Nonviolence Part 2 (Matthew 5:38-42)
Category : Blogpost
Let me clear up some common misunderstandings.
Nonviolence is not passivity. It is not letting people walk all over you. It is not refusing to confront injustice. Jesus was anything but passive. He drove moneychangers out of the temple with a whip and called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs. Nonviolence is a commitment to the means as well as the ends. You do not fight evil with evil. You fight evil with good.
Nonviolence is not weakness. It takes far more courage to absorb a blow than to strike back. It takes more strength to love your enemy than to hate them. Nonviolence is the way of the strong, not the weak.
Nonviolence is not naive about evil. It recognizes that evil is real and powerful. It simply believes that God’s way of overcoming evil is more powerful in the long run than violence. The early church grew under persecution, not by fighting back but by witnessing to the truth in love.
Living nonviolently starts small. It means choosing not to escalate an argument with your spouse. It means refusing to retaliate when someone insults you online. It means seeking reconciliation instead of revenge when a coworker wrongs you. It means raising children who resolve conflicts with words, not fists.
However, it also grows larger. It means speaking out against systems of violence such as mass incarceration, police brutality, war, and domestic abuse. It means finding creative ways to resist injustice without mirroring it. It means supporting peacemakers and reconciliation efforts in your community and around the world.
Nonviolence is not a one-size-fits-all answer to every complex situation. However, it is the direction Jesus points us. It is the way of the cross. Moreover, it is the only way to break the cycle of violence and open the door to true peace.
Stay tuned!