Jesus is known as a man of peace. In John’s Gospel he is likened to a caring shepherd, “the sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his sheep by name and leads them.” Jesus’ gentleness with people is contrasted to men of war. Such men are likened to “thieves and robbers,” who “comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy.” Yet people follow the thieves and robbers, as we know from Peter’s speech in Acts. He is talking to people who followed the violent military rulers and could not see the peaceful Christ in “This Jesus who you crucified.”
This era’s military rulers who come only to steal and slaughter and destroy the people, include Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump Jr., and their friend Palmer Luckey. Lucky is the chief thief and robber of Anduril, whose company is “Transforming U.S. Defense Capabilities with Advanced Technologies.” Anduril is the author of the recent Op-ed, Rebooting the Arsenal of Democracy. He is a “patriot.” He explains in his essay how his AI military software company can replace non-AI military hardware companies. This Tech Bro is persuading the First Family of corruption and patriotic U.S. citizens that his “combination of a pursuit of innovation with the objectives of the nation” will “safeguard the legitimacy of the democratic project itself.” Aren’t we lucky we have Palmer Luckey as our “thief and robber,” who “comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy.” The new software war plunderers are positioning themselves as the new shepherds of democracy primed to take over from the old hardware war plunderers who were the old shepherds of democracy. Those who make a killing off of killing us off, always want to assure us they are our saviors – as they lead us off to war. Palmer Luckey is the new Uncle Sam, “You can answer the call to build and innovate in service to your country and its military needs to save democracy.” History is repeating itself. The U.S. spent the mid-1930s sharing military hardware with fascist dictators, installing its premier thieves and robbers like Ford, General Motors, and IBM into Nazi Germany. So currently, the U.S. is sharing military software with current fascist dictators, installing its premier thieves and robbers like Palantir, Defense Unicorns, and Anduril into genocidal Israel. They “come only to steal and slaughter and destroy.” Don and Don Jr., Thiel and Luckey, and especially Pete Hegseth who proudly claims to be a Christian, are intent on absolute military lethality.
These patriotic thieves and robbers tempt us to follow them instead of Jesus. They are the military rulers who still will not see the peaceful Christ in “This Jesus who you crucify,” in this Iraqi journalist Raheem al-Maliki whom you crucify, in this Venezuelan sailor Robert Sanchez whom you crucify, in this Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer whom you crucify, in this Iranian poet Baktash Abtin whom you crucify, in these 160 Iranian school children whom you crucify, and on and on.
Prayer: Beautiful Spirit, shape me so that I am known as a person of peace.
Question: How does this nation’s patriotism get in the way of my discipleship?
April 26, 2026 Gospel John 10:1-10 Fourth Sunday of Easter