One late evening, two drunk motorcyclists strutted into a bar in Atmore, Alabama. Noisily, they ordered more drinks and headed to the right side of the bar where a gentleman was sitting alone enjoying a glass of soft drink. One of them grabbed the salt container and emptied its content on the head of the gentleman and the other knocked his coke off the counter into the man’s lap and laughed out loud at their own stupidity. The gentleman got up, went straight to the cashier, paid his bill and proceeded to leave, as the drunk bastards laughed even louder. The waitress who knew the gentleman was shocked that he did not react. She however congratulated him on his win three days before against former boxing champion, George Foreman. The gentleman was Evander Holyfield.
It was not to prevent Holyfield from knocking every teeth out of the mouths of the two drunks as adequate payback for their insult that Jesus asks his followers today to turn the other cheek. Rather, it was to emphasize the necessity of self-restraint for all disciples of the kingdom who would have to endure living in a world that already surrendered to all forms of nastiness.
The discussion on the Sermon on the Mount begun three Sundays ago continues today with two commandments that focus on the pattern of justice and equity required of disciples of Jesus, different from the prevalent code. The two commandments stream from the old law of talion or lex talionis—“an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”—and the law about love of neighbor.
Lex talionis or the law of revenge regards proportionate recompense for any injury suffered. It was designed to limit retaliation to no more than the injury suffered. Hence, lex talionis prohibits Holyfield from knocking off all the teeth of the drunks, thus limiting his revenge. In fact, rather than think of it as cruel and barbaric law, the law of talion could be considered an old law of mercy. But Jesus disagrees that mercy should be based on our instincts, considering that anger and propriety are not good neighbors. Moreover, given that mercy is also a divine attribute, disciples of the kingdom should, in showing mercy, imitate God. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, says Doctor King, would leave everyone of us blind and toothless. Similarly, turning the other cheek will leave nearly everyone with no teeth in our jaw. Not even Jesus turned the other cheek when he was struck by the Temple guard. His response, “why did you strike me?” shows that he wasn’t literally recommending turning your cheek, but letting love guide your response, instead of irascible cold vengeance. We have to sometimes swallow our pride to let love overcome hate. To offer our outer cloak and go extra mile when pressed into service reveal astonishingly the need to mortify our senses for nobler goals. In society, we’re to leave the job of proportional restitution to the civil authority and judges charged with maintaining law and order and vindicating the rights of the injured.
The second commandment about loving our neighbor as ourselves echoes the command to bear no hatred for a brother or sister, as we heard in the first reading from Leviticus 19. Unfortunately, this command leaves out anyone not considered a neighbor, and opens up the possibility of tolerating any hatred at all. Jesus dissents from this old law and offers something new—arguing that it lowers the bar to that of pagans. It must have startled his listeners to hear him suggest that they should love and pray for their enemies. It’s like asking Republicans in congress to go on a prayer retreat for President Biden or Democrats to send goodwill messages to Justice Thomas. The fact that we cannot even conjecture such ideas shows how far we’re from the command of Jesus to imitate the perfection of our Father. It’s only the Father’s perfect and selfless love which can cure the darkness of hatred and distrust among us.
Fr. Chukwudi Jo Okonkwo