I was all
set to preach a very interesting sermon
on Hebrews
10 and the approachability of God
and then
Paris happened.
Obviously it
makes no sense for me to pretend
that I have
any idea how to solve the problem
of the
so-called ‘Islamic State.’
That’s in
the hands of others.
What I can
do as a pastor,
what I am
called to do as a pastor,
is proclaim
the Good News of God.
The good
news is this:
that one day
evil will be eradicated.
The book of
Daniel tells us of the time
when the
dead will rise,
some to
punishment,
and some to
salvation.
Our Lutheran
Confessions give a brief summary of this faith,
in the
Confession of Augsburg:
‘(We) teach
that at the Consummation of the world
Christ will
appear for judgment,
and will
raise up all the dead;
he will give
to the godly and elect
eternal life
and everlasting joys,
but ungodly
men and the devils
He will
condemn to be tormented without end.’
One wonders
if the condemnation of those who worship violence
is not also
self-chosen,
and that
God’s judgment allows them to live in this torment forever;
that God
will not save them against their will.
While these
days people deride and reject the concept of a judgmental God,
if we think
about it,
a God
without judgment would be a monstrous God,
one who
could not be said to care at all for his creation.
The God who
judges
does so out
of love,
love for
human beings who live in this world of evil.
The promise
of the Resurrection
gives us
hope that justice will one day be served.
In the
meantime,
we live in
this fallen world.
The Lutheran
Church has always believed
that
government is ordained by God
as an agent
of God’s good will,
so that
people can live in peace and tranquility.
As the
nations of the world
deal with
the threat of ISIS,
we do well
to remember that God is on the side
of those who
are innocently targeted by violence.
Whether they
are agents of the government, police officers or soldiers,
those who
take up arms in defense of others
are
participating in God’s good work.
However, we
need to be careful.
Some may
say, ‘War never solved anything.’
And they’re
at least half-right.
War indeed
does not solve anything,
in the sense
that war does not remove the evil in the world,
but only
keeps it at bay.
War may
serve to restrain the power of evil
so that it
does not finally overwhelm the world.
Only the one
day of God’s judgment
can finally
rid the world of evil.
The nations
of the West will make their decisions
on how best
to address the threat of ISIS,
but we
should not delude ourselves into thinking
that if our
governments only did the right things,
the problems
would be solved and there will be universal peace.
In fact,
what the nations of the West do and don’t do
will
certainly lead to unintended consequences,
just as the
choices of the United States after 9/11
had their
unintended consequences.
These
consequences may lead to more violence.
How should
we then live?
We should
live as those who renounce violence in our own lives.
I am not one
who believes that if the United States
and the
other Western nations
simply
declared peace,
then all
would be well.
I think
that’s silly.
In this
fallen world,
God may use
violence to restrain violence,
that the
violent at heart may not do their worst,
but in Jesus
Christ we see
that God’s heart
is a heart which is peace in its very nature.
And so we
must be people of peace.
We must not
let violence gain the upper hand in our hearts and minds.
We must not
give in to the sinful nature
that drives
us to thoughts of revenge and hatred.
Instead,we
are live our lives
as those who
do not do violence.
who do not
violate others.
We do not
violate their bodies,
whether by
abortion which cuts shorts
the being
and becoming of nascent life;
or by sexual
violence or abuse or exploitation,
or by refusing
to help others in time of need,
or by being
silent when injustice is done.
We are
called to protect others
and act for
their well-being.
We are
called to renounce any violence against people’s personhood,
doing them
only good in thought and word.
We do not
condemn others, even when we disagree with them.
We pray for
our enemies,
even as we
support the governments
when they
take steps to protect the citizens of their countries.
We do not
condemn Muslim people,
even when we
do not agree with their religious views.
It
would be better to die at the hands of terrorists
than
to allow ourselves to be filled with hatred towards people
who
look like ‘the enemy.’
How
can we say that?
Because
we believe in the resurrection of the just to everlasting life.
The world is
full of violence,
and that
violence will always be with us
this side of
paradise.
Yet in the
world we may have peace now
because on
that day there will be perfect peace.
We
participate in that perfect peace
when we meet
together for Eucharist.
Here we
celebrate the sacrifice
that
reconciles God to the world
and the
world to God.
Here we
encounter the one
who endured
all the violence of the world and the devil.
and was the
first to be raised from the dead.
God’s day
that is future becomes present on this day,
as we come
together in the name of the Risen One,
Jesus Christ
our Lord.
