\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNon-Violence is one of the byproduct of \u201cloving your enemies\u201d {1}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In the history of our American culture, the \u201cHero\u201d motif has always captured our imaginations in the cinema world.\u00a0 We love to see the good guys prevail and the bad guys lose.\u00a0 It is just the dichotomy that we\u00a0enjoy to see at the movies. Take for example the new film: Avengers: Endgame (amazing movie, I recommend it.) This is the ending to a\u00a0twenty-two film and over a decade span, which stunning cinematic magic\u00a0has brought the\u00a0hero genre to the forefront of pop culture.<\/p>\n
Now, I get it.\u00a0Bringing these cherished comic book characters to life has definitely sparked the familiar essence<\/em> of good vs. evil\u2013which\u00a0has been imbedded in us as a species, since the\u00a0beginning. \u00a0Evil must be defeated for the good to survive and thrive. But, is the only way to destroy evil by violence?<\/p>\n
As I mentioned in a previous post<\/a>, the use of violence to prevent violence just doesn\u2019t work. As participants of the way of Christ, the use of violence is antithetical to what Jesus taught and died for. It is really a tough pill for our American way of life to swallow. Human history is soaked in the violent-blood of Cain instead of the enemy-loving blood of Christ. I get it. We all want to survive and not be destroyed and wiped out. But, are we willing to really believe in resurrection? Are we trusting on a death that leads to life?<\/p>\n
We \u201cChristians\u201d have taken the violence a little further along in the spiritual evolution <\/em>of Cain to following the blood of Abel. It\u2019s vengeance instead of just all out violence. Theologian Michael Hardin points out why we do the Eucharist for this very reason:<\/p>\n
\u201cHow many times have you read in a news report about someone being killed and the family calling for justice? How many times have you read or heard others say that someone who committed a criminal act \u2018got what they deserved?\u2019 Retaliation, eye for eye, lex talionis, is the way we humans do justice. This is the voice of Abel crying out from the ground for vengeance. \u201cCain bombed my city and killed innocent me, O God, now kill him to balance the books of the universe.\u201d We hear this voice in many of the Psalms where the singer, who is persecuted, cries out for revenge.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Yet, when we take the cup to drink the blood of our Victim, Jesus, Son of God, True Human, Lord of the Universe, is it revenge we hear? No, it is the cup of forgiveness. In his blood we find only forgiveness. There is no hint of revenge either now or in the future. All revenge or retaliation by God is forever forsworn. As the writer to Hebrews says, \u201cJesus\u2019 blood speaks a better word than that of Abel\u2019s.\u201d Jesus blood does not cry out for justice, his blood cries out for mercy\u201d.{2}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Beautiful! Mercy and forgiveness is what this new creation in The Universal Christ is all about! This is what stops evil. When we let go of the violence of Cain and the vengeance of Abel, we step into the flow of love that Christ showed on the cross: \u201cFather forgive them for they don\u2019t know what they are doing<\/em>.\u201d What a profound statement and a whole new way of interacting with our so-called \u201cenemies\u201d. If the cross shows us anything about God, it\u2019s revealing how God reacts to enemy violence: LOVE.<\/p>\n