Bondage to Self

So, I am still reading through Matthew, and currently am part way through a slow reading of the Sermon on the Mount. I was reading through the "turn the other cheek" verses and thinking about what it may mean about non-violence and pacifism etc. when it occurred to me that maybe this verse is actually about something different. I wonder if at the heart of it this verse is really about pride. The verses that follow have less to do specifically about violence and yet they are grouped together. If someone sues you for something, give them more than what they expect, even to the point of being naked! If they force you do do something, do more than they expect. Add to this the turning of the other cheek, a conscious choice not to retaliate to an overtly insulting and violent act and I start to see this chunk as a comment on avoiding pride. What is it that often leads us to want to retaliate, or return violence with violence? It is pride..."you can't do that to me"..."I will show you"...etc. Our ego is hurt so we fight back. The last point in this passage ask us to give to anyone who asks and not to turn away from one who wants to borrow. It challenges us to turn away from our self interest and to the interests of others around us. This whole chunk from Matthew 5:38-42 could really be a call away from pride and self interest, the bondage to self that sin creates, and a call to turn to others in love.
So, it got me thinking...could this really be the heart of the whole Sermon on the Mount? I have been going back, and then reading forward and asking if this theme of bondage to self could really lie beneath all that Jesus shares in this famous chunk of teachings. Have a look and tell me what you think. Does it fit, or are there some sections for which that would be a big stretch? I would be interested in what you observe.
Whether it is a current running through the entire sermon, or just some parts of it, it should come as no surprise. Reading this sermon during the advent season, I am reading it in light of the Christmas story. There is perhaps no greater example of humility and turning from oneself then the story of the divine High Prince leaving the glories of the heavenly realm, power, prestige and status, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, to be born as a human baby in a far of nowhere special place and put in a feed trough because there was no room for you.