All I will want to do is sit in God's magnificent presence. I can't speak on behalf of Jesus, I would never want to as I am human and I would most definitely screw it all up. But I do believe that we can examine the nature of Jesus through studying the word and understanding these three things: how Jesus Lived, how he Died, and how he Loved. Over a series of articles, I want to flesh out some thinking around the ideas of warfare and violence in a way that is entirely shaped by the life, death and love of Jesus.
As it was during the time of the Crusades, and even as we find ourselves now, Christians have always found a way to justify the use of violence, war or militarised responses in the name of Jesus. For reasons of conquering evil, securing borders, restoring the nations, or the right to self-defence, many followers of Christ feel as though they are entitled to take up the sword.
I have definitely struggled in my own faith journey with reconciling the seemingly violent God of the Old Testament, who reappears in the book of Revelation, and the God of the New Testament – Jesus Christ. Such freedom I found when confronted with the revelation of understanding that all reality stands in Christ alone. That nothing in the Old Testament can ever be reconciled, on par, or at competition with Jesus.
Jesus trumps everything. In Colossians, Paul refers to the judgements under the old law as a shadow of the things that were to come. "The reality, however, is found in Christ" (Colossians 2 verses 16-17). For this reason, I believe we can only read the Old Testament, in light of the reality of Christ. The same rule applies to understanding the most misunderstood and abused book of the bible, the Revelation. As I will expand on further in this series, Revelation must be read through the lens of Christ on the cross. A warrior who has not come to shed blood, but to have His blood shed for us in self-sacrificial love. We worship a warrior of a battle that has already been won at Calvary. He was squished, pressed, and trampled on – His robe dripped in blood not from the slaughter of God's children, but in the blood that cleanses us and makes us white again.
This is only the Beginning
Further along in this series, I will be delving deep into scriptures relating to Jesus and the sword, scriptures that have often been misunderstood, or simply twisted, in order to serve an agenda for violence. Before I do this, I want to provide a foundation of thought-provoking ideas that allow us to enter into a world of non-violent faith. It's a world that challenges us far more than the world of violence ever could. Sometimes it is easy to view Jesus in a highly spiritualised, even romanticised way that forgets how he lived and died in a world that was as violent and conflicted as our own.
Jesus lived in a time of intense racial discrimination and class conflict, imperialism, and political repression as well as oppression of the poor. Let us not forget that it was the ruling political leadership at that time which enabled our Christ to be convicted as a criminal and hung on a cross. If anyone can relate to the state of the world we are in now, it is Jesus. Jesus provides the perfect example of how one must conduct themselves amidst the challenges of war, famine, political repression, conflict and threats to life. Jesus chose non-violent love without compromising His insistence upon justice.
As Ched Myers says, there will always be struggle for the Kingdom of God in "a world held hostage by tyrants, terrorists, militarists, and kingpins, unaided by ambivalent religious leaders and insular academics." Yet Jesus has shown us a new Way, and He invites us to enter in to a new Kingdom that fights only with swords of truth, in warfare that is strictly spiritual. For Jesus said, "mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind" (John 18 verse 36). In other words, if Jesus was part of the worldly order His disciples would have used violence in order to protect him from being arrested and murdered.
But Jesus, concerned only with doing the Father's will, allowed himself to be handed over and sacrificed. He subjected Himself to the most violent of crimes, in order to overcome violence once and for all. Writing in 220 AD, Tertullian concludes: "Only without the sword can the Christian wage war: The Lord has abolished the sword."
Love
The first key in learning how to live peacefully in a violent world is realising that everything comes back to love. Everything. It was in the name of Love that Jesus laid down His life for us. Love that moved the Father to watch his Son, a human display of the Father Himself, to die an agonising, humiliating, sinner's death. Truly, we can never comprehend the price that was paid for us in the name of true love.
We have been brought near to God through the greatest sacrifice of all time Christ (Ephesians 2 verse 13). We may have memorised the whole bible, have a PhD in Theology, be the Pastor of a mega church, stand up for justice, serve twice a week in the church or have a ministry that is saving the world. But, if it's not clothed in love, it's worthless (1Corinthians 13).
