“You have heard that it was said, ‘an eye for
an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not show opposition against
an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other one to
him as well.”
–Matthew 5:38-39
The ancient
‘eye for eye’ law was created to instill fairness and ensure that no punishment
or revenge would be greater than the offense. Jesus turned that law on its head
when He taught the people to not retaliate when someone wronged them.
Let’s look at how His way plays out for
us in the 21st century. (Note that this addresses how we treat people who have offended
us in some way. This is different from dangerous situations where we need to
protect ourselves, such as instances of attack or abuse.)
When a small child hits another, we
don’t say to the one who was hit, “OK, he hit you one time, so now you can go
ahead and hit him back, but you get just one hit.” That could escalate into
back-and-forth fighting. Instead, we may separate the children, tell the
offender that hitting is not OK, and direct him to say “I’m sorry.” Rather than
giving the injured party permission to hit back, we give the wrongdoer a
time-out. This allows time for calm to settle in.
If a driver cuts you off in traffic, racing
ahead so you can cut her off in return and flipping her off in the process might
make you feel powerful, but it doesn’t make the situation better. Doing so
might lead to all-out road rage. The best way to defuse this situation is to
let go of your own anger and just back off and continue driving. This may go
against what you want to do, but it’s
what Christ taught us to do. It’s how we ‘turn the other cheek.’ It also doesn’t
give the other driver the satisfaction of knowing she made you mad!
While ‘an eye for an eye’ might be fair,
Christ’s way is better than fair. It brings peace upon the people involved and stops
the incident from escalating into a more harmful situation.
Let’s follow His way: Instead of
trying to even the score with retaliation, let’s ‘turn the other cheek’ and
take steps to defuse the situations we find ourselves in.
“Lord, help
me keep a handle on my temper and not seek retaliation when I am wronged.”
Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2022 Gina
Bedell
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