PRAYER: Holy Father, your goodness and love are showered upon all and your ways are just. Lord, help me remember this teaching that no two wrongs will ever be right. Lord, I admit this is very hard for me to remember in times when I am hurt. Help me remember this when I am tempted to do wrong and reinforce my faith in you, giving me strength to follow you even when it is hard. Jesus, I love you. Amen.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW:
What Jesus is speaking about here is not letting someone beat you into a pile of broken bones. Rather He is talking about taking an insult. One backhanded slap is just that. It is an insult that challenges you to retaliate. It is an attempt to shame you and get you to either back down in utter humiliation or lash out and escalate the conflict.
To turn the other cheek is neither humiliating nor retaliation. It is rather a response of strength that says, “I will not seek revenge because I am stronger than that”. It also says, I will not respond in shame because I have dignity in Christ. My dignity is not found in if I can hit you back and hurt you. My dignity is found in Christ and I will respond in just the way He would respond.
PRACTICING THIS WORD:
In practice there are very few times in ones life when another person would give you an actual backhanded slap. There are times when they might give you a verbal one, or show great disrespect for you in some other way. It is those things that get people all worked up and excited. Think of how often you see people arguing and fighting because someone “disrespected” them.
What they are looking for is dignity. They want an acknowledgement that they are a person of substance and importance. If someone does not give them that respect then they feel somehow violated.
The means to get that respect and dignity is to exert power over the other person and show that you are stronger, better, more significant than they are. So instead of turning the other cheek, you strike back, preferably with even more force. If that is what you need to do to get respect and dignity then you will never have it.
Our dignity comes because we are made in the image of God. Our significance comes because we are called by Jesus to be world changers. Our power and strength comes because we are filled with the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability to receive the insults of others and respond with as Christ responded to those who hurled insults at Him.
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