Turning cheeks and eating racism - 2 May 2014
For any one who missed it – last weekend, Barcelona played Villarreal in a Spanish league football match.
Over the course of the game, and not for the first time, Barcelona’s Brazilian right back Dani Alves suffered racial abuse from a number of the opposing teams supporters. In the 75th minute, with the abuse continuing, one home supporter threw a banana at Alves as he lined up to take a corner. Now this, sadly, is a reasonably common form of racial abuse, and a number of players worldwide regularly suffer similar torment.
Alves, however, addressed the act with a uniquely swift and simple response. One that we hadn’t seen before. Without missing a beat, he bent down, picked up the banana, pealed it, ate it in a single mouth full and, still chewing, took the corner.
Throughout the following week, countless numbers, world wide, have lobbied behind Alves in support, with the trend of taking selfies while eating bananas going viral. The impact was huge and the coverage extensive.
But what do Alves’ actions mean? Having a banana thrown at you and then choosing to pick it up and eat it – what does it achieve?
I don’t know if Danny Alves knew the impact his actions would quickly have – but in the moment, as he endured the abuse he had intermittently suffered throughout his 12 years playing in Spain, he took action. Now, he had taken action before; spoken out against the abuse and challenged football’s governing bodies, but on this occasion, he confronted the act in the moment. He elected not to ignore it, but both acknowledge and undermine it, all at once.
You have heard that it was said, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” 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. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well Matthew 5: 38-40
In Matthew 5 we read of turning the other cheek but there is a common misconception of what this means in practice. There can be a feeling that to turn the other cheek is an act of cowardice; to flee confrontation, ignore it and hope it goes away.
But turning the other cheek is not passive retreat – it is active participation. It is to engage directly with the conflict; the wrong doing; the evil that confronts us - and to rise above it. It is not turning away in fear but stepping forward in grace. It is a statement of God’s power that is greater than earth’s evil.
“Utterly brilliant from Alves”, wrote football pundit and ex professional Gary Lineker on twitter, “treat the racist berk with complete disdain”. But I don’t think he had understood the heart of Alves’ action. To treat with disdain would be to bow to a level of retaliation – take their eye for his eye – throwing the banana back and shouting abuse. What he did was something far more powerful. He made the act impotent and ridiculous – rising above it, not stooping to its eye line.
If you ignore evil and hope it goes away, it has a tendency not too. It has a tendency to shout louder, provoke harder, until some reaction is given. And if the torment will continue until there's a reaction, we must ensure our reaction is the right one.
To overcome it and overwhelm it is to address it and diminish it. Turning the other cheek is an act of positive confrontation. It is meeting the evil, addressing it head on and declaring yourself greater than it.
By fearing evil, we empower it. By acknowledging it, we over power it; we expose it's heart.