Resist Not Evil

Matthew VanFossan/ October 12, 2024/ Forgiveness, Insights, Jesus, Spirituality

I came across these three remarkable words again today, attributed to Jesus in the New Testament. Something inside me lit up, so I dug a little deeper.

“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

And voila!! I am face-to-face with the most radical aspect of the work of Jesus. The one that flies in the face of ‘just wars’ and even an act of violence in self-defense of a victim against their perpetrator.

Sticky arguments of just self-defense aside, what I see in this is to return evil with good. Do not respond in kind to evil. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind,” as Ghandi said.

And I ask myself now how often lately I’ve been in an argument and matched the other person’s anger just to show them I’m not a pushover. Or how I’ve met up with a controlling person and bristled at their demeanor only to find myself throwing similar psychic demands back at them of how things ‘should’ be. Or how I’ve heard someone say something really hurtful or ignorant and part of me inside says, “How dare they?”

Resist not evil. An amazing challenge to live as a peace-maker, not an enforcer. To love without conditions even those temporarily insane and perpetrating evil themselves. To meet with good cheer those who I perceive have wronged me.

I’m still working on this one. It’s nice to have role models in those remarkable people who manage to keep their smile in the face of insults, or who stay bright when life deals them a seemingly unimaginable setback. Rather than resisting, they just give it their absolute best.

At times, I am one of those people. I bet you are, too. It’s extending those moments to such frequency that life becomes one continuous and graceful act of resisting not evil that the challenge is fully met. Fortunately, this world offers plenty of chances to practice. It’s often a training ground for resisting not evil.

UPDATE:

Since I’ve written this article, I’ve been more wary about jumping into a needless argument or feeling put upon when someone asks me to do something that’s a bit out of my comfort zone. Just today someone was saying some things that I really didn’t agree with, and at the time seemed totally insensitive. Then the three words ‘resist not evil’ flashed through my consciousness and I stayed quiet. I focused on loving the person next to me rather than judging them. I still don’t agree with their point of view, but I came out of the situation much better having held to my intention. Maybe that Jesus guy was really onto something.