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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.
It would have been easy to assume that Jesus was using hyperbole to convey a much more palatable point about the problems of violence. But because Jesus himself demonstrated exactly what he meant by this as he himself lived it he did not leave his followers any ambiguity. Jesus himself offered no resistance when he was arrested, beaten, and led to the cross. When Peter attempted to respond with worldly resistance Jesus told him to put his sword as well. Jesus allowed himself to be struck, his tunic to be taken, and himself to be pressed into the service of the cross all the way to Golgotha.
Yet Jesus did not always immediately give himself up to the violent will of his opponents. Until his hour arrived he continued to elude them and disappear from the midst of them even though they may have been ready to kill him then and there. And so we may ask what was special about Jesus hour that made it time to stop escaping and accept the violence heaped upon him. Two related factors may have been in play. The first was that it was an hour uniquely suited to expose the violence and sin that dominated in the world for what they were. The second was that it was an opportunity uniquely suited for Jesus to demonstrate his love.
Jesus did not lose his life by accident, and his offering no resistance did not mean that he was not still fully in control of what he was doing. He was making his life a gift, an offering, a sacrifice to set his people free, and it was in this way that he allowed the violence of the world to crash down upon him.
We are called to follow the example of Jesus and to give our lives in the way that makes the most of them as offerings for the sake of love. It is indeed the case that a quick martyr's death might be much easier than a prolonged life of humble, hidden, suffering love. But it isn't even about which is easier. It is more about to which we are called by God as the best way to make our lives demonstrations of his own love. The point of Jesus is that violence need not make us fear to follow him, or seem like it means that his plan his failed. For his plan can manifest all the more brightly in the midst of violence if that is his will.
Give to the one who asks of you,
and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.
Our giving is to be unlimited in one sense, just as our willingness to endure violence must be. But in another sense this too must be strategic, giving in the way that most completely contributes to the building of the Kingdom. Rather than causing our own ruin and accomplishing nothing by quick and reckless gifts we are called to give in ways that are actually more difficult because they involve sustained relationships, and active concern for the genuine good of others. It is to be more ourselves that we give rather than our finite resources, as Jesus first lived his life for the sake of those to whom he came.
We are treated as deceivers and yet are truthful;
as unrecognized and yet acknowledged;
as dying and behold we live;
as chastised and yet not put to death;
The world doesn't know what to make of those who live the Sermon on the Mount. Such individuals seem to be lacking so much of what the world considers essential for success and happiness. And yet precisely by giving themselves to these worldly privations they receive an abundance of spiritual blessings that the world is unable to recognize.
as poor yet enriching many;
as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
We can't really enter into the call of Jesus the sort of non-violent self-gift which he first demonstrated without the help of his grace. Only his "weapons of righteousness" can replace the weapons of worldly violence and make us victorious in this struggle. It is his Holy Spirit who himself equips us with these weapons: "purity, knowledge, patience, kindness," "unfeigned love", and "truthful speech". Against such gifts of the Holy Spirit there is no law. The only question is how best to use them. And this is a question the answer to which God himself delights to guide us.
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