A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
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 say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus instructs his disciples in a way that might seem as equally as extreme as eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth mentality. Offer no resistance to one who is evil, he tells them. Turn your left cheek to someone who strikes your right one. Three times in this short passage Jesus tells his disciples to give to someone who wants to take: turn your cheek, hand him your cloak, go with him for two miles. “Give to the one who asks of you,” Jesus says, “and do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.” The trust that Jesus demonstrates in the Father is evident in these words: to give is to trust in the providence of the Father.
God, help me understand what it means to offer no resistance to one who is evil. I can’t pretend to know what that moment might look like, but I know it is far from curling up in a ball, defenseless. If I am attentive to your will, I am open to receiving every good gift from you that is not mine to hold on to. I have the power to conduct your love as gift to others in a way that gives you greater glory. Jesus said to the disciples, “Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”
Lord, help me trust you; give me the grace to give today to the one who asks of me.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.