On The March

Pastor’s Epistle—March, A.D. 2015 B

My son is fascinated by military history, which I find to be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I love that he shares my interest in history and politics, learning about the past to better understand the world today. On the other hand, I try to balance a seven-year-old boy’s natural enthusiasm for battle with the Christian conviction that war must always be a civilization’s last resort, to be waged only with the goal of greater justice and peace.

One thing he’s currently wrestling with is the idea that, up until quite recently, war was a seasonal endeavor. Soldiers had to return home at harvest time, and no one could fight in the winter. They had no highways or aircraft or mass transportation; when the snows came, armies hunkered down or dispersed, awaiting clearer roads and fairer weather in the spring. That’s why this month is called “March,” for indeed, this is when armies historically could go “on the march” again. The Roman war god Mars is right there in the name.

Martial imagery has always been dicey for Christians. The Church has acknowledged from earliest days that there is such a thing as Just War, a time when pacifism is actually immoral. But we are all intimately familiar with how religion can be used as an excuse for tribalism, nationalism, imperialism, and outright brutality. Bad religion can paint the faithful as superhuman and unbelievers as subhuman, which rationalizes all manner of violence done “in the name of God.” Fanatics always want to purify the world—primarily by killing most of it. ISIS has reminded us of this quite vividly.

The Bible describes Christians in many ways. We are referred to as slaves, friends, and brothers of Christ, as sacrificial sheep amidst the wolves, as a priesthood of all believers. And, yes, one of the images the Bible uses for us is Christians as soldiers of God. We’re all familiar with “putting on the armor of God” from Ephesians 6. But we must remember that when the Bible imagines us as Jesus’ soldiers, our enemies are not other human beings but spirits of wickedness and sin. We are called to fight a spiritual war for Christ, and that spiritual war is fought inwardly—indeed, it is a war against warfare, a battle against violence, an assault against cruelty. Our King of Kings is also the Prince of Peace.

Lent has been described as indispensable for the Christian soldier. It is the time when we are “on the march,” bearing the Cross along with Jesus, advancing bravely towards our Lord’s Passion on Good Friday. This “march” is to remind us that God does not see as the world sees. In the eyes of God, true bravery is repentance, true honor is humility, and true victory is to suffer for others, which is the very essence of love. This sort of soldiery stands in stark contrast to the “holy wars” of bigots and fanatics. When 21 Egyptian Christians were murdered by ISIS this past February, the true victors in God’s eyes were not the men holding the knives. The true victors were the men on their knees.

This is the sign of a soldier of Christ: that we love one another, as He has first loved us.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.