(Seventh Sunday of the Year (C): This homily was given on
February 24, 2019 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond
Suriani. Read 1 Samuel 26:2-23; Psalm 103:1-13;
1 Corinthians 15:45-39; Luke 6:27-38.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Seventh Sunday 2019]
“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, 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 5th 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.”
