What Does Jesus Say about War?

Date: October 5, 2008
Scripture: Isaiah 2:1-4
Sermon: What Does Jesus Say about War?
Pastor: Rev. Kim Wells

It was an era of regime change. The end of the term of one ruler and the transition to new leadership. A time of relief, fear, and hope. But as so often happens in such moments of transition, the hard line holds sway. So, in 4 BCE [Before the Common Era], in the wake of the death of the tyrant Herod the Great, the King of the Jews appointed by Rome, various revolts and protests took place. To keep the Jews in line, the Romans proceeded to slaughter 3,000 people in the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem, steal 400 talents from the Temple treasury, and crucify 2,000 protesters. [My Enemy is My Guest, J. Massyngbaerde Ford, p.3]

This is the context into which Jesus was born: A society in a time of extreme unrest. Roman occupation was severe. Taxes were exorbitant and there was graft and extortion relating to taxation. People were sold into slavery due to unpaid debt, including tax debt. The Romans insisted on worship of Caesar which was an affront to Jewish religious tenets. The Roman occupying army demanded shelter, food, work animals, etc. from the indigenous Jewish population. There was class conflict between the haves and have-nots, and tension between the urban and rural populations. And add drought to all of that, and it was an extremely volatile mix. This is the context for the ministry of Jesus. [See Massyngbaerde, pp.2-6]

There were many responses to the circumstances. Some people simply minded their own business and tried to get by. Others, the Zealots, advocated violent overthrow of the Roman presence. It is thought that the disciple Judas was part of the Zealot movement. There was guerilla warfare perpetrated by those known as bandits who would kidnap, attack, and rob people. It’s not a coincidence that the story of the Good Samaritan takes place on the road to Jericho, known as a hotbed of such Robin Hood style bandits. [See John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed, Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts, p. 141]

In response to the political/social context, there were also those who pursued non violent resistance. When the Romans put up a statue of the emperor to be worshipped in the Temple, the Jews presented themselves for slaughter, rather than worship the statue. They were left unharmed. [Crossan and Reed, p. 143] There were other unarmed protests. People would strike and refuse to grow crops, since so much of the harvest had to be given to the Romans. [Crossan and Reed, p. 144] There were many ways that people reacted to the presence of the oppressive Roman regime in the land of Israel.

The culmination was an all out armed rebellion in 66 CE [Common Era], which was put down by the Romans who proceeded to destroy the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. So Jesus was born into a context of extreme oppression, violence, and unrest.

Of course, in times of turmoil and peril, people look for a leader, a prophet, a king, a savior. The Jews turned to the scriptures with hope looking for a word of deliverance. They eagerly anticipated God sending help as Moses was sent to bring the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. Surely God would send someone to save them from Roman oppression.

They turned to the words of the prophets. The ancient texts see war as one of the ways God shows blessing or disapproval of the Jewish people. When they are faithful, God blesses them with success in war and armed conflict. When they are unfaithful, God uses the success of the opposing army to redirect the Jews to faithfulness. So war is seen as a tool used by God to influence the life of the faith community.

In the book of the prophet Jeremiah, we see examples of the classic Hebrew perspective that God was punishing the people of Israel for their unfaithfulness by using the military conquest of others over Israel to deliver the punishment. In Jeremiah 15:13, we read, “Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory, I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.” War is used as an instrument of punishment. Later in the book of Jeremiah, restoration is promised. When the people return to faithfulness, God promises, “For the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah, and I will being them back to the land that I gave to their ancestors and they shall take possession of it.” [Jeremiah 30:3] Some of the Jews of the first century were looking for such restoration.

In looking for deliverance, the Jews of the first century would have turned to the tradition of King David. The promised Messiah was to be of lineage of King David, not only by blood but in terms of power and character. And David is celebrated as the greatest King of Israel, a gifted leader of government and a heroic military leader. This is what the Jews of the first century were hoping and praying for in their difficult circumstances.

