Turn the other cheek. That’s what our text says this morning.

One source I consulted commented: If a motorist cuts you off, just turn the other cheek. Nothing gets the message across like a good mooning. (www.jokebuddha.com/Cynics)

I don’t think this is what Jesus meant!

So what did Jesus mean when he said “turn the other cheek”?
            This does not mean being a doormat.
            It is not saying “hit me again because I deserve it.”
            It is not saying “hit me again because that is my only option in this powerless situation.”

No, turning the other cheek may be the most powerful transformative choice that we have.

Let’s first look at it in context, what it meant in first century Palestine. Most people were relatively powerless at the mercy of a small, wealthy minority and the crushing Roman Empire army. They were also trapped in societal, cultural cycles of vengeance and revenge. Jesus quotes from the Old Testament, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” This code of conduct was actually a way to reduce violence. Previously if a person injured another and took out their eye, the injured person would then retaliate by taking the person’s arm. Then the family of the first would kill the wounded man’s brother. And then the other family would strike back and wipe out an entire family unit and so on and so forth until clans of folks were involved in all out warfare.

An eye for an eye limited the amount of retribution one could seek. If you took my eye I can take yours, and that is it. You can't wipe out whole families, you can only seek to get “even.” 

Jesus takes a step in new direction.  He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. ..Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

No more getting even, but turning the other cheek. But did this mean just let them beat on you? 

No, it didn’t. Imagine you are a poor person, a nobody, facing a superior, a soldier or a wealthy powerful person who was demanding something unjust of you or treating you badly. The one in power reaches out and slaps you across the face. This was a grave insult in Jesus’ time and intended to shame a person.  You have to imagine this superior backhanding you across the face, a hit designed for a slave or a lowlife.

But if you turn your cheek, offer the other cheek, what are their options? To hit you again they would have to hit you open handed across the other cheek, a slap only given between equals. By turning the other cheek, you demand that they treat you like an equal or else leave you alone.  The situation changes instantly. One minute it is one assaulting and shaming, the next minute it is standing in the face of violence and turning it around. Powerful.

You see if the powerless person responded with violence they likely would be killed, or arrested. But to turn the other cheek is to stand powerfully, to refuse to take the bait, to take the upper hand, and to effect transformation.

Violence in return for violence, hate in return for hate, terrorism in return for terrorism will never effect transformation. They will never effect transformation. Maybe change or stalemate will come about but not transformation. And transformation through love and powerful non-violence is the message Jesus is sending to the crowds, the peasants and powerless who followed him.

This year we will mark ten years since the September 11th attacks. Ten years since this nation was slapped with an atrocious act of violence. We responded in turn, waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The terrorism continues today.

What would have happened if as a nation we had turned the other cheek? Not said that it didn’t matter, but refused to be drawn into a spiral of violence that even now we struggle to unravel. What if we instead stood proudly as a nation and said, you cannot truly hurt us with this act. You cannot kill our desire for freedom. You cannot make us destroy our nations' commitment to freedom, our commitment to multicultural, interfaith communities, our honoring of all peoples on these shores. Your act may have killed all these people but it did not undo who we are at heart.  Here. Here is our other cheek. We stand in your face and say you cannot get what you want by acts of terrorism.

But we didn’t. Instead we waged war, we passed the Patriot Act which eroded the very freedoms we prize, we created an illegal detention camp, and we advocated torture.  There is no way we can effect transformation with these tools. And so we haven't.
Jesus says to love your enemies. To love them. In "At the Root of Love" Martin Luther King, Jr. writes, "Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies.’ It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. That's why Jesus says, ‘Love your enemies.’ Because if you hate your enemies, you have no way to redeem and to transform your enemies. But if you love your enemies, you will discover that at the very root of love is the power of redemption."

Loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, is not easy, but it is the only real way forward. For hate only destroys, violence only destroys. Vengeance destroys. They live like poison within, killing not your enemy, but yourself.

We must love our enemies. But it is not easy.

Jesus says, “if you are forced to carry your enemies coat for one mile carry it for two.” To do so is not to submit and wilt under oppression but to call your oppressor to the table and force him or her to meet you face to face, person to person. Roman soldiers could only conscript people to carry their things one mile. If you then start to carry the coat a second mile you put the soldier in an untenable position. A soldier who let someone carry the coat more than a mile was violating the rules, the code of conduct. And the roman army took the rules very seriously. Suddenly the soldier's own life is on the line, for violating the rules meant death in many cases. Suddenly the oppressed and oppressor switch roles and what will happen next?

