What distinguishes the biblical meaning of the word "peace" from the universally accepted? In our daily language we understand it rather in a common way, as the opposite of war or the lack of dissensions.

This word "shalom" is much more voluminous - it is a state of harmony and balance, order and beauty. Such is the state of the relationship inside the Trinity, such was the state of the universe in the seventh day of the Creation, such become our relationships with God in Jesus Christ, - "for He is our peace" (Eph. 2:14). And besides, we are capable of spreading these relationships on other people, because is given to us the word and the ministry of reconciliation.

The abolition of the principle of equal retribution, of which the Lord speaks in today's passage from the Sermon on the Mount, marks a fundamentally new stage in the spiritual evolution of humanity. In antiquity, in the era when the Law of Moses proclaimed 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' the world was still ruled by the principle of Lamech, who killed a young man for a wound and a man for a scratch. Against that background the rule of equal retribution became the height of civilization and mercy. But the time came when even it ceased to be the highest spiritual achievement: the Lord calls us to renounce vengeance altogether.

Usually interpretation of this call is based on the Old Testament words of God that only He has the right to vengeance and recompense. But the Lord Himself says nothing about this. He does not promise, 'God will avenge you,' but directly commands, 'Renounce revenge; do not resist the evil one.' And this means that in these words we again hear a call to the way of the Cross.

Jesus' attitude toward fornication and adultery is the same as toward murder: if He equates hatred with murder, then He equates lust with adultery. As we can see, the reasons and logic here are the same: intention in this case too turns out to be even more important for the Kingdom than the act itself. And just as in the case of hatred, Jesus proposes a kind of 'work in advance': this, apparently, is how His words about the hand that causes stumbling and the eye that causes stumbling should be understood. Just as it is better to be reconciled with an opponent on the way to court than to inflame passions, so it is better simply not to let things reach the point of lust.

Of course, before us here is the development of a tradition that already existed in those days, based on the understanding that passion is easier to prevent than to fight afterward. It is enough to recall the words, well known to everyone then, of one of the great teachers of the Torah, Hillel, who said: passion first looks into your house like a passerby, then enters it like a guest, and in the end settles in it like the master. It was impossible to acquire the inner Torah without special work aimed at preventing sinful passions and intentions from appearing.

But the matter was not only the acquisition of the inner Torah: it too served only as a means for full life in the Kingdom. And for the Kingdom, where the quality of relationships determines everything, the prevention of sinful passions and intentions is extremely important. Of course, if we speak of the Kingdom revealed in all its fullness, then the problem of sinful intentions will no longer exist in it: for the human nature of its inhabitants will also be fully transformed, so that nothing sinful will have any place in their life.

But on the path toward the fullness of the Kingdom and the fullness of transformation, the problem remains, and Jesus reminds us of what can help solve it. He sets the spiritual bar as high as possible: for example, the prohibition of divorce, about which He speaks quite unambiguously, presupposes a quality of relationship unthinkable in our still untransformed world. Of course, the Savior understands perfectly that the right to divorce given to a person by the Torah is a concession to human sinfulness, capable of giving an extra pretext for the very sinful intentions that must be fought. And He does not want to leave His followers such a loophole. For in the Kingdom there are no trifles, and compromises are impossible here.