38"You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. 40If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. 41And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 42Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Wow, these are difficult instructions for me. If someone does something to harm me, my instinct is to retaliate. If someone tries to take what is rightfully mine, I want to hold it tighter. If someone tells me I have to do something that I don't want to do, I may do it, and may even do it well, but would I do more? And I try to give to him who asks, but don't I sometimes fall into the poor behavior of avoiding, turning away from, someone who I know wants to ask something from me?
Jesus understands our human instincts. That is why He is able to cut right to the quick in defining what behavior we should be exhibiting when our instincts tell us otherwise. These instructions almost seem to go too far. If someone harms us and we keep turning the other cheek, wouldn't we be beaten up? If we give our other possessions to someone who tries to take what is ours wouldn't we have nothing left? If we did more than what we were told to do wouldn't we be taken advantage of? If we always gave whatever was asked, how would we ever have anything for ourselves? Wouldn't we be destroyed, be taken fully advantage of if we always did as Jesus says here?
But if you read through Jesus' ministry, you will see that this is how Jesus lived His life. Yes, Jesus was beaten, had no possessions, and always seemed to be taken advantage of when people were looking for relief from their illnesses or afflictions, but Jesus always did more than He was asked, he never turned away from those who needed Him. We are asked to live our lives as Jesus would. And that means going against all our instincts. Jesus doesn't' say it will be easy. And we may end up losing much of what we hold dear. But in so doing, our reward will be greater than anything we gave up here on earth.
Do not worry that the "other guy" is not following these instructions. Sure, it would be a lot easier for you to follow these instructions if everyone else was too, but other people's punishment or reward for their deeds are not yours to give. Your responsibility is simply following these instructions for yourself. And based on how difficult these instructions are for me to follow, that in itself should keep me busy enough that there is no way for me to worry about someone else's behavior. So do not retaliate "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", but let God do the retaliation. He knows better than you how to retaliate, because as it is written, He will punish with "an eye for an eye..."
In all these examples, Jesus not only says to not sin, but to do more good. Always give better than you get. Imagine what kind of world this would be if everyone followed that example!