Take my bike! Take my bus pass! Take every means I have of getting anywhere! Here, you can have my shoes!” Again, it’s not done for any other reason than aggression and a lack of gentleness.

“Hit me again!” or “Go ahead, take it all!” are never done in the spirit Jesus wants of us. ’Cause when we interpret Jesus’s teachings, we primarily have to remember Jesus’s character. He wants us to do these things out of the Spirit’s fruit—out of love, patience, kindness, gentleness. Not rage. Not pique. Obeying Jesus yet not adopting Jesus’s attitudes, and not exhibiting the spiritual maturity of the Spirit’s fruit, is just another subtle way of disobeying Jesus.

So let’s resist that temptation too. The way to properly oppose evil is to not adopt its tactics. Don’t figure it’s okay because they did it first; don’t start trolling people just because trolling is evil fun. Don’t get self-righteous or passive-aggressive (or even full-on aggressive). Be like Jesus, and overcome evil with good. Ro 12.21 Be gracious like our heavenly Father is gracious.

Which comes up in the next passage, so I’ll stop there.