As I Walk……….
A Laypersons Journey to Understanding
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This phase up sounds fair. As a concept it certainly sounds satisfying on a human level. It fits right in with sentiments such as survival of the fittest, to the victor go the spoils and the ends justifies the means. I WILL BE SATISFIED.
How shocking is it to hear Jesus proclaim, in the Sermon on the Mount, When someone slaps your right cheek turn and let that person slap your other cheek.1,2
Although the visual picture created by these words would seem to only represent physical contact between one person and another, I think we now appreciate that, in contemporary society, words can have the same effect as a physical blow.
One of the important images, from my childhood, was an old illustration3 of The Saturday Evening Post cover of Norman Rockwell’s “Chain of Gossip”, that demonstrated the dangers of the too human compulsion to talk about the activities of one’s neighbours, the enjoyment of such and the predictable consequences.
That words can hurt is also demonstrated in the more modern versions of the Rockwell painting- Facebook, Twitter and all the instant type communications that we use today and that some misguided individuals use for cyberbullying. We are not only “slapped” by people we know, but even by complete strangers. What an odd time we live in!
Turn the other cheek. It is as hard to do today as it was when these words were uttered. When we are pushed, it is human nature to push back and when someone wrongs us intentionally, or not, the hurt leaves a wound that left untreated and unresolved, can lead to serious consequences to our physical, emotional and spiritual health.
This entreaty is not an isolated statement to his followers. It is a constant theme of Jesus’s ministry and the importance of harmonious relationships and reconciliation is repeated time and again.
Whether it is Love your neighbor as yourself 4 or the instruction to Peter to forgive wrongdoers: “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.5
If we cannot forgive one another, how are we to expect God to forgive us?
Many of us are reminded of the importance of this each Sunday, in our worship service, when we recite The Lords Prayer.
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. 6
Un Recipiente Vacío
1 Matthew 5:39b, Contemporary English Version
2 The admonition to “turn the other cheek”, has many interpretations (of course!). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_the_other_cheek
4 Mark 12:31 (NIV)
5 Matthew 18:22 (NIV)
6 The Book of Alternative Services of The Anglican Church of Canada 1985, p.54
Further Reading:
I find that http://www.biblegateway.com/ offers a great resource as an online bible. One can quickly compare passages among different versions.
Commentary can be found at: http://www.biblestudytools.com/
