Reacting to Violence

I heard a sermon this morning that really caused me to do a lot of thinking.  The scripture was Luke 10:1-12 where Jesus is sending out the seventy-two disciples to go and spread the word about Him.  In this passage Jesus says,

 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

It made me think about reactions to the shooting in Oregon, the latest in a long line of shootings.  Many of my friends think that being armed themselves is the answer to the problem, but I just can't think that this is the response Jesus would call us to.  I understand the right to bear arms that is guaranteed in our Constitution, but I can't help but believe that my decision to follow Christ often leads me to live and act in ways that are different than my American culture expects or finds acceptable.

How do Jesus' life and teachings lead us to react to violence?  Is there any teaching of Jesus that would lead us to believe that we should arm ourselves against our enemies?  In the passage above He sends out the disciples "as lambs in the midst of wolves."  Lambs are totally defenseless. Wolves want to devour lambs.  That's the relationship of the disciples to their enemy, and Jesus doesn't send them out with a sword.

Jesus' death on the cross certainly shows us that he didn't resist the violence perpetrated against him.  He had the power to blow all his enemies away, but he chose to submit to the violence in order to defeat its power.

God has called to live a life of love, including love for our enemies.  I John 4:18 tells us that "perfect love casts out fear," but I think the corollary of that statement is true too.  Fear casts out perfect love.  These shootings cause us to lash out in hate and fear, and Christ calls us to react in a different way.

There's also the idea that our warfare and weapons should look different from the warfare and weapons of the world.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

And what are our weapons?  The fruit that the Spirit of God grows in our lives... love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.  "Against such there is no law."

Any ideas that call us to be non-violent are counter-intuitive to our culture.  They cause us to bristle and turn away.  But what if they are much closer to the reaction Jesus would want from us?  These thoughts are not new.  They certainly hark back to Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.  They weren't popular with people then either, but they proved effective when put into practice by these leaders.

So I put these thoughts out there, knowing that they will be met with scorn from many of my friends.  But I think it's very important for you to know that there are people in your life, in your family, in your community who think that taking up arms is not the answer to the violence we find in our society.