When my youngest child was three, he went to a Montessori preschool three mornings a week in our parish. When he was four, I needed to work part-time, so he also went to another preschool three afternoons a week. About a month into the school year, his Montessori teacher called to tell us that Chris and another little boy had come to blows a couple of times. She wondered if we could help her solve the problem.
When my husband and I talked to him, Alan asked the question, “How come it is that you don’t get in trouble in your new school for fighting, but you get in trouble in your old school?” Very innocently, Chris said, “But, Daddy, you’re not ‘posed to fight in my new school!” We explained that he was “not ’posed to fight” in his old school either, and the problem was solved.
Today’s Gospel
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us we are “not ‘posed to fight” in the Kingdom of God. He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”
The Struggle
These are hard words. Of all that Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount—maybe of all that Jesus says—I find this the most difficult to live. Not that I come to blows like a four-year old, but, in my head, in the night, I argue and fight when I feel wronged by someone. Do I wake up in the morning and go tell them off? Sometimes. Carefully worded emails are handy for that.
Do I counter evil with goodness to someone who has wronged or hurt me? Sometimes. But not without real struggle and a confession or two.
I have trouble, so I have prayed on this for the past week. “Lord, it is good for me to have to write about this, because You know how hard it is for me. You know I do not live this Gospel in my heart. My heart can be filled with a desire to at least verbally outdo those who hurt me. The seeds of revenge live within me. They pop up like weeds in a June garden. Help me, Lord.”
I went to my usual study Bibles for guidance. I looked in three. All three skipped over these verses or simply commented on the ancient laws of revenge.
How interesting!
Then I went to The Jerome Biblical Commentary. I quote most of what it says on these verses, because they make the meanings clear to me:
From The Jerome Biblical Commentary (Matthew 5: 38-42)
38. an eye for an eye: The law of retaliation is quoted loosely from Ex 21:24; Lv 24-20; Dt 19:21. The law of revenge was an ancient custom of the Near East that protected individuals by obliging the next of kin to avenge injury or murder or to purchase property to pay the debts of a kinsman. The laws of the Pentateuch are actually restrictions that limit the injury inflicted by the avenger to injury proportionate to the damage done by the aggressor.
39. Do not resist the evil one: The customary principle of self-defense is rejected by this saying of Jesus; and the customary principle is not replaced by another principle of self-defense. The saying is probably the most paradoxical of all the sayings of the passage and has certainly been the object of more rationalization than any other. The statement is simply not to resist “evil” or “the evil one”; in the context it seems that the person rather than the neuter is meant, and we almost think of “the evil” as the aggressor.
If anyone strikes you: Several concrete examples are given that take the saying out of the mere abstract and general. The first area is the area of physical violence, which is not to be met with physical violence; it is to be suffered.
40. The second area is that of legal contention; the disciples are told not to meet legal action with legal action, but to yield what is contested and even beyond what is contested. The garments mentioned are the tunic, a long shirt worn next to the body, and the cloak, a heavier outer garment that protected against cold and rain. These were normally the only two garments worn by the Palestinian peasant. In Ex 22:25-26 the creditor who takes the cloak in pledge is directed to return it at sundown so that the debtor may have covering for the night.
41. The third area is that of forced labor or service, a part of the contribution of the subjects of ancient states to the government.
42. The fourth area is that of requests for gifts or loans, which are not to be refused.
It is difficult to see how the principle of non-resistance and yielding could be more clearly stated. The rationalizations of the words of Jesus do not show that his words are impractical or exaggerated, but simply that the Christian world has never been ready and is not ready now to live according to this ethic. The passage is echoed in Rom 12:17-21; see also I Cor 13: 5-7. (From The Jerome Biblical Commentary, Matthew, paragraph 40, published in 1968)
Stepping Out of Line
The Commentary concludes, “the Christian world has never been ready and is not ready now to live according to this ethic.” True?
Not entirely. St. Benedict, in his Rule, required it of Benedictines. Perhaps that is why monasteries preserved civilization and civility in the Dark Ages. The expectation is still part of Benedict’s Rule today.
Pope Francis frequently admonishes us to forgive and resist revenge. He seems to practice what he preaches.
When the Covid-19 crisis began, I saw a few second video post on Twitter of a line of domino soldiers. One soldier stepped out of line. By stepping out of line, he kept the dominoes beyond him from falling. The purpose of the video was to make clear the values of quarantine, masks, and social distancing to stop the spread of the virus.
I recall that video clip today. How much evil is stopped when one person steps out of the revenge line? There are ways to do it: forgiveness, emotional and spiritual healing prayer, following Rules that require civility and responding with respect and without diminishment at all times. We can do what Jesus tells us to do in this Gospel.
In response to a reader comment last Monday, in a comment I quoted Bishop Fulton Sheen who noted that when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he signed his own death warrant. The choice to say “step out of the vengeance line” was a choice that had to be practiced, once preached. The vengeance of evil took Jesus’ human life; it did not take Jesus’ Divine Life. But then He arose from the dead. He overcame evil with good.
What happens if we step out of the vengeance line? What happens if I do? Does Jesus have something better for us?
Prayer
“Lord, what you ask today is very, very hard. I cannot do it all the way. But you would not ask it if it weren’t possible and BETTER to do. I believe that your Holy Spirit in me can help me. Lead me, guide me, Lord.”
