On Friday I wrote about how Jesus has been militarized by the church for 1700 years, and how that has been detrimental to the essence of the Christian movement. Again – to be clear – I do not think it is wrong for a follower to serve in the armed forces. Force sometime needs to be used to protect oneself and others. What’s wrong is changing the basic nature of who Jesus was and is. A couple of people pointed out that the Apostle Paul used the term “whole armor of God” in Romans and Ephesians, so doesn’t that counter what I wrote? Nope. Since both Jesus and Paul believed in the imminent return of the Messiah, neither one thought that we needed to use force to defend ourselves. And the fact that Jesus confronted one of His disciples in Matthew 26 (when the disciple cut off a man’s ear with a sword) with the statement, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to God, and God will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?”, means that armed conflict from heaven was a possibility.
Paul’s statement, however, is a clever use of common understanding to teach a spiritual truth. In Ephesians 6 he wrote, “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.“
Paul was writing in metaphor, and the defense was not to be used against people, but the devil. When defending our faith, violence is never an option. With the exception of the sword, every other part of the armor is for defense. In Paul’s mind, the word of God metaphorically pierced the enemy, bringing truth and light into the darkness. It is debatable what Paul meant by the “word” – it certainly wasn’t his letters, nor was it the Gospels – he probably had not read all of them. It might have been the Torah, but I think it was Jesus, proclaimed as the Word made Flesh in the Gospel of John. So, for those who want to play Christian soldier, or believe in the rightness of the atrocities called the Crusades, please stop. Our faith is one of Spirit and reason, not violence. Stop using God as an excuse for your love of destruction and power. Jesus doesn’t play it that way, and neither should we.
Prayer – Holy God, give us the tools to live the Gospel in peace and intelligence. Amen.
Today’s art is “Rainbow Fluorite Angel” by Nicky Helm.