As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes.” – Luke 19:41-42
I think of the verses above a lot when I watch or read news about Palestine and Israel. Both sides have used violence as a way to bring themselves peace, but the violence has continued. Israel occupies the Palestinian territory; some of the Palestinians turn to terrorism. Israel then uses its military to punish Palestine. This is not a cycle that will ever lead to peace. Both sides see themselves as the victims, both sides see themselves as protecting their own.
It is very human to want revenge. I remember right after 9-11; I wanted the USA to punish the group responsible. I wanted us to teach them a lesson. That feeling started to fade after a few months. Then came the ramp up to the Iraq war, that changed my view of war. Iraq was of no real threat to us; it seemed we valued our lives over others. These experiences and reading the Bible over has caused the whole peace through violence idea to completely fall apart.
The Old Testament might seem like a strange place to start. There are many stories of war, where one nation has God on their side that leads to the destruction of another nation however, we see right from the start in Genesis after Cain killed Abel. While God does punish Abel and makes him a “restless wanderer of the earth”, he does not use violence to take his life, in fact he provides him protection.
Genesis 4:15 – But the Lord said to him (Cain), “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
This is quickly abused when Lamech escalates the violence, first by killing someone that wounded him then by claiming how much worse the one that kills him will get.
Genesis 4:23-24 – Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
The Psalms are songs, poems and prayers of people calling out to God. Often in praise and worship of God, but also in anger and anguish. The verse below portrays a horrifying image of repaying violence with a greater violence.
Psalm 137:9 – Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.
As we move through the Bible story, we find God’s plan for salvation to the world. He will bless the world through one person: Abraham.
Genesis 12:2-3 – “I (God) will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
As we move through the Bible; we see a slow progression from one person to a family that grows into a large group and becomes the ancient nation of Israel. We see the blessing largely follow this progression. It can be hard to understand all the violence, however, it seems important to note that the blessing and God’s message is still limited to Israel (and Judah). With Israel, in the law of Moses, we see God reducing the violence. The biggest example is eye for an eye…
Leviticus 24:17-21 – “Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death. Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution—life for life. Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a human being is to be put to death.”
These verses often are looked at from today looking back, while in some ways this seems severe to modern post resurrection ears, it was clearly meant as a way to reduce retaliation. This was a stepping-stone and an important one. If we look at powerful countries today, they kill many times more in retaliation then. This is true of the USA after 9/11 and of the current situation in Israel/Gaza. If those in power lived up to this “unfulfilled” law, it would reduce the violence.
However, Jesus fulfills the law and calls for a new way –
Matthew 5:17 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Matthew 5:38-39 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
Matthew 5:43-44 – “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Jesus backs this up with his path to the cross. His message leads to serious conflict with those in early power; the government and the religious leaders. Jesus does not use violence to fight back, nor does He allow His followers to use violence in His defense.
Jesus warns His followers that He must suffer and be killed. They do not get it; they have seen miracles; they know he has the power to defend and even kill those that oppose Him. No one would allow themselves; but Jesus knows the true way to peace. The way to peace God had in mind from the beginning. Jesus is about to show it.
Luke 9:21-22 – Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Jesus rebukes Peter when he tries to use violence to defend Jesus.
Matthew 26:52 – “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
Jesus’s kingdom is not of this world, His kingdom has no borders, it is all about love for all of God’s children, which is everyone. Each life is very valuable to Him and He expects them to be valuable to us.
John 18:36 – Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Jesus tells us that we also need to be willing to sacrifice our lives to bring about the message of Jesus, without resulting to violence.
Luke 9:23-25 – Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?”
God has a way to peace, not only for Israel and Palestine, but for everyone. We as Christians are called to love in the face of hate; to shine light into stark darkness. I often get depressed about the current embrace of violence for both individual problems and for national issues. However, if we look at the long term we see, the death penalty is down worldwide; the likelihood of death by violence was 50 times higher in the ancient world; the murder rate in the US is about a third of colonial times. I think we are in a time of backsliding; we see gun sales up; and military spending up worldwide, but it is three steps up and two back; being in the two back can be misleading. No matter: God is in charge; we are called to follow Jesus and one day we will see peace.
