The silence of the second cheek slap
By: Navin (April 1st, 2009)
Reading one of the newspaper articles which was titled ‘The sound of one cheek slapping’ which dealt with the concept of doing good for every evil act emphasized the need for such behavior in our society today. It started by saying that there are two versions of dealing with a wrongful act in the Bible, one in the Old Testament (Era before Christ) and the New Testament (Christ and beyond). It said that ‘the Bible explicitly endorses the ancient Babylonic code of Hammurabi when it sanctions the vengeance based ‘an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth’ prescription as a form of social justice’ in the Old Testament.
The author was however quick to point out how Jesus Christ turns such a commandment on its head when in his famous sermon, ‘the sermon on the mount’, he says ‘you have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.’ The author almost regretfully says that Mahatma Gandhi sided with the Christian savior on this issue and that there is some support coming from unexpected quarters when he talks about an economic research.
This economic research says that people who apply a tit-for-tat attitude in life are more likely to unemployed, have a smaller circle of friends and be less happy, whereas those in the habit of repaying good turns from others were likely to earn higher salaries, have more friends and enjoy life more. And the author concludes by quoting Socrates who said that one who is injured ought not to return the injury, for on no account can it be right to do an injustice or to do evil to any man , however much we have suffered from him. The author says that after two and half millennia after Socrates, he has been proved right that too by a modern scientific study.
Not disagreeing with what the author has tried to point out here that it is good that begets good there is one more truth that I would like to bring to light which might not shake the principle but the applicability of such a view in real life. To begin with, the Bible endorses the fact that no matter how good, loving, merciful and forgiving that a person may be but the need for justice to be meted out is non negotiable. In fact every human heart cries out for justice and where there is none to minister it, the victim will start to take it upon himself to do justice, which we call as vengeance.
Probably that is why we cry out in pain to God for justice. And that is exactly why God in his very nature of being both loving and at the same time just, needed to set a rulebook in place where every act of violence and hurt against any person needed to be punished because he did not want his people to take it in their own hands, else mankind would have destroyed itself taking revenge for every wrong act. And that is why we see that God appointed judges and rulers over his people and asked them to judge as with HIM there was no place for injustice or partiality.
Now in these times, that law has matured in to a complex legal system, giving out justice to the people through its set up of courts, judges, advocates and various laws catering to every need for social justice. People are now expected to be civilized and help the government in meting out justice by not taking the law in their hands but by helping the authorities in following the law of the land. That is how the society is kept under control as they feel their interests are taken care of by the legal establishment. So whether it is a noisy neighbor, trespassers on your property (physical or intellectual), abusive husband or even an over imposing parent need to be afraid, as the law book has given in the hands of man a power to respond to every act that he feels is hurting his/her interest. Also, on the other hand we can see that most nations where the legal process has become cumbersome and complex and ineffective to give justice at the right time, you see citizens taking the law in their own hands, vengeance or payback are still on their minds.
So, I can say that justice can never be taken out of the picture as it is the basic need of every human heart. So then how do we implement this principle of showing the other cheek when somebody has hit us on one cheek? Does it mean that somebody can hit an innocent and get away with it? And if not then why Jesus Christ did come and turn ‘social justice on its head’?
Let me start with something really basic. When we abuse somebody’s right then it is termed as a wrongful act in the eye of the law. Similarly when man hurts somebody, before the victim, the aggressor has first abused God’s sole right to exercise justice. God being the creator and initiator of all things that we see, anything that gets exploited in this framework is first an act of violence against God. And that is why the Bible says that disobedience to God and his commandment is a sin and it is punishable with death. Any wrong act against God deserves the same punishment as the damage caused is irreparable, because the aggressor has questioned the very authority of God and his laws. Just like the governing body of any land has set a punishment according to the severity of the act, God has defined disobedience and rebelling against his law, as punishable with death and death alone.
You might now like to ask then who will be saved from this punishment. You are absolutely right, nobody. And that is why, he also being merciful in nature, took the form of man, Jesus Christ, and paid the ultimate price by dying on the cross for every small sin that we committed or we will commit. Thus HE was both merciful and just. Now having done that, he told mankind, that since I have myself pardoned you by paying such a heavy price, shouldn’t you show the same forgiving nature to others who abuse or harm you? And that is why he says that since our death was averted by his great sacrifice, now there is no crime under the sun, for which you should be punishing somebody, as nobody can abuse you as much as we have abused God by questioning his authority and laws.
Secondly, when we implement this rule we must know that God acted mercifully, when he had every right to punish man and his sovereignty was unquestionable being the ultimate in authority and power. There was nobody who could have stopped him and he was fully justified in doing so. Exercise of this principle is complete when the balance of power was tilted towards you and still you exercised the choice of being forgiving towards your fellow being. Therefore I see no other person who on earth has any other choice but to show his other cheek when he responding to a wrong act against him, because his moral high ground is never higher than God’s.
The exercise of this principle can be done fully only when we understand how Jesus Christ paid for your sins for which you should have died. Secondly, he did it silently, paying the price on your behalf. Nothing asked in return, unconditional love.
I guess there can never be a wrong act for which a price is not paid. Somebody has taken the cost upon himself. The ultimate expression of this act was shown on the cross, making it a mandate and a law binding upon us to follow the set example. And that is why I would like to change the title of that article from ‘the sound of one cheek slapping’ to ‘the silence of the second cheek slap’. Jesus was wronged against but he also pays for it by dying on the cross, taking the justice upon himself.
The love shown on the cross by Jesus 2000 years back on the cross of Calvary was so awesome, that even today a multitude of man’s wrongful act gets forgiven on earth and paid for in heaven. Countless sins getting submerged in the all encompassing love of God. For those who have not understood this fact, the question of justice remains unresolved and that is why we still have a rule of the land. Probably that is why Jesus Christ completed this statement by saying ‘And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles’.
And that is why Jesus Christ is a step ahead of the Socrates of the world because HE not only took the slap on the cheek but he paid for it too, silently!
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Wonderful ! How b’ful our world will be if everyone understands this and learns to live by this…it is surely difficult and it is painful but I’m sure it sets us free from the clutches of agony, anger and pain !