Matt Hakiaha

Polysemy2 - bringing clarity regarding the word Retaliation. I have used the word ‘Retaliation’ as my title for this session on our church series “Sermon on The Mount.” Briefly, retaliation is an action of harming someone because they harmed you or someone close to you. There are similar words for retaliation such as retribution – literally ‘payback’, revenge and vengeance.3 This rule made the punishment fit the crime, thereby preventing the cruel and barbaric punishments that characterised many ancient countries such as Babylon and Mesopotamia.4 It is this retaliation - ‘payback’ model or normalised behaviour that Jesus wants to address in this passage of Matthew 5:38 - 42.