Jesus is noteworthy as a loving person, especially with people rulers outcast. More noteworthy is Jesus loving those outcasts in the very presence of those rulers. The rulers then actively oppress Jesus for doing so. Jesus’ love is thus a consistently courageous love. Jesus is so consistently courageous in his love that he even loves the rulers who oppress him. In today’s Gospel Jesus is nearing the end of his life. He knows the rulers who oppress him – chief priests, elders, and the Romans with their soldiers – will soon murder him. Jesus is letting disciples know he will give witness one more time to courageous love – from the cross. “Love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for another.”
It is a perversity that the military profession responsible for taking Jesus’ life, also takes his words about no greater love. Worse, self-titled Christian soldiers do so. A typical example is from the military’s Officers’ Christian Fellowship who quote today’s Gospel phrase and then write, “Mirroring the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary, (are) the sacrifices of our nation’s fallen military men and women.” This is a lie. Soldiers do not mirror Jesus’ sacrifice, soldiers caused Jesus’ sacrifice. Soldiers are trained by rulers to sacrifice and be sacrificed, in other words, to kill and be killed. Soldiers killed Jesus as they kill any person rulers command them to kill. No healthy person kills, certainly not on another’s command. To divert soldiers from this truth, from their instinct to not kill, the military glorifies killing. Soldiers killing and being killed is made perversely courageous by the military. Worse, it is made Christ-like. Perverting Jesus’ words about laying down one’s life for a friend helps the military make killing ‘Christ-like.’ Militarists recently applied the phrase to Lt Col Arnaud Beltrame a soldier of France who took the place of a hostage and was killed by a soldier of ISIS. Beltrame’s willingness to lay down his life however was preceded by his willingness to lay down his weapon. He thus ceased being a soldier (‘one who arms for pay’) and as such was Christ-like because he stood, like Jesus, unarmed against a soldier. Standing unarmed against soldiers however is what peacemakers do all the time. But peacemakers are routinely discounted by soldiers for being naïve, foolish. That is because the religion of Militarism has been successful in indoctrinating societies to link courage with soldiers and death rather than linking courage with peacemakers and life. Militarism diminishes peacemakers, making Jesus, Gandhi, Dr. King, et al into museum pieces oddities on display. Militarism takes away their agency, their courage that had them do real work in the real world. But it is precisely the courage of peacemakers and their real work in this real world that Militarists fear. We saw real guts, real courage recently in the peacemaker James Shaw Jr. at the Tennessee Waffle House. He was not a soldier. He did not act to kill and be killed. James Shaw acted instead as a man of courage who stood up unarmed against yet another armed soldier.
Militarism would convince even peacemakers that soldiers alone or best possess courage. But in truth, soldiers possess weapons and as such do not possess courage, at least not the courage of Christ – who risked love, “love one another as I have loved you.” The courageous love of Christ is best exemplified by soldiers when they lay down their weapons and have the courage to stand unarmed before rulers who order them to kill.
Prayer: Spirit of Love, help us love one another.
Question: What perversities of Militarism do I encounter and what is the courageous love being asked of me?
May 06, 2018 Gospel John 15:9-17 Sixth Sunday of Easter