Turning the Other Cheek(s) (Luke 6:29)

A GUEST CARD TALK BY JEFF KAETZEL*

What happens when someone punches you in the face? According to Jesus, you allow them to hit you again. At least, that is what it seems like.

What does it mean when Jesus says to “turn the other cheek?” Is it a sign of weakness? Defeat? Or is it exposing your enemy’s violence in a public way? The answer lies hundreds of years before Jesus’ time, with the establishment of Mosaic Law in Exodus.

Eye for and Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth

When the Mosaic law was established, it was done with the underlying assumption that retribution for violence is a human desire. Exodus 21 reveals this desire by listing the fair and equal punishments that come as a consequence of an infraction of the law.

For instance, verses 12-14 lays out what is to happen when someone is killed. The law establishes two types of outcomes: one for premeditated murder and one for accidental death.

“Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately,that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.”

When it comes to death, unless it was accidental, there is to be equal punishment for the crime.

Examples of how retributive justice was built into the framework of Israelite judicial code continues throughout the chapter, and is the basis for Jesus’ words in Luke 6. When Jesus says “you have heard it said…,” he is referring to Exodus 21:22-25:

“‘If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”

As we can see from this passage, there is legal recourse for anyone who has been hurt or injured. They are legally able to seek retribution, whether it be in the form of monetary compensation (for non-fatal injuries) or capital punishment. The idea of an “eye for an eye” and a “tooth for tooth” is rooted in the understanding that there are legal channels to seek retribution against anyone who has harmed you. This retributive justice set the legal standard for Israel by limiting their ability to seek more than what was taken from them.

In other words, Exodus 21 introduces the idea of seeking equal punishment for harm done to an individual, and no more. If someone caused damage to your eye, then you could legally seek equal punishment by causing damage to their eye. You could only seek equal punishment for what was taken or done to you. Regardless of your social status, the Israelite judicial code allowed you to seek retribution for any crime committed against you.

Mosaic law limited the scope of personal retribution. For example, if someone stole your cow, you’d want to go and steal their grain. Then they’d come back and kill all your livestock. Then you’d go and burn down their house. Then they’d come and kill your family. The cycle of violence would go on and on. God put a stop to this violent retaliatory “justice” by calling Israel to a higher standard.

When God instructed Israel to seek only equal justice, God was drawing the boundaries between retaliation and retribution. By telling Israel that they could only seek equal justice, God was limiting the role anger plays in retribution. By limiting the extent that Israel could retaliate, God was setting a new standard for Israelite justice.

The difference between retaliation and retribution is the end goal. In other words, retaliation seeks to respond to violent acts with more violence. This perpetuation of the violent cycle means that the end result is uninhibited violence. Retribution, on the other hand, seeks reconciliation between the two parties. Retribution allows for the injustice to be righted and the relationship (hopefully) restored. The danger in losing sight of the role of reconciliation in Israelite law is that the violence/injustice is never truly resolved, but met with either more violence (retaliation) or legalism (retribution). The legalistic approach to retribution is what caused Israel’s legal ethics to devolve into simple transactionary methods.

This “eye for an eye” transaction mentality was firmly established in Israel’s code of ethics. Generations of Jewish people viewed the law as transactionary, and completely cut out the role of reconciliation. When it came to oppression from Rome in the 1st century, the Israelite people knew (according to their law) they could retaliate and seek equal punishment for crimes committed against them. The justification for retaliation was embedded in the Mosaic law. This was how Israel responded to injustice for generations. Then Jesus challenged the preconceived notion of retribution in Luke 6.

The Reality of Following Jesus

Roman oppression of the Jews during the time of Jesus was a horrific example of the violence of the empire. Rome would crucify anyone who thought of, participated in, or supported rebellion against Cesar. Instead of an eye for an eye, Rome would take your life for simply speaking out against the empire.

For example, Adrian Goldworthy in his work The Complete Roman Army, writes, “the Romans deliberately caused as much destruction as possible, slaughtering and dismembering animals as well as people, to deter other communities from resisting Roman demands to surrender…” (197). Roman aggression and domination was met with calls for retributive justice, as outlined in Mosaic law. Zealots, a radical group of Jewish nationals, called for the violent overthrow of Roman oppression because they saw violent action as justified by Mosaic law. But Rome did not care for Mosaic law or its retributive justice.

One of the darkest examples of Roman cruelty came in 167 B.C., when Antiochus Epiphanies invaded Judea and ransacked the temple in Jerusalem. According to the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, there were a few that tried to resist Rome’s oppression. He called them “the noblest souls.” He writes, “But the best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not regard him... they were whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were crucified, while they were still alive, and breathed.” (Flavius Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 12: Chapter 5). For simply standing up to Rome’s invasion of Jerusalem, they were beaten, tortured and crucified.

Israel’s judicial code meant nothing to the brutality of the Roman military apparatus. The violence that Rome enacted upon Judea in 167 B.C. became the example of what happened to any Jewish person that dared defy Roman supremacy.

Israel needed a deliverer. They needed a savior that would overthrow Rome and re-establish Jerusalem as God’s holy city. According to Jewish prophecy, this deliverer was to come from the line of King David. In 2 Samuel 7, God promises David that “You will always have descendants, and I will make your kingdom last forever. Your dynasty will never end” (verse 16). This promise, coupled with the prophecies in Isaiah 11 and Jeremiah 23, led many Jewish people to believe that the “Son of David” would solve all of the problems Israel faced.

