What Does Jesus Mean When He Tells Us To ‘Turn The Other Cheek’?

(Seventh Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given on February 23, 2025 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Luke 6: 27-38.) 

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Seventh Sunday 2025]

“To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as well.”

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that these words of Jesus have caused many people over the centuries to shake their heads in disbelief. 

They’ll typically say, “Is he serious?  Does Jesus expect us to subject ourselves to physical abuse and like it?  Is he saying that if we defend ourselves from physical attack it’s a mortal sin?  What does he mean when he tells us to ‘turn the other cheek’?” 

Well, to answer these questions properly, we need to make a very important distinction: the distinction between those things which are morally wrong, those things which are morally legitimate, and those things which are morally virtuous.  For example, if an armed soldier refuses to defend an innocent civilian in battle, and allows that person to be attacked or killed, that soldier commits a sin!  His failure to help a defenseless person is morally wrong!  Listen to what Jesus (speaking through his Church) tells us in the Catechism.  This is from paragraph 2265 which deals with the 5^th commandment (“Thou shalt not kill.”).  There we are told, “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others.  The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm.  For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.”

That soldier could have done something—and SHOULD have done something—to save an innocent person from an unjust aggressor.  But he consciously and deliberately failed to carry out his duty, and therein lies his sin.

So, obviously, when Jesus says, “Offer [your other cheek],” he is not saying that we should permit the destruction of the innocent or the defenseless!

Nor is he saying that we should allow ourselves to be abused or killed!  That’s another common misunderstanding of the text.

The Catechism is very clear on this point: Self-defense is morally legitimate, as long as it’s proportional to the attack.  For example, if someone tries to slap your face without good reason, it would not be morally permissible to pull out a 44 Magnum and blow them away!  But it would be permissible to block the person’s hand and neutralize the attack— that’s a proportional defense.

The basis of this, believe it or not, is the idea that we should love ourselves!  Remember, Jesus said, “Love your neighbor AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF.”  Self-love is not bad, as long as it’s not prideful or egotistical or narcissistic.  We are to love ourselves because we are created in God’s image and likeness; we are to love ourselves because we are “temples of the Holy Spirit.”

Listen once again to the words of the Catechism.  These are taken from paragraph 2264: “Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality.  Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one’s own right to life.”

God has entrusted a “temple of the Holy Spirit” to each of us; consequently it’s morally permissible for us to defend our temple if it’s unjustly attacked. 

Leaving aside now these misunderstandings, what exactly is Jesus saying?  What are the challenges he’s giving us in this command to “turn the other cheek?”  Well, first of all, he’s challenging us to forgive others totally and completely; that means he’s challenging us to let go of any and every grudge.  He’s also challenging us not to seek vengeance. He’s challenging us to be patient with the shortcomings of others and to love everyone, even our enemies.  In short, Jesus is challenging us to do all those things we have great difficulty doing!

And he’s also challenging us in our willingness to endure unjust suffering for his sake and the sake of his Gospel: for example, the suffering that comes when a co-worker calls us “a religious fanatic” because we believe in the 10 Commandments; the suffering that comes when family members refuse to associate with us because we take our faith seriously and refuse to compromise our beliefs; the suffering that comes to the young Christian person who’s ostracized by his so-called friends because he won’t drink, or do drugs, or engage in promiscuous sexual activity. 

These are examples of the “little martyrdoms” that Jesus challenges us to embrace every day in his name!

So the bottom line is this: It’s morally wrong not to defend the innocent, when you have a responsibility to do so; it’s morally legitimate to defend yourself from an unjust aggressor; but it’s morally virtuous to endure unjust sufferings and little martyrdoms each day, for the sake of Jesus Christ and his Gospel. 

Through the power of the Eucharist that we receive at this Mass, may God give us the special grace we need to be morally virtuous in this way, taking our ultimate motivation from Jesus himself, who said, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.  Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!  Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.” 

Reverence

(Fifth Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given on Sunday, February 9, 2025 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani.  Read Isaiah 6:1-8; Luke 5:1-11.)

[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Fifth Sunday 2025]

What do all these people have in common? 

