go the extra mile … love your enemies” (Matthew 5:38–48) A. At this point I am desperate to explain how this text does not mean what it really says. 1. I would like to appeal to “oriental exaggeration” or “rhetorical hyperbole” as a way to diffuse the power of these words to upset my life. I would like to do this but I can’t. 2. Though Jesus does not expect a slavishly literal application of the examples He offers (see John 18:22, 23; Matthew 21:12–17), it is none-the-less clear that He is calling