Radical Love

This verse from the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most misunderstood in the Bible, “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also” (Luke 6:29). In this passage Jesus is not calling us to give up our right to personal defense or to own private property. He is, however, demanding of his followers to learn to overlook insults, slights and offenses. He is asking of us that we learn to maintain forgiving attitudes that won’t allow us to become vengeful and spiteful. The slap in the face refers most likely to a public insult and where his followers have given up the idea of protecting their own dignity and refuse to retaliate the way the world does.

When Jesus asks us to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” he is asking us to do something that is not natural for us. (Luke 6:27). When he says “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28), he is demanding of us unnatural words. He even asks that our prayers be unnatural, "pray for those who mistreat you" (Luke 6:28). When Jesus gave us the Golden Rule, he gave us a guide that is completely foreign to our thinking, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31). When someone treats us badly, we want to treat them the same way, but that is not what Jesus taught in this sermon.

We are often obsessed with the notion that I am right and I must prove it to you so much so that it prevents me from resolving differences. The absurdity of this belief can be demonstrated with the following analogy. Imagine that a husband and wife come home, and when they enter their house, they smell smoke. One of them immediately accuses the other of having started the fire. The other responds by counter-accusing the other one of the same thing. All the while the fire is getting bigger and bigger and more out of control. The couple won’t give in and demand the other acknowledge they are in the right. All the while the house burns down. This happens whenever a couple argues and fights and often in front of their kids. The family is being destroyed because neither one will give up the idea of being right.

Imagine another scene where a dad asks his teenage son a question and the teenager responds in a disrespectful way. The dad very angrily responds and begins to lecture to the adolescent that he must show respect and cannot act that way. That is all true, but the problem is the teenager is like a locked door and the dad is kicking the door down with his forceful attitude. How much better it would be in that moment to overlook the slight and invite the teenager to sit down in private and calmly find out what is troubling him. Instead of kicking the door down, you try a different key. Once the anger has subsided on both sides, the attitude of the teenager can be addressed. When a parent or spouse get over the reaction of feeling rejected, the whole scene can be turned around.

What Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount is about using self-control in such way that we actually resemble our heavenly father with our patience and words. The truth is we need God’s help to do this, and the Holy Spirit will empower us to live this way. It is called a Spirit-led life.