• Jack comes into church before Mass from the side door, walks by the tabernacle, and immediately takes his seat in the first pew.
• Jill comes in the front door, and immediately goes over to the statues and lights a candle.  Then she turns around and walks out.
• Joe sits in the last row and text-messages his friends many times during Mass.
• Jane chews gum while Mass is going on.
• James wears his weekday-worst instead of his Sunday-best when he comes to church for Mass.
• Jerry comes to Communion with his mind on the pretty girl in front of him and receives the Holy Eucharist without giving it a second thought and without making any gesture beforehand.
• John comes to Mass late every week—although he could easily be on time; and he leaves early.
• Justine talks more to her friends than to God when she comes to Sunday Liturgy.
• Finally, Jacob comes to Mass faithfully each week, but only out of obligation and not because he thinks he needs it.

So, what do all these people have in common?

They all get on Father Ray’s nerves, right?

Well, yes, that is true—people like that do get on my nerves (and on the nerves of most other priests!); however that’s not the answer I’m looking for.

What they all have in common is a lack of proper reverence for God!  Perhaps it’s not intentional; in fact, in most cases it probably isn’t intentional—but it’s a lack of reverence nonetheless.

How different Isaiah and Peter were!  In our first reading from Isaiah 6, the prophet sees a vision of God on his heavenly throne, with a multitude of angels all around him singing his praises, and he’s so awestruck that he thinks he’s about to die!  He cries out, “Woe to me, I am doomed!  For I am a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Peter in today’s gospel text has a similar reaction after Jesus works a fish-catching miracle for him and his friends!  After catching nothing the previous night, the future apostles throw their nets over the side of the boat at the command of Jesus, and they immediately catch so many fish that their boat almost sinks.

And just like Isaiah, Peter responds with reverence and awe.  He falls to his knees in a sign of worship and says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

That, incidentally, was a prayer which Jesus Christ did not answer—thank God.  We may abandon the Lord at times, but he never abandons us, as he never abandoned Peter.

In this Holy Year, that’s an important message for us to share with those who have been away from Christ and the sacraments for an extended period of time.  They need to know that there’s hope for them.  They need to know that the Lord has not abandoned them and wants them to come home—soon!

Coming back now to those people I mentioned at the beginning.

What was the problem with Jack, the guy who came in the side door, walked by the tabernacle, and took his seat in the front row?

He forgot to genuflect to the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus Christ in the tabernacle!  Any time we pass in front of a tabernacle in a Catholic Church, we are supposed to genuflect on our right knee—out of reverence to Jesus Christ, who is present there body, blood, soul and divinity!

What about Jill, the woman who came in the front door, went over to the statues, lit a candle, and then walked out?

Well, her mistake was similar to Jack’s!  Before we light a candle and seek the intercession of a saint, we should genuflect toward the tabernacle out of reverence to the one—Jesus Christ—who made the saints saints! 

And believe me, that’s exactly what Mary and Joseph and Pius X and all the other canonized saints of the Church would tell us to do!

Jesus first!

The lack of reverence shown by Joe, the text-messager, Jane the gum-chewer and Justine the chronic-talker should be obvious.  At least I hope their lack of reverence is obvious!

James, who always wears his weekday-worst to Mass lacks reverence because he could easily make himself more presentable if he wanted to.  If he were meeting the president or the governor or a famous celebrity, I’m sure he would dress a little better than he does for Jesus.

John who constantly comes in late and always leaves early lacks reverence because he’s not giving the Lord his best effort.  But God deserves our best effort in everything—because he’s God.

Jerry, who comes to Communion with his mind on the pretty girl in front of him and who receives the Holy Eucharist without giving it a second thought, demonstrates a lack of reverence by not making the effort to focus his mind on Jesus, and by failing to make an act of reverence (like a head bow) before he receives.

Jacob’s lack of reverence might not be so obvious, but it’s present nonetheless.  It’s present in his attitude.  He’s there at Mass each Sunday only out of obligation, not because he recognizes the deep need he has for God and his saving grace.

Isaiah and Peter were just the opposite, weren’t they?  Because of the incredible reverence and awe they had toward the Lord, they were extremely conscious of their need for forgiveness and salvation.

That comes through clearly in both the first reading and the gospel.

Today, at this Mass—and especially after Communion when we return to our pew to pray—let us ask the Lord to give us a spirit of reverence—deep reverence.

Because if we learn to be reverent toward Jesus in here—the Jesus who is present in his Word and in the Eucharist—we will in all likelihood become more reverent toward the Jesus out there: the Jesus who is present in the people we live with and work with and interact with every day.