John Dear reflected back in 2007 on the Sermon on the Mount text (Mt. 5: 38-42) in the light Walter Wink’s interpretation of Jesus' teachings on nonviolent resistance:
“You have heard, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' but I say, Offer no violent resistance to one who does evil.”
…But does that mean sit back, be passive, and suffer violence? No! The world tells us there are only two options in the face of violence: fight back with violence or run away and do nothing. But Wink explains how Jesus offers a third alternative, "a third way": active nonviolence resistance.
Illustration courtesy of Dave Maynard https://bsssb-llc.com/turn-the-other-cheek/
Since the beginning of Lent this year, I’ve been reading the scripture texts for each weekday and continued that practice from then on to Trinity Sunday and beyond. On the Monday of the 11th Week in Ordinary Time (June 15th), we hear the Gospel segment of the Sermon on the Mount from Mt. 5 recounting the message about the other cheek, the cloak and the extra mile—but seldom do we hear in homilies the revolutionary injunction behind these words of that groundbreaking sermon. Wink says it this way:
Just on the grounds of sheer originality, the examples of unarmed direct action in Matt. 5:39-41 would appear to have originated with Jesus. No one, not only in the first century but in all of human history, ever advocated defiance of oppressors by turning the cheek, stripping oneself naked in court, or jeopardizing a soldier by carrying his pack a second mile. For three centuries, the early church observed Jesus' command to nonviolence. But nowhere in the early church, to say nothing of the early fathers, do we find statements similar to these in their humor and originality. These sayings are, in fact, so radical, so unprecedented, and so threatening, that it has taken all these centuries just to begin to grasp their implications.
I know that I heard this, as it's described here, in a presentation by Dear at a Call To Action Conference some years ago, but never in a homily in any parish.
John Dear originally offered this message in the historical context of the Bush “rush-to-war” on Iraq. But today’s demonstrations—be they promoting justice for Blacks or for the Undocumented—might well take this text and its revolutionary counsel to heart.
Rather than reviewing the commentary by John Dear in summary form, I recommend clicking on the citation to access the article for a reading (or for some, a re-reading) as it appeared in the National Catholic Reporter, July 10, 2007.
