Micah 4:1-4
The Christian response to aggression is not revenge and is not one of neutrality, rather it is to challenge evil and injustice with good. It is choosing to see the image of God in the other, even in our enemy. This logic of love seeks to engage the humanity of the other and transform an enemy into a friend. This is the ultimate Christian mandate.
-Richard Rohr
I am in the process of lining up speakers to help us think about justice issues this summer. July is filling up, today was blank. So although I’m not an expert on peacemaking and warfare, I have a few decades of reflection about that – perhaps enough to help us have a discussion today.
Our scripture from the prophet Micah envisions all the nations coming to Jerusalem, high on a mountain, to worship at the temple of Israel’s God and to make peace. There is a lot in the Hebrew scripture about war, in both the books of history and prophecy. That’s at least partly because Israel was a small, weak nation almost always at war with its neighbors and fighting a civil war which divided it into two nations. The organizing principle of the history books is this: keep God’s law/win the wars; ignore God’s law/lose the wars. Kings are pronounced good or bad on that basis. The prophets who give many calls for justice and keeping God’s way of life predict defeat as the result of disobedience, and they were usually right. Micah tells us there will be a time when not only Israel but all nations will acknowledge God and keep the law, and the result will be peace. That is a beautiful vision for the future, and I’m not sure God’s people have ever believed it applied to them. My amateur view of history suggests that “God likes you if you win the war” is more of an operative vision for people. It’s used to justify war for the winners. The United States has applied this principle for our history, at least until we stopped winning wars.
Christian theologians, many of whom worked for secular rulers, have over the centuries developed a theory of just war – when it is right to fight and noble to win. We can think about Just war theory ourselves. Which wars would you say that the United States has been right to fight?
Which ones were a mistake?
I got in significant local trouble on the first anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center when I suggested we would only heal from that travesty if we included forgiveness in the response. I didn’t suggest that we should allow terrorists to destroy property and murder citizens, but that retaliating only proved that their bad opinion of us was justified. I am naïve enough to believe that there might have been a point when we could have listened to young men becoming terrorists and addressed their desire for a safe home for their families, jobs and education and food, and acknowledged their religious values. That listening with respect might have turned their hatred into at least tolerance. Fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan only made them hate us more and cost thousands of lives.
Israel finds itself in a similar position now. A terrible terrorist attack demands some kind of response. We can’t let people cross a border and murder innocent civilians. Yet many leaders agree that bombing thousands of civilians to death and maiming many more isn’t going to end the threat from Hamas or other terrorists. It’s not going to make people forget decades of oppression, the stealing of land for settlements, denying the freedom to travel, to be educated, to work. What other options are there to resolve the conflict in this place?
Some of us or our family members have been in the military and some have participated in wars. I wonder how that personal experience shapes their understanding of war and peace…
Let’s read the quote from Richard Rohr again. Does Rohr have a point or is he an unrealistic dreamer? What enemies we once had have become friends? Which ones haven’t? Is it possible to apply his vision to the war happening now in Ukraine? Or to the violence in Sudan?
I’m old enough to remember when church folks talked about peace – a lot. Women’s groups help annual peace banquets and denominations took up offerings. Even the Rotary Clubs supported international peacemakers and sent young leaders to peace academies. Now we seldom hear about peace. Has climate change and poverty pushed it aside? Have we given up because it’s too complicated?
Rohr talks about “seeking to engage the humanity of the other and transform an enemy into a friend.” Maybe if we can’t do anything else, we can begin there.
We can begin by treating folks we don’t like with new respect, taking a second look at what makes them human and what God loves in them.
We can begin by learning more about people we’ve rejected – terrorist groups, authoritarian leaders, undocumented immigrants… Knowing a person’s story can help bring understanding, even if it doesn’t bring agreement. Even when we still hate the actions or beliefs of another, we can learn not to hate the person.
And we can encourage others to join us in looking more closely at those we fear. There’s a lot of rhetoric in contemporary politics that demonizes the other – the immigrant, the Christian nationalist, the socialist, the person of color, proud boys. If we fear someone, it’s easier to hate them. If we hate, it’s easier to justify harm. Yet we’ve all heard stories of minds and hearts being changed by friendship and respect. Sometimes even beliefs and policies change. We have the capacity to resist those who speak evil of others and to teach ourselves to change the way we ourselves talk about folks. It’s not easy to do. It is important.