Don't hit

I looked outside to see my 13-year-old neighbor beating on his 9-year-old sister, hitting her as hard as he could. I got upset at him, saying, “Don't hit! Stop hitting her, ever!” with a stern expression on my face.

“Don't hit?” he repeating quizzically with a half-grin. He was completely confused. I might as well have been saying, “Don't eat.” I turned and saw his mother behind me, who I had not realized was there. She looked just as confused.

I understand why. The mother is always hitting the children. The oldest son is always hitting his other siblings. The other children are always hitting each other. Violence is ingrained into them. The oldest boy even seems to take joy in it. When he's hitting one of his little sisters I get so mad I want to smack him across the face.

Wait.

Violence is ingrained into us.

I don't have to study sociology to understand why there is so much violence here. I can view the roots within my own heart. I can read it in the Bible from Genesis 3:5-8 to James 4:1-2. In case we think we come from a more civilized time, remember that the last century saw more people die in war than all previous centuries combined. In America we re-elected a president who makes up a list each week of people he wants to kill and before that a president who seemed to be listing countries he wanted to eliminate. Look at General Sisi's purge and its tens of millions of fans, or Putin's saber-waving and his hundreds of millions of fans. Read the internet comments under every story about an execution, drone attack, police shooting, serious crime, or Trayvon Martin. We are a blood-lustful people. And most of you reading this can understand why, because somewhere in your own heart you feel a capacity for violence as well.

If only it were all so simple!  If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them.  But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.  And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart? - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Jesus could not have been unaware of this the human tendency towards violent solutions. Judas handed him over to the executioner for 30 pieces of silver. Peter chopped the ear off of a man. James and John asked if they could destroy a village. The chief priests and elders spat in his face and beat him while sentencing him to die. The governor and his soldiers mocked him, lashed him, and nailed him to a cross. And the same crowds he spoke of love to shouted “crucify him!”

If Jesus was truly human, he may even have known the potential for this angry bloodlust in his own heart.

Yet he knew a way out.

The key was his recognition of the true enemy.

In Matthew 4:1-10, Jesus engages in an epic confrontation with the satan. Jesus defends himself not through violence, but through reliance on God. He rejects Satan's ways of false security, public glory, and worldly power (the ways of the world) in favor of meekness and trust in God. He exposed society's need to provide infinite goods for oneself (Matthew 4:3), the need to look amazing in the eyes of others (Matthew 4:5-6), and the need to wield control over others (Matthew 4:8-9). Jesus saw through these things and saw that the satan himself was the true enemy and defeated him. He released himself to fully love others and show them the way to God's kingdom. That way led to the cross, yet also to the resurrection. That way led to suffering, yet also to freedom. That way led away from the ways of the world and to true humanity.

Put aside the need to possess things.

Put aside the need to be praised by others.

Put aside the need to control others.

Love others with your full heart, knowing that the satan is the true enemy, not them.

Ask God to take your bloodlust and your violence away.

A bit at a time, let the Kingdom of God take possession in your heart.

In this, and only this, will we find victory.

And when you've glimpsed enough of this to begin to know what it means for yourself, personally, share what you've glimpsed with others, in love.

Only in this will the beatings ever stop.

Until then, pray for those who are beaten, raped, shot, injected, or bombed every day by those of us who are still learning to let God conquer our hearts. Messiah Jesus be with them.

Something Like Scales (Tom Wuest)

In our blindness, lead us down that road

In our ignorance, lead us down that road

In our violence, hate and indifference

We pray Lord you give us new sight

Let something like scales, fall from our eyes

Something like scales fall from our eyes

Jesus, lead us down that road

Lead us down that road