REFLECTION:
Sometimes we imagine the so called “Lex Talionis” to be such a barbaric law. “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind”, read a car bumper sticker.
But this misses the whole point, because the law was actually meant to put an end to the cycle of vengeance.
It simply meant that if I took an eye from you, you could only take one eye from me, not two.
If I took out one of your teeth, you couldn’t destroy my entire mouth; you could only take one.
It was actually a “civilizing” law. And that is where the new command of Jesus shows itself to be truly new, because it demanded a transcending,
a going-beyond even that civilizing law itself. The new law of love, which Jesus enjoins on us asks that we go beyond the mere limitation of violent retribution.
It asks that we repay evil not with evil, but with good – because in the end, it is truly the only way for the cycle of evil and violence to
end and the reign of God’s justice to begin.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020