There is nothing that comes before the eyes of men that strikes them more than the meek, lowly, thankful spirit that endures a wrong. The natural man resents, and, if he can, avenges everything of the sort. But to the disciple such grace is a principle of his new life. It is what in its perfection he has beheld in Christ, and what suits his Father who is in the heavens and looks for the reproduction of His own character in His sons. Retaliation is here reversed and uprooted.
Hear the instruction Christ gave to His disciples:"Resist not evil:but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. . . . Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (Matt. 5:39-48).
It may be personal lawlessness, an unjust suit, or a hard law; but the disciple of Christ is taught by the Master to bow. What is a brutal insult compared with truly representing Him? Consistency with Him is far more than one’s coat and cloak. Instead of begrudging the service pressed for one mile, add another to please Him who would have us walk by faith, not by sight, still less selfishly. We are also to give habitually to him that asks; for what have not we ourselves received from the divine Giver beyond all we have asked? Are we who are the objects of countless and rich mercies to turn away from one that would ask or borrow?
But the Lord goes farther in His next utterance. Whatever was said of loving one’s neighbor and hating one’s enemy, His word to His disciples was and is, "Love your enemies, . . . and pray for them which . . . persecute you." Such love and piety, to be of value, must be no mere form but a living reality, that they might be sons of their Father in the heavens; for such is their place of dignity. And what a pattern He sets! He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. What rich grace in the first comparison, and what faithful goodness in the second!
Nor was the Lord content with the pointed reference to His Father and our Father, to His God and our God. He would make them ashamed, as His disciples, of not rising above the practice of Jews and Gentiles. If they loved those that loved them, did not the odious tax-gatherers the same? If they greeted their brethren only, the scorned Gentiles did also the same. This was altogether beneath the Christian according to Christ. "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." A lower standard of feeling and conduct was to the Saviour intolerable.
Have we such confidence by grace toward God? Assuredly we have no competency as of ourselves; but our competency is of God, according to the spirit of the new covenant, not of the old. The grace of Christ alone suffices the believer.
(From The Bible Treasury, Volume 4, New Series.)