The Mark – 14, Cheek Turning

The commands of Jesus are the Mark, the target for the perfect life. To aim for and to hit the Mark is to conform to the image and likeness of God. To ignore, neglect, or miss the Mark is to sin. The commands provide stepping stones through earthly life, upon which the child of God survives tempests and deflects the boomeranging darts of pride. Adhering to the Mark aspiring immortals gain victory.

But I say to you, Do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.

Matthew 5:39, Luke 6:29a

 

When I was a child I did not understand what grown-ups meant when they said to turn the other cheek. Then one day I read a Bible that said, “…and let him strike the other also.” OUCH!

Smart God tells us not to resist, but rather to let the person complete the zing by doing it on both cheeks, all that you have. Don’t put up your guard and don’t strike back! Be strong enough to break the circle dance of anger. Let it play itself out in the other person. Take the punches like a god. See Christ be whipped before the crucifixion. Be willing to be whipped too. In this way you are being Christ-like which makes you at-one with the Mark! Congratulations you made it!

People hurt others in psychological as well as physical ways. Sometimes they slap intentionally, sometimes just because they are slappers and they don’t mean to inflict pain, and sometimes because they perceive that they are slapping you back. Evil is like a gas, it pervades the atmosphere and then dissipates; it goes away. You can’t fight a vapor, you wait it out.