“If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

It is a mistake to imagine that the Christian response to injustice is passivity. To ‘turn the other cheek’ in the context of the first century is an act of overt resistance. Why? Because it indicates that the contempt implicit in the slap is rejected. In effect, it is an act of refusal to kowtow to contempt. Turning the other cheek is an invitation: Do your worst!

A closer reading of this whole section suggests a nonviolent form of resistance – in Jesus’ context to Roman rule or to exploitation. Each act – going the extra mile, for example, puts a Roman soldier who had the right to dragoon a person to carry his pack for a mile and only a mile, into a state of violation of the law – undermines those who use power and wealth to oppress.

At a time where people everywhere are oppressed by unjust and overbearing state power, let us consider how we can use the ‘system’ to undermine itself.