What is the literal meaning of "turn the other cheek"?

[wuushew]

I used to think it was something compassionate, but some time ago I heard it postulated that it was a phrase meant to maximize the amount of abuse the human face could take.

Can someone enlighten me?

[MUAD_DIB]

1. If one strikes you on the cheek then present him with the other one.

I think that the quote attributed to Jesus was meant to show "No Fear."


"You may strike me, but I won't turn from my appointed task."

[Venceremos]

2. The phrase originates from the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament.

Here's the wikipedia explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_the_other_cheek

[Oregone]

3. Its more the later...

If someone cuts your cheek, don't retaliate. Offer them the other to hit. I think its merely an exaggerated way to say not to retaliate with violence.

Definitely a rule I won't live by.

[Occam Bandage]

4. Wikipedia has several interpretations listed and defended.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_the_other_cheek

[panader0]

5. And what's with "Lift up thy robes and follow me"?

[Igel]

14. Not difficult.

Ever watch women with long dresses on try to run or walk fast?

They lift up their dresses so their feet don't get caught in or catch the hem. "Lift up" not over their heads, or around their waists, but certainly high enough to keep them from falling flat on their faces.

[Poll_Blind]

6. Unless they're lending money at the temple. Then get your WWF on.

PB

[angrycarpenter]

7. One theory I heard

Was that it meant that if someone slaps you with the back of their hand (like one would hit a slave or a woman)instead of cowering you should stand in their face and demand to be hit with the palm of their hand (the way one would hit a peer). A way of demanding respect from an oppressor without violence.

[dweller]

8. what else do you have to offer an offender?

It is a lesson.

First of what you can endure from others, and not retaliate in the same manner.
Secondly, for the offender, another opportunity to strike again and pile another karmic retribution upon themselves. Or the chance to do no harm realizing the error of their way.

face it, to turn the other cheek is an act of forgivness of the transgression. Violence upon another is an act of violence to the self.
dp

[anonymous171]

9. I've always thought it was a call to non-violent resistance, rather than violent resistance. nt

[vixengrl]

10. If they demand of you your cloak, give your shirt also.

"Be ye as wise as serpents, and as gentle as doves."

"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's."

"I came to bring a sword."

Jesus was a radical. He was down on hypocrites and talked up poor Lazarus and the Widow's mite for their value. He entreated the rich to give what they had to the poor. He wasn't a bigot, either, letting the Samaritan be the good guy in his parable. (Although really--his arm had to be twisted for Jarius' daughter? Although his beef with Western power is kind of understood.) "Turn the other cheek" was good advice--it meant, "If you are hassled by the Man, you let him do his thing so he doesn't power-trip out on you."

One (okay, my) interpretation is that Jesus was instructing his young radicals on how to fly below the radar of Roman Powers that Be, and the other guys in the Sanhedrin. He probably knew that if he was rabble-rousing, consorting with harlots and tax collectors and zealots, and whatnot, he was going to call attention to himself sooner or later--it was sooner. But if you look at the New Testament from the point of view of a little hippie baby who sang "Joe Hill" before ever hearing a Bible story, you look at the working class Galilean as being the guy who took on the Pharisees and the money changers in the Temple to get ready for the showdown against the Big Power in Rome. He did miracles and talked in code a lot, but what was he really doing--

Organizing. But because times were more oppressive, they had to be sub rosa. So he was political about stuff. But it wouldn't do to wear a chip on your shoulder and have a Masada--no. The idea was survival, and refinement of the law and what it meant to have that tradition to the smallest, most portable concepts. His parables. The Beatitudes. And the Gospel would only be carried if the Disciples were of the best repute. You can't carry a message if you youself are nasty. So be gentle. Be wise. Pay your taxes. Be generous. Be humble, and bear insult with grace. Wear your defeats proudly and learn from them. And then people will say of you, "Those Followers of Christ--they're good people!"

Now, if he really organized right, his disciples would've gotten him a Roman-citizen lawyer, sworn testimony of good deeds, petitions would've been circulated trying to get him acquitted by popular vote, there'd have been protests looking for his release, and Barrabbas would have been a cooked goose. But you can only do so much.

Ah well. (And me, an atheist. Nonetheless, figurative hero.)

[struggle4progress]

11. Walter Wink on turning the other cheek

Beyond Just War and Pacifism: Jesus' Nonviolent Way (Walter Wink)

... Turn the Other Cheek

"If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also." Why the right cheek? A blow by the right fist in that right-handed world would land on the left cheek of the opponent. An open-handed slap would also strike the left cheek. To hit the right cheek with a fist would require using the left hand, but in that society the left hand was used only for unclean tasks. Even to gesture with the left hand at Qumran carried the penalty of ten days' penance. The only way one could naturally strike the right cheek with the right hand would be with the back of the hand. We are dealing here with insult, not a fistfight. The intention is clearly not to injure but to humiliate, to put someone in his or her place. One normally did not strike a peer thus, and if one did the fine was exorbitant. The Mishnaic tractate Baba Qamma specifies the various fines for striking an equal: for slugging with a fist, 4 zuz (a zuz was a day's wage); for slapping, 200 zuz; but "if with the back of his hand he must pay him 400 zuz." But damages for indignity were not paid to slaves who are struck (8:1-7).

