"But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth..." - Exodus 21:23-25
It makes you wonder, doesn't it? Ya know, how could the loving God of the New Testament say such things in the Old Testament? And doesn't Jesus change that in the New Testament.
It's okay. A lot of people wonder.
But don't just wonder, please. Check it out.
In actuality, "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth" was a very loving thing for God to command at that time. Why? God's people were surrounded by other people who said, "You took my eye, so I'm going to kill you!"
But God said to his people, "Life for eye is not fair; eye for eye is. Life for tooth is not fair; tooth for tooth is." God was teaching his people about justice.
And furthermore, though God had pointed to the Savior Messiah since Genesis 3 when he covered the man and woman with the blood sacrifice of an animal skin and though the prophets would be inspired to foretell of the coming Savior Messiah, God's people had not yet seen the Messiah, our Lord and Savior, Jesus. So being a people of justice was about as much as they could do.
But when God's people saw Jesus, everything could change. So moving is seeing Jesus that Simeon (Luke 2:25+) says, "This is as good as it gets. Now I can die." So moving is seeing Jesus that Saul (Acts 9+) was blinded by holiness, given new "eyes" of faith, and led to see life in a totally new way so that now he'd live as the great Saint Paul. So moving is seeing Jesus that Jesus in essence says (Matthew 5:38+) that we can say, "I know you took my eye, but I don't need your eye. I need to give you the grace that I was given, so I will love those who hurt me by praying for them. I will forgive, letting go of my stranglehold on those who hurt me, as I have been forgiven."
Seeing Jesus, the Messiah who saves, moves us from being the great people of God who give justice even though we're surrounded by injustice to being the great people of God who give grace because we're surrounded by God's grace.
Dear God, we're surrounded by injustice, to be sure in this sinful world but, as with Simeon and as with Saul turned to Paul, give us eyes of faith to see Jesus and your grace so that, even when we must administer justice, we can do it in Christ with your love and grace. Amen.
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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