Religion & Law

Relying on various stories from the Gospels, Mark Galli offers some interesting observations about the limitations of using Jesus as the model for peacemaking discourse.  In some of the stories, Jesus is clearly intending to humiliate the Pharisees, even though there were options that could have accomplished the same miraculous result but allowed the Pharisees to save face:

The point is this: There were moments in Jesus' ministry when he denigrated?that is, according to the dictionary definition, "attacked the reputation of another"?and inflamed?"excited to excessive or uncontrollable actions or feelings." What we find in the Gospels is an uncomfortable reality: There is something about Jesus that makes some people want to kill him.