Jesus rethought the idea of forgiveness and vengeance, clarifying that no longer should one seek revenge through an “eye for an eye”; nor should one forgive another only seven times, but rather seventy times seven.34 From Leviticus in the Hebrew Scriptures to Romans in the New Testament, Christians and Jews have been told to never seek vengeance toward one another. “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”35 The Book of Romans tells us, “do not overcome evil with evil, but overcome evil with good. Therefore, if your enemy hungers, feed him.”36
In many ways, Jesus was far more radical than are the most liberal members of Congress, asking us to act in a way that we often find impossible and impractical. He changed the way we were to think about the enemy. We are to make friends with our enemies, recognizing that if we do not do this, there will be trouble.37 Jesus expanded our idea of the neighbor, telling us that we are to think of our enemy as our neighbor, and he added a new commandment: to love our neighbor as ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we are naive about evil, but that we don’t add fuel to the fires of hatred. Rather than demonizing and attacking the enemy, we should use diplomacy, which is far more in line with the values of Jesus.38
Jesus practiced nonviolent resistance to oppressive laws. He suggested that we love our enemies—feed them, clothe them, care for them, and “offer no resistance to the wicked.” This turns the enemy into a friend. Jesus advocated non-violence with the enemy using a subversive tactic that is often used in nonviolent resistance. If the person of his day were asked for his coat, he was to give the cloak as well. If he were asked to go one mile, he was to go two miles.39
Why is this nonviolent resistance? If a person in biblical times gave up his coat and cloak, he would be naked, thereby shaming the person who asked him. It wouldn’t take long for the Romans to decide that this was embarrassing and not effective.
A Roman was allowed to ask his subject to carry a burden for one mile, but not for longer. If someone started to walk the second mile, the Roman would be breaking the law. It wouldn’t take long for the Romans to stop asking, once they realized that they couldn’t stop their subjects from walking that second mile.
Jesus and the prophets rethought the social structures that generally rewarded the rich and powerful and asked us instead to change our focus to the poor and the needy. The prophets asked for a compassionate nation, and Jesus asked for a compassionate people. Who do we particularly need to care about? Those people who could not give back to us, but who were in need of our care.
Jesus rode a donkey, not an elephant. Elephants were ridden by the rich ruling classes. Jesus didn’t identify with the rich ruling classes, but with the people. He was with the people and for the people and of the people—a core value of both democracy and Christianity.
The Ethics of Jesus
Jesus asked us to go beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. Christian values go beyond simple rules to difficult ethical questions.
When Jesus picked corn on the Sabbath, and healed on the Sabbath, the letter of the law said this was wrong.40 He raised the ethical question—“Does this benefit or harm others?” If it benefits others, we may need to change the law.
Our country has many difficult ethical problems to consider. How are we to handle the ethical dilemma of abortion? How are we to handle terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear weapons? Should we make treaties with enemies? How do we deal with the increasing gun violence in our culture? What about the wide-ranging effects of a global economy? What should we do about climate change and health care and education? Is same-sex marriage a just decision in agreement with our Christian and democratic values? The Bible gives us no clear guides on many issues, except to be willing to confront ethical problems, guided by the Holy Spirit and the Law of Love.
The Holy Experiment
Could Christian values and politics be compatible? Is it possible to govern effectively using Christian values? At least at one point of our history, religious values were applied to create a democratic society called the Holy Experiment.
In 1681, William Penn received a land grant from James II of England to the land that became Pennsylvania, as well as the colonies of New Jersey and Delaware. Penn had been an Anglican, but became a Quaker in 1668. His Christian values and principles informed his decisions about how to govern the state, and for sixty years, he was successful.
He affirmed diversity, and set out to create a colony that was open to all. To achieve diversity, Penn began by recruiting settlers from Holland, England, Ireland, Wales, and Germany.
His new constitution promised full religious liberty to all. He said in his charter of “Laws, Concessions, and Agreements” that “no Men, nor number of Men upon Earth, hath Power or Authority to rule over Men’s consciences in religious Matters.”41 He wanted a government that would be contrary to war, selfishness, cruelty, suspicion, treason, judicial murder, greed, envy and betrayal, persecution, imprisonment, torture, and intolerance that existed in so many governments.42
He believed in the abiding principles of truth, love and equality, and applied them equally to the King and to the Native Americans, as well as to the many citizens of the state.
He called it his “Holy Experiment” because, as Benjamin Trueblood said, “it was founded in love, built up on the principles which love dictates and carried forward in the faith which is inspired and sustained by love.”43
He governed the colony with just rules, and opposed any economic oppression of the many by the few, including any oppression of the Native Americans. He laid out the city of Philadelphia at a place owned by the Native Americans, and, instead of forcibly taking their land as many other settlers did, he paid them for their land. Voltaire later wrote, this was “the only treaty between these people and the Native Americans that was … never broken.”
When the Native Americans met with Penn, they found no guns and laid down their own.44 He established political freedom, founded on the democratic principle of an election by the people, providing for an elected legislative assembly and a Council appointed by the Governor.
It was also a colony without an army, with only a small police force, and without war, for most of those years. It had few judges, but successfully settled disagreements through arbitration. Every country court had several Peacemakers or Arbitrators. They only turned to a court of law when all other methods of settling disputes had been tried. There were only two capital crimes—murder and treason—which was a departure from English law where even minor theft, such as stealing a loaf of bread, could be punishable by death.
Education was emphasized. Prisons were humane. There was only one witchcraft case during this time, which ended without a conviction, in contrast to the hysteria of the Salem witch trials of Massachusetts.45
The colony was socially progressive. Since it treated the Native Americans fairly, it sought to extend these equal and just rights to others. In 1688, one of the towns in Pennsylvania—Germantown—began to question whether owning slaves was consistent with Christian values. Their influence led to the abolitionist movement.
Pennsylvania became the most tolerant and most diverse state in the early years of America, establishing the concepts of democracy and freedom of religion that later became so important in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
William Penn showed that Christian principles could be put into action for the effective governing of a state. His particular Christian values were based on religious freedom and on governing through respect and justice.
Vote the Golden Rule
Many of us bring together our practice of religion and democracy by voting the Golden Rule. What we want for ourselves, we are also willing to give to others. We vote for the rights of others that we would also want for ourselves. We give the same protections, care, and respect to others that we would want for ourselves.
What would Jesus be doing in our society? As the Prince of Peace, he would be questioning our wars, which kill millions of civilians and leave millions of children homeless and as orphans.