Calling All Peacemakers: Rob Bell in Wolverhapton
June 29th, 2007
So Rob tells us all about Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, specifically the part where Jesus is talking about the law ‘and eye for an eye’ and he says
But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matt 5:39)
Which is arguably one of Jesus’ most quotable moments. It’s fundamental to some people’s understanding of who Jesus was. If someone hits you, stand there and take it, don’t hit back, don’t do anything. The message bible even translates what Jesus said as this. But last night, Rob explained it in a way I’d never heard before.
In Jewish culture at the time of Jesus people had a ‘clean’ hand (right) and a ‘dirty’ hand (left). The right hand would be used for greeting people, eating, working and all manor of task you couldn’t really use your left for as your ‘dirty’ hand was often engaged in matters of personal hygiene and it was considered unthinkable to use it for anything but it’s intended, very specific, job.
So when you hit someone, you’d obviously only ever use your right hand.
There’s something else about the culture at the time that you need to know. It was a highly class driven - Everyone knew their place, and everyone had their place. So the way you hit someone depended on who you were to them. A master hitting a servant for example would only ever slap them, they would never ever use a fist as this would validate that servant as an equal. And if all the other servants are watching, well, you’ve got yourself anarchy on your hands.
So if someone strikes you on the right cheek, with their right hand… They’re not making a fist.
No, they’re slapping you. They’re saying ‘you are not worthy of a fist’. In other words, they’re better than you. And in Jesus’ time, the most likely people to think they’re better than you are the conquering Romans.
So turning the other cheek is an act of defiance, it’s saying ‘you cannot take my dignity’. It’s saying ‘take your best shot, but this time as an equal‘. Jesus doesn’t go for the hit back or do nothing approaches, no, he goes for the third option. The option which takes infinitively more courage and imagination than the first two.
And this is how Rob Bell started his hour or so talk, I’ve no where near done it justice here. There’s what I think I knew about Jesus, and there’s what I find out when I actually look at the scriptures and what they’re saying in the context of the society of the time. Jesus wasn’t a passive, weak individual. He was a subversive, who stood up for the oppressed, weak and poor. I for one want to find out more.
Rob Bell continues his tour in Glasgow on 30th June. If you can, go check him out.
