The whole cohort
Print Friendly Version| On the Road to Peace by John Dear S.J. | Wednesday, April 4, 2007 |
| Vol. 1, No. 9 |
Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him.
-- Matthew 27: 27-31
I was on retreat 10 years ago, during my Jesuit tertianship year in Belfast, pondering the Holy Week readings, when I came upon this text, Jesus being hauled before "the whole cohort." The whole cohort? What was that? I wondered. I looked it up and blanched at the answer.
In Jerusalem, each year during the Passover festival, the Roman governor assembled a cohort, some 600 soldiers to protect against riot or rebellion. Most years calm prevailed, and the idle cohort had nothing to do. And so they drank themselves into a rage and spent their days seizing upon petty criminals and rebels and torturing and crucifying them.
One of the most appalling and astounding images in the scripture -- the most anti-military image ever pictured. Here is the most powerful military unit in the world, and they humiliate Jesus, passing the time by mocking and torturing God in the City of David.
The image offers a summary of things. It brings before our eyes the military might of the world mocking and laughing at the God of peace, hating Jesus, humiliating him, and torturing him because he claims to be a king, to be God. They know no god but Caesar, and this doomed man in their clutches insists upon a God of peace. He's the biggest fool they've ever encountered. His self-image is preposterous, hilarious. They think scourging and nails will set him straight out.
If we're unconvinced that God does not condone war, that God is not warlike, then we should spend more time standing with the mocked Jesus as he suffers the jeers and humiliations of 600 soldiers before they kill him.
Contemplate the scene and realize our own explicit and implicit support of armed power over the God of Peace. Then we would quit the military, refuse to serve as chaplains, and non-cooperate with any military. Because we stand with the unarmed Jesus, we would oppose the draft, withdraw support from our military, withhold war taxes, and disobey orders to kill.
We would be transformed into anti-military people. We'd speak out against all wars and institutions of violence. We'd allow ourselves to be humiliated, persecuted, arrested and tried. As we boldly announce a nonviolent world, we'd gladly submit to the mockery of military authorities.
Remember the student standing before Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square? There's an analogy of Jesus before the whole cohort.
This week, with the world brimming with wars, as the president plows ahead in the senseless massacre of innocent Iraqis, as Los Alamos churns our the latest in nuclear weapons, we recall the innocent, unarmed, nonviolent Jesus standing before 600 jeering, laughing, murderous Roman soldiers.
Jesus spent his days teaching and practicing nonviolence, denounced violence, healed the sick. He created a community of love and resisted the institutionalized violence of the Roman empire. He turned over the moneychangers' tables in the Temple in an act of peaceful civil disobedience, and faced the inevitable consequence of arrest, jail, trials, torture and execution. He did it without violent anger. He did it while maintaining his relationship with his loving God. He did it to show us how to live and die, not how to kill.
The stories of Holy Week are no exercise in piety. They summon us to bear hope, today, here and now. We are summoned to renounce our government's massacre of Iraqi sisters and brothers. We are challenged to share the humiliation of Jesus, as we suffer the mockery of our patriotic fellow citizens, and the abuse of officials who arrest and try us.
With the hidden God of nonviolence, we can stand tall before the cohort, undergo derision and abuse, and stand for peace. As we do, we can trust with Jesus that the victory, the outcome of disarmament, justice, and humanity's conversion to peace, is assured.
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John Dear's latest book, "Transfiguration" (from Doubleday, with a foreword by Archbishop Tutu) is available from local bookstores and Amazon.com. Dear is to stand trial in Albuquerque, N.M., April 12 for a recent protest against the Iraq war. He will also offer a week of classes on the Gospels, the life of Jesus, and the work of peace and justice, at the historic Ghost Ranch conference center in Abiquiu, N.M. (where artist Georgia O'Keefe lived) from June 17-24. For information contact, www.ghostranch.org and www.johndear.org.
It appeared that your
It appeared that your previous post was finding fault with my opinion that those who serve in the military are not to blame for the lack of peace in the world. You wrote, "If I am to believe that the military are made up of 'peaceful' people, who just so happen to be trained to kill and are armed to the teeth in order to do so, I would have to also believe that the scribes and pharisees were really righteous and that they were right to "free Barabbas" instead of Jesus!"
