Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8442 Plough Quarterly • Spring 2016 (3) Jesus’ demands for nonviolence are not restricted to the Sermon on the Mount. They form the backdrop as well to the major Mission Discourse found in Mark 6, Matthew 10, and Luke 9–10. When Jesus commissions his disciples to travel throughout Israel proclaiming everywhere the kingdom of God, he forbids them to wear sandals (Luke 10:4), carry a staff (Luke 9:3), or take money in their pocket (Luke 10:4). He tells them not even to take bread with them (Mark 6:8). The intention here is not to imitate the kind of self-abnegation for which itiner- ant Cynic philosophers were then known. Rather, the disciples’ lack of resources is meant as a sign separating them from the belligerence of the anti-Roman resis- tance fighters. Someone without a staff cannot defend himself; someone without shoes on his feet is unable, on Palestine’s rocky terrain, even to run away. Someone who carries no money is utterly destitute, helpless, and dependent on sympathiz- ers within the Jesus movement. For Jesus, this immediately recognizable contrast from the holy warriors of his time had fundamental importance. The Jesus move- ment was not to be confused with the militant Zealots. Did the early church grasp and live out the same radical nonviolence that for Jesus was a sign of the coming reign of God? 42 Plough Quarterly • Spring 2016 Aristarkh Lentulov, Gursuf, 1913