Jesus, A Pacifist

Jesus, A Pacifist

Some people believe Jesus was not a pacifist. One of the main reasons

is the fact that in the Old Testament there is mention of hundreds of

war in which the Israelites believed God was on their side. In these

wars there were often miraculous victories in which the losing city or

tribe were completely wiped out. Pacifists do not believe in fighting

in any form but Jesus mentioned these wars in his teachings.

In Luke 4: 18-19 it says, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because

he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to

proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable

year of the Lord." Jesus says that the spirit of the Lord was upon him

giving freedom to prisoners and releasing the oppressed. Many people

say that this could hardly be called peaceful because people would

object to that.

Jesus had at least one Zealot as a disciple. Zealots were a group of

people that had certain beliefs and wanted to have an outright war

against the Romans to annihilate them. Also, nowhere in the gospel

does Jesus say that all war is wrong and that you shouldn't fight.

In Mark 11: 15 it says, "He entered the temple and began to turn out

those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned

the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold

pigeons." Even though there is no evidence of anybody being hurt, this

is not the kind of thing a pacifist would have done. Most modern day

pacifists would never think of knocking tables over and driving

merchants out as true pacifism.

However there are also reasons for people to believe Jesus was a

pacifist. For example, quoting from Matthew 5: 39, "Do not resist one

who is evil. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him

the other also.