The Other Cheek

The other cheek

"You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

But I tell you not to resist an evil person.  But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, 

turn to the other to him also.

If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, 

let him have your cloak also.

 And whoever compels you to go one mile, 

go with him two.

 Give to him who asks you, 

and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."

                                                                 Matthew 5:38-42
All too often, I think people take this Scripture the wrong way. Some think we must turn the other cheek only to get hit again. To become door mats so to speak.  Nothing could be further from the truth.
What Jesus is saying here is let’s not make things worse. You don’t get mad at someone who strikes you. Forgive him. Don’t make matters worse by retaliating. This only causes an escalation in the problem. By turning the other cheek it may defuse the situation.
Likewise, if someone sue’s you be willing to settle out of court. It may be far better to do so than to go through a lengthy court case that has the potential to sling mud and breed animosity. Not to mention the cost.                     After all usually someone taking you to court only wants material things, which in the grand scheme of things means little.
Jesus wants us to be unconcerned about material things. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth” he tells us in Matthew 6:19
Jesus is and want’s us to be concerned about people. By going the extra mile, turning the other cheek, and resisting evil we may just show someone the way to heaven.
A friend of my father’s told the story of a young Salvation Army woman in England. She’d wandered into a pub in full uniform and passed the hat asking for change for the organization. The woman was a regular, weekly visitor to the pub. At first, she got catcalls and wolf whistles along with off colour comments , still she persisted, turning as it were the other cheek to the derogatory comments.
Eventually, she became common place to the locals and the comments stopped. The regulars anticipated her coming and were always prepared to drop a shilling or two into the hat.
One day a visitor was in the pub, a sailor, as she brought the hat to him he made a lude comment to her. She didn’t say a word, but silence fell over the pub and according to my father’s friend. That sailor knew what he’d done was way out of line. So much shame did he feel, that he left the pub.
A few hours later, she was on the corner of the street with a small Salvation Army band. The sailor came up to her and apologized for his inappropriate behaviour. She told him, there was no offence taken and that she forgave him. Something, he couldn’t understand.
The next day, Sunday, he showed up at the meeting she was conducting. He explained to her that he didn’t know why he was there, that he’d never been in a church meeting in his life. He just felt that he had to be there.
She knew why, God had used her to knock on the door of this sailor’s heart.
By turning the other cheek God was able to reach this man. That morning the service ended the man knelt before God and prayed the sinner’s prayer, accepting Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.