Let me close by making this personal. What is your attitude toward all that I have been saying? Are you still dealing with the questions of your rights and your wrongs? Or are you learning to live the kind of life lived for us by the Lord Jesus?
The third example Jesus gave is the right to our time, for He said, "And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him two" (v. 41). This is a picture of which we know very little, for it comes from the experience of those who live in an occupied country. In such a situation a member of the conquered nation might at any moment be compelled to serve the conquering power, even if it meant the neglect of things that he considered important and for which time was pressing. To give one example, this was what happened to Simon of Cyrene when he was pressed into service in Jerusalem to bear the cross of Jesus.
Now I want to go on. But before I do, I want to deal with an objection that someone may be raising. You may be saying, "All of what you say is well and good, but isn't it true that there are situations in which this standard need not be followed? In fact, didn't Jesus even refuse to turn His face Himself when He was struck by the high priest? And didn't He say, 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou me?'"
The first right that Jesus teaches we are to forego is the right of retaliation. It is the first of four rights listed here, and although the list is not comprehensive (and is not intended to be), it is sufficient to indicate the type of character that God requires of us. Jesus said, "Resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also."
We live in a day when most people are intensely conscious of their rights. In such a climate it is not unusual for a believer in Jesus Christ to be asking, "What are my rights as a Christian? Do I have a right to success or wealth? To a home or a family? To a good name? To be respected?" Perhaps you have asked these questions also or others like them. Do you have rights? The verses from the Sermon on the Mount to which we come today answer these questions directly, and they say—striking as it may seem—that there are no rights for Christians.
