Donny’s back in the Sermon on the Mount this morning, and he’s hitting one of those passages that sounds simple until you actually try to live it.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Most of us hear that and immediately start building exceptions in our heads. Well, sure, but what about… Donny’s not going to let us off that easy.
He starts with the Old Testament — Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, Deuteronomy 19. The “eye for an eye” law wasn’t what we think it was. It wasn’t permission to get even. It was a ceiling. A cap on retaliation so things didn’t spiral. You knock out my tooth, I don’t get to burn your house down. Justice, measured and proportional. For its time, that was actually restraint.
Then Jesus walks in and flips the whole thing.
Don’t just limit your retaliation — don’t retaliate at all. Someone sues you for your shirt? Give them your coat too. Someone forces you to walk a mile? Walk two. Someone asks for help? Help them. Love the people who love you back — sure, that’s easy. Even tax collectors do that. Love the people who make your life miserable. Pray for them. That’s the bar.
And here’s where Donny will land on something that brings all of it home. He tells the story of Corrie ten Boom — a Dutch woman who helped hide Jewish families during World War II, got caught, and ended up in a concentration camp. Her sister Betsie died there. After the war, Corrie traveled and spoke about forgiveness. And one night, standing in front of an audience, she looked up and saw one of the guards from the camp walking toward her with his hand out.
Everything in her wanted to pull away. And she heard her sister’s voice: “Look at Jesus only.”
That’s where the sermon title comes from. And that’s the thread running through all of it — Matthew 5, Romans 12, 1 Peter 2. When someone wrongs you, when you’re standing in front of the person who hurt you worst, when every instinct says hit back — look at Jesus only. He didn’t retaliate. He didn’t make threats. He handed himself over to the one who judges justly.
“Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Not flawless — that’s not what that word means. Complete. Whole. The kind of person whose love doesn’t have a limit based on whether someone deserves it.
That’s a hard sermon. But it’s a good one.
Scripture References: Matthew 5:38-48 · Exodus 21:22-25 · Leviticus 24:19-20 · Deuteronomy 19:15-21 · Romans 12:14-19 · 1 Peter 2:19-23 · 1 Peter 3:9 · Hebrews 12:1-2