I have to admit that I do not really understand why you are objecting to my defense of military service personnel, since you claim not to be an absolute pacifist. This is all I was claiming to be as well--I began objecting to the Iraq invasion while it was still only being suggested, and I am against nuclear proliferation (and even the generation of electricity by nuclear means unless nuclear waste can be neutralized).
You also write "Don't mock me and don't deny Him in me...". Who is mocking you?
Since you understand that Jesus was not to be saved by anyone, the point of your reference to the scribes and pharisees is lost on me, and I have no idea why you would think that I am referring to the forgiving of anyone but those parties whom you seem to blame for freeing Barabbas instead of Jesus.
It seems to me that you are looking for an enemy in me.
Marie, I love all my
Marie,
I love all my brothers and sisters that are in the military. But, I do not love the military more than my God.
I love all my sisters and brothers that are in the government. But, I do not love the government more than my God.
I love all my brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church. But, I do not love the Catholic Church more than my God.
I love the sun and rain that makes things grow. But, I do not love the sun and rain more than my God.
I love the songs that praise the Lord. But, I do not sing the songs above my God.
I love to hear the bells that ring on steeples. But, I do not love the sound more than my God.
I also love you too Marie.
God knows I am not looking for an enemy.
___________________________________________________
In closing now I quote from the New American Bible, Luke 7:40 "No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher." I am a disciple still in training.
In reference to the Scribes and Pharisees read Matthew 23. About the Scribes and Pharisees, the "hypocrites" as Jesus called them: in forgiving them, one has to first understand them and recognize them in our own time and in our own selves, not just in looking back in time at others. That also means forgiving ourselves. I use them in writing as examples, not for judgement or blame. Defending a scribe and/or pharisee is a lot different than forgiving them. I do not defend them or side with them or blame or condemn them. Jesus laments over their hypocrisy and resistance to believe and follow Him in Matthew 24:37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her young under her wings, but you were unwilling!"
Jesus neither condemns, nor blames, nor defends them, but truly loved them and did try to teach them, but they were unwilling. I hope this clears some things up for you.
I have found that in
I have found that in additional contemplation and re-reading of Matthew 23 that I can further understand that Jesus was denouncing the Scribes and Pharisees in this teaching to the crowds and to his disciples.
The dictionary meaning of "denunciation" is an adjective meaning 1.) denouncing as evil; open and vehement condemnation. 2.) an accusation of crime before a public prosecutor or tribunal 3.) notice of the termination of an international agreement or part thereof. 4.) announcement of impending evil; threat; warning.
For now I will focus my attention first on the 4th meaning of that word "denunciation" as Jesus' announcement of impending evil; threat; warning.
Jesus prefaces his statements "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites."
Why does He preface each statement with "Woe to you"? The dictionary meaning of "woe" is 1.) grievous distress, affliction, or trouble. 2.) an affliction. 3.) an exclamation of grief, distress, or lamentation.
Because of their unwillingness to follow Him and believe in Him they commit evil. That brings about the "woe" to themselves because of their decision of unwillingness to follow Him. Jesus does not bring them "woe." They bring upon themselves the "woe."
My understanding is that as Christians we are to forgive the sinner, not defend the sin.
Jesus announces to us in the Gospels the way to true freedom from sin and an end to "woe" is by following Him. His example is one of non-violence. Violence truly does beget violence. When we truly follow Him, we do not need to be violent because in Him we find peace. We should heed to the warnings that Jesus teaches us, less we bring about "woe" to ourselves and others.
Marie R. says "Those who
Marie R. says "Those who serve in the military do so out of a sincere belief that their service contributes to peace in the world."
People join the military for various reasons. In recent years, a lot of young people are lured out of neighborhoods in which the future holds no promise of a decent life and the military recruits actively there, dangling promises of a college education, a large chunk of money, the training of technological skills, etc. Some very good intentioned people are duped or self-deceived or deluded or brainwashed enough into believing they are serving some great cause for their country, like to "protect our freedoms" or "preserving peace." If I am to believe that the military are made up of "peaceful" people, who just so happen to be trained to kill and are armed to the teeth in order to do so, I would have to also believe that the scribes and pharisees were really righteous and that they were right to "free Barabbas" instead of Jesus!
