RETALIATION

Romans 13:11-14

             Matthew 5:38-42

“I am Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

If you've only seen the movie, The Princess Bride, you've missed Montoya's full back story. After his father was killed for refusing to give the six-fingered man a sword the man had commissioned his father to make, Inigo's life is consumed by the need for revenge. He spends years preparing to be the greatest swordsman in the world and in searching for his father's murderer.

Revenge. An eye for an eye. Tit for tat. Getting even. He, she or it had it coming. Getting back at someone. You'll find all of these in the dark lexicon of Retaliation.

Retaliation comes so easily to us. Like children arguing on a play ground, if we get shoved, we intuitively shove back. But as Christians, Jesus call us to address those who wrong us in a counter intuitive way.

I knew something was up when the Funeral Director told me, “I've already told the family they had to behave themselves.” As it turns out, the woman I was going to do the funeral service for was much beloved by her family, but her family hated each other. They had been feuding back and forth for years.

When we've been hurt or threatened, when we have been humiliated or when we feel that someone is trying to cheat us out of something, the urge to retaliate comes to us so easily.

For example ...

If someone insulted us, made a cutting, callous remark that felt like a slap on the face and cut us to the core, what's our reaction? We'd want “slap” them right back.

Retaliation.

In nasty divorce cases, in the midst of the pain of loss of love and trust, the yelling and insults, there are threats of “taking everything you've got,” or “leaving you with nothing,” including custody of the children. False or exaggerated charges are made in an attempt to make the other hurt as badly as they do.

Retaliation.

Whether we're children, teens or adults, we have to deal with bullies. A bully makes threats and demeans and shames us until we feel like we're only an inch tall. A bully intimidates us, making sure we know he or she has power over us. We may plot, like the characters in the movie, Nine to Five, to get back at the bully in our life in inappropriate ways.

Retaliation.

Someone takes that parking space we're headed for. We fume. We call them names, we make obscene gestures. We may even confront them, or take our anger out on someone else who will pass along the anger to another person.

Retaliation.

The laws of recompense and retaliation in the Old Testaments books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, like “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” were meant to limit the extent of suffering. The intent was the same as the laws that limit the amount of the damages we can receive in the settlement of a law suit.

The sad truth is that only in the movies is revenge sweet. It is rarely satisfying, and the bitterness we still carry continues to eat away at us. The anger we hang on to actually allows the person who wronged us to control our thoughts and actions.

That's why Jesus has told us to just not go there – don't retaliate. Don't stoop to the other person's level.

In the passage from Matthew, Jesus doesn't promise any change in the person who has hurt or angered us. Nor does he promise we will receive any special blessing for resisting the temptation to get even, although it does free us to live our lives with more joy. He only asks us to remember that we have been called to a lifestyle that counters the lifestyle of the world by adhering to a higher standard of behavior.

Romans 13:11-14 describes that behavior as “putting on the armor of light,” the light of Christ. As Christians, we are not to participate in the brokenness and strife of retaliation; we are called shine the light of our faith into the darkness of the world.

When we do that, we are not participating in the fear, anger, divisiveness and anxiety that is currently so rampant in American culture. When we choose not to react to it, we are not perpetuating it. We are modeling a different way of living based on our faith and the example of Christ.

Christ was often mocked, insulted and falsely accused. After he was arrested, he was mocked by the Roman soldiers as he was stripped, beaten and whipped. He was then executed in a slow, painful and humiliating way.

As he hung there dying, did he beg God to avenge him? Did he call down the wrath of heaven in retaliation for his suffering?

No. The Light of the World forgave them, and through his suffering and death, showed the world what God's mercy and love looks like.

We've all seen the bracelets or T-shirts that have the letters WWJD, what would Jesus do. Some argue that we should ask ourselves what would Jesus have us do.

In the case of retaliation, I think that both are relevant. When we're tempted to get even, we should remember the example of Christ and show the world what God's mercy and love looks like through our responses the actions of our fellow human beings. We should also remember what Jesus would have us do: put on the armor of light, shine the light of Christ in the world and witness to a different, a better way of behaving.

“For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— “ Ephesians 5:8

And in our Lord, Christ Jesus, we are empowered to live counter-intuitively, in the world, but not of this world.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.