Yesterday, December 10, 2009, President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. Whether I think it was deserved or not is irrelevant. What concerns me is the statement made in his acceptance speech:
“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.
I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King said in this same ceremony years ago – “Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones.” As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King’s life’s work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there is nothing weak -nothing passive – nothing naïve – in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.
But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”
I don’t believe in war, neither do I believe in passivity. I believe Jesus has called us to a higher standard- I believe He has shown us a different way.
In His teachings, He tells His followers when our enemy slaps our face, we are to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-42). Shane Claiborne states: “He wasn’t suggesting that we let people sadistically walk all over us. Jesus taught enemy love with imagination. He points to disarming others. Jesus teaches us to refuse to oppose evil on its own terms… When hit on the cheek, turn and look that person in the eye. In the orderly Jewish culture, a person would hit someone only with the right hand. In some Jewish communities, if you hit someone with a left hand, you could be banished for ten days. So a person would have to use a backslap to hit someone on the right cheek with the right hand. It’s clear that Jesus described a backhand, like an abusive husband to a wife, or a master to a slave. It was a slap to insult, degrade, humiliate. But by turning the cheek, the person made the abuser look them in the eye, and the abuser could only now hit them with a fist, as an equal. By turning the other cheek, the other person said, ‘I am a humanbeing, made in the image of God, and you cannot destroy that.’
We see a Jesus who abhors both violence and passivity, who carves out a third way that is neither submission nor assault. But all of this makes sense only if you realize that Jesus is not talking about the best ways to successfully win the age-old battle to restrain evil. He has an entirely different way of viewing evil. His way teaches that evil can be opposed without being mirrored, oppressors can be resisted without being emulated, enemies can be neutralized without being destroyed.
Look into the eyes of the ones who are hardest for you to like, and see the One you love. For God loves good and bad people…”
I’ve heard over and over that maybe this works for the individual, but it doesn’t work on a national and international level. I’ve heard it said that this is not practical; that Jesus’ teachings aren’t relevant to our current situations. I disagree.
What if turning the other cheek doesn’t work? How many times do we turn the other cheek before we revolt?
” Jesus taught not only how to live in the kingdom of god, but also how the kingdom of God lives in the empire of Herod:
‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone weas sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seeds in your field? Where, then, did the weeds come from?’
‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned, then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ – Matthew 13:24-30
This parable shows how Jesus feels about ‘ridding the world of evil.’ You cannot easily distinguish the weeds from the wheat. It’s not so easy to say “we are all good and they are all evil.” Only God has the right to judge. And in destroying evil, you might destroy some good. Jesus practiced what He preached. He showed no sign of associating only with “good” people and leaving out the “bad.” He not only cared for the poor, he cared for the powerful Roman centurion who was illegally policing his country.
Jesus’ weed and wheat parable was not meant for heaven; it was not a utopian dream. It invoked heaven onto earth. Jesus recognized the presence of evil but chose to deal with it through active nonresistance, patience, and hope.” (Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne)
When we wage war on others, we kill not only those who feel are deserving (the “bad” people), we kill the innocent lives who have had nothing to do with the actions of others. We kill the children, the babies, the mothers who are trying to protect their children from a war that wages day and night; we kill sisters, brothers, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, best friends.And while it may be easy to think it so, it is not true that these lives are more important than the lives of those who are the ‘bad’ or ‘evil’ ones. We must remember that they, too, are created in the image of the Living God. Who are we to ever decide who should get to live and who should get to die? What makes our lives more important, more valuable than theirs?
Obama said that nonviolence would have never stopped Hitler. Did we try it? Then, how do we know? I believe with all my heart that it shows more character and strength, and reflects Jesus more greatly, to look at the enemy, the oppressor, the evil one and say “I would rather die than to use the life God has given me to take life from another.”
It may take time, but Love will overcome. Love spreads slowly- but with great strength and power. We can be bold, radical, active, and still be loving. We can fight wars and genocide and inequality with brave words and hope and creativity instead of with fists and guns and bombs.
This is not an idealist view. It may not be what we consider realistic, but Jesus did not call us to live practical, logical lives. Nothing about him fits nicely into the box in which people have tried for so long to force him. He was radical, but He was not violent. He was bold, but He was loving. He changed everything, and He expects us to do the same, through Him.
