June 18, 2018
Monday
11th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: 1 Kgs 21:1-6 Gospel: Matthew 5:38-42
Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said: An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you this: do not oppose evil with evil; if someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and offer the other. If someone sues you in court for your shirt, give your coat as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give when asked and do not turn your back on anyone who wants to borrow from you.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Book of Leviticus rules that the same injury that a man gives another shall be inflicted on him in return. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Leviticus 24:20). This law is known to this day as the Lex Talionis. The purpose of this law was to moderate revenge in those wanting to exact justice from their attackers. The purpose was therefore noble. This notwithstanding, Jesus stamped his mark of disapproval on it. He wanted his followers to have nothing to do with retaliation in any manner.
Jesus went deeper into his teaching against revenge when he said, “If someone slaps you on your right cheek, turn and offer the other”. Jesus did not qualify “cheek” with “right” for nothing. To receive a slap on one’s right cheek could mean that the slapper had used his left hand to inflict the injury. The only way a slapper could use his right hand is to strike like a tennis player using his back hand stroke. Both cases involve insult. It is like telling the person slapped that his face does not deserve to be hit by the slapper’s palm identified with sharing and giving, but with the back of the hand reserved for punching. The left hand is also not the holy hand unless one is left-handed. Injury accompanied with a good dose of insult is not even a justification to retaliate.
How do we conquer evil then? Go another mile! Jesus said, “If someone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile”. Roman garrisons in Palestine were given power to exact from the Jews at most one mile of service. Because of this the Jews planted a marker one mile away from their homes so they’d know exactly where their duty ended. Jesus asked his listeners to go another mile: one mile to satisfy the Roman law, and another mile to satisfy the law of love.
Thus, while Jesus disapproved of opposing evil with evil he was neither advocating passivity before evil doers. He himself, when slapped by a soldier during his Passion did not turn the other cheek but demanded from the soldier an explanation. The call is for all his followers to go the extra mile, that is, to conquer evil with love. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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