Mao Tsetung (Zedong) and Jesus Christ But I tell you: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44 Mao Tsetung ( Zedong), the revolutionary who founded the Chinese Communist Party, said that “power comes at the end of a gun barrel.” Whether you revere him or hold him in disgust, you have to admit, Mao was a revolutionary who changed the face of history. Calling Jesus Christ a revolutionary seems to degrade His person; nonetheless, what Jesus did was revolutionary. What He said was at cross-purposes with the establishment. When He brought the message we call “The Sermon on the Mount,” repeatedly He said, “You have heard it said by them of old…but I say unto you!” He invaded sacred territory—the Jewish temple—and turned over the tables of the money changers. Undoubtedly his eyes flashed fire as he drove them out of the area with a piece of rope. If that wasnt starting a revolution, we need to redefine the term! But what they didnt understand in Jesus’ day, which Mao never grasped as well, is that Jesus’ revolution worked from the inside out, not the outside in, which never works. Now hear out what I’m about to say before you jump to a conclusion, because it smacks of being radical. What Jesus sought to do and what Mao also wanted to accomplish are not really that much different, but how they accomplished it is 180 degrees apart. Mao saw people suffering, dying in the streets of starvation. He saw the rich oppressing the poor and feudal lords battling each other, expending the lives of the poor to fight their battles. He wanted to alleviate their suffering and change society. But the mistaken idea was that it could be accomplished by killing your enemy. And what did Jesus do? He healed the sick, He fed the hungry, He touched the fallen, and He crossed social and ethnic barriers, embracing people who were outcasts and rejects of society. And Jesus taught His followers to combat the evil by loving the unlovable, because they who take up the sword will die by the sword. “Ah,” you respond, “love is such a weak weapon to use against those who stand with swords drawn, guns pointed to your head, and their threats are backed up by a long line of suicide bombers who are willing to sacrifice their lives provided they blow up a few of you.” So was Jesus mistaken when He said that love conquers all things? Shall we revert to the dictum of our old natures—fighting fire with fire is a lot more efficient than loving your enemies, praying for those who despite-fully use you, and doing good to your enemies? This, of course, is the substance of the challenges we face in life every day. Do we look for God’s grace and strength, asking Him to do what only He can do to change the hearts of our husbands and wives, or do we file for divorce? Should we boot our defiant and disrespectful teenagers out the door, or listen to their plea for help, love, and acceptance? Shall we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth with our neighbors? Mao died in 1976! When I lined up with thousands of spectators and filed past his remains in Tienanmen Square, his eyes were closed, his face was a pasty color, and he looked anything but peaceful. I have stood before the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem on many occasions, and looked within where an empty tomb reminds me that death could not keep his prey. Jesus rose the third day. You decide. Is the solution found at the end of a gun barrel or at the end of an out-stretched hand as you make a friend of your enemy? Think about it. Resource reading: Matthew 5:43-48
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 09:46:39 +0000
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