My Other Cheek

Have you ever been slapped? Have you ever felt the burn of someone’s hand across your face? This is not something you easily forget. I can remember several different times when I have invoked the wrath of another human (usually girl) to use the power of an open handed slap. I can distinctly remember how it burned. And in most cases, I did not repeat the offense.

If you have not experienced a physical slap, I am sure you have felt the burn of an emotional slap. This is the kind of slap that seems to come out of nowhere and smacks you in the face with overwhelming force. This is the kind of slap you get when a boyfriend decides to start dating someone else without telling you. Or your best friend becomes better friends with your sibling.
Our normal gut response to a slap is retaliation. In one form or another, we want to get the person back. Isn’t that our right? Especially with a blind-sided emotional slap?
Jesus has some weird advice that seems to go against normal human urges. In Matthew 5:39 Jesus says “do not resist an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.”

So Jesus wants me to give the person another opportunity to hit me? Does that seem right? Why would Jesus give us such weird advice?

I do not believe that Jesus would want us to “egg-on” the second hit, but it is clearly an offer of the other cheek. What does this accomplish?

If the normal gut response to a slap is retaliation; when you don’t retaliate, but offer the other cheek, you may disarm that person. A slap is intended to hurt, but if someone is prepared for it, it doesn’t hurt as much. Not retaliating also shows that person you are not going to play the game of who can hurt who, but rather the game Christ called us to play where we love one another.

So, are you willing to turn the other cheek? Even when you know you will only get slapped again? Get ready, because you know the slap will come. And when it does, show them your other cheek.