Revenge
Have you ever wondered what Jesus would say to Batman? How’s that for the first line of a sermon?! Peter’s sermon intro at Pentecost was, “These guys aren’t drunk, it’s only 9am!” I was talking with some friends just this week about one of the Batman movies they were watching and how one line in it struck them as so profound. Batman was chasing revenge. That was his driving force behind everything he was doing. He is told, in Batman Begins, “Justice is about more than revenge.” I looked it up, and here is the exchange that Rachel Dawes has with Bruce Wayne:
Bruce: “My parents deserved justice.”
Rachel: “You're not talking about justice. You're talking about revenge.”
Bruce: “Sometimes they're the same.”
Rachel: “No, they're never the same, Bruce. Justice is about harmony. Revenge is about making yourself feel better.”
Later on in the movie, he realizes she was right and admits to her those words, “Justice is about more than revenge.” And I think Jesus would say the same thing to Batman, too. Actually, I think that’s very similar to what Jesus is saying here in the Sermon on the Mount.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows us a better way than getting even. And it’s ultimately about following the way of the cross.
God gave “eye for an eye” to stop people from taking payback too far. (38)
“You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
This principle, called lex talionis or the law of retaliation, is found in Exodus 21, Leviticus 24, and Deuteronomy 19. It was one of the oldest principles of justice in the ancient world. It even appears in other law codes from surrounding nations, like the Code of Hammurabi, which dates to 1792–1750 BC. The purpose of it wasn’t to encourage cruelty (I’m going to poke you’re eye out!) but actually to restrain it. The law was given to limit vengeance so the punishment would match the crime and not go beyond it.
By the time of Jesus, though, this principle had been twisted. Religious teachers had begun to use it as justification for personal revenge, telling people they can get even. What God intended as a safeguard in the courts had become a license for individuals to take justice into their own hands. Instead of limiting retaliation, it was used to defend it. This was a distortion of God’s intent.
Jesus confronts this misuse here. He isn’t speaking against the role of government or courts. Romans 13 reminds us that God ordains civil authorities to restrain evil. Jesus is speaking about personal relationships. He’s saying that when wronged, His disciples are not to retaliate. They are not to perpetuate the cycle of revenge.
For us today, the principle is just as relevant. We may not be tempted to gouge out eyes or knock out teeth, but we retaliate in more subtle ways. We cut people down with words. We hold grudges. We take to social media to humiliate someone who hurt us. We dress up revenge in the language of fairness, but it’s still revenge. Jesus calls His people to break the cycle.
Reject retaliation and find your worth in Christ. (39)
“But 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.”
Who has ever heard the phrase “Turn the other cheek”? This is where it comes from. This is one of the most radical and misunderstood statements in Scripture. Some have taken it to mean Christians can never defend themselves or that we should abandon all protection against evil (extreme passivism). But the context here makes it clear that Jesus is speaking of personal insult rather than physical assault.
In the honor and shame culture of the first century, to slap someone on the right cheek with the back of the hand was a humiliating insult. The Mishnah even records that a backhanded slap carried double the fine of an open-handed one.[1] This wasn’t mainly about physical harm. It was about dishonor.
Jesus tells His disciples not to retaliate when insulted. Don’t escalate the conflict. You don’t need to defend your reputation. Your honor rests secure with God. If you are in Christ, you are beloved in Him. It doesn’t matter what anyone says about you. You are a child of God! So you don’t need to defend your reputation.
This goes directly against our culture. We’re told to protect our image at all costs. Damage control! We must defend our name. Demand respect! But Jesus calls His disciples to something greater than all that. He calls us to trust that our worth isn’t in the opinions of others but in our relationship with God.
This doesn’t mean we allow abuse. It doesn’t mean we never protect ourselves or others from harm. This doesn’t mean we don’t need to carry guns (We do live in Tennessee after all). What it means is that when we are insulted or shamed, we don’t need to retaliate. We can let it go because our identity is secure in Christ.
Peter writes that when Jesus was reviled, He did not revile in return but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly, and this is the model for us.
1 Peter 2:23 - When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.
Lay down your rights and embody grace. (40–41)
“And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”
Here Jesus gives two examples that would have been shocking to His audience.
The first is a lawsuit. A man sues you for your tunic, which is your inner garment. According to the law, your cloak couldn’t be taken because you needed it for survival, and it was for both your clothing and your blanket at night. See, look at Exodus 22:26–27.
26 If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, 27 for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Yet Jesus says if someone sues you for your tunic, give him your cloak also. WHAT?! Your well-being is at stake here! He is teaching His disciples to give up even what is legally theirs and what is necessary for their well-being. The point here isn’t to encourage injustice (injustice is never encourage, for God is a God of justice) but the point is to demonstrate that our security is not in possessions but in God.
The second example is drawn from Roman occupation. Under Roman law, soldiers could order civilians to carry their packs for one mile. This practice was deeply resented by the Jews (as you could imagine), who saw it as a symbol of their oppression. Do you remember how mad it made you feel when you were a kid and your parents made you do something you didn’t want to do? A Roman soldier could make you carry their pack for them, and you had to stop everything you were doing to serve them. And these could weigh between 50-100 pounds!
