What Would Jesus Do?
Do you remember the wrist bands with the engraved letters WWJD? The acronym stood for “What would Jesus do?” These bands served to remind the wearer to act as Jesus would when faced with a difficult or perplexing decision. Although I never personally wore one of the bracelets, the letters WWJD became fixed in my mind and had an influence on my decision making. When faced with a seemingly impossible situation, I would ask myself, What would Jesus do? The acronym made me conscious that as a follower of Jesus I was obligated to at least try to act like him.
A little over a week ago, Hamas terrorists crossed over into Israel and indiscriminately murdered over one thousand innocent civilians, including babies, children, and the elderly. I followed the news closely, hoping that maybe the reports were inaccurate, but the more information that has become available, the more conclusive the evidence that horrific crimes were committed by Hamas. Over the course of this past week, in light of the incomprehensible acts of violence perpetrated by the Hamas terrorists, I have asked myself over and over again, What would Jesus do?
I have listened to Palestinians tell how they have been treated unfairly, how their homeland was taken from them in 1948, and how they merely seek freedom from Israeli oppression. And, of course, their story contains much truth and the world community needs to listen to their plight and do everything possible to help these displaced people to prosper and live in peace, without fear from either Hamas or Israel.
But the savagery of what Hamas did in Israel, and continues to do, cannot possibly be justified or condoned in any civilized world. Their sole intent was to murder as many Israelis as possible. These misguided terrorists want to completely eradicate the people of Israel, every single person of Jewish faith.
There can be no negotiation with these terrorists, no compromise, no meeting of the minds until these groups of evil doers decide to join the human race. As long as these terrorist groups exist, Israel and the world are not safe.
So, what would Jesus do? The truth of the matter is, I’m not sure. Jesus always responded in surprising and unexpected ways to the tough issues of his time. For me or anyone else, for that matter, to think that we can get inside the mind of Jesus and figure out what Jesus would do, would be the height of spiritual arrogance. We can only fill our minds and hearts with his teachings, pray, and then humbly step out in faith, trusting that whatever we decide bears some semblance to what Jesus would do.
With fear and trembling, and an ever-present awareness that no one is qualified to speak for Jesus, I’ll venture out in faith and briefly summarize what I think Jesus might do.
First, Jesus was both a realist and an idealist. He recognized that evil exists in the world and that some people love the darkness more than the light. In other words, some people’s hearts have been so clouded by darkness, they are no longer guided by the light or even seek the light. Their souls have grown ice cold toward God. To be sure, only God can make that judgement concerning another human being, but when people cease to value human life and kill indiscriminately, they walk dangerously close to losing their humanity.
Jesus, however, was also an idealist and taught his followers to turn the other cheek and not to resist the evil person. Jesus seems to teach that it is better to lose your life than take another life. Does this mean that Jesus would allow terrorists to kill innocent people indiscriminately without consequence?
Theologians have long struggled with this question. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer agonized over how to respond to the inhumanity and violence of the Third Reich. Finally, he decided to join the resistance movement and became part of the plot to assassinate Hitler. He was aware that his decision might be wrong, but he was unable to stand passively by while innocent Jewish people were slaughtered in the Death Camps. He understood Jesus’ teaching as the ideal way humans are to act in the face of evil, but human beings are, well, human and fall short of the ideal. Nevertheless, the ideal always stands before us as a reminder that our humanity must never be used as a license to kill. Otherwise, we lose our humanity!
The American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr faced a similar decision. The teachings of the New Testament led him to embrace pacifism in his early years, but he changed his mind during World War II and believed that every means available had to be used to stop the Nazis. After the war, Niebuhr would spend much of the remainder of his life as an advocate of peace.
What would Jesus do? I do not think that Jesus would stand idly by and allow innocent people to be brutally gunned down. He would rise to their defense and resist evil. He would weep over the loss of innocent life and do everything possible to alleviate suffering, but he would stand against the evil. This is what Israel is trying to do. Evil knows no limits and must be challenged.
Second, Jesus would distinguish between those who commit the evil from those who are victims of the evil. Not every Palestinian is a terrorist, not even the vast majority living in Gaza are terrorists. Over one million children reside in Gaza, and these children are certainly innocent victims!
Major Nir Avishai Cohen serves as a reserve officer in the Israeli army. This past week he was in Austin, Texas, when he received a call from his battalion commander ordering him back to active duty. Immediately, Major Cohen booked a flight and headed back home to defend his beloved Israel.
Major Nir Avishai Cohen
He sees the evil of terrorist groups like Hamas and knows that as long as groups like these exists, no one is safe. But Cohen recognizes that Israel, too, is partly to blame. Major Cohen wrote a guest column in the New York Times this past weekend where he laments that this war could have been avoided. He writes that over the past decade or so illegal settlements in the West Bank as well as an imposed long term siege on the Gaza Strip have made a bad situation even worse. Cohen blames the increased tension to Israel’s turn toward religious extremism. He writes, “A Messianic religious minority has dragged us into a muddy swamp, and we are following them as if it were the piper from Hamelin.”
Cohen believes that the far-right government of Israel has exacerbated the tensions between the Israelis and Palestinians. Even though Major Cohen will now go into battle on the front lines against Hamas, risking his life, he acknowledges that the “Palestinians aren’t the enemy.” He believes that both Israelis and Palestinians have been held hostage by religious minorities. He concludes, “We cannot allow the massacre of innocent Israelis to result in the massacre of innocent Palestinians.” In his view extremists, whether Jew or Palestinian, must not rule.
In our rage at what has happened in Israel we must not lump all people living in Gaza in one pot. By far and away, the vast majority of people in Gaza are victims, not militants. When we watch in the comfort of our homes what is happening in Gaza, we must remember that hundreds, even thousands, including innocent children and elderly are being killed. These, too, are victims of Hamas and are not our enemies.
Finally, Jesus would be an advocate of peace. He would work tirelessly to bring Jews and Palestinians together, maybe not as one people, but perhaps as two separate and independent countries. Hamas and organizations like them recoil at this possibility, and that is probably one of the primary triggers that launched the attack on Israel. They saw that many Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, were negotiating peace agreements with Israel and recognizing their right to exist as a free and independent country. Their hatred for Israel blinded them from seeing what was in the interest of their own people. The evil of darkness, which consumes terrorists with hate, prevents them from seeing the hope that a just peace would bring to the Palestinian people.
What would Jesus do? I honestly struggle to know, but I do not believe he would support extremists on either side of this conflict. Extremism is never a virtue.
