The passage in Matthew 5:39–44 has long occupied a central place in Christian moral teaching. Yet Jesus’ exhortation, “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also,” has often been misunderstood as a call to passivity or to a surrender that compromises one’s dignity. However, as the renowned theologian Walter Wink argues, Jesus is not advocating either violent retaliation or cowardly submission. Rather, He proposes what may be called “The Third Way”—a form of creative nonviolent resistance.
Only when these verses are interpreted against the backdrop of the Roman occupation and the socio-cultural oppression of the first century does the profound social and political significance of Jesus’ teaching become fully evident.
Three Possible Responses: An Analysis
When confronted with injustice and violence, human beings generally respond in one of two ways:
ï Submission: Silently enduring violence and humiliation out of fear or helplessness.
ï Violent retaliation: Responding to violence with violence, seeking to overcome evil by means of force.
ï Jesus’ Third Way: Refusing to submit to violence without becoming violent oneself; preserving one’s dignity while exposing the injustice of the oppressor through creative, nonviolent resistance.
Historical and Cultural Interpretation
1. The Blow on the Right Cheek and Human Dignity
“If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
In first-century Jewish society, the left hand was regarded as ritually unclean; consequently, only the right hand was used in public interactions. To strike someone on the right cheek, one would ordinarily have to use the back of the right hand. Such a backhand slap was not intended merely to inflict physical pain but to communicate social inferiority and humiliation.
Among social equals, a blow was normally delivered with the open palm or a clenched fist. The backhand slap, however, was employed by masters against slaves, by Romans against Jews, and by the powerful against those considered socially inferior.
When Jesus instructs the victim to turn the other cheek, the message conveyed to the oppressor is unmistakable: “Treat me not as your slave but as your equal.” Such an action places the aggressor in a moral dilemma and challenges the very structures of domination. Far from being an act of weakness, the victim boldly rejects fear and publicly affirms his own dignity and equality.
2. The Tunic and the Cloak: Unmasking Injustice (Matthew 5:40)
“If anyone wishes to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.”
In Jesus’ time, wealthy creditors frequently took impoverished debtors to court and seized their inner garment (tunic) as repayment of debts. Yet according to the Mosaic Law (Exodus 22:26–27), a person’s outer cloak had to be returned before sunset because it served as protection against the cold during the night.
Jesus therefore says, “If he demands your tunic, surrender your cloak as well.”
In doing so, the debtor would stand completely naked before the court. Within Jewish culture, shame did not primarily fall upon the person who was stripped naked but upon those who exposed another’s nakedness or permitted such humiliation to occur (cf. Genesis 9:20–27).
This dramatic action publicly exposes the cruelty of both the wealthy creditor and a judicial system willing to deprive the poor even of their last garment. Jesus thus transforms the victim’s apparent helplessness into a powerful act of social protest.
3. The Second Mile: Regaining Control (Matthew 5:41)
“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”
Under the Roman military code (Lex Militaris), a Roman soldier could legally compel a passer-by to carry his military pack for one mile, but no farther. To require more than one mile was itself a violation of Roman law.
When, after completing the required mile, the Jew willingly continues to carry the load for a second mile, the balance of power suddenly changes. Control passes from the soldier to the oppressed person. Fearing disciplinary action for violating military regulations, the soldier is compelled to plead for the return of his baggage.
In this way, the victim transforms an instrument of oppression into an instrument of liberation.
The Theology of the Third Way
The path of nonviolence proposed by Jesus is not merely a political strategy but one firmly rooted in divine love. Jesus neither calls His disciples to destroy their enemies nor to surrender before them. Rather, He invites them to break the cycle of violence through love, courage, and the preservation of human dignity.
This approach enables one to resist the evil present within the oppressor while still recognising the humanity of the oppressor himself.
The message of Matthew 5:39–44 is therefore not one of passive submission but of revolutionary spiritual courage. Jesus’ Third Way reveals the extraordinary power to overcome evil without becoming a participant in it and to confront injustice without surrendering one’s dignity.
The philosophy of nonviolent resistance proposed by Jesus profoundly inspired Mahatma Gandhi’s movement of Satyagraha and Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle for civil rights. The same principle was also manifested in the recent CJP protest movement in India. By reclaiming the derogatory term “cockroaches,” which had been used to insult them, and transforming it into a symbol of their movement, while steadfastly maintaining a nonviolent stance before the forces of authority, the students publicly exposed the injustice of the prevailing system. By resisting oppression without resorting to violence and by safeguarding their own human dignity, the CJP protest became a striking contemporary example of the creative nonviolent resistance envisioned by Jesus.
Rev. Dr. Tom Olikkarott
