The Sermon on the Mount
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also; Matthew 5:39 · Berean Standard Bible
Jesus says don't resist someone who wrongs you. If someone slaps your right cheek, offer them the other one too. It's not weakness. It's a refusal to let their violence define you.
This sounds impossible, and it is, without a deep trust that God will ultimately make things right. You can afford to absorb a blow when you know God is your defender.
Jesus teaches a radically different response to being wronged.
Jesus lived this teaching on the cross. He absorbed the world's violence without retaliating, and that's how He defeated it.
The command not to resist (me antistenai) the evil person is followed by the striking example of turning the other cheek. A slap on the right cheek (backhanded) was an insult of contempt in the ancient world, not a life-threatening attack.
A backhanded slap was a gesture of superiority, used by masters against slaves and social superiors against inferiors. Turning the other cheek forces the aggressor to either stop or treat you as an equal (using the palm).
Jesus, teaching radical non-retaliation.
Jesus offers a third way between passive submission and violent resistance: creative, dignity-preserving nonviolence.
37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.
38You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’
39But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also;
40if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well;
41and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
Read all of Matthew 5 — Jesus turns the world's values upside down. The blessed aren't the powerful — they're the poor in spirit, the grieving, the meek.
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