38 [y]“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on [your] right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. 40 If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. 41 Should anyone press you into service for one mile,[z] go with him for two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
The Sermon on the Mount, as presented in Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7, is about divine morality the social architecture that God designed for the primate species and particularly humans. In these chapters, Jesus teaches what it means to live within God’s creation, in union with Him, what He calls the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is what is what is achieved by living within divine morality, called tsedeq by the ancient Hebrews. The Sermon on the Mount reveals how God has designed human social architecture, inviting us to dwell within it according to divine morality. Jesus’s words guide us on how to live in harmony with God’s intentions, experience the grace that comes from such living, and understand the consequences when we fall short of this divine calling.