Prophets of the Old testament prophet believe they interpret God’s will. It is God’s will to inflict violence on sinners. They “have rebelled against me,” says the Lord. “(T)hey shall die for their sin.” (Ez 2) It is God’s will that a Chosen People in a Chosen Empire are ruled by a violent messianic warrior who kills enemy sinners, “My chosen one… (who) goes forth like a warrior, like a man of war he stirs up his fury… against his enemies he shows his might.” (Is 42:1,13) God willing the violent death of sinners is a common prophecy of the Old Testament. Jesus does not prophesize it is God’s will to inflict violence on sinners. When men from the synagogue “heard Jesus speak” a very different healing message, especially for sinners, “they took offense at him.”
Institutional christianity, specifically Protestantism, unfortunately idol-izes the Old Testament. Thus, neither the Old Testament nor Protestantism prophesy a man who communes with sinners, loves enemies, and heals violence – including by rising from the dead. In other words, neither prophesize Jesus. Characteristics which most accurately describe the man Jesus and his life witness, are not prophesized as God’s will. Confronted with the choice between Old Testament prophesy, specifically that of a violent killer Messiah doing God’s will, and the very different peacemaker Jesus, Protestantism chooses Old Testament violence. Jesus’ life witness is diminished within Protestantism, certainly by its fundamentalists and evangelicals who tend toward Biblical Nationalism. Enlarged instead, because they misinterpret it to align with the Old Testament, is the Book of Revelation. Biblical Nationalists read it like the Old Testament; taking its prophecies literally that God wills violence. Biblical Nationalist are like the men of the synagogue, ‘they take offense at Jesus.’ They reject the real peacemaking Jesus of the Gospel and fantasize an imagined warmaking Jesus of Revelation. Since they do not follow Jesus, they do not accept the Resurrection as the Second Coming of Jesus that already happened and is a model for healing and peacemaking. Instead, across the U.S., Biblical Nationalists are eagerly awaiting and actively planning for a Second Coming of a violent Messiah. That Messiah has current warriors, like the former U.S. president and his supporters. All will target sinners with violence. All believe the violence is God’s will. Any date could be chosen for the violence, for example, April 19, January 6, or perhaps the Fourth of July. They await God’s will that a Chosen People, them, in a Chosen Empire, the U.S., will be ruled by a violent messianic king who will kill enemy sinners.
A man born on the Fourth of July, who wanted to become a violent U.S. warrior killing enemy sinners and believed it was God’s will, is Ron Kovic. U.S. Militarism and his own mother convinced him, “Ronnie, you’re doing the right thing! Communism has to be stopped! It’s God’s will that you go.” Was it God’s will that he go to Vietnam and kill men and women and children? Permanently wounded in the war, Kovic began to question God’s will. His own anger and proclivity for violence had him talking openly with other war veterans about violent fantasies against new enemy sinners on the home front. After all, soldiers are trained “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Fortunately, Kovic lived before the time of unending online fascist media, pastors, and their president who explicitly justify social violence as God’s will. In time, Kovic converted away from the Old Testament prophecy of being a violent messianic warrior, a soldier hero who kills enemy sinners. He was resurrected as a peace activist. With other veterans he helped to nurture the organization called Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Kovic has persisted in his peacemaking, for example, organizing anti-war demonstrations against the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He and other veteran peacemakers know the deadly outcome of warriors who prophesize violence as God’s will, whether the violence is war or insurrection. They know the very different outcome of healing. These peacemakers do not take offence at Jesus because they have accepted his very different message of healing and peacemaking.
Prayer: Spirit, May peace fill the hearts and minds of Old soldiers.
Question: In what ways do I hope for violence against enemies instead of working for their healing?
July 4, 2021 Gospel Mark 6:1-6 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time