War!!!!! What is it Good for?!
The Wood Between the Worlds (By Brian Zahnd)
Chapter 11: The War is Over (If You Want It)
“The baptistry is a Time Machine that transports the baptized into the fully inaugurated kingdom of Christ. They become those ‘on whom the ends of the ages have come’ (1 Cor. 10:11). The baptized do not cling to the disappearing past but embrace the emerging future, which is framed in peace. The church is to be a present witness to the eschatological future of peace that Jesus Christ initiated through his cross.” (P. 107)
Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer we ask for God’s kingdom to come, and his will to be done on earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
We don’t pray for his kingdom to come and will to be done some day in the future even though we know that there will come a day at the end of this age when Jesus will return to make all things right and new. Justice will be served, and evil and death will be vanquished.
The Lord’s Prayer is not a prayer that removes all responsibility from us as we await God to fix everything that is broken.
God’s will is not done magically, but when we submit to it and embody his kingdom’s ethics right here, right now.
Zahnd writes…
“We live in a world war has made. Behind every border is the story of a battle. The lines on a map were first drawn in blood. World history is mostly the record of our wars. We’ve named our species Homo sapiens “wise man,” but we could more aptly name our species homo bellator, ‘warrior man.’ War has been our most defining legacy. Many see this as just the way the world is, resign themselves to it, and hope they’re not on the losing side of the next war.” (P. 104)
The Kingdom of Heaven is the polar opposite of every earthly kingdom that ever was, is, and will be.
Greatness is measured in military might, territory conquered, resources gained, and amassing the largest stockpile of weapons and war machines.
Humanity has been involved in one long, never ending arms race. We arm ourselves because our neighbors are armed.
We never imagine ourselves having to use our arms, nevertheless WHEN war breaks out, there is more than enough for every slain body.
Paul the Apostles writes, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18).
What is the message of the cross? God would rather die for his enemies than kill them and indeed that is what he did, for while were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing because everything within tells us we don’t have to perish…we can do something about it. We can defend ourselves. We can fight.
Jesus could have called down ten thousand angels. When Peter took out his sword and cut off the ear of the Roman soldier, Jesus could have rallied his disciples and used that moment as a catalyst to save his life.
Look at what Jesus says to Peter…
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (Mt. 26:52-53)
Jesus doesn’t just make this about his refusal to fight for his life but he warns every single human being - all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
And this is where Biblical literalists check out for a little bit! :)
Peter thought that he was doing the noble thing, but years later he would write these words, “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9)
Did you catch that?
To THIS you have been called.
To what?
I’ll let you go back and read that again.
The Apostle John writes about a war that broke out in heaven, and this is how the ancient serpent (Satan) is defeated…
“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Rev. 12:11)
John is speaking about the martyrs past, present, and future who knew that victory was already secured on the cross, by the blood of the Lamb.
Let’s be honest, most of us who are Christians in America will never have to make the decision whether to fight for our lives or be killed for our faith in Jesus…
But let’s be clear…real clear…what Jesus said to Peter in the garden of Gethsemane is what he says to all of us, “Put your sword back in its place.”
Zahnd writes…
“The world waits for a people who will dare to embody the promise of peace - and the church is called to be that peculiar people. The apostle Peter says, ‘Since therefore Christ suffered in flesh, arm yourselves with the same intention’ (1 Pet. 4:1) How are Christians to be armed? Not with the weapons of this world, but with a willingness to suffer in imitation of Christ…If we say we believe in Christ, confess Christ, worship Christ, but are unwilling to suffer in Christlikeness, we have rejected the way of the cross and our professed faith is a fallacy.” (P. 110)
Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and he lived out the implications of the sermon all the way to the cross. He talked the talk and walked the walk.
I guess the only question that needs to be asked of us is, how much do we want to be like Jesus?
Please don’t kill the messenger.
Amen.