WEBVTT 00:00:16.489 --> 00:00:19.649 Welcome to the Nonviolent Jesus Podcast. I'm 00:00:19.649 --> 00:00:22.370 John, Father John Deere, and today I'd like to 00:00:22.370 --> 00:00:26.649 reflect with you on Luke chapter 19, when Jesus 00:00:26.649 --> 00:00:29.989 approaches Jerusalem and breaks down sobbing. 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:33.259 because he says everyone has rejected the things 00:00:33.259 --> 00:00:36.840 that make for peace. This is a project of www 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:40.719 .beatitudecenter .org, where you can find many 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:43.979 other podcasts and regular Zoom programs on the 00:00:43.979 --> 00:00:47.039 nonviolence of Jesus and practicing nonviolence 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:49.880 and working for a more just, more nonviolent 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:52.600 world. Well, let's begin with a little prayer. 00:00:53.320 --> 00:00:56.000 I just invite you to, wherever you are, to take 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.719 a deep breath, to relax. Notice how you're feeling, 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:04.879 and together let's recenter ourselves and enter 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:07.280 into the presence of the God of peace who loves 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.900 you infinitely, personally, unconditionally, 00:01:11.099 --> 00:01:14.260 and everyone. And let's welcome the nonviolent 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:19.159 Jesus here into our hearts, this space, and ask 00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:21.459 for the grace to follow him ever more faithfully 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:28.599 and to do God's will of peace. God of peace. 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.959 Thank you for all the blessings of life, love, 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:35.599 and peace that you give us. Be with us now as 00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:38.079 we reflect together on your call to follow the 00:01:38.079 --> 00:01:42.239 nonviolent Jesus and to work for a more nonviolent, 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:45.340 more just world. Bless us, inspire us, disarm 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:48.540 us, strengthen us, and send us out to do your 00:01:48.540 --> 00:01:51.819 will that we might do our part to help end poverty, 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:56.040 racism, greed, injustice, war and nuclear weapons, 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:59.310 and environmental destruction. that we might 00:01:59.310 --> 00:02:02.849 be your holy peacemakers who learn and practice 00:02:02.849 --> 00:02:06.569 the things that make for peace and give our lives 00:02:06.569 --> 00:02:09.289 to welcome your reign of universal love and peace 00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:14.449 on earth. In Jesus' name, amen. About 15 years 00:02:14.449 --> 00:02:18.289 ago, I was invited to give a keynote speech to 00:02:18.289 --> 00:02:21.810 a week -long conference in Bethlehem for Christian 00:02:21.810 --> 00:02:25.159 Palestinians. There were about 800 of them. And 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:27.979 I was in the last day with the Cardinal of Jerusalem. 00:02:28.259 --> 00:02:32.300 And then I spent some time visiting Palestinians 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:35.340 who had had their homes demolished by the Israeli 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:39.039 military in the West Bank. Afterwards, I went 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:42.560 to visit the Sea of Galilee again and the Mount 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:45.759 of Olives in the Old City. And if you've been 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:47.800 there, you know that there's a beautiful little 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:51.939 chapel over the Kidron Valley. on the Mount of 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:54.680 Olives next to the church that commemorates the 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:58.460 Garden of Gethsemane. It's called Dominus Flevit, 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:02.060 which commemorates Jesus' lament over Jerusalem, 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:05.060 and it has a gorgeous window looking out over 00:03:05.060 --> 00:03:10.379 the old city. On the altar, in front of the altar, 00:03:10.460 --> 00:03:18.439 there's a mosaic down below of a hen, of a mother 00:03:18.439 --> 00:03:22.740 hen. with her feathers widespread and underneath 00:03:22.740 --> 00:03:28.960 a dozen little chicks. It's the only art I know 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:34.020 in the whole planet that commemorates that line 00:03:34.020 --> 00:03:39.280 in Matthew 23. Jesus arrives. He's ending his 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.460 march to Jerusalem and he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:46.439 you who kill the prophets and stone those sent 00:03:46.439 --> 00:03:49.439 to you. How many times I yearn to gather your 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:53.259 children together as a mother hen gathers her 00:03:53.259 --> 00:03:55.659 young under her wings. But you were unwilling. