Turn the Other Cheek

"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. (Matthew 5:38, 39 NIV)

I read an interesting article on Living Lutheran about using nonviolence to transform society. The article states that there is the interesting possibility that

The social change that has the most potential for lasting transformation can only come through nonviolence. And often, the training in nonviolence comes from religious traditions.

We normally look upon "turning the other cheek" as weak or as humiliating. We believe it is allowing another to control us and to take superiority over us. But read this about the biblical reference of turning th other cheek from theologian Walter Wink:

Imagine if I were your assailant and I were to strike a blow with my right fist at your face, which cheek would it land on? It would be the left. It is the wrong cheek in terms of the text we are looking at. Jesus says, “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek … .” I could hit you on the right cheek if I used a left hook, but that would be impossible in Semitic society because the left hand was used only for unclean tasks. You couldn’t even gesture with your left hand in public. The only way I could hit you on the right cheek would be with the back of the hand.

Now the back of the hand is not a blow intended to injure. It is a symbolic blow. It is intended to put you back where you belong. It is always from a position of power or superiority. The back of the hand was given by a master to a slave or by a husband to a wife or by a parent to a child or a Roman to a Jew in that period.

What Jesus is saying is in effect, “When someone tries to humiliate you and put you down, back into your social location which is inferior to that person, turn your other cheek.”

Now in the process of turning in that direction, if you turned your head to the right, I could no longer backhand you. Your nose is now in the way. Furthermore, you can’t backhand someone twice. It’s like telling a joke a second time.

If it doesn’t work the first time, it has failed. By turning the other cheek, you are defiantly saying to the master, “I refuse to be humiliated by you any longer. I am a human being just like you. I am a child of God. You can’t put me down even if you have me killed.” This is clearly no way to avoid trouble. The master might have you flogged within an inch of your life, but he will never be able to assert that you have no dignity.

Rather than an act of weakness, turning the other cheek is actually asserting your inner strength... A strength that can only come through Christ.

Lord Jesus,
If we are ever put into the position of having to assert our strength for social or political change, give us the strength to do so nonviolently, through you who strengthens each of us. Amen.

Joys: homemade soup; smell of coffee brewing; Richard's daily phone call