“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. 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. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
Matthew 5:39-42
Helps Word Studies ~
Resist - [436 (anthístēmi) was a military term in classical Greek (used by Thucydides, etc.) meaning "to strongly resist an opponent" ("take a firm stand against").]
Evil - 4190 ponērós (an adjective which is also used substantively, derived from 4192 /pónos, "pain, laborious trouble") – properly, pain-ridden, emphasizing the inevitable agonies (misery) that always go with evil.
Go the extra mile.
Our English idiom came directly from this verse. In all of Jesus’ teachings, we must remember that He came to show us our Heavenly Father. As we watch Jesus’ works and listen to his words, we learn the very heart and mind of our Father.
The Scriptures reveal to us the generous nature of God as a Father and yet, the word ‘generous’ is simply not large enough to express His giving nature. Exceeding, lavish, rich, abounding, much more, above all, are just some of the words and phrases we find used to describe His giving nature.
Our Father makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust. He loved us while we were yet sinners and manifested that love by giving his highest and his best to us ~ Jesus.
This Generous Spiritedness is the foundation for all of our relationships with humanity, especially with those intent on taking our dignity and right of determination from us. To survive this, we must be willing to accept that no matter what another does to us or takes from us, God is never out of the scene and stands right alongside us for help. It’s in this spirit that he calls us to rise up in the face of oppression and hostility and pour our lives out in even greater ways. In this passage, he reveals that pouring our lives out to the unthankful and the unworthy, giving of ourselves, is the right response to express his character.
Who sets our boundaries when it comes to giving? The dichotomies in following Jesus require much, much realignment of the soul. We only see how much when we examine what, where, and who sets the mindsets we hold within our relationships. The
question we must consider is what Jesus would have us do. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ and his members individually must be found perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect. That’s a high bar to reach, much less successfully hurdle.
Psalm 37:21 The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous is generous and gives;
Proverbs 21:26 All day long he craves and craves,
but the righteous gives and does not hold back.
Luke’s gospel is the companion scripture to Matthews from chapter 6, verses 34-36 ~
[34] And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. [35] But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. [36] Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
The easy part is knowing what we are supposed to do and how we are supposed to be—it’s actually in the doing that we see how much we need God's grace and mercy to manifest His name to others.