“When you hear of wars and rumours of wars”…I was driving back from
Cleveland this past Thursday amidst a rain and windstorm that was of
apocalyptic proportions and I came across one of “those” Christian radio shows.
I tolerated about fifteen minutes of it. It was just all talk no music. The man behind the microphone went on about
how Muslims are taking over America. As
if to incite something, he named several different school boards that are now
recognizing Muslim holidays, claimed the state of Massachusetts had become a
Muslim state, and on and on he jackhammered this stuff out. Scary.
That’s the beginnings of the process of what the intelligence community
calls “radicalization”.
On the same trip, once I got into Canada and found the safety and
security of the CBC I found myself listening to a debate over what makes a
“just war.” The debate was over the
realization that the reasons Western governments recognize as “just cause” for
going to war really don’t apply anymore.
The crisis in Syria is a prime example.
Nations with well-trained militaries won’t come to aid of millions of
innocent civilians who due to their religious beliefs are being brutally
murdered, raped, kicked out of their homes, and made to flee to camps and other
countries. The reason the “nations” give
is that it is not “just” to invade the sovereign boarders of another nation. Yet, “everybody” recognizes that religious
conversion is an “unjust” reason for waging.
Moreover, ISIS is not a state against which another nation can declare
war. One of the debaters noted that ISIS
does not treat its prisoners according to the Geneva Convention and then asked why
are we in the nations with the militaries hiding behind out-dated ideas of what
it is to be “civilized” in the midst of war. Why is the world letting this horrendous crime
against humanity go on? Isn’t this what
the U.N. is for? I suppose we should ask
Gen. Romeo Dallaire. Is this crisis in
Syria just going to be one more case where after the death and dislocation of
millions of people the whole world stands figuratively on the metaphorical tarmac
of Kigali Airport saying “We come here today partly in recognition
of the fact that we did not do as much as we could have and should have done to
try to limit what occurred.”
Then yesterday morning we woke up to news of a terrorist attack in
France. We don’t know who is
responsible. Different group. Similar ideologies. People who were once just like you and me were
somehow radicalized by messianic prophets to believe hate-filled ideologies and
to act accordingly.
“When you hear of wars and rumours of wars do not be alarmed,”
Jesus said. Well, it is kind of hard not
to be alarmed with well-armed false messiahs and false prophets running rampant
in a world where people are easily swayed with ideology masquerading as faith
be it Islamic or Christian. I am
alarmed. I have two children. I was hoping that by the time I had children
the world would be better place. The
Cold War is gone but we’re still living in its wake. As far as the Middle East is concerned the
destabilization over there is the direct result of the peace agreements and
national boundaries that were drawn up after WWI and WWII. Our efforts to create a more just world in
the wake of global war only fostered another more precarious one.
Well, enough of that. I
should stop before I alarm somebody.
Let’s talk about true faithfulness.
How do we hard-working, God-revering followers of Jesus live in such a
world as this? Hate mongering against
people of other faiths is certainly not the answer. Might I suggest the “wasteful” way of an
impoverished widow who gave all she had to live on to the poor box at the
temple? Jesus compares her to the rich
who made huge donations that really cost them nothing and to the Scribes and
their empty hypocrisy who were taking the poor box money to themselves. This widow gave everything she had to live on
to help others in the same situation she was in. She was radical with compassion loving her
neighbour in the same way that Jesus loves us, with everything.
My great-grandmother was like that.
Anyone who came to visit left with a can of something. If you were there at mealtime, a place was
set for you. My grandparents were like
that. Everyone, not matter race or what,
was welcome at their table; even if you were one of my aunts’
ex-boyfriends. Great Depressions and
World Wars can sometimes make for great people.
It is interesting that this widow is the last person we meet before
Jesus tells his disciples that the temple and the “big business”
misrepresentation of faith the Scribes were conducting would be destroyed. Even Jerusalem would be destroyed. The central institution of the way of life of
the Jewish people, of the disciples themselves, was going to be destroyed. This widow revealed the reason why. IN light of that Jesus didn’t tell his
disciples to take up arms and try to preserve their national identity. He told them not to let themselves be misled by
ideologues pretending to be him. Rather,
he tells them to live as a testimony to him; to live as a proclamation that he and
no other is Lord and that the Kingdom of God is at hand. To live as this widow lived – devoting the
whole of our insignificant selves to Jesus and his compassionate Kingdom. When called to account for the reason we live
so hopefully and compassionately and generously in the midst of a cruel world,
instead of ranting off ideology, we listen for the Holy Spirit to speak and say
what we hear. The Holy Spirit speaks in
prayers. So often what we he gives us to
say to another person is a prayer for that person (Rom. 8:26-27) not a condemnation.
In this ideologically driven, terrorized, war torn world we the
disciples of Jesus Christ are to live like a community of poor widows who have
nothing yet give everything, share everything we have for compassion’s sake,
for Jesus’ sake. And we pray the
desperate prayers our neighbours can’t find the words to pray for themselves. Prayerful compassion is the way of the
Christian in this world. This is the way we need to be in our neighbourhoods
not behind the doors of these great stone buildings. This sort of authenticity speaks a living
testimony to our Lord Jesus and his Kingdom.
Amen.
