Our Scripture for today is Matthew 5:38-39
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ 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.”
The short way to say this is: “Don’t do ‘eye for an eye’, but rather, ‘turn the other cheek.’”
Based on how little this teaching is followed, it is obvious that this is against our nature. When someone is ugly to us, we want to get even. Some proudly say, “I don’t get mad, I get even.”
I once heard an older lady put this in a way that I will never forget. Maybe you won’t either. When she was a little girl, her mother greatly favored her sisters and abused her. The decades rolled on and her mother got older and needed help. She needed to live with and be taken care of by one of her daughters. I’m sure you know who took her mother in and provided for her. Of course, it was the daughter who was treated badly as a little girl.
In her old age, the mother had continued to be self-centered and thoughtless. One friend who knew her story asked her why she took her mother in. After all, the mother didn’t deserve the kindness and sacrifice of the daughter.
So how do you answer that? It would be a great answer to say that is what Jesus would do, but her real answer surprised me. She simply said, “It is not about her. It is about me.”
When someone is rude to you, when someone is short with you, when someone is unkind to you, the way you respond to them is not about them. It is about you.
Lonnie Davis