Sunday’s readings are about neighbors. The reading from Exodus says, “Thus says the Lord,” “If ever you wrong your neighbor and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you.” In the Gospel reading Jesus tells Pharisees wanting to trap him that they … Continue reading “Kill Your Neighbor or Love Your Neighbor”
Category: Military-Ethics
Killing Conscience is Killing Democracy
“Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed.” Jesus understands the killer ethics of the dictator class. They will kill him and will command subordinate soldier/slaves to do the deed. An extremely small number of very … Continue reading “Killing Conscience is Killing Democracy”
Aggrieved Cult Members
A Canaanite woman cries out to Jesus, “’My daughter is tormented by a demon’. But Jesus did not say a word. His disciples said, ‘Send her away, for she keeps calling out.’ Jesus then said to her, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But the woman said, ‘Help … Continue reading “Aggrieved Cult Members”
Jesus’ Disciples Do Not Fight
Jesus is forced before Pilate who questions Jesus from a War Lord’s point of view. Pilate says, “Your own nation and chief priests handed you over to me.” But it is not Jesus’ own nation or chief priests. He never belonged to their world; it is the same world as Pilate’s. It is a world … Continue reading “Jesus’ Disciples Do Not Fight”
The Cross: The Axis of Evil
The war waged by rulers against Jesus ends with their murder of him, as detailed in today’s Gospel. Religious rulers request Jesus’ torture and murder, political rulers order it, and soldiers carry it out. “The soldiers led Jesus away inside the palace… weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him,… kept striking his head … Continue reading “The Cross: The Axis of Evil”
Cancel War
In today’s Gospel, Jesus says, “the light came into the world, but people preferred the darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come toward the light, so his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light.” … Continue reading “Cancel War”
For What Purpose Have I Come?
Job laments that he, a ruler who enslaved people in misery, is himself now “a slave,” in “misery.” Job’s fellow rulers and enslavers visit him with the purpose of determining what is his sin that has resulted in his deserved misery. Jesus rejects misery for healing. An example is his treatment of Peter’s ill mother-in … Continue reading “For What Purpose Have I Come?”