Turn the Other Cheek — 2021
In the context of Roman occupation, the recommendation to “turn the other cheek” (from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount) was subversive and defiant, forcing the occupier to acknowledge Jews as an equal, and would have uncomfortably drawn attention to substantial social and cultural inequity of the times.
Roman soldiers tended to be right-handed.
When they struck an equal with a fist, it came from the right and made contact with the left side of the face.
When they struck an inferior person, they swung with the back of their right hand making contact with the right cheek.
In a Mediterranean culture that made clear distinctions between classes, Roman soldiers backhanded their subjects to make a point.
Jews were second-class. No one thought twice about the rectitude of treating lesser people with less respect.
When Jesus tells fellow Jews to expose the left cheek, he is calling for “peaceful subversion.”
He does not want them to retaliate in anger nor to shrink in some false sense of meekness.
He wants to force the Roman soldiers to treat them like equals. He wants the Jews to stand up and demand respect.
He wants to make each attacker stop and think about how they are mistreating another human being.
Christians tend to run their mouths about seeking a return of Christ, because they have told themselves they are the perpetual victim, fancying themselves Jews, and not modern-day Pharisees.
They eagerly wish for their savior without thinking very much about the weight of their own boot upon the neck they consider inferior.
I’m pretty sure everyone who’s not a complete idiot recognizes that a modern-day Christ would be in the mix, down in the dirt with the homeless, the poor, the old folks left to die alone in abandoned care facilities, etc.
A modern-day Jesus would be among the losers, and would be likely singled out and killed for encouraging a similarly irreverent and subversive attitude towards modern institutions (banks, business heroes, political icons, etc), likely by some who fancy themselves Christians.
History doesn’t always repeat itself, but it sure has a tendency to echo the same themes in a weirdly ironic manner.
