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Love your enemies. Mt 5:44More Old Testament resistersThe young COs from WWII remember being inspired by the story of Shadrach,Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3. If one sees our culture’s unquestioning allegianceto military solutions as a form of idolatry, the story can become even more poignant asthese men refuse to bow to the gods of their day. Daniel’s story is also part of thethread of non-violence that runs through the Old Testament. (See the Believers ChurchCommentary on the book of Daniel.)Turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39-41)Offering the other cheek to the insulter, taking off even one’s undergarments, and offeringa second mile to the occupying soldier are decidedly not examples of passivity. They areaudacious and provocative acts, so much so that they might well invite further suffering. Itis hard not to see them as a form of resistance. The theologian Walter Wink is right tohave alerted us to the subversive and initiatory dimensions of those examples. (See Chapter5, “Jesus’ Third Way,” pp. 98-111, The Powers that Be, by Walter Wink.) —Tom YoderNeufeldJesus models resistanceMark 3:1-6 tells how Jesus was a model of active non-violence. Imagine the scene.Jesus is preaching in a crowded synagogue on the Sabbath. Suddenly he notices a manwith a withered hand. He stops and calls out to the man, “Stand up! Come out here inthe middle.”The poor man stands up and comes near to Jesus, where he can be seen by everyone.Looking around the room Jesus asks, “Is it against the law on the Sabbath to do goodor to do evil? To save life or to kill?” No one answers, so Jesus tells the man to stretchout his hand and he is healed.The religious authorities are shocked. Jesus has scandalized everyone by breakingSabbath decorum, asking tough questions about doing good and evil. Jesus has ruinedeverything; he has disrupted the authorities’ comfortable life amidst a world of systemicinjustice.In this story, as usual, Jesus deliberately breaks the law and custom which permits systemicinjustice and suffering to continue. Jesus is public and provocative. He is ascandal and a threat to everyone in authority, to everyone but the poor and oppressed,who find liberation in his way of life. Jesus knows his action will get him into trouble.Still he insists on non-violence and reconciliation. —Adapted from John Dear,Disarming the HeartLiving with conscienceTherefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience toward God and all people (Acts24:16).Paul speaks of exercising himself to always have a conscience void of offence toward Godand toward [people]. This shows us that to enjoy such a desirable relation in divine andhuman associations, an effort on our part is necessary. We must exercise or discipline ourselves.This becomes the sacred trust committed to us as intelligent creatures with a freewill of choice.The most dangerous foe the conscience has to face is popular public opinion, especiallywhen that opinion is governed by an hysteria created during war. It is in such times thatResources for worship24