The military in the US as it currently exists and as it is currently led and being utilized, is being used in a deceptively dishonest and unchristian way. The US military in Iraq is not being used as a peacekeeping force by any means. The recent redeployment of troops now going on their 2nd and 3rd tour of duty is a grave injustice to our military and their families. They have been lied to just as much as the american people have been lied to all along about our "purpose" in Iraq. What I believe John Dear SJ has been saying is that in order for wars to end and for there to be true peace in the world, people should not be signing up to enlist their services to support such a war, or any war.
There are a vast number of people these days who have beams and splinters in their eyes. Many seem eager to deploy troops to try to pry the spliters out of their enemies eyes, on both sides, and taking thousands of lives and limbs away too in the process. On the other hand, however, the scribes and pharisees, the rulers, were the blind and were leading others to total blindness, freeing Barabbas and crucifying Jesus. Will you follow and free Barabbas again and to self-destruction in the name of spreading democracy with a gun? Or, will you follow the teachings of Jesus Christ where the message is that of peace, forgiveness, healing and life?
Choose Peace!
You get no argument from me
You get no argument from me on your point that Iraq has been a great deception. However, I think you will find resistance, both within the military and within the general population of the US, to the idea that our military personnel have no higher purpose to their service. It is important to be careful not to blame the wrong people or the wrong institution. The mere existence of a strong, capable, disciplined military contributes considerably to world peace.
Though they have their faults, the Scribes and Pharisees also do not deserve condemnation. Our understanding of Jesus' life and death are clearly at odds, and it would do little for us to engage in a dispute as to the virtues of the people involved in that drama. You might wish to consider how little the disciples contributed to "saving" Jesus from his fate. When you consider applying Jesus' message of forgiveness, consider forgiving those involved in his death and remember that Jesus was more than an unjustly accused and killed human being--"He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven".
Jesus' death was a love
Jesus' death was a love letter from God to humans written in the language we would understand. What would wrench our emotions more than the real pain many still know intimately, that of having one's child die? It wasn't done for looks, but rather to speak to the deepest part of each person. It is something entirely different from what people do to one another and should not be reinterpreted to serve as a justification for pacifist activities.
God wishes for us to choose to be peaceful and to choose to treat one another with respect and love. He does not want us to decide all would be resolved if only other people would choose to do as we do. He does not want us to condemn people for choosing a different route, such as military service, to peace. If there is an aspect to the life and death of Jesus that could be interpreted in support of pacifism, it should be the Resurrection, which serves as confirmation of all that Jesus taught.
I tire easily of people
I tire easily of people taking a remote phrase from the gospels and building a story on it. This is not the case here because allthough there are hundreds of phrases that have been parsed endlessly this 'before the cohort' was central to the message. We live in an athmosphere where power and money are in an upward spiral and the gospels are being used to promote that spiral.
The washing of the feet,the sermon on the mount, the acceptance of children, offering the other cheek,Jesus before the cohort, the prodigal son and other stories ARE the message. Where do we get the idea that the message is cathedrals,compulsary beliefs,excommunications, armies, fund drives and bureacracy.
Just a minute. It is a
Just a minute. It is a mischaracterization of the presence of the US military in Iraq to say that it massacres our Iraqi brothers and sisters. Certainly if they had not been sent there, many more Iraqis would be alive today, but the blame for their deaths belongs directly to the current Administration, not those people who signed up believing that their service in the military was to protect people from the violence of those who have no respect for the lives of people who do not share their ideologies or ambitions.
There is no
There is no mischaracterization Marie. The military from the US or from any other country train people to kill and destroy. They are told to protect people from violence, by means of using violence themselves? All violence is wrong and goes against the teachings of Jesus. Each one of us as adults, are responsible from our own actions.
(Matthew 5:43-48)
Peace be with you,
-Maru
Goofalong: Fascinating. All
Goofalong:
Fascinating. All violence is wrong and goes against the teaching of Jesus. When the soliders approached John the Baptist in the Gospel of St. John, the one who was to come before the Christ, he admonished them not to complain about their pay and told them to treat people fairly, and he did not warm them to leave the military and avoid service to their leaders.