In the book of Second Samuel, we are told of some of David’s conquests as king of Israel:

Sometime afterward, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them. . .He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie down on the ground, measured them off with a cord; he measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death, and one length for those who were to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute. . . David also struck down King Hadadezer son of Rehob of Zobah, as he went to restore his monument at the river Euphrates. David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. . . When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans . . . The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. David won a name for himself. . .David reigned over all Israel; and David administered justice and equity to all his people. . . [2 Samuel 8]

It is easy to see the Jews of the first century in their situation of occupation praying for a messiah in the line of David to come and deliver them. To vanquish their enemies.

The situation in the first century was ripe for God to send a political, military leader to vanquish Roman victimization of the Jews. The people were ready for a leader who would draw upon the tradition of God’s military deliverance in the Hebrew scriptures. And lead such conquests against the Romans. Jesus knew this tradition. He was well versed in these expectations. Yet, we do not have any examples of Jesus drawing from the tradition of military conquest in Hebrew scriptures. He does not use this war tradition in his teaching. There is no support of armed resistance in the material we have about the ministry of Jesus. There were those in his day who advocated such a response to Roman rule, but we have no record of Jesus supporting those initiatives. So what does Jesus say about war? Even steeped in a tradition that saw war as a tool of God’s will, Jesus does not advocate for war or armed rebellion.

In fact, in the story of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week, we see Jesus stage a counter military parade which he knows is leading him into the hands of those who want to kill him. He rides on a humble donkey, not a stately stallion, the preferred mount of military conquerors.

So, the fact that Jesus does not talk about war and violent resistance in a context ready to erupt in violence tells us something about what Jesus says about war. He does not advocate war. However justified it may be in that particular context, Jesus does not advocate war.

Now, as we examine the teachings and ministry of Jesus, there is more that can be noted about a perspective on war. Jesus does not just eschew armed violence. He does not just take the ethical standard, “Do no harm.”

Actually, what is seen as extraordinary about the teachings of Jesus, is that he is remembered for going beyond do no harm, to “Love your enemies,” [Matthew 5:44] “Pray for those who persecute you,” [Matthew 5:44] and “Turn the other cheek.” [Mathew 5:39] Not just don’t kill them, and don’t mistreat them, or tolerate and accept them. But actually love your enemy. Choose to do good to your enemy. Care for your enemy. Choose to behave to your enemies in ways that are kind, caring, compassionate. This is beyond don’t fight back. This is intentionally seek the good of your enemy, of those who would harm you. So what does Jesus say about war? Love your enemy. And as the bumper sticker says, “When Jesus said, ‘Love your enemy,’ he probably didn’t mean kill them.”

We see more of Jesus’ sentiments about violence and war in several stories in the gospels that involve a centurion, a Roman soldier. Given the context, the Roman soldiers were the ones enforcing the harsh occupation policies of the Roman government. So the Jews did not like the soldiers who were agents of fear and intimidation. What is Jesus’ approach to these soldiers? This can be seen as an embodiment of the dictate, “Love your enemy.” When a Roman soldier comes to Jesus begging that Jesus heal his servant, the story includes the testimony, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.” [Matthew 8:5ff, also Luke 7:9] This is an affirmation that the centurion, a Roman soldier, has more faith in God than the Jews of the day. This would be heard as the enemy is more on God’s wavelength, than we the chosen people, the people of Israel. This would be heard as an extreme affront.

In another story, after Jesus has died on the cross, but has not yet been removed, we are told, “Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, ‘Truly, this man was God’s Son.’” (Mark 15:39, also Matthew 27:54, and see Luke 23:47] So an enemy centurion voices the identity of Jesus before the disciples who have scattered, and before the women who go to the tomb. Again, this would be heard as a significant affront.

In these stories, we see that Jesus does not hold the policies of the government against those who enforce them. The stories show that there can be good even in those considered in enemy. The story of the healing of the servant shows the compassion of the solider. And that those considered enemy can be people of faith. It is almost as if the soldiers are victims like the Jewish people. So what does Jesus say about war, we are shown that he has compassion and understanding of the soldiers. And he sees them as human beings, not tools of policy, and not as statistics, or acceptable collateral damage in the resolution of conflict.

So what does Jesus say about war? Treat the soldiers like human beings. Have compassion on the soldiers for they, too, are victims. See the humanity of those caught up on systems and cultural institutions far beyond their control.

So what does Jesus say about war? Even given the context, and the tradition, we do not see Jesus advocating war or violence in any way. We see Jesus advocating love of enemy.

Now we can say this is fine utopian thinking, but just not practical and practicable in today’s world. But the time has come to rethink that, as well.

Is it practical to stockpile weapons that can destroy the entire world? Is it practical to spend billions of dollars maintaining those weapons? Is it practical to spend billions on weapon development for killing people when there is need for money and scientists and engineers and others to direct their efforts to meeting human need and developing new sources of energy, and medical treatments, etc.? Is it really wise to direct so much of our resources, human and financial, toward developing methods of armed conflict to solve differences? Wouldn’t it be more practical and wise to put resources into developing non violent means of resolving conflict? If we put even a fraction of the money and time and skill that we are putting into armaments, into think tanks, study, and experimentation with strategies for resolving differences without violence, we could make significant changes in our culture of violence.

In the book, God’s Politics, Jim Wallis of the Sojourners community, shares a story about Archbishop Rowan Williams, head of the Anglican Church:

. . .Archbishop [Rowan] Williams offered an observation that became for me the most insightful statement of the year-long- run-up to the war with Iraq. He said (quoting psychologist Abraham Maslow), ‘When all you have is hammers, everything looks like a nail.’

The United States has the biggest and best hammers in the world. But they are the only ‘tools’ we seem to know how to use. And all we seem able to do is look for more nails to pound.

[p. 110]

You see, we have created a culture of violence and conflict. We have chosen to teach history primarily from war to war, rather than from social advance to social advance. I know, I was a history major in college. You basically study one war after another, with some culture and social movements thrown in along the way. But it is definitely war centered. We have created this way of looking at history, and we can transform it.

We have chosen to create media that glorifies violence as entertainment – on TV in movies, and in video games. We are brought up to expect violence and war as an acceptable, justifiable, inevitable means for resolving differences, in the family, in the community, and in the world, between nations. No one blinks an eye at the Martin Luther King parade when the sanctioned vendors are selling toy guns and swords, at the event honoring a man whose core philosophy was non-violent resistance.

We have developed a culture that fully expects and accepts violence. And we can transform it into a culture of peace. This may not eliminate violence entirely, but we can intentionally promote the transformation of our culture to one of peace. We can teach history differently. We can change our media and entertainment industries. We can transform our culture to value cooperation over competition. We can celebrate everyone having what they need to live, instead of glorifying greed and wealth. We can dismantle our cultural fixation on celebrities who are rich and lift up as celebrities teachers, artists, scientists, engineers, and social workers, and people who are working for the common good. Put those kind of folks on the cover of People magazine.

And in the church, we can promote the anti-violent teachings of Jesus, instead of endorsing the current status quo of our culture of violence.

We do not have to accept this culture of violence that we have created. We have made it, we have a hand in perpetuating it, we can be agents of transformation, as well. Swords into plowshares – it’s not a new idea, but a concept to be embraced with new urgency given the monumental increase in our capacity for destruction.

Transformation is at the heart of the teachings of Jesus. He was advocating a realm where all are cared for, where resources are used to sustain and improve life. Jesus crossed the boundaries that separate and divide people, challenging greed, prejudice and the things that contribute to violence embodying a community in which every person is treated with dignity. Jesus shows us supportive community where all flourish. And Jesus delivers this message in a context of violence, oppression, and military occupation. This tells us something about war. War detracts from creating beloved community. War diverts us from pursuing the realm of God.

So, as Christians, we ask ourselves, really, what does Jesus say about war? Here we close with two quotes from the Gospels. From John: “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” [John 10:10] And from Luke, “Forgive them, God, for they don’t know what they are doing.” [Luke 23:34] Amen.

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.