Know To Respond Properly When Protecting Yourself & Others

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘<Jesus said,> ”If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”’ (Matthew 5:39b); ‘If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.’ (Romans 12:18); ‘<Jesus said,>“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe.”’ (Luke 11:21); ‘<Jesus> said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”’ (Luke 22:36)

With violence escalating against Christians worldwide, including here in the US and Canada (though thankfully not here in Southwest Florida – yet), we often hear the verse of Matthew 5:39, ‘turn the other cheek’.  Many interpret this as Christians should simply take the abuse, and accept persecution – and up to a point this is a correct statement, again up to a point.  When Jesus says, ‘turn the other cheek’, He means that there is a certain degree of latitude we give to those who hurt us.  A slap on the cheek, or an insult, or a door slammed in our face, is not a serious assault, and we should not engage in an act of revenge or ‘tit for tat’. 

We de-escalate the situation by walking away, perhaps to come back or wait for that person to come back to us so we can have a more civil discussion.   As Paul says in Romans 12, we should initiate peace and not hostility.  We as Christians should never believe it is ever good to preemptively fire bomb mosques or abortion clinics, for example, or pick fights with non-believers or other religious sects simply because they are not Christian.  We should be meek and accepting, and peaceful while attempting to engage in dialogue, to discuss, respectfully debate, and provide them with the Love of Christ.

However, we also know ‘meek is not weak’.  We know God prohibits murder, but He provided that self-defense is perfectly legitimate.  God defines this in Exodus 22:2-3; someone breaks in during the nighttime into your home, you don’t know if he’s going to harm you or not.  If you kill the intruder, it is self-defense and not murder.  However, if you see the person is only stealing you cannot just murder him for theft – you can stop him from stealing but you cannot kill him simply for stealing.  Now if he attempts to kill you, and you kill him first, then its self-defense and you did not murder.  In Luke 11:21 and Luke 22:36, Jesus recommends that we be armed and have strength in our defense, to both prevent hostile actions against us and to defend ourselves if someone decides to attempt to harm us anyways. 

What if it’s ‘in between’ an insult and an attempt to kill us, like a protest in front of the church, where eggs are thrown at your car when you pull into the parking lot?  An old meme refers to Jesus’ righteous anger at the moneychangers in the Temple complex, with the statement; ‘If asked, ‘What Would Jesus Do?’, turning over tables and chasing people with whips are within the realm of possibilities.’  Jesus was meek, and usually avoided physical confrontation.  In this one instance at the Temple, Jesus used an appropriate level of physical response to get the moneychangers and vendors out of the complex. 

What we must ask ourselves, should we ever be faced with such opposition of our Christian services or gatherings, is what will our appropriate level of physical response be to have them stop?  Running away and being ‘weak meek’ is not necessarily the right answer, as this appeasement usually encourages more violent actions that typically will escalate to death.  We can confront and defend ourselves against those wishing us harm, and put a stop to their advances.  However, it must be appropriate to the level of resistance.  (Eggs can be washed off the car, so in this case it may be appropriate to park and call the cops, instead of engaging yourself.)

It is certain Jesus likely asked the moneychangers to move along at first (or He knew their answer would be ‘no’), and so escalated His response into breaking out the whip and knocking over their tables to get them to move out.  Could He have simply killed them?  Of course – He’s God!  But what would they have learned; would they have had the chance to repent? 

We Christians must continue to pray, to learn appropriate responses, to be strong in the Lord and know when to flee and when to stand.  Know that Lord does want you to be meek, but He doesn’t want you to be weak.