Why turn the other cheek? To defeat hatred and evil, Pope Francis says

To love one’s enemies and to turn the other cheek seems impossible, but Jesus Christ’s love gives Christians this strength that can save even those who hate them, Pope Francis said Sunday.

“Turning the other cheek is not the loser’s fallback, but the action of those who have greater inner strength,” the pope told crowds in St. Peter’s Square gathered for the Angelus Feb. 20. “Turning the other cheek is to overcome evil with good, which opens a breach in the heart of the enemy, unmasking the absurdity of his hatred. And this attitude, this turning the other cheek, is not dictated by calculation or hatred, but by love.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, it is the gratuitous and undeserved love that we receive from Jesus that generates in the heart a way of acting similar to his, which rejects all revenge,” Pope Francis said.

The Pope’s remarks reflected on the Sunday gospel reading from the Gospel of Luke’s sixth chapter.

There, Jesus Christ tells his disciples: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.”

Pope Francis acknowledged that this can be hard.

“When we hear this, it seems that the Lord asks the impossible,” he said. “Besides, why love enemies? If you do not react to the bullies, every abuse is given the green light.”

It can be among “the most difficult situations” when we are placed before our enemies and those who “always try to harm us.”

But here, the disciple of Jesus is called “not to give in to instinct and hatred, but to go much further. Go beyond instinct, go beyond hatred,” said the pope.

He encouraged his audience to consider their “sense of injustice” at turning the other cheek, and to contrast this feeling with Jesus’ behavior in his unfair trial before the high priest during his Passion, as recounted in the Gospel of John.

At one point, when a guard slaps him in the face, Jesus does not insult the guard but responds “If I have spoken badly, show me where the evil is. But if I spoke well, why are you beating me?”

To turn the other cheek, the pope explained, does not mean “suffering in silence” or “giving in to injustice.”

“With his question Jesus denounces what is unjust. But he does it without anger, without violence, indeed with kindness. He does not want to trigger an argument, but to defuse resentment, this is important: extinguish hatred and injustice together, trying to rescue the guilty brother,” said Pope Francis.