How much more this applies within the church and the family! Someone treats you badly. It is a sub-criminal matter. You don’t just lash out back at them. Someone has wronged you, and done it in a vindictive spirit, but it is a small matter; you let it go. Bad behaviour of children of course has got to be corrected, but you do not do it by lashing out; you do not do it in an ill-tempered way.
The same applies at work. Somebody says something which is hostile: you do not respond in kind. You think of your testimony; you are being watched to see how you will respond. It is a small matter; it is a sub-criminal matter. You bear it and you pray. And perhaps you might have a better opportunity in a better atmosphere to talk about it afterwards, but you do not just react in some verbal way.
Though this is mildly controversial, the phrase ‘right cheek’ may be used in a manner of speaking. The old writers pointed out that most people are right-handed and so would normally strike on the left cheek. If therefore the right cheek is struck, this must be done with the back of the hand. It is a classic sign of derision, a way of insulting, but it is not done with a clenched fist. This is then a metaphor for an insult; it is a less than a criminal offence. So if you are struck as an insult, you do not retaliate.
Does this forbid war? This is not about matters serious enough to be dealt with by a court of law. What is war? Is there such a thing as a just war? We believe there is. Violence is the key word. If violence is offered then some resistance is quite in order. For more serious violence we may defend ourselves. Self-protection is not the issue here. You cannot be killed by a blow on the cheek. There has always been a tradition of pacifism – never show any response to violence. The Anabaptists and the Mennonites taught this: there must be no participation in war or in violent policing. But the mistake is to fail to see the Lord uses a polemic, using striking statements, vivid language; it is not didactic teaching. Suppose I am walking along the pavement with my wife and little children. And somebody comes up and strikes my wife and strikes my little children. Does Christ say I am to do nothing because I am a Christian. Somebody who I never seen before in my life, who does not know anything about me, comes up and strikes me with a blow, and then goes as if to draw back his hand and to punch me with another blow – am I to offer the other cheek because Christ literally told me that is what I must do. Of course not. That is not what is in mind at all. For one thing this is to do with persecution, without doubt. You can protect yourself and your wife and your children out walking; you can protect your home from criminal violence, but you must not be a reactive person and a vengeance loving person, and you must be prepared to absorb scorn and persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ. Christians are entitled to the protection of courts, but they are not to take vengeance.