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Nonviolence for the Violent
by Walter Wink
at the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship GA
Peace Breakfast
Louisville, Kentucky
June 13, 2001
This talk was given by Dr. Walter Wink, professor at
Auburn Seminary and author of such noted books as Engaging the
Powers, Violence and Nonviolence in South Africa, and The
Powers That Be.
Thanks to Marilyn White for the transcript of this
presentation, which has also been published in the September 2001
issue of ...Briefly, the newsletter of the
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.
In a violent world, how do we deal with Jesus' advice?
Our society and our world is wracked by violence, and it seems to take
all sorts of forms, but the thing that's most disturbing and comes into
such sharp focus in the execution of Timothy McVeigh, is that violence
in our society is not regarded as a bad thing. Violence, in fact, is a
religion in our culture. It's the thing we trust. When all else fails,
we know we can turn to violence. We do not treat violence as a last
resort, but as a first resort. We see this violence in public schools,
violence of kids in gangs, violence in the home involving children,
wives and husbands. We regard violence as redemptive, and we live by the
myth of redemptive violence. This is our story. Our story is the story
about the use of violence to save ourselves and the world.
Jesus has a response to this violence and to the
domination system which it protects. The passage for his teaching on
nonviolence is Matthew 5:38-41. It runs like this: "You've heard it
said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say to you, do not
resist one who is evil. But if someone strikes you on the right cheek,
turn the other one also; and if someone takes you to court and sues you
for you undergarment, give him your undergarment, as well; and if any of
the occupation troops force you to carry his pack one mile, carry it
two."
Now, I know a lot of us think this is very bad advice,
since we don't obey it, and so I think we might as well just say what it
is we don't like about this passage. I'm going to give you two minutes
to ventilate about this passage, say all the negative things you can
think of, but nothing positive, please. So what don't you like about
this passage? You lose your underwear. You're taken advantage of. How
many cheeks do you have? It ought to be about somebody else. It's damn
foolish. You'll never get anywhere that way. If you let him get away
with it this time, he'll do it again. You're a doormat for Jesus. It
makes you unsafe. I don't want to get beat up. It would lead to domestic
violence against women and children and everybody. It hurts. It's
humiliating. We like to sue people. We'd have a lot of one-eyed people
who gum their food.
Non-resistance - three examples from Jesus
So the problem with this - you're really right to say
there's something wrong here - is that the passage, "Do not resist
one who is evil, or do not resist the evil person," is not
accurately translated. It's not wrong - the word antistenai - anti
means "against" and stenai means "stand" -
means to stand against somebody or offer resistance. But what was
overlooked by the translators is that antistenai is a technical
term for "warfare." It refers to the marching up of two armies
in solid ranks until they collide in this deafening cacophony of steel
against steel, and they suddenly stand there and disembowel each other
until one side has had all it can take and they break and run. Antistenai
is the word that describes that bloody encounter. And so when Jesus
says, "Do not antistenai the evil people," he's not
just saying, "Don't resist them." Of course you resist those
who are evil. Jesus always resisted evil. Can anyone name me a single
time Jesus doesn't resist evil? But he's saying don't resist evil
violently. Don't mirror the evil that you're attacking. Don't become the
very thing you hate. So that when Jesus says, "Do not antistenai
the evil people," we need to retranslate that. The Scholar's
Bible has the very best translation of it, "Do not react
violently against the one who is evil." We should run home and
write that in the margin. "Do not react violently against the one
who is evil." If we had that translation, think of what a
difference it would have made in Christian history.
Turning the other cheek
Jesus then gives three examples of what he
means by not resisting evil violently. The first is, "If anyone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also." Now,
I have a couple of volunteers, Wendy and Larry, who are going to come up
here and show us what's entailed. One of you gets to be hit, because
women are weaker than men, of course; and come over here, Larry, you be
the aggressor. So face off with each other. Show us a right hook. Okay,
the problem with that hit is what? Wrong cheek. Left cheek. It says in
the text, "If anyone strikes you on the right cheek," which is
over here. Show us a left hook for this one. So, what's wrong with the
left hook, then? It works perfectly fine. I don't want him touching me
with that hand, because it is dirty, it's used for going to the toilet.
You can't use your left hand. So how would you hit her right cheek with
your right hand? You would backhand her. So Jesus is not talking about
causing injury, he's talking about a symbolic blow which is intended to
humiliate. And it's always used from top down. It's a master to a
servant or a husband to a wife or a parent to a child or, maybe, a Roman
to a Jew, something like that. And by backhanding her, you are not
saying, "I'll hurt you," you're saying, "Get back where
you belong," that is, "Get down in the social order where you
belong." And you're not just telling her this yourself; the entire
domination system is standing behind you saying, "We'll back you
up, brother. If that slave becomes obstreperous and doesn't get back
where she belongs, you can kill her. It's all right. We'll back you
up." Because no master wants to sleep in a house with a servant who
might want to kill him.
