489 Clothman On War Part 2
As a veteran and the son of a veteran who has four siblings who are veterans and nephew who is about to deploy to Iraq, I’ve never had any real conflict between my Christian faith and the essential purpose and unfortunate necessity of war – until now.
I’ve been revisiting the words of Jesus and I’m shocked to find myself considering the militant notion that Jesus was a pacifist. I don’t know why I’m shocked; the idea of Jesus being the Chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff is laughable. In your wildest imagination have you ever pictured a young Jesus lopping off Goliath’s head as King David did? Isn’t Jesus wearing army boots and aiming a machine-gun at a foe infinitely more absurd than a penguin surfing sand dunes in the Sahara Desert?
Of course Jesus was a pacifist. But why didn’t I see that before? There are many reasons but two stand out. The first is that I live in a world whose order rests on violence. I’m only 50, born a decade after WWII, yet I’ve already lived through several wars and conflicts and have witnessed countless others around the globe. It is difficult to see Jesus as a pacifist because it is virtually impossible to contemplate life without war.
A second reason why I missed seeing Jesus as a pacifist is because, like most Christians, I allowed the apocalyptic Jesus of Revelation to override the crucified Jesus of the Gospels.
The crucified Jesus says: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.” “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder.” “Here’s what I propose: ‘Don’t hit back at all.’ If someone strikes you, stand there and take it.” (See Matthew 5:9; 21-22; 38-47). Instead of militarily saving himself (which he could have done), the crucified Jesus voluntarily laid his life down so as to bring peace to the world.
The apocalyptic Jesus, as most Christians have interpreted him, is the exact opposite. This Jesus is the ultimate war-maker. He rules with absolute power and authority and establishes a totalitarian society (the New Jerusalem) in which he only allows subjects who are completely loyal to him – all others are vanquished from his presence. Worse than being killed, the enemies of the apocalyptic Jesus are shown no mercy and are sentenced to endure horrific suffering forever and ever.
For years I’ve read long-winded theological arguments which desperately try to reconcile the crucified Jesus with the apocalyptic Jesus. “They are two sides of the same coin,” I can hear them say. “The crucified Jesus reflects God’s love and mercy and the apocalyptic Jesus reveals God’s justice and wrath. Only as we bring the two together will we see the whole picture of who God is.”
Balderdash! God is not schizophrenic and Revelation can’t supersede and blatantly contradict the Gospels. Yet, as history demonstrates, Christians have embraced the war-making, apocalyptic Jesus as glorious and rejected the crucified, peace-making Jesus as idealistic and fool hearty. What if we’ve misinterpreted Revelation and the apocalyptic Jesus never existed? What if he was manufactured to satisfy our appetite for power and revenge and the crucified Jesus is grieved beyond words because we’ve never given his words and example a chance?
More on war next week.
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