Matthew 5: 38 - 48 - Left Cheeks, Cloaks & Second Miles

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Thank you to all who contributed to our worship and discussion this morning. Much of what I said comes from Walter Wink's book Jesus & Nonviolence: A Third Way (Fortress Press, 2003) which is currently still available for under £ 5.00. I have copied the "script" for what I said below and you are invited to continue the discussion.

Peter

A couple of very important points as we begin:

Firstly, "Do not resist an evildoer" would probably be better translated "Do not resist by evil means" or "Do not resist violently" because Jesus himself was certainly not passive in face of the injustices of his time. Read in this way, the following three examples give examples of the sort of resistance to evil and injustice that Jesus is commending.

And so, secondly, the teaching of Jesus is not about being a doormat. It's not about passively accepting all that others throw at you, it's not about allowing others to violate or exploit or abuse you. If anyone tries to tell you that the Christian response to violence and evil is to grin and bear it they are wrong !

Instead, it's about resistance - but resistance in ways which refuse to let go of the fact of our common humanity.

"If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also"

It is likely that Jesus is addressing a very specific situation here. He's not talking about a fist-fight or fighting in general but a very specific scenario - one of a perceived superior admonishing one whom they consider an inferior. So in Jesus' time its about the way a Roman might deal with a Jew, a husband with their wife, a parent with their child, a master with their slave.

The only way that a right-handed person can strike another person on the right cheek is by using the back of their hand. And a backhanded slap was the normal way of asserting rank, power and status over another person. It is about rank, privilege and power.

So, what do I do ? How do I respond ? To hit back (using any hand) would be suicide and I would certainly end up the worse off. How then can I maintain my humanity in the face of the person who would dehumanise me in this way ? How do I resist ? I simply turn the other cheek and my opponent is thrown.

They can't hit my left cheek with the back of their right hand without considerable difficulty. But they can't use their left hand - as that was taboo (even against inferiors). If they use the palm of their right hand or just punch me then they have acknowledged that I am an equal. Even if they have me flogged or just walk away, the point is made - I am no longer an inferior and they have lost face.

So here we have an act of defiance, a refusal to let the other define me as an inferior, an act of resistance which reduces the other to impotence without my even lifting a finger against
them.

"If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well" ?

The ordinary people of Jesus' time were massively in debt to the rich and powerful. Like the bankers of today the rich and powerful of Jesus' time made sure that indebtedness was the major social problem of their society. Think of the number of times debtors appear in Jesus' parables and stories - that's because there were a lot of them around in his world and many of his hearers would have been in debt.

The poorest of the poor in Jesus' time had only their outer garment (or in our terms, their coat) to give as collateral for a loan. Despite the fact that the Jewish law required that the coat be returned at sunset as it was all the poor had to sleep in, in this scenario they have been taken to court by their creditor in order to strip them of their coat in pament for the debt.

Again, our translations do not make it easy to understand what is going on here, but what Jesus is suggesting here is that the debtor also give their inner garment.

What you end up with is a debtor in court stripping naked to give even their last item of clothing (or as we might say "even the shirt off my back") to their creditor.

Why would they do this ? In Jewish society nakedness was taboo - and the shame fell not on the naked person themselves but on those who saw them naked. So again the oppressor is wrong-footed, and the injustice of the system and the inhumanity of the creditor, is quite literally unamasked as you leave the courtroom naked ...

And finally, the second mile - "If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile"

A Roman soldier could require a civilian to carry his pack for just one mile - there were severe penalties for forcing them to go further. Helpfully there were milestones along the Roman roads which made this much easier to enforce. Nevertheless even to walk a mile (and then back to your home or land) was a considerable inconvenience if it meant that you lost valuable working and earning time.

Again, we have what appears to be a straightforward relationship of superior and inferior suddenly thrown into confusion when you offer to go the second mile. Much as it might be nice for the soldier to have his pack carried for another mile, he knows that to do so would put him in the wrong and quite likely get him into serious trouble.

So what does the soldier do ? Your unexpected response has yet again put you in charge of the situation. Perhaps he ends up asking, or even pleading with you to give him back this heavy pack that you are quite happily carrying for him ?

Again, by your creative response to an injustice, you have seized the initiative. You are in control of the situation.

These examples may seem very remote from our situation here in C21 Europe. And that's why this is clearly not a passage that demands to be taken literally. Turning the other cheek, giving our cloak, going the extra mile are not directly relevant to us.

But the principle behind them is.

Confronted with those who use violence against us, who treat us unjustly, Jesus calls us to creative responses, responses which preserve both our own humanity and that of our opponent. Responses which put us in control of the situation.

Like so many of Jesus' stories and parables, these three examples give us glimpses of a different way of living, a different way of confronting violence and injustice, a different way of dealing with those who are enemies toward us.

But what this means in practise for you and me is not set down in the Bible. It's for us to work out for ourselves.

I remember reading the story of a young woman (I don't think in a religious context) who woke up to find an intruder in her flat and who, in fear and trembling, decided to treat him as another human being and ended up offering him tea and biscuits and engaged in conversation with him long into the night before he quietly left.

This would seem to be very much in the spirit of what Jesus is commending here. I'm not sure I could do it, but I like the idea that if we begin to allow ourselves to be formed in small ways by this teaching of Jesus then if and when it ever comes to one of the bigger things we might - just - surprise ourselves by doing the unexpected and the creative.