Further, Christ does not say that violence always and everywhere wrong. Without question, to quell rebellion, to defend against invasion, tyrants, and sheer war, the use of force is necessary. Even at time, if a tyrant rules a nation, it can be justified to overthrow that tyrant. By this expression, I do not endorse the war in Iraq. HOwever, all violence is not wrong. What is wrong, truly wrong, is the cause of violence used to kill innocent children, and innocent men and women. This is injustice. It is here why we have police, why we have courts, and why we have an army, to keep the peace so that the Church may flourish. It is foolishness, if not evil, to say that all action to stop violence is wrong. That is simply not the teaching of Christ.
Christ Himself became angry
Christ Himself became angry when He saw the injustice and the sacrilege of the Moneychangers in the Temple. He is (according to the Gospel Story) reputed to have overturned their Tables (of doves and scrificial animals and money and counting implements) and whipped them from the Temple. What a commotion that must have been! Was that not a "Violent Act?" Did the whip not fall upon tbe backs or the arms, at least of some of the moneychangers? He shouted at them, too, and innocent animals spilled and fluttered all over the floor! Violence! What a Disturbance! Shocking! Upsetting!
Therefore, according to the Gospels, I don't think "all violence is wrong and goes against the teaching of Jesus" since Jesus Himself was willing to intervene in at least one case. Jesus Himself used a Weapon (the whip.) Or did the "Gospel Writer" MAKE THIS UP to "justify violence"? We are going a bit far afield, to say this without some good Biblical exegis; does anyone have some? I am no Theologian; I will be happy to listen to other points of view. I am certainly no warmonger either! (Look how stupid Iraq is!)
I think it would be a
I think it would be a fantasy to believe that without military training people would be peaceful. The US trained soldiers do indeed protect people from violence by using physical means that may at times be violent in nature. They are trained to exercise restraint, not to engage in emotional, hate-motivated actions. Soldiers are trained to follow orders that are oriented toward accomplishing strategic goals, not killing. They must know how to kill and be willing to kill, but that is the extent of it.
Those who serve in the military do so out of a sincere belief that their service contributes to peace in the world. Other people believe that engaging in confrontational protests is peaceful and contributes to peace in the world, but I believe this is another example of using physical means that could become violent for the goal of establishing world peace.
Those who disparage the contribution to world peace of a properly trained and led military do their cause a disservice. When they blame the lack of world peace on the willingness of individual soldiers to serve in the military and instead promote engaging in civil disobedience, they fail to see the beam in their own eye.
protecting ourselves is not
protecting ourselves is not evil. I have asked this question before to those who advocate total non-violence. "Do you have locks on your doors and windows at home?"
The military is not some evil entity, it protects the freedom of our country. If not for the military during the cold war, we could be speaking russian right now comrades. I have family in the military and they are serving to make sure that we maintain a republic that is free.
While I'm fully okay with
While I'm fully okay with people protecting themselves, I am not getting the importance of your question to those who advocate total non-violence. Is having a lock on your door violence against the door, or what exactly is the relevance of your question?
Once again Fr. John bring
Once again Fr. John bring out the facts that many of us have forgotten or not become aware of.
Jesus was not treated as a spotless sacrifice to a benevolent god. Jesus was turned over to crowd of people who were trained to be brutal without killing him. The soldiers were following the laws of the government, laws that were considered by some to be just.
I can't help feeling that God did not want Jesus to be treated the way that he was treated. I can't accept that God would want one whom God loved would have to be treated the way that one might treat an animal that they were training to be "respectful" of authority or hateful of anyone else.
The Cohort could be compared to the inquisitors at places like Abu Gharib or Guantanamo Bay Cuba. These inquisitors are protected by imperial laws that do not respect international or humanitarian laws or practices.
Jesus was turned over to the Roman Empire to dispose of because Jesus could not have used violence or allow anyone else to use violence to defend him without invalidating his teachings.
What if Jesus wasn't God incarnate? What if Jesus was a human messiah who was so humble that he had no reason to use violence even if others would have justified it? Wouldn't Jesus have showed us that he was serious about what he believed? Couldn't his actions have proved to his followers for 300 years or more that violence was not what God wanted?
