While driving home from work the other day, I came across an interesting bumper sticker. (Photo is not mine, but looks similar.)
Clever, right? Turns the "What Would Jesus Do?" thing on its head, and makes you consider the apparent irony of a "Christian" nation attacking another country. I respect a good slogan.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it really misses something else about Jesus. Yes, He is the "Prince of Peace" and he raised a hand against no one at his trial. But this is the same Jesus who overturned the moneychangers tables and whipped them out of the Temple. It is the same Jesus who said...
Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.This Jesus is no pacifist. And in the imagery we see of Him in Revelation, it is even more stark.
Matthew 10:34
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.Now, I am not saying diplomacy is not generally preferable to combat, or that war is not something to be avoided, when it can. But I am saying that we need to always be careful of our stereotyped, narrow views of Jesus as either the perfect pacifist, the glowering judge, the liberal activist, the conservative avenger, or anything else. He is bigger than our prejudices, and bigger than our assumptions.
Revelation 19:11-15
So, let the warmongers fear calling for blood in His name, and let the peaceniks fear calling for retreat in His name.
