Paradox: Was Jesus a pacifist?

   ²⁷ "But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.  - Luke 6:27-31

How can you love your enemies when you have a gun pointed at them? But what about Jesus overthrowing the tables of the sellers in the Temple? Can you love your enemies as you are driving them out and destroying their businesses?

   ¹² Then Jesus entered the temple^c and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³He said to them, "It is written,

   'My house shall be called a house of prayer';

       but you are making it a den of robbers."   - Matthew 21:12-13

I assume that Jesus forcefully, if not violently, driving people out and over turned their tables - I can't imagine people fleeing because Jesus asked them nicely to pack up and leave. That is not what the passage says either. But when violence happened in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus rebukes his disciples.

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. ⁵²Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵³Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?" ⁵⁵At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.  - Matthew 26:51-56

Jesus didn't want his followers to defend him. The statement that "all who take the sword perish by the sword", is not a positive statement about the use of violence. Does Jesus justify some forms of violence and not others? Is Jesus just forbidding violence with weapons?

But how should we reconcile Jesus' words when he says things like,

   ³⁴ "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

³⁵  For I have come to set a man against his father,

   and a daughter against her mother,

   and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

³⁶  and one's foes will be members of one's own household.

³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

You could interpret Jesus as saying that he is personally wielding the sword in judgment, but he is speaking about the violence that will result because of the response to his message and kingdom. He is speaking of the persecution that those who want to follow him will face.

But during his last celebration of Passover (the Last Supper) with his disciples, Jesus makes another reference to the sword,

   ³⁵ He said to them, "When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "No, not a thing." ³⁶He said to them, "But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. ³⁷For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, 'And he was counted among the lawless'; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled." ³⁸They said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." He replied, "It is enough."  -Luke 22:35-38

I have wondered what this means for a long time. I have heard people explain this away by saying that in verse 38 Jesus was telling them to shut up, as in "That's enough, now stop messing around." I don't think this is what he meant (haven't figured out verse 38 yet), but I also don't think he meant that his disciples should literally buy swords - because of what happened only a few hours later when one of the disciples cut the ear off the slave of the high priest and Jesus rebuked him. Jesus is recalling the ministry trip he sent the twelve on in Luke 10:5-15. With this in mind Jesus is trying to give his disciples of picture of what ministry will be like after he is arrested - he is telling them that if they were trying to establish an earthly kingdom then they would be wise to buy swords at this point because things are about to get violent for them. Even right after his commission in Luke 10, he goes on to warn them at that point about the coming persecution,

   ¹⁶ "See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. ¹⁷Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; ¹⁸and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. ¹⁹When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; ²⁰for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. ²¹Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ²²and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. ²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.  -Luke 10:16-23

A friend told me before that his Muslim friend told him that the Luke 22:36 reference shows that Jesus called for jihad.

I don't feel that I have answered the initial question, "Was Jesus a pacifist?" in this short and relatively surface level post, but hopefully it spurs you to think more deeply about Jesus' call to discipleship. I think one thing that we can be sure that Jesus communicated was that the world won't be pacifists towards him or his followers.

Plug: Josh Garrels

Really like this band. The album, Love & War & the Sea in Between is free to download at bandcamp.

 
As well, worth checking out is Daniel Bashta's album My Worship in Motion is also worth the donation at noisetrade.

What kind of teachering was Jesus giving?

Reading more of The Challenge of Jesus by N. T. Wright and really enjoying it. Spurring lots of fresh thoughts on Jesus and the gospels.

Jesus was not primarily a "teacher" in the sense that we usually give that word. Jesus did things and then commented on them, explained them, challenged people to figure out what they meant. He acted practically and symbolically, not least through his remarkable works of healing --- works that today all but the most extreme skeptics are forced to regard as in principle historical. In particular, he acted and spoke in such a way that people quickly came to regard him as a prophet. Though, as we shall see, Jesus saw himself as much more than a prophet, that was the role he adopted in his early public career, following on as he did from the prophetic work of John the Baptist. He intended to be preceived, and  was indeed preceived, as a prophet announcing the kingdom of God.

Particularly, the idea that Jesus did things and then commented on them really explains it well - Jesus' strategy of teaching.

And it was his remarkable healings, almost certainly, that won him a hearing. He was not a teacher who also healed; he was a prophet of the kingdom, first enacting and then explaining that kingdom.  ... Jesus' parables were not simply shrewd stories about human life and motivation. Nor were they simply childish illustrations, earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Again and again they are rooted in the Jewish Scriptures, in the Jewish narratives that were told and retold officially and unofficially.

NT Wright on Paul

History and Faith

We have been taught by the Enlightenment to suppose that history and faith are antithetical, so that to appeal to the one is to appeal away from the other. As a result, historians have regularly been suspect in the community of faith, just as believers have always been suspect in the community of secular historiography. When Christianity is truest to itself, however, it denies precisely this dichotomy---uncomfortable though this may be for those of us who try to live in and to speak from both communities simultaneously. Actually, I believe this discomfort is itself one aspect of a contemporary Christian vocation: as our world goes through the deep pain of death throes of the Enlightenment, the Christian is not called to stand apart from this pain but to share it. I shall say more about his in the concluding chapter. I am neither a secular historian who happens to believe in Jesus nor a Christian who happens to indulge a fancy for history. Rather, I am someone who believes that being a Christian necessarily entails doing business with history and that history done for all it's worth will challenge the spurious versions of Christianity, including many that think of themselves as orthodox, while sustaining and regenerating a deep and true orthodoxy, surprising and challenging though this will always remain.  -N. T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus

Parable of the Mustard Seed Mountain

   ³¹ He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; ³²it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."  -Matthew 13:31-32

What is this parable meant to teach us about the kingdom of heaven? Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of heaven (more often called "the kingdom of God"). He takes special care to try to fully describe this concept to his hearers. The concept must be very large and developed because Jesus uses many parables and teachings to describe it from many different angles and perspectives. This is just one of many times that he chose to explain it.

