The Narrow Path Ministries

An interesting take on turning the other cheek that I haven't encountered before:

"Palestinian Christians involved in peace, reconciliation and non-violence movements have helped me see this teaching differently. When Jesus teaches about "turning the other cheek," it was an offensive -- not a defensive -- act of peace using a culturally relevant example of His day. A person who slapped another on the cheek normally used the back of the right hand as an act of insult by a superior to an inferior. Thus, by turning the "other" cheek, the one hit (the perceived powerless person) takes an initiative to force the aggressor to now return the swing and hit his face a second time. This time the "hit" must be with an aggressive open palm or fist thereby transforming the nature of the relationship.

"The Christ-like response of turning the other cheek says the person does not assume the inferior place of humiliation the striker had in mind but views himself as an equal. The supposedly powerless person has redefined the relationship and forced the oppressor into a moral choice: escalate the violence or respond with repentance and reconciliation."

-written by Paul Estabrooks in a daily devotional from Open Doors, Brother Andrew's organization.
http://www.oneplace.com/devotionals/sta ... 54943.html

What??

I'm pretty sure this is the same interpretation I read in Walter Wink's book "Jesus and non-violence"

The point being that the proper response to human on human violence is neither 1) violence or 2) becoming a doormat, but 3) doing something creative to cause the offender to see the wickedness of their ways and thus overcoming evil with good.