1 sn The phrase strikes you on the cheek probably pictures public rejection, like the act that indicated expulsion from the synagogue.
2 sn This command to offer the other cheek as well is often misunderstood. It means that there is risk involved in reaching out to people with God’s hope. But if one is struck down in rejection, the disciple is to continue reaching out.
3 tn Or “cloak.”
4 tn See the note on the word “tunics” in 3:11.
5 sn The command do not withhold your tunic either is again an image of continually being totally at risk as one tries to keep contact with those who are hostile to what Jesus and his disciples offer.
6 sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.
7 tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”
8 tn Grk “God and mammon.” This is the same word (μαμωνᾶς, mamwnas; often merely transliterated as “mammon”) translated “worldly wealth” in vv. 9, 11.
sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. God must be first, not money or possessions.