We’ve been studying the book of Matthew on Sundays at my church. The last 5 weeks have been spent covering Matthew 5:20-40, noting how Jesus taught us that we need to go beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. It also points out that, apart from His grace, we’re all in deep doo-doo, because most can’t even keep the letter, and none can keep the spirit.
But He wasn’t just “kicking it up a notch”. What Jesus was teaching was far more radical than that. Especially verses 39-40. And especially “the other cheek”:
But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
One note on this in particular — in case the idea isn’t ridiculous enough in and of itself. Things written and said in Bible times (unless specifically stated otherwise) assumed right-handedness. So if you were going to slap someone on his right cheek with your right hand, it would be a back-hand. In our day and culture, the back-handed slap is derisive and humiliating. But in first-century Israel, it was even moreso.
So what Jesus is saying is that we should not retaliate when someone not only injures us, but does so in an intentionally and significantly derisive and humiliating manner.
CS Lewis once wrote that to say the things that Jesus said, He had to either be a liar, a lunatic. or the Lord. Boys and girls, I’m sorry, but by all measure of human wisdom, you have to go with option #2 (He was a lunatic).
Or perhaps, human wisdom is faulty, and what He said really is true, and we are supposed to obey.
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Very good and core post. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, after the physical needs come the need for survival (safety). One of the most difficult challenges we face, inherant within the example of Christ, is the spiritual power to resist defending ourselves. Defending ourselves has become an art form, but it does not reflect the “silent before His accusers” example, to say nothing of the cross.
“Focusing on Christ’s cross, Luther argued that God works in the world in a way that seems to be the opposite of his own being. He appears to hide himself under shame, weakness, and helplessness. Christ’s earthly path, from being a miracle worker and esteemed teacher to the shame of the cross, reveals that God’s revelation of himself is unintelligible to the natural mind. The natural mind imagines the works of God to be beautiful, fine, and attractive, but according to Luther, the opposite is the case.” Veli-matti Karkkainen, Christology: A Global Introduction.
Nice quote, Christian.
The Horror of God’s Love