Perspective: Do Not Engage

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Do Not Engage

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.  For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?  Or what will they give in return for their life?"

Matthew 16:24-26 (NRSV)

Father, father

We don't need to escalate

You see, war is not the answer

For only love can conquer hate

You know we've got to find a way

To bring some lovin' here today

From "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye

A few days before Jesus is crucified, the Disciples make a comment about the impressive buildings in Jerusalem.  Jesus tells them that, in the near future, "not one stone will be left here upon another."  The Disciples, who are naturally alarmed by His words, ask Him when the disaster He has predicted will happen.¹  Jesus warns them that, when they see what He calls the "desolating sacrilege" in the temple, they need to literally run for the hills, because a time of great suffering is immanent.  He warns them to not listen to the "false messiahs and false prophets" who will emerge and deceive many people.²

Jesus' prophecy is often used in conjunction with other parts of Scripture - most prominently Revelation - to formulate an elaborate timeline of events that will supposedly happen at some indeterminate point in the future.  Many believe that there will be a seven-year period of hell on earth they call the Great Tribulation.  During this time, the world will fall under the control of an evil ruler called the Antichrist, who will be empowered by Satan to persecute and martyr followers of Christ.  This time of suffering will end with the Battle of Armageddon, after which Christ will return to reign on earth and judge all people.

It is important that we have some knowledge of ancient history when engaging certain parts of the Bible, like Jesus' troubling prophecy.  Otherwise, we might waste our time obsessing over future events that probably won't happen.  Jesus' prophecy actually addresses a particular chain of events that came to pass nearly two thousand years ago.

The "desolating sacrilege" of which Jesus speaks is basically something that does not belong in the temple of the Lord.  Jesus is predicting that the Roman Empire, which is occupying the region in His day, will at some point defile the temple, perhaps with pagan images.  The Jewish people, who will be rightfully enraged by this act of desecration, will respond by rebelling against Rome.  Rome will, in turn, respond to the rebellion by destroying Jerusalem.  Jesus warns the Disciples to flee for the hills when they see the "desolating sacrilige" the temple because He does not want them to get caught up in the conflict that follows and lose their lives in a battle He doesn't want them to fight.³

It is important to remember that the Jewish people of Jesus' day expect a militant messiah who will drive out the Romans and return Israel to its glory days.  Some of them even aspire to be that militant messiah.  The "false messiahs and false prophets" of whom Jesus speaks are not the so-called Antichrist and his acolytes.  They are the people who will incite the people to rebel against Rome.  He warns the Disciples not to follow them because they will not bring salvation to the land as they intend but will instead invite destruction.⁴

Some time before Jesus makes His prediction about the destruction of Jerusalem, He asks the Disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  Simon, one of the most vocal, brash, and hotheaded of the Disciples, replies, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."⁵  Jesus instructs the Disciples not to tell anyone that He is the Messiah.  At this point, because at least one of the Disciples believes He is the Messiah, He has to start warning them that, once He reaches Jerusalem, He will have to suffer, die, and be resurrected from the dead.⁶  Jesus wants them to understand that He is not the kind of messiah they have been expecting.

The people are expecting a conquering king, but Jesus has come as a suffering servant.  The people are expecting a savior who will bear arms, but Jesus is a Savior who will bear a cross.  What people believe about their Savior will naturally have implications for how they choose to follow their Savior.  When Simon objects to the revelation that Jesus will have to suffer and die, Jesus tells the Disciples that to follow Him is to deny oneself and to take up a cross as opposed to a sword.  To conquer through violence is to lose one's very soul.  Following Jesus means self-denial and self-sacrifice and not self-aggrandizement.

After Jesus warns the Disciples about the destruction of Jerusalem, He goes on to tell them about His return.  He tells them that they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds to gather His people.⁷  After Jesus ascends to Heaven, his earliest followers will believe that His return to Earth will be very soon.  Maybe Jesus is merely saying that, when He returns, He will not be among the people who are plotting against Rome and that His return will leave no doubt about His identity.⁸

In AD 66, a few decades after Jesus' Ascension, the Roman governor Gessius Florus plunders the temple treasury in response to protests against taxation and unpaid taxes.  The people riot, killing a number of Roman soldiers, and Florus arrests and crucifies a number of city leaders.⁹  Jewish militants then revolt against the Roman Empire, driving non-Jewish people from the region of Judea and setting up a provisional government.  A seven-year war between the Jews and the Romans ensues.  In AD 70, after a siege lasting several months, the Romans penetrate the city walls and destroy the temple.¹⁰

During the war between the Jews and the Romans, many people chose not to follow Jesus' advice to flee but instead stood their ground in Jerusalem.  Many died of starvation during the siege, and some reportedly resorted to cannibalism.¹¹  This is the great suffering Jesus did not want His people to endure.  War is hell.

I think that one lesson we can glean from Jesus' grim prophecy and the warning He gives the Disciples is that Christ does not want us to throw away our lives engaging in conflicts that have nothing to do with what He has called us to do.  I think about the costly culture wars waged by certain segments of Christianity in conjunction with certain political interest groups.  Any gains they made in supposedly taking back the culture for Christ came at the cost of alienating people who might have been drawn to Christ were they not repelled by people's politics.  Christ never called us to take back the culture; Christ calls us to be a refuge for all who have been oppressed by the culture.

May you, dear reader, learn to recognize an unholy war when you see it, and may you choose not to engage.  Remember that to follow Jesus is not to take up a sword, whatever form that takes, but to take up a cross.  Remember that, as Revelation shows us, the Lion who emerged from battle victorious is the Lamb who was slain.¹²


Notes:

1. Matthew 24:1-3 (NRSV)
2. Matthew 24:15-28 (NRSV)
3. N.T Wright.  Matthew for Everyone, Part 2.  2004, Westminster John Knox Press.  pp. 118-119
4. ibid.
5. Matthew 16:15-16 (NRSV)
6. Matthew 16:20-21
7. Matthew 24:29-31
8. Wright, p. 117
9. Wikipedia: "Jerusalem riots of 66"
10. Wikipedia: "First Jewish-Roman War"
11. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume Two.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  Barclay pp. 358-359
12. Revelation 5:5-6

Flevit super illam was painted by Enrique Simonet in 1892.