Brett Blair tells about a Swedish woman whose husband dumped her and took up with a younger woman after 17 years of marriage. In his divorce filing, the man claimed the downtown apartment where they had been living. His soon-to-be ex-wife agreed to give up the apartment, but asked for 3 days to pack and move out. She hired movers and cleared her things from the apartment. Then she sat down with a glass of chardonnay and a pound of raw shrimp and celebrated being rid of that jerk. After finishing her snack, she took some of the shrimp shells and put them inside the hollow core of each curtain rod in every room. She then locked the door and left. The next day, her ex-husband moved in with his trophy wife. All was bliss for a few days, and then the couple noticed a terrible odor that seemed to be growing worse by the day. They shampooed the carpet, cleaned the air ducts, and looked for dead rodents, but could not isolate the source of the smell. They tried air fresheners, but nothing helped. Finally, they gave up and movers came and packed up everything, including the curtain rods, to take to their new residence.

Something about that story satisfies. Two adulterers living with the stench of their sin. Psychologists believe that revenge stimulates the pleasure center of the human brain; “An eye for an eye” just feels right. One study, conducted by David Chester of Virginia Commonwealth University and Nathan Dewall of the University of Kentucky, found that when angry people were given a pill that they were told would dull their pleasure response, they stopped seeking revenge, even though the pill was only a vitamin. The study participants seemed to think, “If there isn’t going to be any pleasure in the revenge, then why bother getting even?”

When the Old Testament Law gave us that “eye for an eye” instruction (Exodus 21:23-24 and Leviticus 24:19-20), there were 3 reasons for the law. First and most obvious, the law stipulated the penalty when the law was broken. Second, the law acted as a deterrent; the lawbreaker knew what was going to result even before they broke the law. But it’s important for us to understand that the law also LIMITED revenge; it instructed authorities to take ONLY an eye for an eye. God knew that, because of the emotion involved, humans rarely stop at “getting even.” We want to teach the perpetrator a lesson so we often go beyond “even,” which then prompts the perpetrator to seek some revenge of their own! This cycle of escalation prompted Louis Smedes to call revenge “a loser’s game which leaves you more frustrated and in pain than from the original offence.”

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught his disciples to grow beyond the need for revenge. Matthew 5:38-42 (NIV) reads, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”

Jesus wasn’t encouraging a victim mentality. None of Jesus’ examples involves serious, permanent damage. Jesus didn’t say, “If someone shoots you in the head, let ’em shoot you in the heart, too.” But insults, inconveniences, embarrassment and even financial losses shouldn’t prompt us to seek revenge. It’s not that these blows to our ego or wallet don’t matter; they do, and God will hold the one who hurt us accountable. But when God rights the wrong, He will do it in the right way at the right time and to the right degree. That’s why Romans 12:19 instructs, “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.”

The Apostle Paul, who wrote that text from Romans, found comfort in God’s justice even while facing his own death. In 2 Timothy 4:14, Paul wrote, “Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will repay him for what he has done.”

Mark Wilmoth is with Pinehurst Christian Church in Marietta. For more information regarding Pinehurst Christian Church, visit www.PinehurstChristianChurch.org