Soul strengthening: I don’t understand “Do not resist evil”. I would think it would be the opposite.

I don’t understand “Do not resist evil”. I would think it would be the opposite.

Disciple James:  I'm not sure there's a verse more difficult to understand what Jesus was saying. Or more pivotal to understanding what his whole value system was.

Our complex world cultures value concrete things, head, flesh, manipulating things, consuming things. Jesus said, spirit is life, the flesh means nothing. He also said, what does it profit a person to gain the whole world but lose their own soul?

What would it profit a spitited golden retriever to gain every toy, every treat available in the world, but have their Spirit crushed out of them?

And unlike most that might speak such words as did jesus, his life was completely consistent with those. Clearly through his stated values he found joyful life itself.

He taught and lived that spirit, soul, are life itself; the flesh, worldly things, mean nothing. And if we reflect on jesus, and the one in 100 million that have not had their spirit, their soul, crushed to death by our culture, we see the same. We see them living in accordance with that. For the joyful life of it. Do we not?  

If you have not already, I hope you spend a few minutes deeply pondering this page and whether these are not the most joyful of people, because they live and so their life is not the most important thing, rather than despite that: https://www.jesianity.info/2023/12/we-teach-life-sir.html

So, for the one in 100 million that still value spirit, soul, wherever it is to be found, more than their own life, Jesus teachings on this make perfect sense.

Every infant, is nothing but soul, is nothing but spirit. And in all likelihood some small spark of that remains in all of us into adulthood, not totally crushed out of existence.

Jesus found that the joyful life is living to possibly reawaken that in others, to save those that are lost. And by living his value system even in the face of his own death, or in Injustice being done to him, he creates the chance of being such an epitome of his value system, such an epitome of soul, that the spirit is life itself, that it might re-awaken that in onlookers, and or in the purveyor of violence themselves.

Three cinematic depictions of this come to mind.

- in the first Star wars movie Darth Vader and Obi-Wan are dueling. Obi-Wan becomes aware that Luke is watching, and more than his own life Obi-Wan wants for Luke's Spirit to come totally alive so he stops resisting Darth and his instantly killed, and indeed Luke's life is fully awakened.

- John valjean in Les mis is cruelly imprisoned on an island and escapes. When he gets back to Europe he's in really bad shape and a priest gives him a place to sleep for the night. During the night Jean valjean wakes up and steals some silver candlesticks and flees. The police catch him almost immediately and bring him back to the priest. The priest says, oh, you almost forgot the silver goblets that I also gave you. And we see that Jean valjean's spirit, his soul, is instantly saved, brought back to life, by that priest not resisting violence, not resisting evil.

- the third depiction is in the second or third Star wars movie, the one with the death star. Or maybe it's the first, I don't know. Luke and Darth are fighting, and Luke gains the upper hand. He's in a position to finish darth. And instead he turns off and throws down his lightsaber. Because he realizes that goodness, and darth's life, Darth's spirit, and his own spirit, are more important to him than his own physical life. And we are led to believe by the movie, that in that moment, Darth's soul, his spirit, returns to be in charge of his life. 

And we the audience witness this and we vicariously experience the Darth because of Luke's act, is brought back to life itself.