ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
March 29, 2022
My sermon on Sunday was intended to raise the complexity of following Jesus in a time of war. Of course, there has almost always been war in some place since the time of Jesus. In some situations, the war is only a distant news story. For others, it is their daily experience. Of course, at the time of Jesus, it wasn’t war but living under an occupying force. Here is where I always find the scriptures Jesus referenced (all of them, of course, from the Old Testament) to be very interesting. Had he wanted to do so, there are plenty of scriptures Jesus could have quoted to call people to take up their swords and throw off their Roman oppressors. Instead, he chose very carefully the words on which he wanted people to reflect. The Two Great Commandments, for instance: Love God and love neighbor. In the Sermon on the Mount, he referenced some of the harsher passages, but as an invitation to leave behind everything that spoke about revenge, abuse, hate and violence. He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile” (Matthew 5:38-41). Jesus really challenged his listeners 2000 years ago, and we cannot pretend his words are any less challenging to us today. Yet if the church itself can’t even come close to living love, mercy, kindness and peace, then we cannot expect to be a respected voice, let alone invited into any conversation about ethics, values, hopes and cultural transformation. There are real things we can do this very day that might have an impact on what is happening in Ukraine. I hope so. But what we do today, might also help create one less act of violence or war some day in the future.
Continue to spill your limitless love into me, O God of the Universe. Fill me, not for my own purpose, but for your holy aspiration spoken into this world again and again and again. Amen.
