Turn the other cheek Matthew 5:38-48 March 10, 2013 Travis Collins In theory, turning the other cheek sounds like a nice and admirable practice. But I want you to think for just a moment about a recent experience in which you were hurt. Someone angered you, insulted you, mistreated you, spoke badly of you to others Can you feel the emotion even now? Maybe it wasn t something directed at you. Maybe it was directed at someone you love. Can you feel the emotion? How does turn the other cheek sound now? Would you then agree that turning the other cheek is a hard thing? Now, take a deep breath, and let that emotion go for we have some work to do. Jesus said, You have heard it said (and it comes from the book of Exodus) an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We need to understand, by the way, that that was an improvement on the prevailing culture. Before then, the idea was, If you knock out one of my teeth I m gonna render you toothless. And if you kill one person from my village, we re gonna come wipeout your entire village. This word from the Lord was that there was a limit to the price one would have to pay for wrong. The punishment, in other words, should fit the crime. It was a fair standard of reciprocity. Jesus, however, took it obviously farther: If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other. He also said, If a soldier asks you to carry his equipment for a mile, carry it two. We might need an explanation about the second mile. In the days of Jesus, what we call the Holy Land was occupied by Rome. The ubiquitous presence of Roman soldiers was a constant and painful reminder of the oppressive situation under which the people of Israel lived. To make it worse, soldiers often would stop someone on the road and force that person to carry the soldier s load. The soldiers so abused that, and the Israelites so complained, that finally the Roman army imposed a rule that said the soldiers could force Rome s subjects to carry their backpacks for up to a mile, and no more. You can imagine how the people of Israel counted the steps making a mile. You can imagine them putting the load down in a huff and stomping off, cursing all things Roman under their breaths. But Jesus said, When you get to the end of that mile, instead of dumping his gear, ask the soldier, Would you like me to carry it a second mile? Then Jesus went on to speak of loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. 1
Jesus is talking about us giving an unanticipated response to abuse. Something that will leave our antagonists astonished, our bullies baffled, our critics confused, our detractors dumfounded and our opponents thrown off balance. Jesus is talking about responding to maltreatment in a way that leaves people saying, I didn t expect that. Remember Jesus himself of whom 1 Peter 2:23 says, When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. That sounds so right so Christian. But gosh it s hard, isn t it? Let s talk about what Jesus words do not mean. Personally, I do not interpret these words as a mandate for pacifism. Our Mennonite friends (with whom Baptists share roots) and some other Christians would disagree with me on this point, for they believe Jesus words about turning the other cheek mean it is wrong to take up arms even for one s nation or to engage in any violence for any reason. And I was with a group of pastors in January when the topic of church security came up. In the wake of the children killed in Newtown, Connecticut, we were talking about the need for greater security in our churches. The question of having armed security persons arose. One pastor questioned whether armed security is appropriate for Christians. If we believe what we say we believe, why would we defend ourselves with weapons? he asked. It was a good question. Most of us, however, in the end decided our responsibility for taking care of the children and others takes precedence over the ideal of not using force. So it s a hard question but I do not believe Jesus words here mean we could never use force either as soldiers or in self-defense. Jesus words here definitely do not mean we are to be doormats. These words of Jesus do not mean we are supposed to let people to mistreat us. We all of us are people of great worth. We are God s treasures... His children... His handiwork. In Psalm 139 the Bible says God wove you together like a quilt in your mother s womb. God brought the particular cells together that made you you. When He strung the strands of your DNA He was intentional! It is wrong to allow anyone to trample on God s masterpiece. There is an interesting book, and I ve mentioned it before, titled, Don t Let Jerks Get the Best of You. The book, written by a Christian physician, does say that God never intended us to allow jerks to ruin our lives. You should not subject yourself to abuse. So what do these words of Jesus mean? We should not push these words the point of legalistic literalism anymore than his words in verses 29 & 30 about cutting off our hand or plucking out our eye. 2
If we take these words literally the only time they would come into play is if a right-handed person backhands you or a left-handed person swings at you. Think about it: A right-handed person can hit your right cheek only if he or she backhands you. So let s not get legalistically literal here. But neither should we brush it off as some idealistic, unrealistic, other-worldly, nice-butimpossible cliché. While Jesus might not have been speaking literally, he sure was speaking seriously. So what would it mean for us to turn the other cheek? Jesus is talking about choosing not to retaliate! Here s an example: Maybe turning the other cheek would mean not hitting Reply on that email. As you probably have, I ve gotten emails that were insensitive or downright mean. When I get them I feel it in my gut. A mixture of anger and hurt and resentment. In an effort to get that bad feeling out of my gut, not to feel that anymore, on occasions I have written responses that were impulsive, cutting and divisive. In the instant that I hit send it s as if my anger flew with the email through cyberspace to the recipient on the other end and I instantly felt the release of the pressure. For a while. And then regret set in. What would be the email equivalent to turning the other cheek? It would be a willingness to experience the pain of hurtful remarks without retaliating without replying to that email at least not replying like you really want