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.719 Behold, your house will be abandoned, desolate. 00:04:00.580 --> 00:04:03.419 I tell you, you will not see me again until you 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:05.560 say, blessed is the one who comes in the name 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:09.199 of the Lord. This is Jesus's image of himself 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:15.219 or of God as a mother hen, which is groundbreaking 00:04:15.219 --> 00:04:19.560 to say the least. And the artist has an icon 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.779 there of Christ, the mother hen. So there I'm 00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:27.259 sitting there meditating over Jerusalem 15 years 00:04:27.259 --> 00:04:32.060 ago. And in comes a tour of Catholics led by 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:38.709 a Franciscan priest from Kansas. He's talking 00:04:38.709 --> 00:04:43.089 to them and they're noticing the icon of the 00:04:43.089 --> 00:04:47.050 mother hen. And he tells the story, which I had 00:04:47.050 --> 00:04:49.110 heard about just a few weeks earlier. There was 00:04:49.110 --> 00:04:55.949 a terrible fire in a big farm in Kansas, which 00:04:55.949 --> 00:05:00.029 burned down the barn and several barns and killed 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:05.089 all the horses and the creatures. So this Franciscan 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:07.089 is talking about this to the tour group, and 00:05:07.089 --> 00:05:09.930 I'm sitting there in the chapel. And he tells 00:05:09.930 --> 00:05:12.589 the story about how the next day as the firemen 00:05:12.589 --> 00:05:17.550 were going back and really working on the leftovers 00:05:17.550 --> 00:05:21.209 of the fire, he's walking into the barn, and 00:05:21.209 --> 00:05:26.029 there on the ground is this two -foot wingspan 00:05:26.029 --> 00:05:31.470 spread hen, completely black. It had been burned. 00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:35.519 to death. It was so tragic and he felt so sad. 00:05:35.639 --> 00:05:38.300 And he bent down and he picked up the dead mother 00:05:38.300 --> 00:05:44.079 hen and underneath it were 15 little chicks chirping 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:48.879 away. In other words, the mother hen fell down 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:52.360 over her brood of chicks and saved all their 00:05:52.360 --> 00:05:56.480 lives from the fire and gave her life. And that's 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:02.250 Jesus's image of himself. But you refused. That's 00:06:02.250 --> 00:06:05.529 Matthew. I want to look at Luke's arrival to 00:06:05.529 --> 00:06:09.129 Jerusalem. And Luke makes much more of a big 00:06:09.129 --> 00:06:11.829 deal about it, starting in Luke 10, how he sends 00:06:11.829 --> 00:06:14.910 the 72 ahead of him. And, you know, you get the 00:06:14.910 --> 00:06:17.250 impression that they've been marching for a year 00:06:17.250 --> 00:06:21.350 from Galilee through Samaria, along the border 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:26.500 there, which is the war zone, to Bethany. And 00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:28.879 he's getting there and the crowds are beginning 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.800 to spread. Oh, the holy rabbi is here. Is he 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:33.959 a prophet? Is he the Messiah? What's he going 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:36.500 to do? Oh, is he going to establish the kingdom 00:06:36.500 --> 00:06:39.560 of God and raise up an army and crush the Roman 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:43.300 soldiers and restore Zion? Yes. That's what everybody 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:46.259 wants. So he's out there somewhere near Bethany, 00:06:46.300 --> 00:06:51.439 another important village in the Jesus story. 00:06:52.490 --> 00:06:55.149 And it says he sent the two disciples ahead of 00:06:55.149 --> 00:06:58.589 him to one of his underground contacts and borrows 00:06:58.589 --> 00:07:03.050 the donkey and then begins a procession into 00:07:03.050 --> 00:07:07.269 the city. So Jesus gets up on the donkey and 00:07:07.269 --> 00:07:10.029 walks, marches in. And we all know that is Palm 00:07:10.029 --> 00:07:15.430 Sunday. No, friends, this is brilliant Gandhian 00:07:15.430 --> 00:07:20.620 level street theater. Jesus has just marched 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:23.920 like Gandhi, the small march all the way to Jerusalem. 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:28.720 And he's engaging in symbolic activity. What 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:33.079 is happening? This is a few days before Passover. 