Therein lies the possibility of transformation.

Just look at the world right now. We are watching this scripture writ large across the Arab nations.

In Egypt demonstrators gathered in the streets demanding change. Threats and incidents  of torture and death ensued, yet the demonstrators came back, non violently, turning the other cheek.
‘We will not send any police to protect you,’ said the government. The demonstrators gathered in the streets, and turned the other cheek
‘There will be a military coup if you don't cooperate,’ threatened the leaders. The demonstrators turned the other cheek: we are here, we demand change.
Promises were made--a weak ineffectual change committee will be formed--no, said the crowds.

We all watched while these defiant, yet overwhelmingly non violent, peaceful, hopeful people came together and against an overwhelmingly armed and dangerous and oppressive government demanded change and refused to back down. They turned the other cheek despite all…

…and opened the door to transformation.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” said Jesus. Paul continues, “return no one evil for evil.”

Last month we remembered the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger and I heard this very moving story on NPR's StoryCorps a program that interviews regular folks about their lives and their memories. It featured Carl McNair, the brother of Ron McNair who was the second African American astronaut in space and one of the crew that died in that Challenger explosion.

Carl told this story: “When Ron was nine years old, without me knowing or my parents knowing his whereabouts, he decided to take a mile walk down to the library which was, of course, a public library, but not so public for black folks when you're talking about 1959.

“He walked in and everyone stared at him because there are white folk only in this library and they said to themselves, ‘who is this negro?’ Ron politely positioned himself in line to check out the books.

“So this old librarian says, ‘this library is not for coloreds.”

“Ron said, ‘well I would like to check out these books.” She said, “young man, if you don't leave this library right now I'm going to call the police.” So he just propped himself on the counter and said ‘I’ll wait.’

“The librarian called the police and they came down, two burly guys, and said ‘where's the disturbance?’ The librarian pointed to this nine year old boy propped on the counter. They said ‘ma’am what's the problem?’

“Meanwhile Ron’s mother had also been called and came rushing down praying the whole way ‘please don't let them put my child in jail.’ She arrived to this scene with the librarian and the police.

“Finally the police officer said, ‘why don't you just give the kid the books?’ and my mother said, ‘he would take good care of them.’  Reluctantly the librarian gave Ron the books and my mother said to him, ‘what do you say?’ and Ron replied, ‘thank you, ma’am.’

“Later on, as youngsters, a show came on called Star Trek. The show showed the future with black folk and white folk working together. I looked at it as science fiction because that wasn’t going to happen. But Ron saw it as science possibility. He said he would become an astronaut. I thought, how was a colored boy from South Carolina wearing glasses who never flew a plane going to be an astronaut? But Ron was a one who didn't accept societal norms as being his norms He got to be aboard his own starship enterprise.” (http://storycorps.org/listen/stories/carl-mcnair/)

I heard that story while driving in the car. And after it ended I hit the steering wheel and said out loud, “damn! Why did he have to die?

Because here was someone who even at nine years old understood the power of loving one's enemies, the power of turning the other cheek, the power and possibility of transformation even in rural South Carolina in the Jim Crow days.

Love your enemies, turn the other cheek, if you are taken to court and they want your coat, give them your tunic as well. Have you ever heard the phrase kill them with kindness? Well Jesus is building on that. Kill them with kindness, yes, but you need to really mean it. That way you will come to that place of transformation. Because when we choose this path, we, too, shall be changed. We can't not be. It is the path Jesus chose his whole life. His life was short, but it opened the door to transformation

Love your enemies. Yes, your enemies. Because it is the only way to freedom--yours and theirs.
Love your enemies, because God asks it of you and it is the only way to bring about healing and wholeness to a broken world.
Love your enemies because every time you stop and choose not to throw back insult for insult, every time you choose not to seek vengeance in the courts for damages done, every time we choose to stand strong in the face of oppression or discrimination and say here is my other cheek, we change the powers that be and open the door for change, real change, transformation

Mother Teresa wrote:
"People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People who really want help may attack you if you help them. Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt. Give the world your best anyway."

Love your enemies.

Turn the other cheek.

Return no one evil for evil.

But overcome evil with good. Amen.