to. Either saying something constructive or just not responding period. (Remember what your mother said: If you can t say something nice, don t say anything at all.) We ve got to find some way to let the anger go. In prayer and on the golf course or in the counselor s office or somewhere. But we can t let it go out through cyberspace in a sharp replay to an angering email. Turning the other cheek choosing not to retaliate is a willingness to absorb pain you didn t cause and don t deserve. In order to forgive us God, in Christ, had to absorb the shame, the pain, the hell of all our sin. Jesus took upon himself our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). Jesus absorbed the pain caused by our sin. And turning the other cheek requires our willingness to experience pain for which we are not responsible. That s the hard work of cheek-turning choosing to absorb the loss and the pain. Choosing not to seek revenge and not to speak badly of the one who hurt you, but to absorb the hurt. 3
Again, you need to unload it somewhere. In prayer, on a golf course or in a counselor s office. But not on the attacker. Turning the other cheek means that when we do have to respond to inaccuracies and misrepresentations, and when we disagree, we do so gently. Jesus said, Blessed are the gentle, or meek. And we need to understand that praus, the Greek word translated gentle or meek is not about being weak. Gentleness, according to its New Testament origins, is the intentional bridling or harnessing of our strength in yielding to the needs of someone else. You see, this Greek word praus also means tame, and in New Testament days was used of animals animals that, by nature, were aggressive, but that had been tamed, or gentle-ized. What is it that thrills us about seeing lions perform in the circus? It is their gentleness! The king of the jungle is prancing around like a poodle in a dog show, taking it when the tamer cracks his whip. Why does that so electrify us? It is their gentleness the fact that they could attack the tamer but they don t. This week a young lady in California died when a lion turned on her. That s why we hold our breaths when the trainer sticks his head between the mighty jaws of the powerful beast. We know that lion is a carnivorous cat with the power to have trainer tarts for dessert. But the beast is being praus, gentle. Gentleness, then, as the Bible defines it, is having the ability to retaliate and inflict pain, but choosing not to do so. Gentleness is having the ability to give so-and-so a taste of his or her own medicine, to make him or her pay, but not doing it. So turning the other cheek is a choice made out of strength, not weakness the choice not to harm when it is within our power to do so. Turning the other cheek means surrendering our right to get even. It might be just and fair to get even. But there is a law, a value, a principle higher than fairness. It s called love. It was late on a Thursday evening and Jesus was in Gethsemane, an olive grove on the Mount of Olives across the valley from Jerusalem. He and his close friends were interrupted by the threatening voices and flickering torches of the ones sent to arrest Jesus. After the betraying kiss of Judas, the Bible says, the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. They seized, grabbed, subdued Jesus. And immediately, in angry response, Peter grabbed the sword that hung at his side and swung at the high priest s servant, a man named Malchus. The servant must have ducked, or perhaps the darkness made aim difficult, but the sword just scraped the servant s head and it cut off his ear. Blood spurted and a brawl was certain. Then Jesus spoke with authority. Put your sword back in its place, Jesus said to Peter, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. I have needed to hear those words. And sometimes still do. 4
Put your sword back in its place. Though most would say you are justified in using it, there is something more important than fairness. Put your sword away, Travis. There is a principle higher than justice and fairness. When South Africa s apartheid, the discriminatory system of government, fell in 1994, a new government panel was established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It was a means of bringing justice for the racial crimes that had been committed under apartheid. It wasn t a witch hunt; it was an effort to rectify, even to redeem, terrible acts of hatred. In a tense courtroom, a white police officer named Van de Broek confessed to an incident in which he and other officers shot an eighteen-year-old black man and burned the body over a fire, rotating it like a barbeque. Then, eight years later, the same police officer, Van de Broek, returned to the same home and this time burned the father of that young man. The wife and mother of that father and son who were brutally killed was in the courtroom as Van de Broek stood trial. The judge asked her, What do you want from Mr. Van de Broek? She would have a say in his punishment. She first answered that she wanted the police officer to go the place where they had burned her husband s body and gather up the dust which perhaps would contain his ashes so that they could inter his remains. The policeman, ashamed, silently nodded his agreement. Then she said, Mr. Van de Broek took all my family away from me, and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like for him to come to the ghetto and spend a day with me so I can be a mother to him. And I would like Mr. van de Broek to know that he is forgiven by God, and that I forgive him too. Then she made an unusual request of the judge. She said, I would like to embrace him so he can know my forgiveness is real. As she made her way to the policeman to embrace him, a few folks in the courtroom began to sing softly and spontaneously, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound But the policeman didn t hear the song. Overwhelmed by emotion, he fainted. (From Rumors of Another World). Why would people begin to sing Amazing Grace? I guess they saw a connection between the grace extended to us by God and the grace that the wife and mother was extending to the brutal policeman. She had been gentle having the power to demand a severe punishment but choosing not to use it. She had chosen to absorb the pain she did not deserve and did not cause. She had chosen to put away her sword. For there is a principle higher than fairness. The principle of love. She turned the other cheek. 5