Yet Jesus says, “Don’t just carry it one mile. Carry it two.” What was meant to humiliate becomes an opportunity to show sacrificial love freely. Both of these examples show us the same principle. Followers of Jesus are not to cling to their rights. When we face injustice of any kind, the gospel-response is the grace-filled response. It’s the sacrificial response. It’s the go-the-extra-mile response. It’s the “I’ll serve you at no benefit to myself” response. We can go the extra mile because we follow the One who went to the cross for us.
The ethic of Jesus disarms evil by refusing to feed its cycle. (39–41)
Quoting Proverbs 25:22, in Romans 12:20, the Apostle Paul says,
“if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
This is a little different way of looking at these same verses. Bonhoeffer explains that the only way to overcome evil is to let it run itself to a standstill because it doesn’t find the resistance it’s looking for. He writes that when evil meets no opposition but only patient endurance, its sting is taken away and it loses its power. Here is some of what he says of it in practice:
“When a man unjustly demands that I should give him my coat, I offer him my cloak also, and so counter his demand; when he requires me to go the other mile, I go willingly, and show up his exploitation of my service for what it is. To leave everything behind at the call of Christ is to be content with him alone, and to follow only him. By his willingly renouncing self-defence, the Christian affirms his absolute adherence to Jesus, and his freedom from the tyranny of his own ego. The exclusiveness of this adherence is the only power which can overcome evil.”[2]
We can see this principle most clearly lived out at the cross. Evil seemed to triumph when Jesus was mocked, falsely accused, beaten, and crucified. But He refused to retaliate. He endured injustice. And by doing so, He broke its power. What looked like defeat was actually victory. The cross shows that suffering love conquers violence.
This means, in the same way the follower of Jesus should refuse to add fuel to the fire of evil. When we respond to insult with insult, when we repay wrong with wrong, we feed the cycle. But when we absorb wrong and respond with patience and grace, evil loses its sting. Paul echoes this when he writes, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
Think of it this way, when you respond to evil with good, it makes that person confront their own evil. When you turn the other cheek, now your left cheek, where they would then have to strike you as an equal after striking you as a lesser individual, they are then pushed to either back down or treat you as an equal. The soldier is forced to see you as an individual, not as a number or a tool. The greedy person is exposed by radical generosity. That’s not the main intention. But you can see how good overcomes the cycle of evil. It stops it in its tracks. That’s justice lived out through generosity.
Prioritize generous love over self-comfort. (42)
“Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
Have you ever been approached by someone asking for money? What do you do? Do you always give to them? Do you feel like you are enabling them if you give them cash? What should you do? If you gave to every person who asked, you yourself would be poor.
At first, this seems impossible to live out. If we absolutize this verse without context, it can lead to distortion. The principle here isn’t blind giving but generous love. Jesus is addressing the posture of the heart, just like He’s been doing in each of these addresses in the Sermon on the Mount. He’s saying, “Don’t be tight-fisted. Don’t constantly ask, “What is in it for me?” Instead, reflect God’s grace by living with open hands.
This means we should cultivate generosity as a way of life. It means we should be willing to meet real needs with real sacrifice. It may involve giving financially, but it also involves giving our time, our energy, and our presence. The follower of Jesus sees possessions not as something to hoard but as resources entrusted by God to be used for the good of others.
Jesus demonstrated at the cross how to sacrificially love instead of giving people what they deserve.
All of this teaching comes together at the cross. Jesus didn’t only preach these words. He lived them. He turned the other cheek when soldiers mocked Him. He gave up His cloak when they stripped Him. He carried His burden, His cross, not just the extra mile but to Calvary. He gave not just possessions but His very life for us. At the cross, Jesus absorbed injustice to bring reconciliation. He broke the cycle of revenge by taking upon Himself the punishment we deserved.
Philippians 2:3-11 – 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This is the ethic of the kingdom. It isn’t a set of rigid rules. It’s a way of life shaped by the cross. When we forgive instead of retaliate, when we give instead of hoard, when we love instead of hate, we’re participating in the sufferings and victory of Christ. Our lives become visible demonstrations of the gospel. May we be people who stop the cycle of revenge, who live with open hands, and who point to the cross by the way we endure wrong and extend grace. And may we be people who receive the grace and mercy of the cross by receiving the salvation that is freely offered by the Savior who died on it and rose from the dead three days later.
[1] “One who strikes another must give him a sela. Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Yosei HaGelili that he must give him one hundred dinars. If he slapped another on the cheek, he must give him two hundred dinars. If he slapped him on the cheek with the back of his hand, which is more degrading than a slap with the palm, he must give him four hundred dinars. If he pulled his ear, or pulled out his hair, or spat at him and his spittle reached him, or if he removed the other’s cloak from him, or if he uncovered the head of a woman in the marketplace, in all of these cases, he must give the injured party four hundred dinars. This is the principle of assessing payment for humiliation caused to another: It is all evaluated in accordance with the honor of the one who was humiliated, as the Gemara will explain.” https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Bava_Kamma.8?lang=bi
[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (Macmillan, 1979), 158.