00:07:33.180 --> 00:07:36.579 So we're entering in Passover week. And we know 00:07:36.579 --> 00:07:40.360 that every year that the Roman pocket. procurator, 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:43.240 and this year it's Pilate, is going to arrive 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:47.540 with all the glory of his soldiers, 600 Roman 00:07:47.540 --> 00:07:53.319 soldiers known as the whole cohort, riding in 00:07:53.319 --> 00:07:57.100 on the war horses, holding up their swords, and 00:07:57.100 --> 00:07:59.759 marching through the main gate with the whole 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:04.790 town waving flags. You know, God bless Caesar. 00:08:05.269 --> 00:08:07.889 Caesar is God. All of that, if you see where 00:08:07.889 --> 00:08:09.930 I'm going with this, it's a military possession. 00:08:11.430 --> 00:08:15.470 Whereas Jesus, at the same moment, across town, 00:08:15.670 --> 00:08:21.589 is riding in on a donkey with people, you know, 00:08:21.589 --> 00:08:27.550 waving palm leaves. He's humble and quiet and 00:08:27.550 --> 00:08:31.910 gentle. And he's not on a war horse. He's on 00:08:31.910 --> 00:08:36.259 a donkey. Why? This is one of my favorite verses 00:08:36.259 --> 00:08:39.639 in the Bible, Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9 and 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:41.960 10. I wish you could all look it up and memorize 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:47.539 it. Jesus is embodying Zechariah chapter 9. I'll 00:08:47.539 --> 00:08:50.559 read it. Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem. 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:55.179 Behold, your king is coming to you. A just savior 00:08:55.179 --> 00:08:59.960 is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt. 00:08:59.960 --> 00:09:03.220 He shall banish the war chariot from Ephraim 00:09:03.220 --> 00:09:07.220 and the war horse from Jerusalem. The warrior's 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:11.740 bow will be banished, and he will proclaim peace 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:15.379 to all the nations, and his dominion of peace 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:18.929 will be from sea to sea. and from the river to 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:21.909 the ends of the earth. I kid you not. It's one 00:09:21.909 --> 00:09:25.830 of the most spectacular oracles in the whole 00:09:25.830 --> 00:09:30.490 Hebrew Bible. And Jesus must have been pondering 00:09:30.490 --> 00:09:34.129 this for years and took it up as his job description 00:09:34.129 --> 00:09:37.970 and fulfills it. But what does it say? It's a 00:09:37.970 --> 00:09:41.450 king of nonviolence whose job is to get rid of 00:09:41.450 --> 00:09:45.090 all the instruments of war, the chariots and 00:09:45.090 --> 00:09:48.750 the bow and arrow. to proclaim peace to the nations 00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:51.429 of the world, and to begin his new dominion of 00:09:51.429 --> 00:09:55.649 nonviolence to the ends of the earth. This is 00:09:55.649 --> 00:09:58.330 this nonviolent Jesus that we're celebrating, 00:09:58.590 --> 00:10:02.070 who will dismantle every weapon of war and abolish 00:10:02.070 --> 00:10:06.129 war itself and embody peace and nonviolence. 00:10:06.470 --> 00:10:10.990 This is the promise that the angel Gabriel gave 00:10:10.990 --> 00:10:14.049 to Mary at the beginning of Luke. This is the 00:10:14.049 --> 00:10:16.450 promise of the angels to the shepherds about 00:10:16.450 --> 00:10:20.190 the coming of peace on earth. So the crowd is 00:10:20.190 --> 00:10:22.850 going, blessed is the king who comes in the name 00:10:22.850 --> 00:10:26.990 of God. Peace in heaven and glory to God in the 00:10:26.990 --> 00:10:30.389 highest. It's the only time in the four gospels 00:10:30.389 --> 00:10:34.669 where Jesus is actually named a king. But we 00:10:34.669 --> 00:10:38.149 know he's a king of nonviolence. And what happens 00:10:38.149 --> 00:10:41.970 next in Luke, to me, is one of the most... heartbreaking 00:10:41.970 --> 00:10:45.769 scenes in the life of Jesus in the Bible, in 00:10:45.769 --> 00:10:48.710 history. And this is what I would like to reflect 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:53.049 with you on. And I'd like to invite you to go 00:10:53.049 --> 00:10:55.990 and be with the nonviolent Jesus in this story, 00:10:56.070 --> 00:10:57.990 because this is what we're all going through 00:10:57.990 --> 00:11:03.450 today. Here's what Luke says. As he drew near 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:07.309 and saw the city of Jerusalem, he broke down 00:11:07.309 --> 00:11:13.389 sobbing, saying, If this day you had only learned 00:11:13.389 --> 00:11:16.629 the things that make for peace, but now it is 00:11:16.629 --> 00:11:19.850 hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming 00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:22.590 upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade 00:11:22.590 --> 00:11:25.750 against you. They will encircle you and hem you 00:11:25.750 --> 00:11:29.350 in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground 00:11:29.350 --> 00:11:31.990 and your children within you, and they will not 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:34.929 leave one stone upon another within you because 00:11:34.929 --> 00:11:38.149 you did not recognize the time of your visitation. 