The Non-Violence of God

THE NON-VIOLENCE OF GOD There are a number of texts which, on the surface, seem to indicate that God is ordering violence. But they are really archetypal and anthropomorphic in nature and do not justify that interpretation. If we read the bible from beginning to end, a progressive revelation (or at least a progressive realization on our part) of the non-violence of God ends in Jesus, who reveals a God of radical non-violence. Here’s an example: In John’s Gospel, we see the story of the woman who has been caught in adultery. A crowd of pious persons bring her to Jesus and tell him that they have caught her in the very act of committing adultery and that Moses (their primary interpreter of God’s will) has ordered that, for this offense, she needs to be put to death. Jesus says nothing, instead he bends down and begins to write on the ground with his finger. Looking up, he tells them: “Let the person among you without sin cast the first stone!” Then he bends down and writes for a second time with his finger. Unbelievably, they get the message and lay down their stones and go away. Jesus’ gesture of writing on the ground with his finger is significant. Who writes with his finger? Who writes twice? God does. And what God writes with his finger and writes twice are the Ten Commandments, and he had to write them twice because Moses “broke” them the first time. Coming down the mountain, carrying the tablets, Moses caught the people in the very act of committing idolatry. Gripped in a fever of religious and moral fervor, Moses broke the tables of stone on the golden calf and on peoples’ heads. Moses was the first person to break the commandments and he broke them physically, thinking violence needed to be done for God’s cause. Then, having broken them, Moses needed to go up the mountain a second time and have them rewritten by God; but before rewriting them, God gave Moses a stern message: Don’t stone people with the Commandments! Don’t do violence in my name! Too often, in a variety of forms, we are still stoning people with the Commandments, falsely believing that God wants this violence. To read more click here or copy this link into your browser http://ronrolheiser.com/the-non-violence-of-god/#.YHSziRRKjDY www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser