Good morning, and welcome to Grace For Another Morning.
“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“Turn the other cheek” may be one of the most familiar commands Jesus ever gave—and one of the easiest to misunderstand.
Jesus was not praising cowardice. He was not saying that evil should be called good, that injustice should never be confronted, or that someone must remain indefinitely in a dangerous situation.
He was confronting something much closer to the heart:
retaliation.
Our natural response when someone wounds us is to wound them back.
If they embarrass us, we want to embarrass them.
If they insult us, we want the sharper reply.
If they treat us unfairly, something inside us begins keeping score.
We may even tell ourselves that we are simply defending what is right when what we really want is to make the other person hurt as much as we hurt.
Jesus interrupts that cycle.
“But I say unto you…”
Those words overturn the instinct that says, You did this to me, so now I have the right to do something to you.
Turning the other cheek means refusing to surrender control of our character to the person who wronged us.
Someone else may choose cruelty.
We do not have to answer with cruelty.
Someone else may speak with contempt.
We do not have to become contemptuous.
Someone else may strike at our dignity.
We do not have to retaliate in order to prove that we still possess it.
There is tremendous strength in being able to say, in effect, What you have done will not decide who I become.
That does not mean there are never consequences. Scripture does not require us to pretend wrongdoing never occurred. There may be times to confront, to establish boundaries, to seek justice, or to walk away.
But revenge belongs to a different spirit.
Jesus is teaching His followers that we do not have to return every blow.
Sometimes obedience looks like having the perfect answer—and choosing not to say it.
Sometimes it means refusing to spread the story that would humiliate someone who humiliated us.
Sometimes it means walking away from an argument we could probably win.
Sometimes it means placing the injury into God’s hands instead of carrying it around until we find an opportunity to repay it.
The world calls retaliation strength.
Jesus shows us another kind.
The strength to absorb an offense without allowing the offense to reproduce itself through us.
Grace for Today
You do not have to answer every insult, correct every slight, or repay every wrong.
When someone wounds you today, ask God for the strength to respond as a follower of Christ rather than simply reacting from hurt.
Turning the other cheek does not make the wrong acceptable.
It means the wrong does not get to control your response.
A Prayer for Today
Father, when I am hurt, my first instinct is often to defend myself, strike back, or make certain the other person knows what they have done.
Teach me the strength Jesus described.
Give me wisdom to know when something should be confronted and grace to know when I should simply refuse retaliation.
Guard my words when I am angry.
Guard my heart when I have been wounded.
And do not allow another person’s actions to determine the kind of person I become.
Help me follow Christ even when doing so means laying down my right to get even.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Someone else’s cruelty does not require your participation.
You may not control the blow that comes toward you, but through Christ, you can choose what comes back.
Today, refuse to let retaliation have the final word.