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:43.240 So he's talking about the complete rejection 00:11:43.240 --> 00:11:46.379 of nonviolence and all his own teachings in the 00:11:46.379 --> 00:11:48.799 Sermon on the Mount, and even all through the 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:52.399 prophets and all their calls for peace, and how 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:56.059 everyone is addicted to violence on all sides. 00:11:56.200 --> 00:11:59.120 And because of our violence, the consequences 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:02.419 will be further violence and destruction. An 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:04.580 eye for an eye leads the whole world to total 00:12:04.580 --> 00:12:08.409 blindness, Gandhi said. War doesn't bring peace, 00:12:08.409 --> 00:12:12.090 it just sows the seeds for further wars. So let's 00:12:12.090 --> 00:12:16.250 say Luke is written in the year 72 to 75 in CE, 00:12:16.450 --> 00:12:20.769 the Common Era, and we know that Rome finally 00:12:20.769 --> 00:12:24.570 came in after all these rebel groups running 00:12:24.570 --> 00:12:27.309 around. I mean, they're like the Shining Path, 00:12:27.710 --> 00:12:32.789 Hamas, Pol Pot, just violent revolutionaries. 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:35.399 One of them is the Zealots, but there are many 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:39.700 more. And to put them down, finally, the Roman 00:12:39.700 --> 00:12:43.080 troops just totally razed Jerusalem to the ground 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:47.200 in the year 70. And so Luke is probably written 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:49.980 after that and portraying Jesus saying, hey, 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:52.759 if you don't, or because you're not accepting 00:12:52.759 --> 00:12:55.340 my teachings of peace, love, and nonviolence, 00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:59.159 you're headed, you're doomed to total destruction. 00:13:02.210 --> 00:13:04.710 He's the embodiment of peace, Zechariah will 00:13:04.710 --> 00:13:09.159 prophesy. But Jerusalem can't believe. And the 00:13:09.159 --> 00:13:12.220 question then is, can we? That if we really trust 00:13:12.220 --> 00:13:15.000 in the God of peace and practice the creative 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.120 methodology of nonviolent resistance to the Roman 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:22.840 military and its rulers, then or today, somehow 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:25.600 we can diffuse a situation, get the Romans to 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.559 leave as friends and welcome a future of peace 00:13:27.559 --> 00:13:31.919 for the holy city. And Gandhi was grappling with 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.000 trying to do that. And in fact, gets the British 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:37.639 to leave India nonviolently without killing them. 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:42.720 But they didn't believe it then, and I don't 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:45.580 think we believe it now. He could see how deeply 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:48.179 rooted they were in violence and in the hope 00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:51.620 of a messiah of violence and war who's going 00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:55.059 to have a bigger military than the Romans. So 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:57.559 it's too late to learn the things that make for 00:13:57.559 --> 00:13:59.759 peace. They're blinded by their own violence 00:13:59.759 --> 00:14:02.460 and hatred of their enemies and addiction to 00:14:02.460 --> 00:14:06.000 war and weapons and war chariots and war horses 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:13.419 and swords. Well, look over our own just recent 00:14:13.419 --> 00:14:15.940 history, the last century and the last few decades, 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:19.580 and you go from World War I and World War II 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:23.299 to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, of course Auschwitz, 00:14:23.340 --> 00:14:26.679 Dresden, Tokyo, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, 00:14:26.840 --> 00:14:29.340 the wars of Central America and Latin America. 00:14:30.200 --> 00:14:33.399 how the United States killed 1 .5 million people 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:36.820 in Iraq over the last decades, countless people 00:14:36.820 --> 00:14:39.980 in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Yemen and Libya, 00:14:40.159 --> 00:14:42.899 not to mention funding the killing and occupation 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:46.679 of Palestinians through the Israeli occupation 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:50.149 and now full -scale slaughter. of the suffering 00:14:50.149 --> 00:14:52.570 people of Gaza over the last two years, not to 00:14:52.570 --> 00:14:56.629 mention how the U .S. maintains over 750 military 00:14:56.629 --> 00:15:00.029 bases around the world in over 140 countries. 