Yoder – Beyond Legitimate Ends

What Jesus renounced is not first of all violence, but rather the compulsiveness of purpose that leads the strong to violate the dignity of others. The point is not that one can attain all of one’s legitimate ends without using violent means. It is rather that our readiness to renounce our legitimate ends when they cannot be attained by legitimate means itself constitutes our participation in the triumphant suffering of the Lamb.

-John Howard Yoder (Huebner 2006:31)