Jesus, Deliciously Odd 2

William Willimon’s book, Why Jesus?, is about Jesus. Each chapter sketches a theme about Jesus. Jesus, he says, was a “Peacemaker.” But… just what kind of a peacemaker?

“Prince of Peace Jesus was a threat to world peace.”

What do you think of these comments by Willimon? Is it possible to follow the Prince of Peace, the crucified Prince of Peace, and wage war? Can war be just? Would Jesus side with the pacifist case?

“The king they [shepherds] found was a defenseless baby lying in a manger. that’s God’s great answer to what’s wrong with the world? A baby to an unwed mother? An infant wrapped in rags, cast into a cattle feed trough?”

“The angels’ song is not only a birth announcement; it’s a war chant, a proclamation announcing a change of government.”

“At this point, honesty compels me to say that, if you are one of those people with great love for the government or reverent respect for the military that props up government, you will find Jesus a jolt to your sensibilities.”

“There are many rationales for the ‘just war,’ or for self-defense, capital punishment, abortion, national security, or military strength. None of them, you will note, is able to make reference to Jesus or to his words or deeds of any of his first followers.”

“At the heart of the universe is not dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest struggle and war. At the heart of it all is a God who is peaceful, loving, long-suffering, forgiving, and gracious. Jesus looks like God; God looks like Jesus.”

“God will fix things with this Jew from Nazareth who refused to fight back and who died not threatening, ‘One day, damn you, I’ll get even,’ but rather praying, ‘Father, forgive.'”

“Jesus appears to have had no interest in one of the world’s great, abiding illusions — justice…. Worldy attempts at justice always involve the strong imposing their wills upon the weak” (20).