December 16:
“Jesus lived and died in vain if he did not teach us to regulate the whole of life by the eternal Law of Love.”
–Gandhi (Harijan, January 7, 1939)
A journalist once challenged Gandhi’s views on nonviolence suggesting that it is fine for personal issues but it could not work on a large scale. The writer used the example of Jesus, saying that if there is anyone who could illustrate the notion that nonviolence failed, we could look to him. Excuse me? Well, first of all, think of the year and you might not be surprised at the statement: 1939, where the world (most of it) seemed to think that war was not only patriotic but entirely inevitable, and they were searching for reasons to justify their violence.
The journalist may not have realized that he was talking with someone who had a greater faith in the life and message of Jesus than most Christians even today, and someone who understood the science of nonviolence directly, from personal experience. The man who said, in one of his more sarcastic moods, “The only people who do not realize that Jesus was nonviolent are the Christians.” (Some of them!).
In his response to The Statesman writer, Gandhi said that he was “unprepared” to find someone making the case that Jesus was an example of the failure of nonviolence. (That’s a kind way of saying “SERIOUSLY?”) Still, while it seems like an honest statement, a simple misunderstanding about what nonviolence means, it also emphasizes the need for helping people to see how nonviolence really works. Making the ultimate sacrifice, overcoming the will to live in order to inspire others to struggle forward in love, is the most decisive triumph over violence. “Though I cannot claim to be a Christian in the sectarian sense,” Gandhi added, “the example of Jesus’ suffering is a factor in the composition of my undying faith in nonviolence which rules all my actions, worldly and temporal. And I know that there are hundreds of Christians who believe likewise.”
Experiment in Nonviolence:
What can we learn about Gandhi’s defense of Jesus’ nonviolence, even though he was not a Christian?
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By: Stephanie Van Hook
Stephanie Van Hook is Executive Director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence.
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Gandhi’s Influence on Dr. James Farmer
A Door Into Ocean
Bystander Intervention is only the beginning
Film Screening Thurs. Dec.10
We cannot love our “enemies.”
Yes it’s true. Many Christians do justify war. I’m not one who does. But I know of those who do. It is sad. We don’t really look at Jesus as non-violent. Perhaps it is the idea of the fire and brimstone God of vengeance that effects other’s views even today.