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:03.429 So our economy, based completely on warfare, 00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:06.899 is collapsing. We're cutting all funding for 00:15:06.899 --> 00:15:09.539 schools, jobs, housings, healthcare, environmental 00:15:09.539 --> 00:15:13.120 cleanup, but not for warfare, not the Pentagon, 00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:17.340 not for nuclear weapons. We can continue to spend 00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:20.220 billions, actually over a trillion dollars on 00:15:20.220 --> 00:15:22.700 nuclear weapons alone. We have 13 ,000 nuclear 00:15:22.700 --> 00:15:25.019 weapons on the planet. We're closer to nuclear 00:15:25.019 --> 00:15:27.120 war than ever. You could say we are addicted 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:32.710 to war. In other words... Not only do we not 00:15:32.710 --> 00:15:35.470 know the things that make for peace, we know 00:15:35.470 --> 00:15:39.870 well the things that make for war. So I could 00:15:39.870 --> 00:15:45.730 imagine Jesus weeping over us today, lamenting, 00:15:45.730 --> 00:15:48.929 saying, America, America, you who bomb children, 00:15:49.309 --> 00:15:53.549 execute. people, vaporize people, prepare nuclear 00:15:53.549 --> 00:15:57.330 warfare. How many times I've yearned to gather 00:15:57.330 --> 00:16:00.190 your children together like a mother hen with 00:16:00.190 --> 00:16:03.669 her chicks, but you were unwilling. If this day 00:16:03.669 --> 00:16:05.909 you only knew the things that make for peace. 00:16:07.350 --> 00:16:10.570 What do we do about that? Those of us living 00:16:10.570 --> 00:16:13.549 here in the United States who claim to be followers 00:16:13.549 --> 00:16:17.750 of the nonviolent Jesus. Well, you could say 00:16:17.750 --> 00:16:22.070 Jerusalem has become Washington, D .C. I think 00:16:22.070 --> 00:16:24.509 Jerusalem is now the whole world on the brink 00:16:24.509 --> 00:16:29.549 of total destruction because of our nuclear weapons 00:16:29.549 --> 00:16:33.590 addiction and permanent warfare and fossil fuels 00:16:33.590 --> 00:16:37.110 and headed toward full -on catastrophic climate 00:16:37.110 --> 00:16:39.330 change. I mean, if you read the fine print, they're 00:16:39.330 --> 00:16:42.070 talking about 100 years from now, millions of 00:16:42.070 --> 00:16:45.610 people suffering without clean water, food, health 00:16:45.610 --> 00:16:50.549 care. 50, 100 words happening. You know, a whole 00:16:50.549 --> 00:16:53.409 planet going to waste. It's too hard to even 00:16:53.409 --> 00:16:56.190 talk about. But that's what we're headed toward 00:16:56.190 --> 00:16:59.090 with catastrophic climate change. What is the 00:16:59.090 --> 00:17:02.009 Christian response to this text and to the world? 00:17:02.850 --> 00:17:05.670 At some point, each one of us, if we want to 00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:08.930 follow Jesus, we have to join in his lamentation 00:17:08.930 --> 00:17:15.230 and weep over our global inability 2 ,000 years 00:17:15.230 --> 00:17:18.319 later. to learn the things that make for peace. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:22.579 And I think we need to pray and decide, individually 00:17:22.579 --> 00:17:26.759 and together and as a global church, do we want 00:17:26.759 --> 00:17:31.980 to learn the things that make for peace, these 00:17:31.980 --> 00:17:34.460 teachings of peace and nonviolence from the nonviolent 00:17:34.460 --> 00:17:39.160 Jesus? Do we want to give our lives, engaging 00:17:39.160 --> 00:17:41.400 in them and practicing them and trying to make 00:17:41.400 --> 00:17:43.759 peace and become who we were created to be, holy 00:17:43.759 --> 00:17:50.500 peacemakers? I'm not being facetious or whatever. 00:17:50.660 --> 00:17:54.680 I think this is a critical spiritual question 00:17:54.680 --> 00:17:57.759 and something we all need to take to prayer, 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:01.619 to be with a nonviolent Jesus as he looks out 00:18:01.619 --> 00:18:04.559 over Jerusalem, which is now the world, and imagine 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:08.279 sitting with him and seeing him weep and hearing 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:11.960 him weep, hearing his lamentation and trying 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:14.920 to comfort him. And the best comfort to him is... 00:18:16.579 --> 00:18:20.640 choosing to become people who learn the things 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:23.799 that make for peace. That means asking him, okay, 00:18:23.819 --> 00:18:25.839 Jesus, what are the things that make for peace? 00:18:26.039 --> 00:18:28.579 And then asking for the grace to accept them 00:18:28.579 --> 00:18:31.619 and live them out and teach them and spread them. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:37.099 So the question might be in light of this heartbreaking 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:41.210 image of Jesus and weeping over Jerusalem. For 00:18:41.210 --> 00:18:43.769 us today, what are the things that make for peace? 