07/14/2023
I am thinking about what it means to turn the other cheek this morning. Is it a sign of cowardice, bravery, or something else entirely? I think that perhaps it might be the latter. Although it could be construed as a sign of weakness, or that it takes courage to stand firm and not retreat, it also demonstrates great faith to resist being provoked, or enticed to sin.
“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Matthew 5:39 KJV
I had a childhood friend who could neither hear nor speak, but made odd utterances. He was a rather big guy, but as meek and as humble as any person I have ever met. We were very good friends, but didn't see each other very often because he went to a special boarding school in England for the deaf and hearing impaired. But, when he did come home we were inseparable. His name was Gino Palm and he was innocent.
Being innocent is a hard thing when you live on a military base... especially as a boy in the 1960s. Although most kids were good, you faced way more than your fair share of bullies. This world was foreign to Gino... you see, he was much like many sermons preach when they attempt to reveal to us what Jesus must have been like... meek and totally lost when faced by cruelty and sin… He was a loving and perfect friend. (We will talk more about this later)
One morning we were to meet on the playground of the housing development we lived in, but as I approached it I could hear his distinctive voice crying out in pain and fear. I started running towards it, and there, by the sandbox, were two boys with bullwhips, and they were whipping Gino. He wasn't running, but doing his best to fend off the blows. He really didn't know what to do. I, on the other hand, knew exactly what I needed to do, and that I needed to do it fast... and without hesitation.
I fought both of those boys that day, and sent them tearfully packing. I didn't like to fight and I hated how it made me feel, but my friend would not, could not, defend himself, and I felt compelled to do so.
With the bullies defeated and driven off, I put my arm around Gino's shoulders and walked him home. I explained what had happened to his mother, and then went home myself. When I saw my mother at the door, I started crying... she thought I had been hurt, but between sobs I told her "fight". She then thought I had been beaten up, but I told her "No." You see, I was crying because of how fighting those boys made me feel. It raised something up in me that could very easily have hurt them badly, but it also brought out in me the creature that all Christians fight so desperately to resist… my humanity.
Maybe I should have just grabbed Gino and run, perhaps I should have called out for help, or maybe I should have taken the whipping myself, but I chose to let loose something terrible on those boys... my anger and my vengeance. It overpowered me, and although they were bloodied, it could have very well hurt those boys beyond a cut lip and bloody nose. I know that it hurt me... but in a place only I could see.
Turning the other cheek is not cowardice, and it is not courage, it is great faith and restraint, and an act of resisting the nearly overpowering urge to meet sin with sin. It is not allowing the sin of another to bring out the creature in you, and giving it free rein. In all of the New Testament there is only one example of Jesus exhibiting anger, and that was in casting the money changers out of the Temple. There is no other time when He was provoked, and in this instance He was defending faith itself, but even so there is no mention of Him striking them.
“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.””
Matthew 21: 12-13 ESV
I said earlier that many preach how Jesus was meek and totally lost when faced by cruelty and sin, but He wasn't... He was courageous, brave, and would not be brought to the place where He met sin with sin, or an eye for an eye. He was just as human as you or I, so the creature that is inside us was also inside Him. The difference was in His faith, love, and the restraint that those attributes gave Him. What we saw in the Temple showed us that He was capable of lashing out at those who opposed Him, and with great power and strength he could have done them great harm... yet He didn't.
I pray that the Lord forgives me for how I felt that day on the playground... and at a few other times in my life when I acted like that. I ask forgiveness for pushing aside my faith and losing my grip on the chains that bind the creature within me. I beg that He sets aside those moments in my life when my other cheek wasn't turned, and when my anger, hatred, and nature to sin, was allowed to control my reaction to situations. Not all were childhood fights, but all made me feel just as dirty, and just as lost to sin.
“Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12: 19-21
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the faith that binds the sinful creature within me, and I thank you for being able to turn vengeance over to you. Your exercise of it is just, and without the unbridled hatred, or desire to carry it to the point of sinning and beyond. The great sins of man, as detailed in your commandments, all begin by not turning the other cheek. Father, I thank you for the lesson of your Son Jesus and in the constant renewing of our faith. Strengthen us in our dedication to you, and when situations confront us let us always hold tight, and pull back hard on the reins of our passions. Holy Father, reveal to every soul the truth that turning the other cheek represents... let each see the power and bravery represented in what appears to be weakness. Teach each of us that turning our cheek to sin takes strength beyond measure... a measure of faith that only you can perfect in us. Let us hear the words Jesus spoke at the end of this lesson, and allow us to carry it forward into our lives...
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48 KJV
Rich Forbes