Today's Gospel reading from the Sermon on the Mount divides neatly into two sections. The first section comments on the saying, “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.” The second section comments on the saying, “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.”

When Jesus says, “you have learnt”, He is referring to the teaching or an interpretation of the Old Testament, the Word of God. But when He continues, “I say to you”, He affirms that He has the authority to amend the Word of God and preach a higher morality.

We may feel that Jesus is unrealistic, but if we go beyond His examples and probe more deeply, we can deduce the general principles. During His trial before the Sanhedrin, when a guard struck Jesus on the cheek, He did not “turn the other cheek”. Instead, He challenged the man for striking Him (Jn.18:22) when He had done no wrong.

We may sum up His teaching and protest in a general principle: “Rather be the victim of injustice than the perpetrator, but nevertheless challenge injustice when you see it.”

Similarly, the second section teaches the virtue of tolerance, as does Jesus’ parable of the weeds among the wheat.