00:18:44.029 --> 00:18:46.349 Well, as I've been saying all along, I think 00:18:46.349 --> 00:18:49.869 the Sermon on the Mount catalogs a long to -do 00:18:49.869 --> 00:18:54.089 list of things to make and do for peace and universal 00:18:54.089 --> 00:18:57.349 love and universal compassion and active, engaged 00:18:57.349 --> 00:19:01.470 nonviolence and justice. From regular prayer, 00:19:01.829 --> 00:19:05.230 total surrender and trusting in... the God of 00:19:05.230 --> 00:19:08.509 peace, to love of our neighbor and care for the 00:19:08.509 --> 00:19:11.130 poor and seeking justice, hunger and thirsting 00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:16.630 for justice, to loving our enemies, you know, 00:19:16.670 --> 00:19:20.710 actually nonviolently resisting our country as 00:19:20.710 --> 00:19:22.910 it kills people around the world and prepares 00:19:22.910 --> 00:19:25.930 for a war and standing in love with the oppressed 00:19:25.930 --> 00:19:28.490 people of the world and all people being killed 00:19:28.490 --> 00:19:32.140 in our wars. and also forgiving everyone who 00:19:32.140 --> 00:19:35.359 ever hurt us, persistently reconciling with everyone, 00:19:35.539 --> 00:19:38.400 working for a restorative justice and justice 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.420 for the poor, and really opening our hearts once 00:19:41.420 --> 00:19:44.400 and for all to God and saying, we're really going 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:47.380 to take the nonviolent Jesus at his word and 00:19:47.380 --> 00:19:51.339 then follow him on the path of peace. So in his 00:19:51.339 --> 00:19:53.400 resurrection, he's going to give us the gift 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:57.519 of peace, but he continues to call us to follow 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:00.450 him. And that means to carry on his grassroots 00:20:00.450 --> 00:20:04.829 movement. So I invite us to think how we can 00:20:04.829 --> 00:20:07.490 speak out and take action for peace as he does, 00:20:07.690 --> 00:20:12.609 practice nonviolence at every level, but to really 00:20:12.609 --> 00:20:16.019 stay in the struggle. and really join all the 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:18.279 grassroots movements for disarmament and justice 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:21.500 and creation here at home to disarm our nation 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:23.539 and be part of the nonviolent transformation 00:20:23.539 --> 00:20:26.660 of the world. So we're really carrying on his 00:20:26.660 --> 00:20:29.319 campaign of grassroots nonviolence, even into 00:20:29.319 --> 00:20:32.640 the cross, because according to the gospel, especially 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:36.720 Luke, therein lies the things that make for peace. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.380 So I'm inviting us to reflect on how we can take 00:20:41.380 --> 00:20:46.269 Jesus at his word. commit ourselves to his teaching 00:20:46.269 --> 00:20:49.630 and way, and even to help fulfill that vision 00:20:49.630 --> 00:20:54.430 of Zechariah in practice, not just with lip service, 00:20:54.589 --> 00:20:58.049 that we're giving our lives to abolish war and 00:20:58.049 --> 00:21:01.829 nuclear weapons, which is way beyond the war 00:21:01.829 --> 00:21:04.910 chariots and swords and the war horse of Jesus's 00:21:04.910 --> 00:21:07.490 day that he was standing up against, and the 00:21:07.490 --> 00:21:10.329 destruction of the planet. So another way to 00:21:10.329 --> 00:21:14.900 look at this text is How can we unlearn the things 00:21:14.900 --> 00:21:19.720 that make for war? I think we're all experts 00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:23.140 at the things that make for war. And so we have 00:21:23.140 --> 00:21:26.259 a lot of unlearning to do, and we're being brainwashed 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:29.759 in it. every day in the media and by the politicians 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:32.480 and the president and all the nations of the 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:37.299 world, that somehow everyone in each one of us 00:21:37.299 --> 00:21:40.400 has to be part of an about -face that works for 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.859 the abolition of war and the causes of war and 00:21:42.859 --> 00:21:45.900 invest, yes, in justice for the poor and the 00:21:45.900 --> 00:21:50.099 causes of war, but also in global nonviolent 00:21:50.099 --> 00:21:54.099 conflict resolution. As well as stop digging 00:21:54.099 --> 00:21:57.079 up fossil fuels and just, you know, hastening 00:21:57.079 --> 00:21:59.700 climate change. So how can we get rid of our 00:21:59.700 --> 00:22:05.680 guns and concretely not send, you know, non -cooperate 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.039 with U .S. war making? Well, we don't join the 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:10.839 military. Don't send our young people off to 00:22:10.839 --> 00:22:13.519 the military. Don't support the military. Don't 00:22:13.519 --> 00:22:18.119 give to the military. And instead give to global. 