Most of us have heard about Jesus’ command to “turn the other cheek” (Matt 5:39). This adage has been mistakenly interpreted as Jesus’ support for becoming a doormat underneath the feet of aggressors. We often think the message is to let people beat us up. It verges on religiously motivated masochism.
To take Jesus’ advice as a call to compliant capitulation is a dangerous mistake. It is an interpretation that fails to see his cultural context. It would be like taking Paul’s command for women not to braid their hair as universal condemnation of woven locks (1 Timothy 2:9). Or, you might literally heave a tin can of fiery coals at your enemy’s face because Paul said loving your enemies led to heaping burning coals on their head (Romans 12:20). Such shortsighted interpretation moved me to investigate the cultural meaning behind Jesus’ most mysterious actions in my latest book Reenacting the Way (of Jesus). Here’s what I discovered about the real meaning behind Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek toward an aggressor (props to Walter Wink et al for this insight).
To take Jesus’ advice as a call to compliant capitulation is a dangerous mistake. It is an interpretation that fails to see his cultural context. It would be like taking Paul’s command for women not to braid their hair as universal condemnation of woven locks (1 Timothy 2:9). Or, you might literally heave a tin can of fiery coals at your enemy’s face because Paul said loving your enemies led to heaping burning coals on their head (Romans 12:20). Such shortsighted interpretation moved me to investigate the cultural meaning behind Jesus’ most mysterious actions in my latest book Reenacting the Way (of Jesus). Here’s what I discovered about the real meaning behind Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek toward an aggressor (props to Walter Wink et al for this insight).
RSS Feed
