Showing Compassion

“People tend to think of nonviolence as a choice between using force and doing nothing. But for Jesus, the real choice takes place at another level. Nonviolence is less a matter of ‘not killing’ and more a matter of showing compassion, of saving and redeeming, of being a healing community. One must choose between doing good to the person placed in one’s path, or the evil which one might be doing by mere abstention. For Jesus, there is no no-man’s-land, enabling us to portion our attitudes, to do a little good to our neighbor without taking the risk of becoming involved for his sake, or to do him a little harm while still remaining charitable.” Andre Trocme Jesus and the Nonviolent Revolution (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004), 146.