The Chosen + BibleProject | Season 2 Reading PlanExemplo

The Power of Refusing To Fight

In our modern culture, we’re taught to fight for our rights and defend our honor. When people attack, our culture suggests it’s okay to respond with violence because that’s the natural, sensible response. According to mainstream thought and the law of the land, it’s even acceptable to kill another person as long as you do so in self-defense.

When James and John meet up with Jesus and find themselves immediately attacked by the Samaritans, their lifelong enemies, they muscle up and prepare to fight back. They even ask Jesus for the power to shoot fire down from the sky to incinerate their opposers (like they do in a similar confrontation with Samaritans in Luke 9:51-56). But Jesus restrains them and invites them to consider a different approach. At this moment, Jesus is living like a royal priest who completely trusts the loving, forgiving, healing ways of God.

Like the disciples, we may balk at Jesus’ seemingly weak approach. Why shouldn’t they use God’s power to defeat their enemies? But Jesus teaches his followers to avoid all kinds of violent retribution. He shows people the way of loving and caring for their enemies and opposers.

The people James and John call “unworthy” or “enemy” are no worse than they are, Jesus says. And that’s one of the main reasons Jesus is here—to show us that we are not serving God when we harm or reject our enemies. When we consider others above ourselves and work for their flourishing, then we enter into the powerful life of God’s Kingdom.

Later, when enemies of Israel are killing Jesus, they taunt him by calling him to use his power to defend himself. But instead, he prays for their restoration. “Father, forgive them,” he says, “for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). That might be the most powerful moment our world has ever witnessed. God himself, in the flesh, allows others to harm him while blessing and loving them.

Like Jesus, we can trust that our lives are preserved not through violence in the name of defense but through the loving power of God who raises us from death and heals all that has been harmed. May we trust in God and his powerful love.

Reflection Questions

1. When you consider Jesus’ unwillingness to harm anyone, including the soldiers killing him, what thoughts or emotions emerge? What does Jesus’ attitude toward his enemies say about his character, and what does it say about his feelings and thoughts toward you and your opposers?
2. What is the true role of God’s royal priests in our world? Is this role only for Jesus, or do we somehow fit into that same role? If so, how would that look in our homes, schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods?
3. Jesus promises that no matter how painful or deadly our situation becomes, he will raise us up into a new life after death. How does that promise affect how we view his instruction to bless our enemies instead of retaliating with violence?