Abram in the Old Testament is set to wage war. He “mustered three hundred and eighteen of his retainers, born in his house, and went in pursuit.” Retainers are armed soldiers, men born into debt/slavery to a tribal warlord, and used as troops. Upon Abram’s victory, Melchizedek, allied with Abram, “brought out bread and wine, and being a priest of God Most High, he blessed Abram.” “Then Abram gave him a tenth of the war plunder.” Jesus in the Gospel does not wage war; he practices peace. Jesus also has no slaves, no armed troops who shed blood. Jesus gathers peacemakers, average people who decide for themselves to follow his peaceful way. Jesus takes no plunder, nor when given something does he bestow it upon the War Lord class. So it is in Sunday’s Gospel when someone brought out bread, Jesus shares it with the people, “about 5,000.” Jesus took “five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied.”
Institutional christianity unfortunately conflates the warmaking mission of Abraham with the peacemaking mission of Jesus. The two men are not comparable. Abram is a typical War Lord with typical soldier slaves, human beings he buys and uses to gain plunder. It is likely some of Abraham’s armed men want not to be forced into their soldier slave role. It is also likely some of them desire their position. In part, they may believe their sub-human slave status is offset by a super-human soldier status. That belief, basic to Militarism, is a ruse. Both as a slave and as a soldier, men are rendered subordinate. They are bought and used for the plunder of the War Lord class. The War Lord class coerces men into believing there is a difference between being a slave and being a soldier by using propaganda techniques. One technique is slogans; broad generalities that appeal to emotions and connect troops with valued qualities but disconnect them to conscience, even basic thinking. Slogans include ‘Be all you can be.’ ‘The Few. The Proud.’ Sloganeering allows a man enslaved to obedience to a superior officer to be oddly thought a savior of freedom. Another propaganda technique used by the War Lord class is nationalism. Nationalism is simply the tribalism of Abraham and other War Lords practiced on a larger scale. Using slogans such as ‘Duty, Honor, Country,’ the War Lord class convince us to shed the blood of people from other nations or to be sacrificial blood shed for our nation so as to gain the War Lord class plunder. For example, United Technologies gains weapons sales of $11.6 billion and CEO compensation of $17.5 million while military recruits gain an average salary of $21, 972. The War Lord class gains plunder by convincing men into blood sacrifice as an unthinking nationalist troop. They can convince so many others to be supporters of those troops. It is that nationalist troop mentality that had the people of Germany supporting their Nazi soldiers trooping into Poland, Denmark, Norway, France, and more, while believing those same troops kept Germany safe from invading Gypsies and Jews. So too that same nationalist troop mentality has the people of the U.S. supporting its soldiers trooping into Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia and so many more, while believing those same troops keep the U.S. safe from invading immigrants and Muslims. Neither Nazi Germans then, nor MAGA Americans now take a single jump off a cliff into madness one day. Each take one step after another, day after day, year after year as a troop of patriotic nationalists supporting their War Lords and their soldier slaves. It is time to stop supporting the troops.
“In its present form (nationalism) is … men (who have) turned away from the eternal God of the universe, and decided to worship at the shrine of the god of nationalism… “My country right or wrong.”… We live in an age when it is almost heresy to affirm the brotherhood of man.” “We all know of the great tragedies that have resulted from the worship of this false god of nationalism. More than anything else nationalism makes for war … that dread force that leaves men physically handicapped and psychologically upset … that piles our national debts higher than mountains of gold… that causes our moral standards to disintegrate. Such is the tragic consequence of nationalism. … (W)e must transcend (its) narrow confines … One cannot worship this false god of nationalism and the God of Christianity at the same time. … Will we continue to serve the false god of imperialistic greed or will we serve the God who makes love the key which unlocks the door of peace? … Will we continue to serve the false god of racial prejudice or will we serve the God who made of one blood all men to dwell upon the face of the earth? ” We must “cry out against the false god of nationalism. I realize that such a venture might bring about the possibility of being called many undesirable names. But speak we must.” (The False God of Nationalism, preached July 12, 1953 – Martin Luther King Jr.)
Prayer: Spirit of Oneness, we turn from shedding blood to sharing communion.
Question: How have I been affected by nationalist propaganda?
June 23, 2019 Gospel Luke 9:11b-17 Feast of the Body & Blood of Christ / Corpus Christi