Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The Jesus Way to Handle Your Enemies | The Gospels | Matthew 5:38–48

Episode Date: September 29, 2026

What do you do when someone hurts you? What does Jesus mean when he says to turn the other cheek? And can we really love our enemies? In today’s episode, Tanya explores how Matthew 5:38–48 shows us the radically different way of life Jesus calls us to in his kingdom. Want to become a more consistent Bible reader? Download our free Ten Minute Bible Guide and start building a simple, sustainable habit of meeting with God through his word. Grab your guide here. Read the Bible with us! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and it's never too late to join! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Matthew 5:38–48

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth. When I was 16, I drove a 1989 black Mustang hardtop with red cloth interior. It was atrocious. Feel free to Google 1989 black Mustang red interior to see what I mean. My interior had faded to orange, and it was by far the biggest mistake Ford made in that body style. I think, I hope I was grateful my parents bought it for me. They probably went out on a limb to make it happen. I had it for three years and had three wrecks, one per year. The first one happened in my school parking lot while I was backing out of my space. I wish I'd hit one of the other 199 cars in that lot, once purchased from a dealer and insured, but I didn't. I hit the one car a sweet kid named Reggie had built with his dad, actually bought the parts, and I

built it. He was so proud of that car. I backed out and hit the front driver's side fender of Reggie's car. I got out to look at the damage. My Mustang was fairly unscathed. His custom car had its fender hanging off. My parents made me call his dad that night to see what we could do. They were prepared to pay the deductible and let insurance cover the rest. But Reggie's dad surprised us all. He said, that's okay. It was an accident. We'll rebuild it. In other words, we forgive you. We'll absorb this, even though this car means a lot to us. I wish, or I did at the time, wish that they'd just let us pay the deductible, or at least let my parents pay it. I probably didn't have enough to cover it myself. I felt awful and I felt relieved at the same time. I've never forgotten their kindness.

We're still in the sermon on the mount and Jesus is announcing really good news. the new kingdom. The kingdom of heaven has arrived in him, the Messiah. This kingdom is the new home for all who believe. While its full reality won't be revealed until he returns again the disciples and all who come to follow Jesus, don't have to wait until they die to enter this kingdom. We are part of it through him even now. After the beatitudes, Matthew follows an oratory pattern in Jesus' teaching. Each announcement begins the same way. This is what you have heard. And this is what is true now that I have arrived. In Matthew 538, this is how it goes.

You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you, don't resist an evil doer. On the contrary, turn the other cheek. Let them have your cloak as well as your shirt. And when forced to go one mile, go two. In the verses that follow, Jesus lays out what this means. First, it means grace instead of retaliation. Jesus replaces the old principle, a retributive justice, with a call to absorb wrong rather than repay it.

Second, it means loving your enemies. Jesus calls his followers to a different kind of love. It's easy to love those who are lovely, friends, people who are kind to you. But this love extends even to those who persecute you. And third, it's about divine perfection. Jesus concludes by calling them to be mature and complete in love as their heavenly father is perfect. Jesus has already told them that the kingdom belongs to them. Now they, God's people, the church, are to be the manifestation of his kingdom.

They will be characterized by bearing with one another, by reconciling and forgiving rather than going to violence and retaliation. Think of the ways we're tempted not to follow the pattern of this new kingdom. The child left out of a party whose parents cut that family out of their lives. The teenager who's embarrassed by a friend who looks for ways to heap embarrassment back on that friend. The person who's overlooked for a promotion, who diminishes the qualifications of the one who's promoted instead. The spouse who retaliates with a sharper cut or the silent treatment after being confronted with an issue. shoe. The foundation of Jesus' teaching is that we would all stand convicted if not for our

Savior, but just as he has taken away the wrath of our sin, he also calls us to trust him and forgive others. The shocking part of the sermon on the mount is that we're meant to watch what Jesus is doing and live it out ourselves. None of us has the strength of character to do this perfectly, but perhaps our hearts are pricked. Perhaps we're convicted to receive his grace and try. Remember, Jesus' teaching isn't just good advice. It's good news. Because Jesus didn't only show us a new way of life, he offers us the power to live in it. The sermon on the mount isn't just about us. It's an illustration of how Jesus lived his own life. When they placed a crown of thorns on his head, he didn't object. When he was struck, he was silent. When he was hung on a cross,

he asked God to forgive. So what does it look like for us to follow him? We can trust Jesus because he is sovereign and he is also our Savior king. Trusting him means living out his way of life, not to repay evil for evil, to work to live at peace and to overcome evil with good. Matthew is inviting us to see the loving perfection of our Jesus, so we can more fully know the one who calls us to follow him. Loving our enemies is more than just a behavior to adopt. It's about discovering more and more the love of our Savior,

and learning to reflect that love to a world that desperately needs to experience it as well. Hey, before we wrap up, can I tell you about something we've been working on here at 10-minute Bible talks? We believe that everyone should know how to read the Bible. But the truth is, a lot of us have never been shown how. That's why we created the 10-minute Bible guide.

It's a simple framework for helping you understand God's Word and build a sustainable Bible reading habit. Not so that you can simply check the Bible reading box off your to-do-do-do. list, but so that you can spend meaningful, life-giving time with God in His Word. Inside our guide, you'll find practical tips for getting started, strategies for how to stay consistent, ideas for how to apply the Bible to your life, and how to pray through the Bible, and even journal through it once you're done. So if you've ever thought, I want to read my Bible, but I don't know how to start or how to stick with it, then this is for you. You can download our free 10-minute Bible

guide today at 10-minutebiblicaltalks.com or just hit the link in our show notes.