Love Wins!
7 min read
47 Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
48 “Am I leading a rebellion,” said Jesus, “that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.”
—Mark 14:47-49
One of my favorite movies is “The Mission” with Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons. It’s about a Catholic mission in the South American jungle. The colonizers want to remove the indigenous tribe, and the missionaries are forced to defend the tribe. The priest (Irons) is a man of peace and wants to defend the mission through peace. But De Niro’s character (Rodrigo) is a man of violence who had been converted after killing his brother.
And so as Rodrigo is about to go out to battle the colonizers, he asks for the priest’s blessing. And the priest says something that left a huge impression on me, and his statement may have contributed to my own salvation. He said, “If might is right, love has no place in the world. It may be so. It may be so.”
There is no defense against violence for a people of peace in this world. And so, the logic of this world is that might is right. Whoever is the biggest and the strongest and the fastest and has the biggest stick wins. As a result, the economy of the entire world (at least the US) has pretty much been built up around this principle that might is right.
But the principle of might is right cannot sustain this world, because the only thing that can really feed an economy based on this principle is war. History and the news show us that that is the state of humanity.
And the word of God shows us that that is the state of humanity all the way up to the end. The final two wars that humanity engages in are against Christ, but there is really no fighting to speak of (Revelation 19:19-21; 20:7-10). The kingdoms of the world bring to bear all of their resources for war, because that is what the world is good at. But they are snuffed out in an instant.
Such matters are too great for mere mortals to grapple with. And so where does that leave us? Should we just give up hope for humanity and give in to this principle that might is right, and just bide our time until Jesus comes back?
No. Never. Because might is not right. If God is righteous, then love is right and love prevails. Love wins. And if God is true, not just in heaven, but on earth, as it is in heaven.
That is the whole point of the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Jesus was telling His followers that they will come face to face with the violence of this world, and the way to deal with the violence is with love. Then He demonstrated His love by going to the cross.
In three days, Jesus destroyed the reign of violence over this world with love. He destroyed the principle of might is right by submitting to the will of God and surrendering Himself to the violence of the world. By giving in to violence, Jesus was raised and is seated on His throne at the right hand of God, demonstrating that the principle of might is right has no power over the love of God.
Father, we are constantly being brainwashed into believing that “might is right.” But You have shown us a different way. You are our defense against the violence in this world. Remind me that love is right. Help me to be a person of peace. Protect me, my family, and this community from violence. But if we have to face it, may we bear witness to the love of Christ. In Jesus’s name. Amen.