“Loving confrontation can free both the oppressed from docility and the oppressor from sin.”—Walter Wink
A friend recently shared an interview with Shirley Chisolm in which she talked about how she was treated as the first black congresswoman. I was inspired by her strength and wit. Her stories reminded me of what I have heard as the “third way”. This is a deeper understanding and application of what Christ taught when he instructed his followers to “turn the other cheek” (Matthew 5:38-42).
We often see two options when confronted with conflict: fight or capitulate. The “third way” suggests that one “find a creative alternative”1. I better appreciate the admonishing to “go the second mile” (or as we often say “go the extra mile”). For some, this might simply imply do more than what you are asked—a reasonable recommendation. In the context of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, it implies a sense of passive resistance with a twist of humiliation of the oppressor. At the time of Jesus, a Roman soldier could compel a subject of the Empire to carry his pack for one mile. Any more was an infraction of military code. To carry the pack the second mile was to neither resist or succumb in weakness. Instead the subject was taking an upper hand—a position of power. This is neither a position of piousness nor is it vindictive. Instead, it is one of disarming the oppressor.
Shirley Chisholm tells a story of mistakenly sitting at the table of the Georgia delegation during a lunch break in her early years as a Congresswoman. When approached by the delegation she could have fervently resisted or she could have sheepishly moved to another table. Instead, she invited the Georgia Congressman to sit at a neighboring table that was empty. She suggested that if anyone bothers him that he was to tell them to “see Shirley Chisholm”. She thought would embarrass him but it didn’t. He went and sat at the table. Congresswoman Chisholm, of course, tells the story better herself.2 It was a “third way” approach.
Walter Wink provided the following as examples of Jesus’ third way:
“seize the moral initiative; find a creative alternative to violence; assert your own humanity and dignity as a person; meet force with ridicule or humor; break the cycle of humiliation; refuse to submit or to accept the inferior position; expose the injustice of the system; take control of the power dynamic; shame the oppressor into repentance; stand your ground; make the Powers make decisions for which they are not prepared; recognize your own power; be willing to suffer rather than retaliate; force the oppressor to see you in a new light; deprive the oppressor of a situation where a show of force is effective; be willing to undergo the penalty of breaking unjust laws; die to fear of the old order and its rules.”1
How much of this are we seeing in our society, today?
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!!
1The Powers that Be: Theology for a New Millenium, Walter Wink, 1998.
2https://www.facebook.com/annointedhands1981/videos/1172479413130536