If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, ...

[tonychanyt]

Matthew 5:

39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers:

our Lord Himself, when smitten by the servant of the high priest, protested, though He did not resist (John 18:22-23), and that St. Paul, under like outrage, was vehement in his rebuke (Acts 23:3); and (2) in the fact that the whole context shows that the Sermon on the Mount is not a code of laws, but the assertion of principles. And the principle in this matter is clearly and simply this, that the disciple of Christ, when he has suffered wrong, is to eliminate altogether from his motives the natural desire to retaliate or accuse.

John 18

22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary:

Our Lord's own meek, yet dignified bearing, when smitten rudely on the cheek (Joh 18:22, 23), and not literally presenting the other, is the best comment on these words. It is the preparedness, after one indignity, not to invite but to submit meekly to another, without retaliation, which this strong language is meant to convey.

Jesus and the Easter people often used poetic hyperbole to emphasize a point. This added to the shock value of the statement and had a greater impact on their listeners' ears. He used provocative language to challenge conventional thinking and encourage a radical reorientation of values and behaviors. His point was to suppress your instinct to retaliate; do the opposite.

 

[Soyeong]

Lamentations 3:28-30 “So I said, “My endurance has perished, and my hope from Adonai.” Remember my affliction my homelessness, bitterness and gall. Let him sit alone and be silent, since He has laid it upon him. Let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope. Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him. Let him have his fill of disgrace.”