Ironically, most violence comes from a deep desire for
justice. No one likes weeds in their
garden. And no one likes evil in the
world. We all would like to rid the
world of evil, which is probably why all the talk of good and evil so is
attractive. But the problem, says Jesus,
is that if we try to pull up the weeds from the garden we will rip the wheat up
too…The big question comes to be what to do with evil.
Shane
Claibourne
________________________
What do we do with evil?
It’s complicated!
What is evil?
Everyone has their own idea!
Evil are the LGBTQI+
Evil are the pro-choice people
Evil are those liberal (godless) socialists
Evil are
Evil are the authoritarians
Evil are the gun lovers
Evil are the greedy
Evil are
Evil are “they”
Those people
The fact is, there are a lot of ills in this world
A lot of people do things that harm other people
And damage the planet
And harm themselves
All up and down the spectrum
All means all
There is nothing wrong with understanding that this world
is a mess
That we human creatures are not living out our full
potential
As Sacred children
But there is a problem when we affirm our own purity
But labeling the rest of the world as dirty
And decide to weed the garden (Matthew 13)
The problem is when we move to redemptive violence
That is not the way God works
(even though we have insisted it is for so long)
The birth made it clear
The Beatitudes made it clear
The cross, above all, makes it clear
Redemptive violence is not the way
Dominance.
Control. Coercion. Punishment
Fear
Not the way
Violence doesn’t save; it only destroys in both the short
and long term.
For every Muslim extremist killed, another is birthed
As one peacemaker once noted:
“Drones, creating enemies faster than they can kill them”
(Benjamin Corey)
Gaza is not redemptive violence
It is just violence, creating another generation of
people with a reason to hate
As Claibourne and others have noted,
Violence begets violence
Hatred begets hatred
And love begets love
“Jesus replaced the myth of redemptive violence with the
truth of redemptive suffering. He showed us on the cross how to hold the pain
and let it transform us, rather than pass it on to the others around us.”
(Richard Rohr)
When we seek to destroy all that is not pure in the
world,
We end up destroying everything and evil flourishes
It is only when we seek to love our enemies
That evil will diminish
It seems illogical
And everything in our system screams against it!
Yes, but…
Yes, but…
But what if liberals instead of demonizing conservatives
Had sought to love them and listen to them?
What if those who prize fetuses sought to love the women
carrying them
And listened to their fear and pain?
What if?
I know
I know
It is complicated.
I am not saying I could do what Jesus did
Accept the injustice and cruelty
Look hate in the eye and say
“God forgive them”
I am not saying I know what to do with
The racists
Those who believe violence is the answer
Authoritarians who would destroy everything for their
egos
I am not saying I know what to do with those
Who lie, hate, horde, promote violence,
Those who harm
The pedophiles, the murders, the sexual predators
But I know that I am challenged to see them
The way Jesus sees them
To see that a spark of the Sacred still remains
And to enter into their fear and pain
And try
Try
As best I can to love them
Hoping to help them into newness even as I see newness
for myself
One of my favorite groups is the Dollyrots!
Yep
And they did a cover of Auld Lang Syne
In which they ask everyone to do two things every day in
the coming year
First, get up every morning and do something that makes
one’s self feel better
And then, second, do something for someone else that
makes them feel better
Not a bad way of living
Methinks
Love God
Then love self (in a healthy way)
Then love others
That is how redemption happens
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