Matthew the tax collector comes to a Galilean hillside on duty, Rome has ordered him to count the crowd and file a report on the new rabbi from Nazareth. Instead of a rebel, however, he finds a Teacher who speaks of turning the other cheek, giving up your cloak and going the extra mile (Matthew 5), and who disarms the whole machinery of contempt, violence and retaliation. This narrative sermon lets us see the Sermon on the Mount through the eyes of a man everyone considered a traitor. Listen to what the tax collector wrote in his report, and what these words could change in your own conflicts.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Matthew the tax collector explains that the law of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" was meant to limit revenge and make payment equal to the harm. Why does Jesus in Matthew 5:38-42 go further and say "do not resist an evil person"?
- In the sermon, a slap on the right cheek, having your tunic taken, and being forced to carry a load for a mile are all forms of public humiliation. What do these three pictures tell us about how Jesus wants His followers to respond to injustice?
- The sermon says that turning the other cheek is not passive acceptance of harm but a way to keep your dignity without taking revenge. How is this kind of response different from both passivity and retaliation?
- During the second mile, you begin to see the soldier as a person who misses his home. How does your view of someone who has hurt you change when you try to see them as a person created by God?
- God makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, and Matthew the tax collector says he himself is proof of God's patience. How does knowing that God shows you kindness despite your failures shape the way you treat your enemies?
- Think of a specific person you are in conflict with or hold a grudge against. How can you go the "second mile" with them or pray for them this week to break the cycle of contempt?
