Put away your sword, love your enemies

In the Mark gospel, Jesus tells a story about a violent peasant revolt spinning out of control. At first look, the story seems to lay the blame on the peasants with a moral lesson that poor people should not protest the control of the rich. To some the message is abundantly clear. Violence has a way of spinning out of control, so poor people need to be obedient to owners and rulers because the rich have the power to be even more violent than a bunch of out-of-control peasants.

Some interpreters go so far as to equate the absentee owner and almighty God.

If parables are discussion starters, this particular parable is a gem to start passionate conversation.

This particular parable is powerful when set into the violence of our modern world. Why are people so eager to kill other human beings? Violence dominates the news. The settings are different. Sometimes the setting is the Near East. The next report may be about a husband killing wife and children. With apprehension I tune in to the news knowing the next report may be about a student shooting teachers and fellow students with an automatic rifle. My response is why, why, why? Is cause found in unaddressed grievances? Is mental illness involved? Is our fast-paced living producing more tensions than some human beings can handle? Has the violence of television programming and movies made violence acceptable?

I conclude that the causes of violence are multiple and complex. Possibly I should lock my doors and leave the violence to the violent. Is becoming numb to the pain of others my better alternative?

However, being a Bible reading Christian how can I turn my back? The Mark 12 story pursues me, and I must read the story in the context of the enormous gap that had developed between the rich and the poor. The peasants, who made up most of Jesus’ listening audiences, were understandably upset. Living in poverty is not pleasant. How long do peasants endure their plight before armed rebellion looks like the only alternative?

Because of economics it is not surprising that Galilee, where Jesus did his teaching, had become the flashpoint of the violent Zealot movement. Given their lot in the economics of Galilee, the audience recognized themselves as the violent rebels in the story, who killed the servants of rich owners of the very profitable vineyards that provided fine wine for the rich.

I can only imagine the discussions and arguments that were generated by this particular story. On one side the peasants argued it was time for change, and violence was the only way. Jesus and his growing followers argued that there was a better way. The warning of Jesus should be heard. Violence begets violence. Violence does not produce winners. There may be pauses, but the spiral of violence reignites and becomes even more devastating.

Serious readers of the Jesus stories and aphorisms, have to be impressed with the audacity of the way of life that Jesus proposed. Evil was never met with evil. Evil was to be overcome with good. Enemies were to be loved. Service was to be prized beyond power. Swords were to be put away. Peacemakers were promised happiness. The reign of God was just around the corner.

The Zealots in the crowd thought Jesus to be a fool. They grew in number and strength, but they were wiped out in violence 40 years later. Jesus was killed a year or two later, but with resurrection power, he became a central person in human history.

Today Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee has more than 2 billion followers. The problem is that few of those followers are serious about following him on their earthly journey. The typical Christian church today continues to dabble with power and violence. In American churches they honor the U.S. military and post American flags in their sanctuaries.

It is reported that Jesus, just prior to his murder, looked over the city of Jerusalem and uttered “Oh that you could know the things that make for peace!” They did not learn the ways of peace and the city, including the Temple, were eventually destroyed along with the Zealots.

Those who pursue security of any kind through the use of violence will eventually be caught in the spiral of violence. That includes our beloved United States.

Put away your sword. Love your enemies. Do good for those who wrongly use you. Overcome evil with good. The alternative is the spiral of violence.