Article September 14, 2015 Issue

Christly love: a powerful response to injustice

Nancy Mullen

How to respond to injustice is a question we all wrestle with at times. When we are unfairly maligned or mistreated, mortal thought presents two choices: We can make an angry counterattack, or knuckle under and become a victim.

Perhaps you, like me, have tried each of those responses at one time or another and found that neither can be counted on for a satisfying resolution. But Christly thought presents another option—to love. Christ Jesus instructed us, “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).

This teaching is sometimes taken as a recommendation to allow others to walk all over us. But was Jesus a helpless victim? Hardly! His refusal to repay violence with violence honored a higher authority than the vindictive moral code of his time. Jesus triumphed over his enemies not by besting them at their own game but by refusing to play the game at all.

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