VENGEANCE – “It's mine!” says God.  “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord." [Romans 12:19, quoting Deuteronomy 32:35, NIV]

In the short term there's nothing sweeter than revenge, especially if you can get away without retribution.  But that's the problem.  So often vengeance is met with revenge and an endless cycle of pain and hurt and destruction begins.  We want to respond to a perceived wrong or injustice done to us by paying the other back in kind.  We want to take out our anger and frustration on the one who has been mean or harmful to us.  We want to get even, to pay back evil for evil.

But as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves the world blind and toothless!”

Does that mean we are to become “wimpy doormats” for any bully that might choose to use us for a wiping rag?  No!  As a matter of fact, Jesus addressed that very issue in His Sermon on the Mount.  Unfortunately, it has often been misunderstood.

When Jesus tells us to “turn the other cheek,” is NOT an invitation to be misused and even abused?  We do not have to remain passive.  Take a closer look at the text in Mathew 5:39.  “…If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

In that culture, to be struck on the RIGHT cheek would require that you be smacked with the back of the right hand. (The left hand was not used for fighting).  It is the way one would hit a dog or a child.  Turning the other cheek is an invitation to be treated as a real human being – not an object of scornful disdain.  It is saying to the would-be assailant,  “Fight me as a human being, not as an animal!”

The bully would be faced with a choice.  “Do I respond by giving the dignity of personhood to the one I've just wrongfully treated, or do I walk away and leave them any further unscathed?”  In order to hit them on the left cheek, one would have to use the front of their right hand thereby treating them with the respect due them.

Turning the other cheek is an act of creative nonviolence.  It is not responding to evil with evil.  It is not lowering oneself to the level of the attacker.  But it can get the attention of those around because you are not playing by the common rules of revenge.  And it can be confusing to the attacker.

That is a practical way Jesus calls us to a higher ethic.  We are called to love our enemies and do good to those who harm us.  We are not to hate our adversaries and cause evil to those who despitefully use us.  We must rely on God's power to bring good out of evil and not try to “play God” by taking vengeance on others.

That is a tough assignment.  It goes against our natural instincts.  We don't have to go to school to learn how to hate.  We have to receive an extra measure of God's grace to be able to respond differently to the situations that face most of us.  To return love for evil, creative non-violence for hate.  To trust that God will make things “right” in His good timing and in His own ways.  To not take vengeance into our own hands.

It might even start a new cycle of reconciliation and respect. And isn't that what the world needs more than endless cycles of violence?

• What is one situation where you need to learn how to “turn the other cheek” instead of taking revenge?
• Can you think of a time when you said or did something that hurt someone else?  Ask for forgiveness!