I find Nicholas Wolterstorff helpful here. See his book Justice in Love, p.120 and following. He argues that Jesus says “do no resist the evildoer”, but means something else by it. In fact, almost no one thinks they should never resist evil. Non-violent resistance is also resistance. So there’s nothing here like a call to non-violence. Taken literally, it is a call to full non-resistance.

Wolterstorff interprets the injunction in the context of the Sermon. He thinks Jesus rejects the reciprocity code in the Sermon. I.e., it is not true that if I do you a favour, you owe me a favour; or that if I harm you, you may harm me in return. There may be other reasons to use force, but retribution under the reciprocity code is not one of them.

Hope that helps,