Breaking Cycles of Violence

Sunday Scriptures from the Narrative Lectionary

Psalm 84:1-4, 10-12

Luke 18:31-19:10

Hostility came to me this week in a phone call.

I was “chewed up one side and down the other” in such a manner as I have not been “chewed” for many, many years. The occasion of the call was surprising – I knew nothing about it. But the hostility was not.

Almost everyone is raw right now. For one reason or another, or a combination of a whole bunch of reasons, our nerves and emotions seem to be outside our bodies more often than they are in them. We try to clamp down and manage the pressure, to brush one more thing off, to distance ourselves.

But everyone has a breaking point, a point where one more thing causes us to lose our cool. And this person had lost their cool.

What was sort of funny about it was that I had no idea what they were talking about. I had not done what they thought I had done. But, rather than argue, I just listened to the entire vent and then said, “I am so sorry you are so frustrated. I imagine what you are dealing with is overwhelming.” I shared that I had no part in what they were speaking of, and then I sat in silence. And the anger began to dissipate.

This is one small story and one small exchange. It represents a much larger problem in our modern world. Incidents of hostility and violence are so frequent (in our lives or in what we watch and hear), we begin to think that violence and hostility are normal. We begin to think this is how the world is. We begin to think this is how we treat one another.

And hostile words and violent incidents chip away at our wellbeing. They make us tense and raw, even if we do not realize this is happening. They build up. And if we do not have grounding to get rid of this, we are likely to return it or forward it onto someone else. Or destroy ourselves by holding it in.

Violence and hostility gain strength and power the more they are fed and replicated. They become an ever-extending circle of “an eye for an eye.” Payback and retribution are forms of continued violence. Verbal occasions of demeaning someone else, calling them names, or “making a point” about someone are forms of violence. Taking our anger and frustration and putting it out on someone else who has no power or position to avoid receiving that anger and frustration is a form of violence. Justifying unjust words or actions is a form of violence. Hunger, homelessness, forced migration and other forms of chronic insecurity are forms of hostility and violence. Living with someone who threatens one’s wellbeing is a form of violence. The list goes on and on.

As long as it is returned, perpetuated, continued or paid forward, violence doesn’t stop. The cycle of hostility and violence must be broken.

Luke tells us that hostility and violence are coming to Jesus. Luke tells us in just a very few sentences what will happen to Jesus in Jerusalem: mocking, insulting, spitting, flogging, killing. This is the third passion prediction in Luke.

Jesus goes willingly because this is what Jesus needs to do. R. Alan Culpepper says, “The capacity to absorb hostility . . . is one of the secrets of God’s redemptive work. Violence always breeds more violence. Insult is met with insult, spit with spit, blows with blows, and killing with more killing.” Jesus did not return hostility and violence, he didn’t cultivate it or perpetuate it. Rather, Jesus had a super human ability to absorb hostility. He returned none of it. Absorbed it all. And in doing so, crushed it.

He crushed it that it might not be accepted as “normal” but rejected as defeated.

Thinking of the hostility that Jesus absorbed is enough to keep me silent for at least a few hours. And for what? Healing, welcoming, serving, taking the words of Scripture to have authority? He did nothing wrong and yet bore the blame and punishment for everything – past, present and future. Truly, he had a super human ability to absorb hostility. He took on our pain and bore our suffering (Isaiah 53:4).

My silence is extended recognizing that if we choose to follow him, we are called to do the same – to not forward hostility and violence, but absorb it, dispose of it, dissipate it. In the way of Jesus Christ, hostility and violence find their end.

Culpepper offers this:

“When those called of God to be his people absorb insult, hostility, and violence

 without returning it, three things happen: They grow spiritually, the level of violence

 is reduced, and the violent are transformed by the witness of love. The overcoming

 of hostility is never easy, however. The provision of forgiveness through the death

 of Jesus was achieved at infinite cost, and those who pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’

 must be ready to bear the cost of being a child of the kingdom. Otherwise, how

 shall God’s kingdom come?”

This Sunday is the last Sunday in the Lenten season before Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Luke gives us an opportunity this Sunday to stop and really ponder what it is that will happen in Jerusalem. What God will do in Jesus. And what then, if we choose to follow him, we must do.

If this is what we are to do, how do we do it? How do we who say we follow Jesus become people in whom hostility and violence are fed no more?

There are many helpful things we can do. I’ll share a few below. But before anything, it seems that we need to really sit in and on these verses from Luke and understand what it is that Christ has entered into. Until we understand what has been done on our behalf (not by anything we have done) can we begin to share this kind of grace and love with others.

I invite you to sit with these verses today. Read them aloud. Have a cup of tea over them. Talk about them with a friend or neighbor or family member. Why did Jesus go to Jerusalem? What would he find there? How would he respond there?

And then, how might we be people more like Jesus?

One way is to worship. The church is called to worship. In worship, we tend our wounds, we encourage each other, we challenge and deepen our faith, and we are sent into the outside into the world to be listeners, receivers, peacemakers. Christianity is not a solo religion. It is communal.

A second way is to dwell in Scripture. My personal capacity to deal with hostility fluctuates depending on how much time I spend in Scripture. One practice that I find immensely helpful is to read a Psalm every single day. The Psalms help build resilience and capacity for being Christlike in the face of hostility by grounding us, forming us, and assuring us. They are a tremendous resource. Participating in a Bible study is another way to dwell in Scripture. We are being formed all the time. If we want to be formed like Jesus, we need to be in Scripture.

A third way is to involve yourself in the community. We have become a lonely nation. Many people feel isolated. When we are isolated, we often feel vulnerable and feeling vulnerable is prime breeding ground for hostility. Instead, connect with and seek to engage with others. Reach out to someone who may feel alone.

Jesus started this journey into Jerusalem many chapters and verses ago in Luke (9:51). He journeyed to Jerusalem with intention, knowing what would take place there. He knew what would take place there and he still went! For us! For you! For everyone!

Ephesians 2:14-16 says: “¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”

May you find and dwell in the deep peace of Christ this day. And may you be a source of peace in a world that desperately needs it.

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Works Cited:

Culpepper, R. Alan. "The Gospel of Luke: Introduction, Commentary and Reflections" in The New Interpreter's Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes. Volume IX. Luke and Acts, p. 352.