Turn the Other Cheek

“And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also,” says Luke 6:29 (Course Anthology, 129). What a difficult task. Almost, I would say, impossible. Since I was a little girl, I was always told in school, in church, in Sunday school, at home with my family, to obey this Bible verse – to turn the other cheek. Of course, you can tell a child that all day long, but when you’re 6 years old and your little brother decides to throw your baby blanket into the fire because he thinks it’s funny, it’s hard to adhere to that principle.

The idea of it is simple: if someone wrongs you me some way or if I feel hurt by someone’s actions, I am not supposed to seek revenge. I should turn the other cheek, accept that the person who is hurting me, whom I perceive as a sinner, is sinning – just like I have many times before. I should do this because God says, “your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil,” (Course Anthology, 129). Again, it sounds simple. We all know that it is not. I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to – and sometimes actually have – taken revenge on an “enemy” for doing something that angered me. In 4^th grade, my nemesis Randall stole some of my “butterfly” hair clips – she knew it and I knew it. Instead of confronting her on my own and asking her to give back the clips, I decided to cause her as much pain as possible by telling the teacher, who in turn told the principle. Her parents were called, a whole spectacle occurred, and finally my clips were given back to me, with Randall left thoroughly embarrassed and upset. I remember the feeling of her handing the clips back to me and I remember the look on her face when she did so. What washed over me in that moment was anything but satisfaction or happiness. I was ashamed at how I had acted. Sure, she stole my hairclips. They were like what, 2 cents apiece? I should have let her keep them or asked for them back in private and, in that way, I could have been left feeling proud of myself and – I’d like to think – closer to God because of the compassion I had shown. Instead, I hurt her and took myself further from God. I will always regret that day and many others like it where I did not “rejoice in that day, leap for joy!” over the reward that would await me would I simply let Randall’s actions go (Course Anthology, 129). (I still cannot believe how little compassion I showed in my actions with Randall - over something as stupid as butterfly hair clips. image courtesy of:http://noveltoy.ca/oscommerce/images/40901.jpg).

Though I cannot pride myself on following what I believe is this commandment from God, I have to say that, especially of late, I have tried. The idea that we are to, “Be therefore merciful, as your Father is also merciful” is incredibly comforting to me and always has been one of my favorite ideas in the entire Bible (Course Anthology, 129). My Dad always used to tell me, “Spin, Jesus’ main goals were to bring about forgiveness and compassion” and I believe he was right. Without compassion, what is Christianity? Without forgiveness and compassion, Jesus would never have died on the cross to save His creation.(Jesus death on the cross - God's greatest act of compassion. image courtesy of:http://solumevangelium.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/jesus-cross-407x1.jpg). You may or may not believe in the story of Jesus’ death on the cross – or that Jesus was sent from God to do so to save our sins, and that’s okay. But hopefully, what people do take away from Christianity is the emotion, the action, the desire for compassion. By practicing this action, I like to believe we bring ourselves closer to God. What a wonderful feeling.