The question was how to deal with such odious foreign occupation. Like ISIS and others today, Zealot revolutionaries had their answer: Uproot the weeds here and now. Take up arms; assassinate Romans and their collaborators; drive them out mercilessly. Be as cruel and vicious as the Romans.
Jesus' response was different. As a non-violent revolutionary, he could surely understand such apocalyptic energy. After all, much of his teaching expressed sympathy to the Zealot cause including land reform, debt forgiveness, and expulsion of the hated Roman occupation forces. Many scripture scholars even identify possibly five members of Jesus' inner circle as Zealots themselves.
But Jesus' Parable of the Weeds is more prudent and sensitive to civilian casualties than the strategy of the impatient Zealots - or that of ISIS.
When the landlord's workers ask, "Should we uproot the weeds?" Jesus' landlord answers: "No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them."
In other words, Jesus agrees with El Salvador's Oscar Romero and with Brazil's Dom Helder Camara that revolutionary violence, though understandable (and justifiable on the grounds of just war theory), is imprudent at the very least.
This is because when faced with a vicious, overwhelmingly armed oppressor (like the United States) resistance inevitably leads to state terrorism - to the war crime of collective punishment impacting women, children, the elderly and disabled. At the very least, that's why Jesus eschews Zealot violence.
Conclusions for Muslims
How then are Muslims to respond to increasing American domination of the Middle East since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire?
Jesus' answer? Be like mustard plant, he says. Be like yeast in flour. Both puzzling recommendations are relevant not just to Muslim victims of United States imperialism, but to Christians in our country who wish to dissent from their government's policies of endless war.
First of all, think of the puzzlement that must have struck Jesus' listeners. Jews didn't have much use for yeast. They preferred unleavened bread. Neither would any farmer sow mustard seeds in her field or garden. The mustard plant was like kudzu - itself a kind of weed that eventually can take over entire fields and mountainsides while choking out other plants, weeds or not. The mustard plant was unstoppable.
So, Jesus is saying:
* The Romans are enemy weeds in your garden.
* Don't try to uproot them by force.
* That will only lead to slaughter of the innocent.
* Rather, become weeds yourselves - like the mustard plant which is much more powerful than simple Roman (or U.S.) weeds.
* Resist the Romans by embodying the Spirit of God that is slow to anger, good, forgiving, abounding in kindness.
* Only imitation of Wisdom's God can defeat the evil of imperialism - or any evil for that matter.
Conclusions for Christians
What does that mean for Christians wishing to express solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters against their cruel "Christian" oppressors? At least the following:
* Reject U.S. militarism in general as counterproductive, since fully 90% of the casualties it inflicts in war are civilians.
* Be instead like the yeast a homemaker puts into 60 pounds of flour, "infecting" the greater culture by non-violent resistance rather than "supporting our troops."
* Recognize and take sides with the real victims of terrorism - those plagued by U.S. policies of aggressive wars and regime-change - i.e. of state terrorism.
* Lobby against absurd proposals to increase U.S. military spending, when already "our" country spends more on "defense" than the next ten countries combined.
* Refuse to honor the military and dissuade your children and grandchildren from entering that corrupt and corrupting gang of outlaws.
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