The old commandment, fifth of the Ten from Sinai,
runs: Thou shalt not kill. Jesus seizes upon the wickedness that is
expressed by murder and traces it back to its origin in the murderer's heart.
What breaks out in violence is already present in the evil word or intent, or
rather, everything that follows is the result of that intent. The intent then,
not the deed that expresses it, is decisive. Notice that Jesus does not even
mention downright hatred; a brother's irritation or having "anything
against thee" is enough to sow the dragon-seed of evil. From irritation
grows anger; from anger the word; from the word the deed. . . .
The Old Law used justice as its norm of human behavior. As others treat you, so shall you treat them. Violence may be returned for violence, evil for evil. The justice of the day consisted in not returning more evil than the amount received, and naturally one was allowed to protect oneself from anything that seemed threatening. Christ says: That is not enough. As long as you cling to "justice" you will never be guiltless of injustice. As long as you are entangled in wrong and revenge, blow and counterblow, aggression and defense, you will be constantly drawn into fresh wrong. Passion, by its very definition, surpasses measure—quite aside from the fact that the claim to vengeance in itself is wrong buse it lies outside our given role of creature. He who takes it upon himself to avenge trampled justice never restores justice. The moment discussion of wrong begins, wrong stirs in one's own heart, and the result is new injustice.
If you really want to get anywhere, you must extricate yourself from the whole embroilment and seek a position far removed from all pro's and con's. You must introduce a new force, not that of self-assertion, but of selflessness; not so-called justice, but creative freedom. Man is really just only when he seeks more than mere justice. More not merely quantitatively, but qualitatively. He must find a power capable of breaking the ban of injustice, something strong enough and big enough to intercept aggression and disarm it: love.
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