Conservative Christians have recently taken up the point of view that Jesus was not a pacifist. Why? To justify their own advocacy of violence. Violent and aggressive foreign policy, brutal violence by law enforcement, and other uses of violence in society. They will point to evidence of Jesus saying he “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” as a justification for violence and that Jesus advocated violence.
This was of course, another problematic usage of metaphorical language by Jesus, in which he uses symbolism of taking up swords, as a metaphor for ‘challenging the status quo’. (His way of saying, I have come here to stir things up!”)
This results in modern Americans using that to defend gun ownership, killing people for any reason despite Jesus clearly saying love thy neighbor and turn the other cheek. Since they can’t reconcile the fact that Jesus taught peace on one hand, but also used metaphors involving use of swords, they just cherry pick the verses that suits their personal preferences and agendas, in their case, gun ownership or brutal police violence.
Jesus Flipping Over Tables
The other common argument to explain that Jesus was not a pacifist, was his lashing out at vendors at a temple using a whip made out of cords. Visual Imagery depicted in the arts is popular amongst staunch defenders of the second amendment and gets used often to prove their point that Jesus completely approved of violence whenever he felt like it was appropriate.
Their takeaway of the story fails to observe the most important aspect of the story, which is that Jesus, often referred to as “The Son of Man”, was also a human being. So yes, while in addition to being a “Son of God” (as we all are), he was still a human, subject to the same weaknesses to ego, anger and violence that we all are as humans.
The Christian mythos that he was a perfect flawless supreme being could not possibly be true, since ultimately he is still God incarnate in human form. His actions at the temple ultimately violated his own lessons of preserving peace and being a peacemaker. Christians often forget that Jesus was also human, and he nicknamed himself “The Son of Man” to emphasize that he was not only human but also that others could achieve what he had achieved.
This should be good news to everyone. The fact that the prince of peace could stumble into an egoic bout of anger while also being the most enlightened being in his city, means there is hope for us yet, as we all have the opportunity to bounce back from slipping up into our weaknesses.
The lesson and takeaway should not be “Hey, if Jesus can tear things up in a violent rage, I guess it’s okay for me too!”
It’s remarkable that people think that someone slipping up on their own beliefs would suggest they also decided to abandon their entire ideology and belief system.
Leave a Reply