Friday, March 04, 2011

Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5:39

In today’s scripture passage, the Lord is calling upon His disciples to fight hatred with love, not with violence.

In Jesus’ day, the Roman authorities enacted an unjust policy which obligated the Jews, at will, to carry a Roman soldier’s burden for a mile. Jesus said: “Go for two miles.” The way to deal with injustices of this sort, He is saying, is not through violence but through love and reconciliation because if you fight fire with fire, you will get a scorched earth. Thus the Lord says, “when someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other one as well.” Jesus is not condoning injustice; He is showing us that there is a better way than violence to deal with it, and that way is love.

Jesus is the perfect example of this new teaching. He wants us to rise above the old law of vengeance which says: “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” When He was sneered at, slapped on the face, manhandled, tortured and led away to be crucified like an innocent lamb, He did so out of love for us so that we might be saved from sin.

In chapter eighteen of St. Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 18:15-17), Jesus outlines the procedure to be followed by His followers to avoid vindictive disputes and differences among them. He urges them not to find fault with one another the way pagans do, but to settle the matter privately by pointing out the “fault,” and winning “you brother back.” If this doesn’t work, He says to bring in one or two witnesses; and if that doesn’t work to tell “the whole thing to the church.” Finally, if the guilty party will not listen to the church, the Lord says to treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector.”

During the civil rights movement in the 60’s, Rev. Martin Luther King adopted the non-violent approach of the gospel to reverse the awful unjust laws that plagued African-American citizens in the U.S. Non-violent protest triumphed over the forces of hatred and injustice; and it brought to an end centuries of oppressive laws in this country.

Jesus’ teaching on turning the other cheek continues to inspire countless souls to fight hatred with love, and not with violence.

Fr. Hugh Duffy