Was Jesus Violent?

Of course, it depends what you mean by violence (see below), but it’s still a good question: Was Jesus violent? Those who contend for a more pacifist view distance Jesus from violence while some today think Jesus participated in violence.

A big issue in intellectual studies about violence is defining violence:

Violence is physical, emotional, or psychological harm done to a person by an individual(s), institution, or structure that results in serious injury, oppression, or death.

Eric Seibert, in his new book, Disarming the Church, takes up the same big topic — violence and the church and the Christian and Jesus — and offers a pastoral theology of non violence with responses to claims for violence in the church. This is an important new study and worthy of serious reflection and discussion. The problem is that many don’t think this is even a problem.

How do people respond who say violence today is justifiable because Jesus himself was involved in violence? Seibert’s summary:

Those who wish to argue that Jesus was violent, and that he taught his disciples to be violent, need to do more than just highlight a few texts they believe support that claim. They need to explain how the full force of Jesus’ life and teachings point in that direction. How do Jesus’ teachings about serving others, forgiving offenders, and loving enemies imply that his followers are to be violent? How does Jesus’ explicit rejection of violence on numerous occasions, along with his willingness to suffer and die on the cross, fit with assertions that he was violent? We dare not allow a few apparent outliers to dictate our view of Jesus, especially when these passages can reasonably—and I would argue most accurately—be interpreted in ways that are consistent with the nonviolent view of Jesus that dominates the New Testament.

So, what’s the big picture of Jesus’ ethical vision?

Followers of Jesus serve rather than dominate (Mark 10:42-45).

Followers of Jesus forgive rather than retaliate (Matt 5:43-45; Col 
3:13)

Followers of Jesus suffer harm rather than inflict it (1 Pet 2:21; Mark 8:34-35).

Followers of Jesus Repay Evil with Good rather than More Evil (Luke 6:27-28; Rom 12:14, 17-21).

Followers of Jesus love rather than hate: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

How, then, do the so-called violent actions of Jesus — his use of whip in the temple courts, his far from clear statement about taking up a sword, and even his strong words for the Pharisees in Matt 23 — fit into this pattern of ethics? If you choose one you have chosen on the basis of which you prefer. If you mesh them, the preponderance of the former outweighs by far the latter.