{"id":256,"date":"2009-03-05T08:05:44","date_gmt":"2009-03-05T08:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/comment-of-the-day-2-2.html"},"modified":"2009-03-05T08:05:44","modified_gmt":"2009-03-05T08:05:44","slug":"comment-of-the-day-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/comment-of-the-day-2-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Comment of the Day 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

More on the Sermon on the Mount<\/a>, now from Mark Van Steewyk<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Hrmpfh. I could write volumes in response to the different
\nassumptions and assertions already popping up here. But I’ll try to
\nkeep it brief. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

First of all, the silly “knife to my child and wife” thing is such a tired counter-response. I recommend John Howard Yoder’s “What Would You Do<\/a>”
\nas an excellent, thoughtful, short response (that even includes an
\narticle from Janis Joplin). If you are seriously interested in how the
\nnonviolent person responds to the issue of the lone knifeman, please
\ncheck it out. If you are interested, but don’t want to shell out the 10
\nbucks, please email me at mark [at] missio-dei.com and I’ll actually
\npay for it myself and ship it to you. Seriously. I want to do my small
\npart to get people to stop using that argument. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Regarding the passage where Jesus tells his disciples to carry
\nswords: Jesus tells his disciples to each have a sword…they feebly
\nrespond that they have two already…Jesus gets frustrated. And later,
\nwhen he’s arrested, Jesus rebukes Peter for using one of the two swords
\nthat they already had.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

What’s the point? Why does Jesus tell them to have swords? Given the
\ncontext and Jesus’ larger teachings on nonviolence he was trying to
\nmake a larger point that his disciples were too obtuse to get. Which is
\nwhy he told them “Enough of this!”<\/p>\n

Jesus is being ironic. It is the only thing that makes sense of the
\npassage. Jesus, on his way to being arrested, knows that the time of
\ntrial has come. And in order to prepare them for the hostility that is
\nto come, tells them, in effect, to posture themselves for war.<\/p>\n

But they take Jesus literally, still unable to interpret the words
\nof their Master in a way that fits with his overall teaching on the
\nKingdom of God. Jesus’ words mustn’t be taken as justification for
\narmed resistance or self defense. Rather, he is calling his disciples
\nto face the coming confrontation boldly, doing revolution in the way he
\ntaught them. Jesus taught them a peaceful way to resist the Enemy.
\nPaul’s teachings on resisting the powers (rather than flesh and blood)
\naren’t his innovation–they flow out of the teaching of Christ. Yet
\nhere, in this passage, at this point in the story, the disciples still
\ndon’t get that.<\/p>\n

At any rate…it seems clear to me (whether you read this as simply
\nJesus fulfilling prophecy so that he can fulfill Isaiah 53 or you see
\nJesus as being ironic) that this passage simply cannot be used to
\nlegitimize self-defense. That isn’t the point…and the context actually
\nrefutes that point.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More on the Sermon on the Mount, now from Mark Van Steewyk: Hrmpfh. I could write volumes in response to the different assumptions and assertions already popping up here. But I’ll try to keep it brief. \ud83d\ude42 First of all, the silly “knife to my child and wife” thing is such a tired counter-response. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-comment-of-the-day"],"yoast_head":"\nComment of the Day 2 - The New Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/comment-of-the-day-2-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comment of the Day 2 - The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More on the Sermon on the Mount, now from Mark Van Steewyk: Hrmpfh. I could write volumes in response to the different assumptions and assertions already popping up here. But I’ll try to keep it brief. \ud83d\ude42 First of all, the silly “knife to my child and wife” thing is such a tired counter-response. I…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/comment-of-the-day-2-2.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The New Christians\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-05T08:05:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Jones\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Comment of the Day 2 - The New Christians","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/03\/comment-of-the-day-2-2.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Comment of the Day 2 - The New Christians","og_description":"More on the Sermon on the Mount, now from Mark Van Steewyk: Hrmpfh. 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