A backhand slap was the usual way of admonishing inferiors. Masters backhanded slaves; husbands, wives; parents, children; men, women; Romans, Jews. We have here a set of unequal relations, in each of which retaliation would be suicidal. The only normal response would be cowering submission.

Part of the confusion surrounding these sayings arises from the failure to ask who Jesus' audience was. In all three of the examples in Matt. 5:39b-41, Jesus' listeners are not those who strike, initiate lawsuits, or impose forced labor, but their victims ("If anyone strikes you...wants to sue you...forces you to go one mile..."). There are among his hearers people who were subjected to these very indignities, forced to stifle outrage at their dehumanizing treatment by the hierarchical system of caste and class, race and gender, age and status, and as a result of imperial occupation.

Why then does he counsel these already humiliated people to turn the other cheek? Because this action robs the oppressor of the power to humiliate. The person who turns the other cheek is saying, in effect, "Try again. Your first blow failed to achieve its intended effect. I deny you the power to humiliate me. I am a human being just like you. Your status does not alter that fact. You cannot demean me" ...

http://sillypoorgospel.blogspot.com/2006/11/more-dq-homework.html

[ZombieHorde]

12. Being spanked by your lover on the same cheek over and over

again will cause your ass to get very sore. Jesus was acutely aware of this and his advice for bottoms was to turn the other cheek.

JC was an S&M sage.

[Azooz]

13. "turning the other cheek" 101

Baby strikes cheek,
1) turn face to make sure it's hand falls on a soft spot away from the jaw,
2) Smile.
3) turn the other cheek.
4) repeat till baby gets tired, bored or sleepy.

if no soft spot on your face, grow a soft beard - if it pulls hairs then wait till its hand is tired and then let the other hand pluck a few hairs to.

Baby can be 100 years old, learning to be compassionate is a major part of it but you also have to belive that the God that created you (and your cheeks) also created that fool striking your cheek.

A Buddist story I heard about a group of students digging a hole to bury their teacher, it took them over a year because they did not want to kill any worms so they dug the hole with soft brushes - I think that is silly but that teacher would most likely have turned the other cheek for any fool who dare strike it to.

Cain and Able would have both known to "turn the other cheek" - one of them did not forget, and the other prefered to go beyong slapping a cheek to useing a stone.

Theology is not my thing, but I think it relates to forgivness, mercy, compasion and a few other nice words religons teach. Gandhi is a great example of how it is correctly applied, but there must be more to it than I know.

[leftyladyfrommo]

16. Here is a Zen story about the same thing:

A monk was sitting in meditation outside his hut one nite. Some robbers came up to him and demanded that he give them all his possessions. Which he did. His only comment was that he regetted that he could not also give them the beautiful nite.

In another version a monk was set upon by robbers. He told them to wait and let him give them all of his possession rather than steal them. That way the robbers would not gather negative karma from the action.

In Buddhism it is very important to always put the welfare of others first.

It would not be silly to take a year to dig a hole in such a manner that you would not kill any sentient being. Not killing is probably the most important of the rules of the Dharma.

[rd_kent]

15. I think it means to spin to the left or right

and fart their general direction.

[conscious evolution]

17. Its a karma thing

By not striking back you do not build up karma.

[denim_kittens]

18. Hmmmmm...

Inactivity for the prevention of potential reactionary boomerang retribution?

[agent46]

19. I went to a Catholic prep school back in the day

We used to think of turning the other cheek as the biblical equivalent of "chucking a moon." But that was the seventies and streaking was a big deal then too...

Anyway, maybe it means something like - "Ok I know you really couldn't have meant to injure me. I expect you probably see yourself as better than that. So, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and an opportunity to be kind." My experience though is that bullies are bullies and they don't change much.

Or maybe it means something more akin to the Taoist idea that the soft overcomes the hard; that yielding overcomes force. Though I've found this to be true only slightly more often than it's not. Or maybe it means the same thing as - don't mind the insult and go about your intended business. Or maybe it's a gesture of defiance, or a declaration of no fear in the face of adversity. Or maybe it's a tactical counter-intuitive response meant to neutralize the impetus of an aggressor's intent.

Whatever it is, I think it's political and meant as a way through in the face of brute force. I'm inclined to think the real key isn't so much in the turn of the cheek but the meaning of the look in one's eye when doing so.

As far as enlightening you...can't help you there bro. I don't even believe such a thing exists.