The Other Side of Turning the Other Cheek
The most frequently quoted and, I believe, most widely misunderstood passage in the Bible is this: “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39). It is often interpreted as weakness and passivity—as if Jesus were saying: “Stand still and let yourself be beaten.”
But that is not what the Lord’s words are about. In fact, they represent a challenge—or, if you will, a provocation in the best sense of the word—directed both at the person who strikes you and at you yourself. What is our usual response when we are insulted, threatened, or subjected to physical or psychological pain? In everyday terms, there are two acceptable options: either you strike back, or, if you know you are not strong enough, you run away.
Jesus offers a third, more difficult option: you neither run away nor pick a fight. You stand your ground, making it clear through your entire demeanour that you are not going to retreat or abandon your convictions, and you force the other person to face a moral choice.
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Of course, there are situations in which active resistance is necessary, which is why Christianity has the concept of a just, or holy, war. When an enemy comes into your home intending to kill you and rape the women in your household, you must stop him, even destroy him if necessary. That is precisely what our people did in 1992–94. Now, incidentally, representatives of that very enemy are at the helm of government in Armenia. They say, “There was no need to resist,” and “You were driven from your homes in 2023, and rightly so.” But those are not the cases I am talking about here.
Let us take a much more “peaceful” example. Someone has cursed at you, or at least insulted you in a comment on social media. The usual options are these: respond with an insult of your own (strike back), or block the user and prevent them from commenting again (run away). But you can also choose not to respond at all, instead inviting the person to consider whether there is any point in continuing. In doing so, you challenge the person hurling abuse at you: perhaps they might be capable of moving into a different moral and spiritual realm. Naturally, 90–95 percent of abusive people will reject such an invitation. But I believe people should always be given the opportunity.
This strategy can sometimes produce results in politics as well. Much has already been said about Mandela, Gandhi and Martin Luther King. But I want to give another example—one that is closer to the Bible.
On June 2, 1979, the day before Pentecost, Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in Warsaw’s Victory Square, now known as Marshal Józef Piłsudski Square. The Polish-born head of the Catholic Church did not address the hundreds of thousands gathered there with political slogans. He did not say, “Down with communism.” He spoke of freedom, dignity and renewal. The high point of his homily was this appeal (I am paraphrasing): “Let your Spirit descend and renew the face of this land.” Can you imagine the fervour of the crowd?
The communist system formally survived for another decade after that. One of its “gravediggers” was the independent trade union Solidarity, which was established in Poland a year after John Paul II’s visit to Warsaw, in the summer of 1980. But most researchers believe that the symbolic beginning of the collapse of communism was made right there, in Warsaw’s square. Why? Because when Faith is unshakable, when people who believe in the victory of Good neither flee nor engage in pointless confrontation, darkness cannot help but retreat.
…Therefore, the task is neither to respond to the aggression of the ruling Civil Contract and Nikol Pashinyan camp with aggression of the same kind, nor to ignore that aggression and run away. Nor is it simply a matter of taking to the streets—although, ultimately, that will be necessary. The real task is unshakable faith, purity, sincerity and, yes, “Solidarity.” If these qualities truly take root in the opposition camp, this repressive regime will inevitably fall.
Aram ABRAHAMYAN