If the end product is not outrageous radical love that affirms the infinite worth of the person right in front of you, it simply just does not matter. Ouch. When I woke up with that revelation, it really hurt. Actually it still hurts. Does God seriously want us to love everyone? To affirm the infinite worth of criminals, murderers, terrorists and traitors? Must we really find ways of intelligently and compassionately expressing that Jesus died for them too?
To live is Christ, to die is gain
What is mercy if not undeserved grace bestowed? Someone wiser than myself asked this epic question and I must admit, it rattled my feathers a bit. The answer is obvious, and therein the problem lies. How on earth are we expected to bestow undeserved grace upon someone as evil as Hitler, terrorists as uncompromising as Hamas, regimes as unforgiving as the Burmese military? When we are attacked with brutality or bear witness to the most heinous crimes, does following the non-violent way of Christ mean we simply surrender and hand over our lives?
Is it enough to have the peace of Christ to free us from feeling like we need to take matters into our own hands? Jesus said, "If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 16 verses 24-25). Did Jesus mean this in literal terms? Spoiler alert: this series may bring some bad news to followers of Christ who are determined to protect the life of his own … or the land of his nation.
I'm going to tell you how the story ends before showing you how I got there: the inevitable conclusion I have come to is that crucifixion is the only way to win. The only way we can truly enter into the mindset of Christ is by being crucified with Christ (Galatians 2 verse 20). By crucifying our selfish ambitions, fears and insecurities we enter into, and dare I say, usher, the Kingdom of God. Jesus Christ subverts all notions of power, strength and kingship. The Mighty Lion becomes the Slain Lamb, resisting evil with love. We are called to trust in the power of the Lamb, that which is weak in the eyes of the world, but the only way we can overcome.
Spiritual Warfare
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6 verse 12)
Jesus was a member of a community that suffered great discrimination at the hands of worldly powers and authorities. His people were poor, oppressed, attacked and humiliated. He himself was to be subjugated to the same powers of evil and terrorism that would ultimately take His life in the most nightmarish way. Yet Jesus did not resist with violence. He spoke words of truth and proclaimed justice in radical ways that undermined authority, threatened national security and protested against mainstream society.
Never do we see Him entertain the thought of, engage or condone taking up arms in physical battle. Jesus was bestowed with all the powers of heaven and earth, but He chose to enter into the world as a servant and leave it as a slain lamb.
Even more incomprehensible is that in His dying hour, He reached out to the criminal beside Him and welcomed him into an eternal kingdom with God. Jesus could not bear to watch a child of God perish without knowing the Father and having the opportunity to inherit eternal life. Our desire should be that of Jesus'. To win hearts for Him, even at the cost of losing our own lives. How God's heart must ache every time a child of His perishes without having the chance to know Him. No one is deserving of His grace, and yet He wants every single person to manifest His love and enter into fullness of life.
Let us tremble at the thought of participating in any action that would take away this life in all its fullness. Indeed, any action that would prevent a child reconciling with his Father and Maker through the sacrifice of the Christ.
The end of the beginning
In my next article I will look more closely at representations of Christ and His use of the sword. My hope is that it will help us to navigate the following contentions. How can we resist violence in such a violent world? Is war ever justified? Should we use violence in self-defence or in the defence of others? What about humanitarian intervention? How do we explain the violent imagery of Revelation and the seemingly brutal return of the Christ? We will never know the perfect answers to these questions, but as we challenge ourselves to see with new eyes and read the word of God through the lens of Christ the Lamb that was slain, beautiful truths are slowly unravelled.
"I serve Jesus Christ the eternal King. I will no longer serve your emperors… It is not right for a Christian to serve the armies of this world" – Marcellus the Centurion, spoken as he left the army of Emperor Diocletian in 298 AD.
Bex Silver is originally from Auckland, New Zealand and is currently living on the Thai-Burma border working to help people displaced by war in Burma. Delicious Thai and Burmese food is a welcomed bonus! She has a Masters in International Development and is passionate about advocating for social justice through her writing.
Bex Silver's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/bex-silver.html