The Insults are Nothing

To win without fighting is the ultimate victory, and nothing suggests an inability to do this more than to be always ready for a spiteful response with any insult. This is not really any form of non-violence, but rather the demonstration of a meekness in strengths as focused upon goodness. At a wider perspective, we can realise that insults are thrown at us out of fear, and if you are a representative of Christ, your enemy has much to fear. If the insult comes to us outside of behaviours aligned with Christ, then perhaps what is most necessary is a change within ourselves.

This is not a command to endure suffering for its own sake, but an invitation to see beyond the moment and into the eternal. The face, after all, as outward honour is nothing if not a symbol of our morality, our relationship with the divine. Christ is described as having a “countenance as the sun” (Matthew 17:2), a radiance that speaks of His divine nature. To strike another’s face is to insult not their flesh, but their connection to the divine light. Yet this very act is also a reminder that God does not take pleasure in the suffering of His children, but rather in their ability to rise above it. Just as every sin is an insult forgiven by God, we must grant forgiveness the same if not all the more for our own imperfections; God knows that what is inside matters since this is what stops sin. Reacting to the external insult is to forget this.

This brings us to the heart of the matter: honour is not only a virtue but a also a reflection of our moral alignments toward God. The slap, the insult, the humiliation, or any other material impositions are opportunities to exercise honesty we are within for moral rectitude. What is more honourable than morality? If the insult is meant to cause us to stumble from this strength then it must be recognised for this. Insults are meant to draw out our ire, however our angers and hatreds for all things which are deserving of it are managed through our relationship with Christ. Drawing out our anger for mere insults minimises our righteous anger for the greater and greatest harms. Do not deviate.

As we turn our cheek, the outward expression of our honour, we are not resisting the insult, so as to not give it credence; we are participating in the divine drama of redemption, where even the most painful moments can be transformed into acts of grace. This is the true power of honour, in putting Christ above ourselves, we put insults below; in putting others before ourselves, their petty insults are recognised as nothing more than mere growing pains. The greatest strengths are only revealed in how we handle weaknesses, within ourselves as well as others.

Let us refuse to be diminished by insults, who choose dignity over dishonour, and who see in every act of violence the opportunity for transformation. In so doing, we honour not only the best in ourselves, but also the divine order that binds us all together in love, justice, and eternal truth. Let us treat the ignorant insults of others with the same type of forgiveness gifted us in Christ’s divine Grace, in hopes they may overcome their troubles.