Jesus said if you are struck on the right cheek, turn the other also. His admonition carried a lot of cultural nuance that has been lost to us unless you look into it.
Striking someone backhanded was considered an insult to someone you think of as a social lesser, while striking someone open-handed was an invitation to a social equal to engage in a fistfight. The left hand was considered unclean, and to backhand someone with your left hand would shame you more than it would them.
When you put this together, you get a modern translation more along the lines of, "If someone violently disrespects you in a legal way, do not retaliate with violence of your own. Exhibit loving but stern defiance by forcing them to acknowledge you as an equal."
edit: The entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) deserves its own lecture that I'm unqualified to give. It's a very important instructional on bending to unjust authority without kneeling to it.
Not all of us can afford the time or money to travel 3,000 miles across the country.
Jesus said sell your cloak and buy a sword
Jesus said if you are struck on the right cheek, turn the other also. His admonition carried a lot of cultural nuance that has been lost to us unless you look into it.
Striking someone backhanded was considered an insult to someone you think of as a social lesser, while striking someone open-handed was an invitation to a social equal to engage in a fistfight. The left hand was considered unclean, and to backhand someone with your left hand would shame you more than it would them.
When you put this together, you get a modern translation more along the lines of, "If someone violently disrespects you in a legal way, do not retaliate with violence of your own. Exhibit loving but stern defiance by forcing them to acknowledge you as an equal."
edit: The entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) deserves its own lecture that I'm unqualified to give. It's a very important instructional on bending to unjust authority without kneeling to it.