In this case, he is trying to contrast the humble origin of the kingdom with the fully mature result. Is Jesus talking about an actual kingdom or the result of the gospel being planted in someone's heart (similar the the Parable of the Sower: Matthew 13:1-23)? Which is it?

To answer this question we can look at other parables and teachings about the kingdom to get a better picture of what Jesus meant. We can also look at the Old Testament and try to understand the sources that Jesus was drawing from and expanding on to make his point. Depending on the teaching it might be easy to identify what passages from the Old Testament that Jesus is referencing, or it might be hard. I think that Jesus is helping his hearers understand by specifically giving an example of a tree in which birds come and nest in. Consider the following passage from Daniel,

¹⁰  Upon my bed this is what I saw;

       there was a tree at the center of the earth,

       and its height was great.

¹¹  The tree grew great and strong,

       its top reached to heaven,

       and it was visible to the ends of the whole earth.

¹²  Its foliage was beautiful,

       its fruit abundant,

       and it provided food for all.

   The animals of the field found shade under it,

       the birds of the air nested in its branches,

       and from it all living beings were fed.

   ¹³ "I continued looking, in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and there was a holy watcher, coming down from heaven. ¹⁴He cried aloud and said:

   'Cut down the tree and chop off its branches,

       strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit.

   Let the animals flee from beneath it

       and the birds from its branches.

¹⁵  But leave its stump and roots in the ground,

       with a band of iron and bronze,

       in the tender grass of the field.

   Let him be bathed with the dew of heaven,

       and let his lot be with the animals of the field

       in the grass of the earth.

¹⁶  Let his mind be changed from that of a human,

       and let the mind of an animal be given to him.

       And let seven times pass over him.

¹⁷  The sentence is rendered by decree of the watchers,

       the decision is given by order of the holy ones,

   in order that all who live may know

       that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of mortals;

   he gives it to whom he will

       and sets over it the lowliest of human beings.'

   ¹⁸ "This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are unable to tell me the interpretation. You are able, however, for you are endowed with a spirit of the holy gods."^{d
   19} Then Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar, was severely distressed for a while. His thoughts terrified him. The king said, "Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or the interpretation terrify you." Belteshazzar answered, "My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies! ²⁰The tree that you saw, which grew great and strong, so that its top reached to heaven and was visible to the end of the whole earth, ²¹whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and which provided food for all, under which animals of the field lived, and in whose branches the birds of the air had nests-- ²²it is you, O king! You have grown great and strong. Your greatness has increased and reaches to heaven, and your sovereignty to the ends of the earth. ²³And whereas the king saw a holy watcher coming down from heaven and saying, 'Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the ground, with a band of iron and bronze, in the grass of the field; and let him be bathed with the dew of heaven, and let his lot be with the animals of the field, until seven times pass over him'-- ²⁴this is the interpretation, O king, and it is a decree of the Most High that has come upon my lord the king: ²⁵You shall be driven away from human society, and your dwelling shall be with the wild animals. You shall be made to eat grass like oxen, you shall be bathed with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, until you have learned that the Most High has sovereignty over the kingdom of mortals, and gives it to whom he will. ²⁶As it was commanded to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be re-established for you from the time that you learn that Heaven is sovereign. ²⁷Therefore, O king, may my counsel be acceptable to you: atone for^e your sins with righteousness, and your iniquities with mercy to the oppressed, so that your prosperity may be prolonged." -Daniel 4:10-27

The verse 10-13 are the main source of my point, but I included the rest of the passage to note the final result of the great tree: it was humbled and cut down. Now contrast this to the humble beginning of the mustard seed. In Daniel chapter 2, which is a parallel passage to Daniel chapter 4 (see Daniel Chiasm), Daniel prophesies of an everlasting kingdom to come.

³⁴As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

³⁶ "This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. ³⁷You, O king, the king of kings--to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory, ³⁸into whose hand he has given human beings, wherever they live, the wild animals of the field, and the birds of the air, and whom he has established as ruler over them all--you are the head of gold. ³⁹After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything,^b it shall crush and shatter all these. ⁴¹As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the strength of iron shall be in it, as you saw the iron mixed with the clay. ⁴²As the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in marriage,^c but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever; ⁴⁵just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation trustworthy."   -Daniel 2:34-45

This is the kingdom that Jesus is connecting when he gives this parable. He is doing two things connecting the kingdom of heaven to the eternal kingdom in Daniel, but also giving his hearers more insight into what this kingdom will be like. We see that a stone was cut out and destroyed the great statue (also representing Nebuchadnezzar's Empire) and became a great mountain and a never ending kingdom.

It seems that Jesus was referring to himself as the seed (the stone cut without human hands) that grew into an eternal kingdom. Despite potentially interpreting some good theology from view his parable to be about the seed of the gospel planted in someone's heart, I don't think that was the intended point of the parable.