Sometimes I go way back in order to make myself be very present. Today I will begin reflections on a short book by Ronald Sider, Christ and Violence. He has been a voice for justice and peace and reconciliation for as long as I have been in the ministry.
The nonresistant person believes that the Sermon on the Mount precludes the Christian's use not just of lethal physical violence but also institutional force such as codes of behavior and laws with threats of punishment. The death principle is at work not only when a factory owner exploits his workers, but also "when a community tries to impose its standards of morality with the penalty of law." It is crucial, of course, to understand that this nonresistant stance is by no means apolitical merely because it rejects the economic power of boycotts and the political pressure of organized lobbying . Merely living out the full reality of Jesus' new community where the Old Age's dividing walls of race, class, sex, and nation have been transcended is a powerful political statement.
The life of the Jesus new community is a radical jump from the powerful communities that try to tell us everyday that they can and do rule us. It is a jump - or rather a leap - that trusts that the New Age of the Christ is already available to transform life. Whenever the power of the day attempt to rule us and control us we are invited to leap and then stand upon the promises of the Christ. In that way, this notion of a community that tries to "impose its standards of morality with the penalty of law" become an absurdity and it must be called that. Just take a look at how a few - probably two...maybe three - issues seems to have been raised up to a status in which we can be judged good or bad - eternally good or bad - depending on how we stand on these issues. Who cares about the welfare of all God's people...where do you stand on stem-cell research!?! I am so often in complete confusion as to how I am to enter into conversation with other followers of Jesus who want to turn our New Age life into mere antics about morality. It seems to me that as that continues to be the driving force in our public rhetoric, we continue to lose the meaning of the cross and the life that take us to it and through it to something radically new...forever.
Connection: I know I need a lot of help in keeping myself from being violent with my tongue. We cannot simple go along with whatever is said with the name of Jesus tacked onto it. At the same time, we must be able to listen to how each one of us can help the whole make some Good Friday sense of who we are to be.
Lord, God, there are so many ways to be sucked up into the powers of this world. We ask that your heart become our hearts so that as we look out into this day we will be pulled by one thing alone - your eternal love that brings peace to all. Praise to you, O Lord. Amen.
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