The Sermon On The MountExemple

Jesus then elaborates how this looks in real life situations. What Jesus says in Matthew 5:21-48 are not “rules” that his followers should keep religiously and legalistically; rather, they are illustrations and examples from real life situations of the kind of people that his followers are to be. 

With regard to murder (vv.21-25), Jesus’s point is that murder is the fruit whose root is anger; murder is the symptom whose disease is anger. And so, the most effective way of dealing with this greatest of evil is not simply by addressing it directly, but by addressing it deeply – not just dealing with the hand that wields the weapon of murder, but dealing with the heart that breeds the ailment of anger.

Jesus similarly talks about adultery (vv.27-30), and traces its roots to the deepest level. For Jesus, adultery is but a symptom of a greater disease of the lustful heart and the wandering eyes. 

Next, Jesus talks about divorce (vv.31-32). His point is that the certificate of divorce which the Old Testament law permitted, was just that – a permission; it was a permission for divorce, not an endorsement or encouragement of divorce. 

Jesus also says that his followers should be such people of integrity, and known as such people, that the taking of oaths would itself be completely unnecessary. They are to be such people whose “Yes” is yes and whose “No” is no. 

Jesus then finally talks about retaliation quoting from the Old Testament law, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” We must remember that what Moses gave in the Old Testament was a principle of justice – the proportionality of justice. Moses was not setting a standard, but a limit: at most, it must be eye for an eye, not eyes for an eye; a tooth for a tooth, not teeth for a tooth. Jesus was thus not contradicting Moses’s Law, but drawing attention to its inner logic, which Jesus fulfils in his ministry and life – the ideal of loving our enemies.