Abstract
This article investigates the reception of Jesus’ command to ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘love your enemies’, as found in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:38–48, among Christian Palestinians. With the help of basic tools from the postcolonial discourse, structures of power, identity and subjectivity of these commands are examined. Although seeming to advocate a quiet acceptance of violence, the commands are interpreted as empowering calls to contribute to the transformation of the self, the other and the society. A person’s dignity is seen to be restored and the transition from reactivity to agency is made possible. At the same time as the commandment of love ensures the uncompromising work for mutual respect and affirmation of both parties’ humanness and creation in the image of God. Walter Wink helps to understand the logic of nonviolent resistance that the pericope is leading to in the eyes of the interviewees. In the last section, both the Bible text and the insights gained by the examination of its reception are condensed and further expanded by a theory of love inspired by Dorothee Sölle. This theory of love argues that love is not only a general approach to life, rather than a sentimental feeling, but the basic principle of life, the courage to continue to love where no reason or hope is left, just the will to remain and love into the void. This is interpreted to be the strongest kind of love and a tremendous empowerment in the reinvention of identity.Contribution: This article contributes to the examination of identity processes within the field of theology and Bible interpretation as liberation and empowerment. The ethical and political relevancy of Scripture is here actualised in the example of the Palestinian context where questions of identity, justice and agency are more important than ever.
Highlights
In fall 2012, I conducted a fieldwork consisting of interviewing six Palestinian theologians on their understanding of Matthew 5:38–48, a pericope found within the Sermon on the Mount and including Jesus demand to ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘love your enemies’.1 Having previously lived in Bethlehem for 1 year in my young adult life, having experienced the checkpoints, the nightly intrusion of soldiers, the Palestinian peoples’ cry for their land and striving for normal lives, I was well aware of the impossibility that these Bible verses present
I have in this article tried to show that the two commandments of Jesus to ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘love your enemy’, located in the Sermon on the Mount, provide a fruitful way to transform one’s inferior identity, stressing the humanity of both parties in a conflict
All interviewees, who were adults and all but one public figure participated in the planned and semi-structured interviews in informed consent
Summary
In fall 2012, I conducted a fieldwork consisting of interviewing six Palestinian theologians on their understanding of Matthew 5:38–48, a pericope found within the Sermon on the Mount and including Jesus demand to ‘turn the other cheek’ and ‘love your enemies’.1 Having previously lived in Bethlehem for 1 year in my young adult life, having experienced the checkpoints, the nightly intrusion of soldiers, the Palestinian peoples’ cry for their land and striving for normal lives, I was well aware of the impossibility that these Bible verses present. Jesus’ demand of enemy love and turning the other cheek is not a hypothetical thought for Palestinian Christians It raises questions of identity, of justice, of a God that seems to ask for acceptance of personal and communal tragedies. There is no reason or possibility to love anymore, no hope to clasp on, the paradox of the night of the cross offers maybe not as much as meaning, but a vow to life This vow is the adherence to compassion, as Sölle (2018) states: As a way of thinking (Denkform) the Christian faith, the paradox remains necessary, not the experience that can be read out of nature and history. It is the strength to turn the other cheek and to continue, understanding oneself to be one who is holding on to life, love and compassion
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