Countdown Day 24
Revelation [19:11-16] is not portraying Jesus returning to earth in the future, having repented of his naive gospel ways and having converted to Caesar’s “realistic” Greco-Roman methods instead. He hasn’t gotten discouraged about Caesar seeming to get the upper hand after his resurrection and on that basis concluded it’s best to live by the sword after all. Jesus hasn’t abandoned the way of peace and concluded the way of Pilate is better, mandating that his disciples should fight after all. He hasn’t had second thoughts about all that talk about forgiveness and concluded that on the 78th offense, you should pull out your sword and hack off your offender’s head rather than turn the other cheek… He hasn’t sold the humble donkey on eBay and purchased chariots, warhorses, tanks, landmines, and B-1s instead. (125)
From A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith (available February 9, 2010)
“Now and then gifted people emerge who see the situation from a higher and more helpful level. Brian McLaren is one of those seers.” (Richard Rohr, author of Everything Belongs and The Naked Now)