Matthew 5: 38-42

Matthew 5: 38-42

“You have learnt how it was said, eye for eye and tooth for tooth, but I say this to you, offer the wicked man no resistance”. Now Jesus is not suggesting to passively submit to injustice, but to avoid escalating cycles of revenge and retribution. Jesus is asking us in the examples that follow, offer the other cheek when someone strikes you, offering your cloak as well as your tunic and to go two miles instead of one the demanded, to respond in a creative way.

When we do as Jesus asks, we shame the aggressor and rob the antagonist of their power to humiliate us. For example, to stand naked by giving your cloak and tunic, we shame the creditor and expose the injustices of the financial system. The Roman soldier could conscript an individual into carrying his haversack but to offer to do two miles, he would risk punishment himself from his superior for excessive service. Again, what Jesus is saying is to shame them into change. By responding with disproportionate kindness, we can nudge the aggressor towards generosity and repentance. Revenge only keeps the cycle of anger and unforgiveness alive.

When we do not forgive, we insulate the heart and we block God’s blessings and graces upon us. When we are wounded, we need God’s graces, his divine medicine. When we refuse to forgive we allow satan to orchestrate our life, drinking his poison and expecting the other person(s) to be affected. We as the victim then pay a double price, hurt by the original offence and damaging our relationship with God, as our unforgiveness becomes a barrier, an unbreakable wall between the God who forgives us our trespasses and who demands that we also forgive those who trespass against us.

Saint Philip Neri

“If a man finds it very hard to forgive injuries, let him look at a crucifix, and think that Christ shed all His Blood for him, and not only forgave His enemies, but even prayed His Heavenly Father to forgive them also. Let him remember that when he says the Our Father, every day, instead of asking pardon for his sins, he is calling down vengeance on himself.”