00:22:19.069 --> 00:22:21.509 efforts for nonviolent conflict resolution to 00:22:21.509 --> 00:22:25.769 actually enact these texts. And I think now it's 00:22:25.769 --> 00:22:30.710 a matter of doing this or we're just giving up 00:22:30.710 --> 00:22:34.750 and heading toward the destruction of the planet 00:22:34.750 --> 00:22:39.269 in the days of war to come. And most people would 00:22:39.269 --> 00:22:42.109 say, well, this is a beautiful dream, but it's 00:22:42.109 --> 00:22:45.289 impossible. And when push comes to shove in the 00:22:45.289 --> 00:22:49.500 real world, War is just a necessary evil and 00:22:49.500 --> 00:22:52.420 sometimes you just have to kill someone. I hear 00:22:52.420 --> 00:22:55.000 this almost every day of our life. What I want 00:22:55.000 --> 00:23:00.599 to propose is that you and I, dear friends, really 00:23:00.599 --> 00:23:05.400 say in our hearts and in our prayer, yes, we 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:08.619 want to side with you, nonviolent Jesus. Whatever 00:23:08.619 --> 00:23:12.619 has been done doesn't work. The path of war and 00:23:12.619 --> 00:23:14.400 violence are not working because now we have 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.160 nuclear weapons and we can destroy ourselves. 00:23:16.599 --> 00:23:19.880 So we want to learn from you the things that 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:22.519 make for peace. We want to be your people who 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:26.420 know the things that make for peace. We don't 00:23:26.420 --> 00:23:29.440 want to be lost in misunderstanding going along 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:32.619 with a culture of war from now on. And we want 00:23:32.619 --> 00:23:35.799 to teach those things and practice them. So we 00:23:35.799 --> 00:23:38.720 consciously beg for that grace and choose to 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:42.359 be those people. Instead of going on and on for 00:23:42.359 --> 00:23:45.680 the rest of our lives, like so many sisters or 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.400 brothers, just obeying the propaganda of the 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.960 war machine and the necessity of war and justifying 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.200 war, we're going to say no to war. There is no 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:57.539 just war. And we don't need war anymore. It doesn't 00:23:57.539 --> 00:24:02.359 work. advocate like Gandhi and Dr. King for nonviolent 00:24:02.359 --> 00:24:06.779 conflict resolution. So how can we participate 00:24:06.779 --> 00:24:10.559 in the things that make for peace and become 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:16.119 those people? I think that this has to be the 00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:18.500 mission for all of us for the rest of our lives 00:24:18.500 --> 00:24:21.660 in this moment. This is what God has asked for 00:24:21.660 --> 00:24:24.859 us. Every church in the world needs to become 00:24:24.859 --> 00:24:29.819 a training center that preaches, teaches, trains 00:24:29.819 --> 00:24:32.299 and promotes the things that make for peace, 00:24:32.440 --> 00:24:36.539 which I think are the fundamentals of nonviolence 00:24:36.539 --> 00:24:39.420 that I've been talking about by Gandhi and Dr. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:43.319 King, as well as the ways and methodologies of 00:24:43.319 --> 00:24:50.009 universal love, compassion, and justice. But 00:24:50.009 --> 00:24:51.849 here's what's so exciting, and we don't have 00:24:51.849 --> 00:24:54.490 time now to read the rest of the story, but you 00:24:54.490 --> 00:24:56.910 and I at this moment in the journey with Jesus, 00:24:56.950 --> 00:24:59.990 you see him breaking down, sobbing over Jerusalem 00:24:59.990 --> 00:25:07.630 in grief and despair. We'd give up. Once we get 00:25:07.630 --> 00:25:10.829 to that moment of, oh, there's no way to unlearn 00:25:10.829 --> 00:25:15.289 the things that make for war, we go, well, there's 00:25:15.289 --> 00:25:18.569 really nothing you can do anymore. The world 00:25:18.569 --> 00:25:20.549 has gone over the deep end, and there's nothing 00:25:20.549 --> 00:25:22.930 any one of us can do, and it really doesn't matter, 00:25:23.109 --> 00:25:25.990 and we might as well just, I don't know, eat, 00:25:26.069 --> 00:25:28.329 drink, and be merry and say our prayers and go 00:25:28.329 --> 00:25:33.009 to church. That's not what Jesus does. Jesus 00:25:33.009 --> 00:25:37.890 breaks down and sobs, and then he gets up, wipes 00:25:37.890 --> 00:25:42.990 away his tears, and takes action, and very dramatic 00:25:42.990 --> 00:25:45.670 nonviolent public action for which he will be 00:25:45.670 --> 00:25:49.269 killed by the end of the week. That's a very 00:25:49.269 --> 00:25:53.390 profound lesson here. He walks into the temple 00:25:53.390 --> 00:25:56.289 and engages in nonviolent civil disobedience, 00:25:56.390 --> 00:25:59.869 totally meticulously nonviolent, but he's saying 00:25:59.869 --> 00:26:02.509 no more injustice. We are people of contemplative 00:26:02.509 --> 00:26:09.049 prayer and nonviolence. And he engages in hope. 00:26:10.730 --> 00:26:13.369 He continues to hope that we might all finally 00:26:13.369 --> 00:26:16.829 learn the things that make for peace. He refuses 00:26:16.829 --> 00:26:20.710 to give in to despair or the darkness of the 00:26:20.710 --> 00:26:24.329 planet and the world and to become paralyzed 00:26:24.329 --> 00:26:26.670 or numb like the rest of us. He's kind of more 00:26:26.670 --> 00:26:29.509 energized than ever. I think this is the lesson 00:26:29.509 --> 