Article December 17, 2018 ISSUE

Facing lawlessness with healing love

Martine Blackler

The breaking news on cable television reported yet another school shooting. This time a young man in the United States had killed seventeen of his classmates. As the mother of two children, I wondered what on earth moves someone to take a gun and destroy so many young lives. I felt myself being drawn into a mix of grief and anger. I got to thinking about my own response to the latest news—and about an account in the book of Luke showing how Christ Jesus responded to a threat of violence.

While Jesus was preaching in a synagogue, a crowd of listeners reacted angrily to his words, running him out of the city to the top of the hill on which their city was built, with the intention of throwing him headlong off the cliff (see Luke 4:16–30). But Jesus calmly passed through the angry mob and went on his way. He never reacted with hatred, nor could hatred touch God’s beloved Son or divert him from his holy mission. Jesus’ deep love for God and for his neighbor motivated his actions. Responding to the impulse of divine Love and demonstrating the Christ-spirit, his holy nature, he safely passed through a volatile situation.

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