About this episode
Author and self-proclaimed ‘aspiring peacemaker,’ Jason Porterfield, returns to the show to walk Bad Roman co-hosts, Craig Harguess and Abby Cleckner, through his new book, Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace Throughout Holy Week.
Come Spring we tend to look straight to Easter, to the miracle of the resurrection, but just how much do we miss when we forget the why and how of what led up to Christ’s crucifixion? By taking an in-depth look at each day in the final week of Jesus’ life, Jason’s book is a guide and game-changer for any Christian who still thinks Jesus died to protect us from a wrathful God.
God is love! He is not a hammer or sword-wielding warrior, but a force of mercy, humility, and reckoning. How often do we forget this today? How often do we use the bible to justify violent means to imagined peaceful ends?
“Jesus used a whip in the temple”
“Jesus told them to take swords”
“Jesus said render unto Caesar”
How many of our enemies must we fight or destroy to create peace? How many verses must we take out of context to justify our sin? Peter was scolded for his violence and we remain under the same command to disarm.
To build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, to try to love one another and our enemies in the way Christ set forth is a radical position to take both in Jesus’s time and now. Holy Week is crucial to understanding how God’s love works. It is through those days we see and experience Jesus’s message and example in action.
This episode is a challenge to you to look at yourself, your actions, and if they reflect what you think you believe. It can be easy to think we are on the right side of the resurrection, that we, of course, are on the side of Jesus, but it is just as easy to fail to see we are the ones plotting against the way of peacemaking, that we are the ones holding the hammer over our savior on the cross. We invite you to listen with an open mind, to humble yourself to the folly we all are susceptible to fall into in the midst of miracles.
If you want to learn more about Jason’s work and message you can connect with him on his website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Episode Timestamps:
2:15 Episode #14 Fight Like a Christian with Keith Giles and Jason
3:20 Motivation for writing Fight Like Jesus: How Jesus Waged Peace Throughout Holy Week
Failing as a peacemaker
How do you Love your enemy and neighbor when your enemy is oppressing your neighbor
Holy week is when we see Jesus enacting all he has said as an active peacemaker
8:08 Why was Jesus shedding tears?
Hosana translates to “save us now”
Palm Branches - politically loaded symbols of rebellion
14:16 Christians waging/supporting war vs. living out teachings of Jesus
Jesus comes back as lamb not warrior
19:30 Monday - Jesus Cleansing the Temple
Jesus returns with planned, calculated action, not rash “temple fit”
John’s mention of whip used to justify violence by Christians
Did Jesus whip people?
No, it was more of shooing animal whip - not an instrument of torture
Catholic Theologian Raymond Brown
Whip material was likely animal bedding materials
Greek translation reveals ‘tu’ modifies all to be sheep and cattle, i.e. John is clarifying who he is using the whip on
Jesus was not passive in the face of injustice, he was an active pacifist
Jesus’s zeal does not destroy, it opens up more for everyone
After the cleansing those who were excluded were invited in
31:32 Tuesday (part 1) - Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and God what is God’s
Jesus uses the word “repay” vs. “pay”
He switches the verb of the question, which requires you to answer the question of what belongs to God and what belongs to Cesar?
Did Jesus’s supporters hear (misinterpret) something else in “pay back” what is owed?
Jesus leaves people with more questions than answers - makes you think
36:51 Tuesday (part 2) - The 7 Woes
Speaking truth to power or using authority/power to bash and crush others?
Easier to see ourselves on the side or Jesus vs. Pharisees
38:18 Wednesday - Eye of the Hurricane, Quiet Day with 'Backroom Deals’
Jewish leaders scheme to murder Jesus
Judas excepting price to betray Jesus
Unnamed woman
First to anoint Jesus as messiah
Fictional future to justify a present means
45:10 Thursday (Part 1) - The New Command
Love each other as I have loved you
New standard of love he set in how to love
What is true evangelism?
Living and being the community of God so others can experience it
Make others curious about your life by how much you love God
Faciniation precedes explanation
51:30 Thursday (Part 2) - The Two Swords (Gun Culture)
Jesus healed the roman soldier harmed by Peter
Not “time is not right” but “time is never right” attitude to violence
Two swords allow them to appear as a violence mob, but then reject that violence as an example
Disciples fled when Jesus revoked Peter’s violence
They were ready to fight for a new king
59:10 Friday - Understating the Crucifiction
Did Jesus die to save us from God?
Fear of God vs. Love of Christ
Comparison and choice of Jesus (Peaceful nonviolent) or Barabbas (the violent insurrectionist Messiah)
They chose person who would fight and crucified Jesus
Peacemakers cultivate the future Jesus promised
Do the work, stop waiting for Jesus to come back and solve all of the problems
We are passive in our violence
1:09:00 The Resurrection
Understanding of how things end
Sunday’s Resurrection - symbolized the end we seek is starting to be lived out
Early church decided to live out the future now
Model the way of Jesus
Dave Andrews
“On our best days we’ll approximate the kingdom of God on earth and on our worst days we’ll parody and mimic kingdom of God”
Related Episodes
Related Blog Post