00:26:32.990 of the Beatitudes, which begin with grief. Blessed 00:26:32.990 --> 00:26:36.430 are those who grieve, who mourn. and lead up 00:26:36.430 --> 00:26:38.910 to rejoice and be glad and love your enemies 00:26:38.910 --> 00:26:43.630 and so forth and so on. His grief and broken 00:26:43.630 --> 00:26:50.490 heart have widened his sacred heart to the ultimate 00:26:50.490 --> 00:26:55.650 manifestation of universal compassion. So he's 00:26:55.650 --> 00:26:58.269 not going to sit by and allow this to happen, 00:26:58.410 --> 00:27:01.849 whereas you and I want to give up. And that leads 00:27:01.849 --> 00:27:06.309 to active... Public, engaged nonviolence. Right 00:27:06.309 --> 00:27:08.670 there at the heart of Jerusalem where the religious 00:27:08.670 --> 00:27:12.589 authorities are working with the empire to steal 00:27:12.589 --> 00:27:15.369 all the money of the poor, even in the house 00:27:15.369 --> 00:27:20.089 of God and in the name of God. So his grief leads 00:27:20.089 --> 00:27:23.089 to deliberate nonviolent action to confront injustice 00:27:23.089 --> 00:27:26.170 and to call everyone back to the God of peace. 00:27:26.289 --> 00:27:29.569 That is powerful. Right there is the lesson of 00:27:29.569 --> 00:27:33.930 the things that make for peace. So I invite us 00:27:33.930 --> 00:27:37.849 to really pray over this in this bad time and 00:27:37.849 --> 00:27:41.569 to learn the things that make for peace today 00:27:41.569 --> 00:27:46.549 in our own hearts, in our cities, as the Trump 00:27:46.549 --> 00:27:50.289 administration is occupying our cities and ISIS 00:27:50.289 --> 00:27:53.269 arresting people all over the country and shipping 00:27:53.269 --> 00:27:56.789 them off to Latin America and Africa, no notice 00:27:56.789 --> 00:28:01.700 and total... horrific injustice, as we continue 00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:04.259 to fund the slaughter of children and people, 00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:07.960 sisters and brothers in Gaza, and to support 00:28:07.960 --> 00:28:11.019 warfare in Ukraine and South Sudan and so many 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:13.359 other places on the planet and build nuclear 00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:20.500 weapons. We grieve over our wars. We grieve with 00:28:20.500 --> 00:28:27.119 Jesus, who's in permanent grief and lamentation 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:31.339 over the world. especially us as the people of 00:28:31.339 --> 00:28:36.720 empire. And then with Jesus, we walk into our 00:28:36.720 --> 00:28:41.019 own modern day Jerusalems and speak out publicly 00:28:41.019 --> 00:28:44.140 for disarmament, justice, and peace, and all 00:28:44.140 --> 00:28:47.740 of creation. And we take nonviolent action. And 00:28:47.740 --> 00:28:51.640 like Jesus, we're meticulously nonviolent, the 00:28:51.640 --> 00:28:54.480 embodiment of peace. And we're willing to give 00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:57.079 our lives as he does as he goes to the cross. 00:28:58.039 --> 00:29:03.839 And I think as we do this, as we really move 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:07.200 closer to the nonviolent Jesus, even in a time 00:29:07.200 --> 00:29:14.000 of great despair, and try to engage in even public 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:17.859 risky nonviolence by marching in the streets 00:29:17.859 --> 00:29:21.420 and non -cooperation with the U .S. government 00:29:21.420 --> 00:29:26.289 and military and empire. And all the militaries 00:29:26.289 --> 00:29:28.690 of the world are just refusing to participate 00:29:28.690 --> 00:29:31.769 in warfare anymore, but trying to persistently 00:29:31.769 --> 00:29:34.569 reconcile with all peoples everywhere. I think 00:29:34.569 --> 00:29:39.750 in our very being, we're going to learn and receive 00:29:39.750 --> 00:29:44.450 new graces of the true peace that can only come 00:29:44.450 --> 00:29:48.369 from the nonviolent Jesus. Thank you, friends, 00:29:48.430 --> 00:29:50.490 for listening to this episode of the Nonviolent 00:29:50.490 --> 00:29:53.910 Jesus podcast. And if you want to read more about 00:29:53.910 --> 00:29:57.430 my thoughts on Luke 19, you can get my books, 00:29:57.569 --> 00:30:00.849 The Gospel of Peace and Walking the Way, where 00:30:00.849 --> 00:30:04.009 I talk about these episodes in those books. And 00:30:04.009 --> 00:30:06.109 you can hear many more podcasts and find other 00:30:06.109 --> 00:30:10.630 upcoming Zoom programs at www .beatitudescenter 00:30:10.630 --> 00:30:14.029 .org. And please consider offering a donation 00:30:14.029 --> 00:30:17.539 to support this free work. If you can, please 00:30:17.539 --> 00:30:20.720 leave some positive feedback or a review at NCR 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:23.559 or Apple or Spotify or YouTube, whatever platform 00:30:23.559 --> 00:30:26.099 you use. And also thanks for helping to spread 00:30:26.099 --> 00:30:29.119 the word about this podcast by telling your friends 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:32.059 and fellow churchgoers and colleagues about it. 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:35.220 May the God of peace bless you all. Keep on following 00:30:35.220 --> 00:30:37.680 the nonviolent Jesus. See you next time.