Four Hundred Texts on Love 18

62.  ‘But I say to you, do not resist evil; but if someone hits you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek as well. And if anyone sues you in the courts, and takes away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And if anyone forces you to go a mile, go with him for two miles’ (Matt. 5:39-41). Why did He say this? Both to keep you free from anger and irritation, and to correct the other person by means of your forbearance, so that like a good Father He might bring the two of you under the yoke of love.

Before I read this text, I had never considered the ‘why’ of that part of the Sermon on the Mount in quite that way. But of course it has to be that the God who is ‘not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9)’ is working to bring all under the yoke of love. Often, when we read these passages, we categorize the other as ‘evil’ and ourselves as ‘good’. But the Father sees us all as ‘human’ and ‘beloved’.