So Jesus, then, is not saying here, "Turn the
other cheek and let them wipe up the floor with you." He's saying,
"If they hit you on this cheek, turn the other also." Now,
come up here and show us, what would you do now that she's turned her
cheek? It's a wonderful target for a fist. What's wrong with a fist?
Equals. If you hit her with a right hook now, she's given you a terrific
target, daring you to hit her because that would establish her as an
equal. You can't backhand her, because that would be the left hand now.
And she's saying in effect, "You didn't succeed. You didn't slug
me. You can have me flogged within an inch of my life, but I've had it.
I'm not going to take this kind of thing anymore. I'm your equal. I'm a
child of God, and I expect to be treated like that."
It may seem far-fetched that people would take that
kind of a risk, but in fact, in South Africa, during the end of the
apartheid era, children and kids began to take that kind of risk. They
stood out in front of the military vehicles and yelled, "Freedom,
freedom!" and dared them to run over them. It was like they had
suffered enough. Their parents were courageous enough to take the stand,
and so these children took the initiative in the struggle against
apartheid and it cost them their lives.
Giving up your cloak
Now, the second example Jesus gives is, "If anyone takes
you to court and sues you for your outer garment, give your undergarment
as well." The backdrop to this is the problem of debt.
Normally, if you needed collateral for a debt to get a loan, you would
give your cattle or movable property. And then, when you lost that, you
would give your land, and now you're a landless peasant. You probably
lost your home and your family, as well. And so now you are destitute
and you have nothing but the clothing on your back. The problem here is
that landlords in Rome, the wealthy class, wanted to hide their assets
from the tax people, and so they found that one of the best ways was to
sink that money in the land on the frontier of the Empire. The problem
was, the peasants weren't selling their land. And so, the people who
wanted that land came up with the same solution agribusiness came up
with in the United States. And that is, raise interest rates 25 to 250
percent, as a way of foreclosing on the peasant and getting the land in
to their own hands. Think about all the stories Jesus tells about
laborers who haven't been hired, who are standing around. Why aren't
they working their own land? They've lost their land. That's why they're
standing around all day - think all the parables that featured these
landless people who are working as share croppers and so forth. That was
the number one social problem of first century Israel.
So Jesus says, "Okay, look. The laws have been
written by Rome, and if they take you to court, you're going to lose.
You're going to lose every time. But here's something you can do. When
they take you to court and sue you for your outer garment, give them
your undergarment, as well." Now, this is a reference to
Deuteronomy 24:13, where it says, if a poor person tries to get a loan
and has no other collateral, he used his cloak, or his outer garment,
his long cloak that he sleeps in at night and serves as his overcoat by
day. A poor person put this up as collateral and the creditor cannot
keep it overnight, so that the person doesn't freeze to death. But in
the morning he gives the cloak and the person has to work all day long
in just the short working outfit, which in the winter would be extremely
inadequate, to put it mildly. The Romans implemented this as a way of
getting land from the peasants. So Jesus says, "If they try to take
you to court and take your outer garment, give them your undergarment,
as well." Now, what are you fantasizing about right now? That's
right, if you give them your undergarment, that means you are stark
naked. And in Jewish society, curiously enough, shame was not just on
the naked person, but on the person who beholds your nakedness. Remember
the story of Noah who's drunk and naked? His son sees him and he's
cursed for looking on his father's nakedness. So, Jesus is saying,
"Whoever takes you to court and sues you for your outer garment,
take off you undergarment, as well." And there you are, standing in
the court in your all-togethers, bringing shame on the creditor for
having put you in this situation. And then can't you imagine marching
out of court in your all-togethers and people coming from the alleys and
bazaars wanting to know what happened. "My creditor got my
clothes." And then marching down the street, 50 to 100 people, I
mean, they're having a demonstration going here.
So let's role-play this one too. Mark and Steve
volunteered. I'm going to need a magistrate in this little town. Mark is
the creditor, I'm the judge and this good-for-nothing person is Steve,
and he's going to be the debtor.
Judge: What's your problem with this guy? Why have you
brought him to court?
Creditor: This guy owes me money big time.
Judge: How long has it been?
Creditor: Well, it's been at least five years. But I
haven't seen him in a long time. I just have a hard time keeping track.
Judge: Has he given any of it back?
Creditor: No. Not one red cent.
Judge: How come you haven't paid anything back on this
loan? You've had it five years.
Debtor: My chicken doesn't lay no eggs. My wife's
looking for the pearl and can't find it. So I just don't have the money.
Judge: I'm afraid you've got to pay. The Bible only
gives us the alternative of taking his outer garment. But give him your
outer garment, and maybe this will teach you a lesson. I hope it does.
There's not much we can do. (Steve removes his shirt.) You don't have to
take your shirt off. (Steve removes his shoes and socks.) That really
isn't necessary. (Steve removes his pants.) You can't do that in this
court. Cut, cut! Okay, it's downhill all the way from here.
