Vengeance, retaliation and violence seem part and parcel of the human experience. When we are hurt our first instinct is often to strike back, to take revenge on the one who hurt us - ‘pay back’, as we call it.

That’s how cycles of violence get started. These cycles can continue, between families for example, for generations, enduring long after the original incident has been forgotten.

In continuing his Sermon on the Mount in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls his disciples to a new way of handling violence and unjust treatment - not with revenge and retaliation, but with open-hearted generosity and forgiveness.

Jesus’ teaching must have sounded like the ravings of a mad man to his hearers. Even for us today that teaching can be ‘hard to swallow’. Is Jesus seriously asking us to offer the other cheek to the one who strikes us, to suffer double the injury? If someone wants our shirt, do we have to give them our coat as well? If someone forces us to go one mile, do we really have to go two miles with them? Love your enemies?

Pray for those who persecute you? Seriously?

The challenge in Jesus’ words is for the disciples to always act in our dealings with one another as God would act. That is how we can break the cycles of violence which would otherwise entrap us.

Jesus calls his disciples to a more abundant righteousness even when they are unjustly treated. He takes traditional interpretations of the ancient biblical teachings and corrects and extends them in a more generous interpretation.

Virtue and righteousness are not about looking good on the outside, fulfilling the ‘letter of the Law’. They are about being good on the inside and acting for the good of others, allowing God’s heart to reign within our own. That’s what brings us into right relationship with God and neighbour.

True Christian virtue always goes beyond merely what is required. It is always willing to ‘go the extra mile’ in tolerance, love, forgiveness and mercy. It mirrors the excessive generosity of God.

The perfection of true holiness is found in acting towards others, including our enemies, as God acts towards us all.