At the risk of being excommunicated, I have to say that Jesus has not been taken seriously by most Christians and most Catholics since the death of Jesus has not been seen as a horrible crime against humanity. If Jesus' death was a crime against humanity, then other executions and acts of extreme prejudice too are. This goes for covert acts by agencies such as the CIA, and militaries.
I invite all Christians to take a different look at Jesus. If Jesus is God then why don't we take his teachings more seriously? Did Jesus have to die so that we could believe that God could appear as a man in order to appear to die so that his death could look like a pagan form of sacrifice?
I can't believe that Jesus died for the sins that I haven't yet decided to commit knowing that I will be forgiven.
I believe that my beliefs in Jesus should make it easier to chose not to sin by either omission or commission.
I hope that this will help some people to make the right decision about violence.
How then are we to take
How then are we to take Isaiah?
"Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,/ our sufferings that he endured,/ while we thought of him as stricken,/ as one smitten by God and afflicted./ But he was pierced for our offenses,/ crushed for our sins;/ upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,/ by his stripes we were healed./ We had all gone astray like sheep,/ each following his own way;/ but the LORD laid upon him the guilt of us all."
The Church has always held that the identification of Passover as a foreshadowing of the Paschal mystery is most fitting ("This is our Passover feast,/ when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,/ whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers."), as the Israelites were saved from the death of the firstborn and freed from earthly slavery. In Christ (the firstborn of creation) we are saved from death and freed from spiritual slavery to sin.
If Jesus was not God, he would not be a good man (the claim to Divinty forces aut Deus aut homo malus). Since He is God, then why limit His omnipotence ("I can't believe that Jesus died for the sins that I haven't decided to commit knowing that I will be forgiven.")?
Jesus' death was not a horrible crime against humanity, by the greatest crime possible by humanity, deicide.
Obviously we have a
Obviously we have a difference of opinion Marie. It is not my intention to argue with you, but I think your comment begs a comment from me for understanding and some additional clarity. First, in the world we live in, as violent as it has become, a defensive military is needed. I am not an absolute pacifist in any sense of the word. But, I believe prayer is a better answer to any problems we face. On a personal level I prefer to take the "better" route if you will. If people put more of their God-given faith into God, and less on a military and bombs and guns to "save" them from their enemies, perhaps then wars would end, and hence our need for a dependence on the military of any kind and we could begin to dispose of the senseless amounts of nuclear arsenals around the world, including in our own country and create a world of peace that is ready to receive Jesus' Second Coming. I know there is a lot of resistance to this type of thinking. Perhaps you should think about it. Perhaps all of us should think about it more often.
In my comment I was not judging anyone, nor "condemning" the scribes and pharisees. If you read the Bible you know that Jesus goes on and on for pages speaking to the scribes and pharisees saying: "woe to you scribes and pharisees."... It is Jesus who called them "blind guides." I referred to them as Jesus referred to them in the gospels.
I don't quite understand why you want me to "consider how little the disciples contributed to 'saving' Jesus from his fate" and what that has to do with what I was writing about. I will ask you to explain how you have considered it and what it means to you? I actually have considered it and in reading the Gospels the role of the apostles was never to ever contribute to saving Jesus, but Jesus was born into this world to save them, and us.
When Peter cut off the soldiers ear, Jesus rebuked him and healed the soldiers ear, even though He knew they were going to crucify Him. Jesus did not call for violence or justify the violence of others and the apostles obeyed Jesus, and after Jesus was led away the apostles fled, and then Peter denied Jesus three times, as Jesus had prophesied he would do at the Last Supper. Jesus apparently knew this issue of non-violence was a tough one, even for Peter.
I have a very deep personal and growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Don't mock me and don't deny Him in me and in my life by deceiving yourself and denying that truth that I know. You shouldn't presume that I have not already forgiven anyone who has trespassed against me, and there have been many who have.
Jesus forgave those who were involved in his death when He was on the cross. He said: "Father, Forgive Them, They Know Not What They Do." We were all involved with His death because we are all sinners. He forgave us and died for us all so that we could have eternal life in Him.
Peace