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Divine Imperatives September 20 Devotional

by David Joynt on September 20, 2023


MATTHEW 5:40 | 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well.

Jesus does not say “when someone plucks out your left eye, offer the right one.” A slap is an insult in the ancient world. We don’t offer ourselves for abuse or mutilation. When insulted, be creative!  Absorb the attack, ask a question, concede your imperfection, confront the attacker without anger.

 

In Palestine, the coat and cloak were the two major garments. What is asked for in this verse is drastic! Go naked rather than fight. Rather than an affront to dignity, this is a wrong to property. This is a call to be non-litigious, non-defensive. Here, even attacks are seen as opportunities to love others in ways that change hearts and open minds.

 

Why is our society so litigious?

 

 

Gracious God,

Make me ready to defend the rights of the vulnerable, but slow to always insist on my own.

Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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