Seventh Sunday: An eye for an eye

February 18, 2017

The Book of Exodus describe the lex talionis, the law of retaliation. “But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life ye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” Ex. 21:24. Lev. 24:19-21. The purpose of the law was a good purpose; to limit retaliation and to prevent blood feuds. The Code of Hammurabi, Greek and Roman law had similar understandings of justice. For the Kingdom of God, Jesus calls his disciples to something more.

God does not call us to be doormats, but to be creative in our non-violent response to aggression. So the Lord gives some examples,

If someone backhands you contemptuously on your right cheek, don’t retaliate and increase the violence, instead, present your left cheek.
If a Roman soldier forces you to carry his backpack for one mile pursuant to military law, offer two. Maybe he will get in trouble with his superiors for abusing Roman law.
If someone takes you to court unfairly, demonstrate the lack of justice. In Israel, you could not hold a poor person’s clothing overnight. So if someone took you to court to achieve something violating the law, show his injustice to the world. Ex. 22:26-27.

These passages are not laws, but examples of creative non-violence. These scriptures inspired Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King in their campaigns of creative non-violence. The purpose of creative non-violence is to try to get others to recognize their own injustice and the injustice in their community.

Dr. Desmond Tutu, a South African Episcopal Bishop and an activist against apartheid, echoed Ganhi saying that if the world practices an eye for an eye, soon we will all be blind. This story is told about Dr. Tutu. A white man walking down a sidewalk, blocked Dr. Tutu, a black man, from walking the opposite direction. The white man said, “I don’t get out of the way for gorillas.” Dr. Tutu stepped aside and said, “I do.”

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus shows us the world that is run by sin. We are not to be blind to this. He leads, however, to another way of diffusing at least some of the violence among us. There are situations where Christians must defend themselves. We need to ask whether creative non-violence might be a more rational, faithful response in many of the altercations in our life and the life of our community.

Today is commitment Sunday. One way to work for peace in our life and in the world is to support Bishop Kicanas and the charitable work of the Diocese of Tucson. I ask you now to please take time to fill out your Annual Catholic Appeal commitment card.