See, we've been doing that in the Presbyterian Church
Sunday after Sunday for the Lord, without any idea what a funny story
this is. I mean, Jesus is saying, "Look, you can't beat the system,
but you've got to lampoon it and expose it. What you've got to do is
take the momentum of the system and push it to the extreme. You know,
ride the thing until it becomes bizarre, ridiculous. And one of the
things the powerful cannot tolerate is to be laughed at. They stand on
their dignity. Jesus is not quite the soft guy push-over that we
pictured. He's got some pretty hard-nosed ways to counter an unjust
system when you don't have any clout.
Now this is so far from being what we imagined. You
know, "turn the other cheek" we've just taken as "let
them beat you up, wipe the floor with you, but don't resist." And
"let them take everything you've got, don't give them any
resistance." But Jesus is not talking about being that way. He's
saying, "Look, there are ways you can outsmart the system and you
just have to find creative ways of responding as you go."
Going an extra mile
Now, the third example is if anyone of the
occupation comes and forces you to carry his pack but a mile, carry it
two. This was based on the right of the soldier to impress the
civilian to carry his pack. The Romans remembered that the Persians
invented this idea of the civilian carrying the pack. The Persians had
made them carry the pack till they dropped. But the Romans were
remarkably shrewd and they didn't make you carry it until you dropped.
They limited it to a mile. Now, every road had its mile markers. They
would no more think of making a road without a mile marker than we would
think of making a road without pavement. So you always knew where you
were. So Jesus says that if any of the occupation troops makes you carry
his pack one mile the meter starts ticking, then you carry it for one
mile and at that second mile marker you give him back the pack. Now,
what we have here is, what happens if a civilian carries the pack more
than one mile? Then the soldier is in trouble because it's a violation
of military code. We don't know exactly what the punishment for this
infraction would have been, but the kinds of things that were similar to
it involved a ration of barley for two weeks instead of wheat or a
monetary fine or a slap on the wrist or things like that.
So let's role play this one. I've got a couple more
volunteers here. Christine you stand right over there somewhere, and
Bill is a Roman soldier, and I'm going to be a peasant. Bill, you're
taking care of your pack, and we'll take it from there.
Soldier: You there, take my pack.
Peasant: Oh, look, I've got to get out there. The
vines are full of grapes and ...
Soldier: You have to carry that pack.
Peasant: Well, okay. How long have you all been here
in this country?
Soldier: Oh, just a couple of years, myself.
Peasant: I bet you're eager to go home, aren't you?
Soldier: Oh, I sure am, yep.
Peasant: Yeah, we're eager for you to go home, too,
actually. Have you heard of this guy named Jesus?
Soldier: Yeah, I heard a little bit about him. I don't
know much about him, though.
Peasant: Yeah, he's going around telling people that
we ought to love our enemies, and I'm trying to get what that means. I
can't imagine, how can a person love an enemy?
Soldier: You're right. Enemies are enemies.
Peasant: Yeah. And he says if they treat you badly,
you should pray for them. I guess I could try to pray for you. I'm not
sure whether that's something I'd rather do, but I'm fascinated by it.
(Now we're starting to pass the first mile marker.)
Soldier: Sounds to me like this Jesus guy's a nut.
Peasant: Yeah. You ought to come hear him sometime,
though. He sure is a good speaker. And he tells these wonderful old
parables and stories to people. And he seems to be trying to suggest
that it is possible to love our enemies. Now, if I was trying to love
you, I guess I would maybe carry your pack a little further than normal,
just to kind of help you out. Would that be a reasonable thing to do?
Soldier: Well, it sounds like a good idea, but it's
totally against the rules, and you know, we've got to enforce the rules.
Peasant: Oh, is that right? Well, here's the second
mile marker.
Soldier: What? Give me the pack!!
Peasant: I'm not supposed to carry this pack but a
mile, here, but - are you the centurion?
Centurion: You are in deep ... - you're going to be
court marshaled, and you're going to have to pay me a $500.00 fine.
Soldier: What? But, I don't get it.
Centurion: Now, you - give him his pack.
Peasant: Oh, yeah, and I certainly hope you have a
nice day. Listen, it was my idea to take the pack.
Soldier: Yeah, I tried to stop him.
Peasant: See, I was just trying to figure out what
Jesus meant by loving your enemies. Have you heard of Jesus?
You might play that a little more Christianly than I did,
but I kind of pushed it to the opposite extreme from where it's been all
these years, which is to humble yourself. So go the second mile.
Remember when George Bush was coming up to the beginning of the bombing
of Iraq? He came on television and said, "I've had it with Saddam
Hussein. I've gone the second mile."
Time for a new kind of power
Jesus says you can find power in each situation, but
you've got to start thinking about power in a whole new way. You've got
a whole new concept of power in what Jesus says. We're beginning to see
a whole new world emerging. And one of the things that we're seeing
here, is that you don't have to wait for the kingdom of God to come at
the end of history to start living humanly. You can begin living in the
kingdom of God now. |
