Best Armed and Most Violent

American inventor Dr. Richard Gatling patented his most famous invention in 1862. The Gatling gun was the first rapid-fire weapon. Ironically, Gatling wrote that he created it to reduce the size of armies and thus reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, and to show how futile war is.

The tragic irony of what eventually became the machine gun is not lost on any of us, yet there are still those who argue that the world is made safer by having more weapons in more hands. The tragic irony that America is both the best-armed and most violent industrialized nation seems to be lost on many.

Now, I know I am “preaching to the choir” and that most of us agree that there is a great need to have more common sense gun controls in place, yet if your church uses the common lectionary then this Sunday you will hear Jesus say:

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” but I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also …

If you have hung around the church much you have heard this passage. The idea of “turning the other cheek” is a cultural cliché that even the non-religious among us throw around. It could be argued that the non-religious take this commandment from Jesus about as seriously as those of us who are his disciples do.

Sit with that passage for just a moment and try to feel how startlingly radical it must have sounded to those who had never heard such a teaching. “You have heard it said.” The teaching of only taking measured revenge was considered compassionate and civilized and a faithful expression of faith, but then Jesus comes along and says that it isn’t enough. “Do not resist an evildoer.” Is that even humanly possible? What would that look like in practice in our lives? As someone who strongly believes in gun control, it is easy for me to want to call us to apply this teaching in that area. It isn’t nearly as easy for me to want to apply this teaching when someone does evil to someone I love, yet …

by Michael Piazza
Center for Progressive Renewal