During the time of Jesus, that meant the Son of David would deliver Israel from the oppression of Rome. The Jews had long awaited the arrival of the Son of David to deliver them from the hands of Roman oppression. This long awaited King would come in and overthrow Rome and re-establish Israel’s sovereignty. When Jesus started doing miracles and healing people, word started to spread that this man from Nazareth might be the long awaited son of David.

Luke 6 describes a scene where the people gather to hear Jesus:

A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. (Luke 6:17-19)

The people saw the power that Jesus had. They began to think that this power could be used to overthrow Rome. But then Jesus started to teach things like “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (vv. 27-28). Jesus appeared to be speaking against retributive justice and in favor of total submission to Rome. This wasn’t the talk of a conquering king or a “Son of David,” but a defeated Rabbi.

At first glance, Jesus’ teachings in Luke 6 look like surrender to Roman oppression and abandonment of justice. But, digging a little deeper, we begin to see that what Jesus is teaching is radical resistance to Roman brutality.

Exposing the Violence

What makes this whole “turn the other cheek” thing so controversial? The short answer is that it requires the person to give up any claim to retribution or equal justice.

When Jesus says to turn to other cheek, he is not advocating for unchecked violence. In fact, what Jesus is calling for is that his followers work to expose the violence of their enemies by forcing them to be even more violent.

Imagine with me for a second. You find yourself in a fight with someone. They hit you really hard, knocking you to the ground. Everyone around you is expecting you to get up and fight back, but instead, you stand up, look into your enemies face and turn your other cheek. What this forces your enemy to do is show the crowd around them the lengths they are willing to go to continue the violence. If they decide to hit you again, it shows that they are the ones that are being unnecessarily violent.

Jesus is calling his followers to subvert the violence by forcing the Jewish enemy’s to expose their hatred. This radical call to a non-violent response is one that has continually challenged every generation of believers from the early Church until now.

It is a difficult call to follow because it calls us to surrender our thirst for vengeance and allow the oppressive forces among us to utilize violence for their own gain. During the US Civil Right movement of the 50s and 60s, this mentality was at the heart of Martin Luther King Jr’s call for non-violent protest. MLK used Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount to develop a Biblical understanding of why non-violence was the most effective way to expose the violence of the oppressors. In his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation.” MLK understood that in order to end the cycle of violent retaliation, it required a non-violent response.

Turning the other cheek, according to MLK, was not a sign of defeat or submission, but a challenge to the violent offender by forcing them to expose their own aggression.

Following in Jesus’ Footsteps

What does this mean for us as 21st century Christians? It means that we have a lot of difficult questions we have to ask ourselves.

Why? Because what Jesus is saying in Luke 6 calls into question a number of different things about American culture that we overlook. Self-defense, “stand your ground” laws, systemic racism, domestic violence, transphobia, homophobia, economic exploitation, imprisoning asylum seekers. Wherever we look, we can see violence used as a means to silence, exploit and intimidate others. It all comes into question when we seriously consider what Jesus is saying defines being his follower in Luke 6.

We are not called to defeat the violence by participating in it. We are called to subvert the violence by exposing it. This means finding those on the margins, and standing in solidarity with them. When we stand side-by-side with those who are being oppressed, we force the oppressor to use their violence against all of us. This means we must leave the comfort of our own bubbles and entangle ourselves in the lives of those who are oppressed.

Minority groups, battered women and children, the LGBTQIA+ community, the poor and disenfranchised, immigrant communities. These are the ones we are called to stand alongside and help expose the violence being enacted against them. Once more, as Martin Luther King Jr. stated in a sermon, “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Using violence to respond to violence only increases violence. MLK says the only way to drive out the darkness of hatred is with the light of love.

In Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, he records Jesus saying

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden...In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14, 16)

The very nature of following Jesus means that your life is going to look different than how the world lives. This includes how we respond to violence. If we seek vengeance and retaliation against our oppressors, we are no better than the world.

This call to a different way of living is illustrated in the larger context of Luke 6:29. Jesus instructs the crowd on how to interact with their enemies in a way that negates the need for human vengeance. He calls for a different way of responding. Verses 32-33 says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.” Jesus challenges his audience with the phrase “even sinners do that.” What this phrase implies is that the accepted way of interacting with their enemies doesn’t make them different from them at all.

If they only love those who love them, they are no different then the oppressors. Luke 6:27-36 is a challenging passage because Jesus calls out his audience for being no different then the ones who oppress them. Jesus speaks to a different way of life, one that uses non-violence as a means to bless their enemies. Because in praying for and blessing their enemies, it stops the cycle of violence in its tracks.

*Jeff Kaetzel

is the Pastor of Student Ministries at Community Covenant Church in Santa Barbara, CA. He was born and raised in Oakland, CA. He is a historian, a theologian, a pastor, a husband and a coffee enthusiast. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in History from the University of California, Berkeley as well as a Masters of Arts in History from San Francisco State University. He also holds a Masters of Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary and is pursuing ordination to Word and Sacrament in the Evangelical Covenant Church.