Turn the other cheek

I don't know how many times I have heard people use the quotation "turn the other cheek" in reference to dealing with the coarseness of humans. People are mean. Period. Matthew 5:38-42 says:

38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a]39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

But I question the translation of these verses. My Bible even titles the section Retaliation, giving a clear indication that the verses are warning followers of Christ to refrain from retaliation. But is it really saying we should just lie down and allow people to walk all over us? To invite additional punishment?

I pondered this for a few days when I started to think about the hundreds of references to love there are in God's word as well. How can these things go together? Love you neighbor so much that you'll allow him to steal your clothes? Slap you? Sue you?

As I sat in meditation one morning last week the answer came to me. For some reason God reminded me of my years of teaching. Every good reading teacher has hundreds of books on shelves, in bins, on floors, window sills, etc. Most teachers have a system of attempting to keep track of their books - signing them out, checking them out, names and room numbers inside the book, outside the book, on the pages, etc.

No matter what a teacher does, however, dozens go missing every year. Inevitably some student will come running to you telling about so-and-so stealing your books. One year I even had an electronic dictionary stolen from my classroom. Kids steal stuff - or they walk away with them. Whatever you want to call it, if you are a teacher, you inevitably leave the classroom in June a little lighter due to the amount of things that leave your classroom without your permission.

I used to freak out - to hunt kids down - until I started working with kids who were severely under privileged. And one day it dawned on me. He's stealing a book, for Pete's sake. A book. Is stealing wrong? Yes. Should I let my students know that I don't appreciate my things taken? Sure.

But he obviously needed something I couldn't give him by just him asking. The love that I extend my students was never enough. They were always searching for more. That was evident in the number of students I had in my room at lunch time every day. These kids needed love. Unconditional love. I didn't freak out about a book. In fact, I started saying, "Just keep it."

And you know what happened? They stopped stealing. They looked out for me. They protected me, physically and emotionally. They stuck up for me. They loved me. I didn't expect this kind of a response from them, honestly, but it taught me a valuable lesson - one that can be learned from the book of Matthew.

Turning the other cheek, giving more than what people try to take from you - and doing it in love- will often lead to reaping rewards that never even entered your mind. I'm not sure if those verses were meant to warn Christian people to not retaliate. I am under the belief that Jesus was telling us that to fight bitterness and anger with the same will only create more resentment, but to love a person who is trying to hurt you because you want to show them Christ's love will, in time, produce a deeper love and understanding for the great pain that humans endure.

Being human is hard. Being an adult human is really hard. Being a loving adult human is so hard, that sometimes I don't think I will survive the pain. But as we learn how to be human's of God, we take on a new mindset that allows that pain to be soothed and a new person emerges. Shedding our egos and allowing His Holy Spirit to take over creates a peaceful person - one who can turn the other cheek or give away books from her bookshelf to kids who are looking for attention.

God's will for us all is happiness and love, but sometimes it comes in unexpected forms.

Namaste.