“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

But I say to you: Do not fight back when harm is done to you.

But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

And Jesus continues: If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

The commandment “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” seems cruel to us; however, it was intended to establish basic justice and to prevent avalanche-like revenge. Man has a tendency to pluck out two eyes for one eye and to knock out all teeth for one tooth. But Jesus tells us to forgive, to respond to evil by doing good and to hatred by showing forgiveness.

The Epistle to the Romans reads in the spirit of this appeal: “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to the wrath of God… If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals of shame on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely,

but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ But I say to you, do not swear at all.”

In the Old Testament, the person taking an oath took God as witness and called down upon himself a curse which was incurred by those who broke the oath or did not tell the truth. The person sometimes put himself under oath by God (1Sam 20:3; 1Sam 25:26), sometimes by man who was thus bound to avenge the broken oath. To make the oath stronger, sometimes an animal was offered for sacrifice. It was cut in two and the person taking the oath passed between the parts of it. Perhaps the symbolical meaning was that if a person breaks the oath (Gen 15:8-18; cf. Jer 34:18), he will suffer the fate of the animal. The Israelites took an oath before the altar of the Lord (1Ki 8:31) or by the temple (Mt 23:16f).

The Law strictly forbade a false oath (Lev 19:12), but entrusted punishment entirely to God (1Ki 8:31f; Zec 5:4).

“But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason

except fornication causes her to commit adultery;

and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”

“But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason

Jesus develops the truth about the sacrament of marriage in chapter 19: The Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery.” His disciples said to Him, “If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” But He said to them, “All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given.”

“If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you;

for it is better for you that one of your members perish,

than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

Jesus speaks here about temptations and about the way of fighting them. The major battlefield is our mind. The devil attacks our mind through temptations more than anything else. This fight is relentless and does not stop as long as we are alive. You cannot allow thoughts to cross your mind as they like. We are accountable to God for every thought that crosses our mind, so we need to stop it and carefully check if this thought is obedient to Christ. We learn from the Scripture as well as from the experience of the saints that whatever communication between human and demonic powers takes place in the human mind. Every demonic temptation which seduces man is targeted on the human mind. The enemy also exploits the human body in order to win man over to his side and to win his approval. Therefore, at every moment of his tempting the enemy develops a certain thought, e.g. he arouses envy, anger or hatred.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman lustfully

has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Original sin, which consists in revolt against God and His commandments, has deeply wounded all spheres of human life. In terms of carnality, this wounded nature becomes manifest in sinful lusts which affected Adam and Eve immediately after the fall (Gen 3:7). Therefore, God laid down the sixth and ninth commandments to prevent the infection of the sin of impurity.

In these words spoken in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus points out the root of adultery. He says that one can commit adultery not only physically but in one’s heart too if one unites oneself to a lustful thought. In such case, the instrument of sin is an impure look and the place of sin is the human heart – a lustful, impure mind.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,

and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that

whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger

of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger

of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.

A) You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not murder!’

The Fifth Commandment says: You shall not murder! Evil thought connected with deceit and manipulation and resulting in hatred is the root of murder. There is not only physical murder but also psychological and spiritual one. Behind all three forms of murder there is a spirit of lies and death. Man is easily manipulated by his own self-deceit or is deceived by others whom he believed or immediately by the devil’s suggestive thoughts. The Fifth Commandment also includes ruining one’s own health. Today you can read on every pack of cigarettes: “Smoking kills!” The same is the effect of drugs, alcohol, immoral life (AIDS, sexual murders, revenge out of jealousy…), or risking one’s own or someone else’s health. Abortion and euthanasia are sins of killing too.

“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness

of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus speaks about two kinds of righteousness. About the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, and about the righteousness by faith. Unless our righteousness is by faith, we shall not enter the kingdom of God.

The word ‘righteousness’ means that everyone should be given his due. The Word of God says: “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23) and “All have sinned” (Rom 3:23). Thus, all people justly deserve death for sin, and not only temporal death but also eternal one, i.e. separation from God – hell.

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil

against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your

reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

These words of Christ are the last eighth Beatitude. In His preceding words, too, Jesus speaks about persecution and also emphasizes the reward, which is the kingdom of heaven. Persecution pertains to the life of true faith. The early Christians were persecuted in Jerusalem. The first martyr was Stephen, a deacon. The first of the apostles to die a martyr was James, the brother of the apostle John. Both of the brothers agreed with the request of their mother that they be the first in the glory of heaven. When Jesus asked them if they were able to drink the cup of suffering which Jesus drinks, they said: “We are able.” John suffered bloodless martyrdom bravely and fully by the cross. St James suffered bloody martyrdom when he was beheaded with the sword in 42 A.D. Bloodless, psychological martyrdom is when we suffer revilement, persecution, lies and all kinds of evil for the sake of Christ.