ENEMIES, WAR, FORGIVENESS, and GOD

Ione Community Church

September 14, 2008

The Rev. Lea Mathieu

Scripture: Exodus 14:19-31 The parting of the sea and the drowning of Israel’s enemies

Matthew 18: 21-25 Jesus commands us to forgive over and over and over

Romans 14:1-12 We live and die in God

How many of you watched the television specials on Thursday that re-enacted, over and over, the events of 9/11/2001? I watched for a few minutes, long enough to remember the first time, and long enough to read this on the television screen: “We must never forget.”

On that same day, a Christian vice-presidential candidate told her son and his company that they were going to fight in Iraq against “the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the deaths of thousands of Americans.”

Really? And is this the best response our rich and Christian nation can conceive? Leaving aside the reasoning behind the war in Iraq, we are left with conflicting Biblical views about war in general.

On the one hand, God delivered the oppressed Israelites with a mighty arm, destroying their enemies in one powerful sweep of sea. In our Exodus reading and in much of the Old Testament, God is on the side of a small tribe of believers and plays a pivotal role in the destruction of Israel’s enemies, for whom God shows little interest or concern. Hebrew scripture is full of rejoicing over slaughters. The Ancient Near East was a brutal place, and the Hebrew God is, by and large, an angry warrior God.

Then God becomes incarnate in Jesus Christ, and at one point is said to his followers, “Put away your sword.” This is the other hand, the one that tells us to forgive over and over, to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, to turn the other cheek. The God of the New Testament is, by and large, a God of inclusive and tolerant love.

Inheriting both scriptures, what is a modern Christian to do?

As an Army brat, I’ve struggled with this question all my life. When my father was on his first tour of Vietnam, our Baptist church prayed for his safety and America’s victory. After church I asked my mother why we prayed for victory in war when the Bible clearly tells us, “Thou shall not kill.” (I was a very annoying child). My mother just shook her head. She didn’t know the answer, and this disappointed me. Well, that was over 40 years ago, and I have to admit that I still don’t understand.

I want to say that war is always wrong, that we should not be wasting young lives, precious resources, and time and energy on killing anyone. I want to say that we should forgive those who attacked us, that we should approach them with love and build bridges instead of bombers. After I pray, that’s what I want to say.

I want my nephew home with his beautiful new bride, not getting ready to go overseas and reluctantly point a gun at people he doesn’t even know. I want my sons to contribute to the wisdom and beauty of the world, not its pain and horror. That’s what I want.

But I also know that evil is real and powerful. I am not so naïve as to think that a kind word turns away psychopathic wrath of international magnitude. War may indeed be necessary sometimes to prevent even greater evils: terror, exploitation, oppression of minds and spirits. But war is just that: the arguably necessary lesser evil. It is not a test of patriotism, it is not a cause for celebration, and it is, dare I say it, not a test of faith. War is a sorry statement on human sin and stupidity, and I would not ask God for victory in battle.

I would ask, instead, that we individually and politically gain the wisdom, love, and faith to create a world that does not rush to or even need war. There has to be a better way to organize our lives on this little planet.

“Oh,” you may be thinking, “but only Christians believe in love and peace; everyone else, especially those Muslims, thinks that war is the quickest way to enter a heaven full of virgins. So Christians have no choice but to kill them!”

Or maybe you aren’t thinking that, exactly, but I’ve heard variations of that argument plenty. Look – Christians have historically been just as bloodthirsty as any other group, and very few people of any religious leaning want to bury their children.

Here’s what I think: That if we begin right now, today, to forgive our enemies (be they across the sea or next door), to love them, and to know that whatever happens, even if they kill us first, we are held in the embrace of God – if we had that kind of courage - I believe the world would see a new day. There are people who have already done that – including soldiers in Iraq – and I would invite you to do the same.

So I would not pray that military victory be ours, or to the strongest, richest, best-armed side, or that God stand firm on our side and eagerly wipe out everyone else. That isn’t the road Christ trod.

I pray instead that the choices we make privately and publicly, as individuals and as a nation, increase Godliness in the world. How can we live wherever and whoever we are so that everyone we touch reaches their full potential as a child of God? Maybe physical fighting is sometimes necessary – I wonder. But there is a greater power of which I am absolutely certain: “If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” And no terrorist or army can change that.

Amen.