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Signposts On The Way
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May 27, 2024Around the world, wars and conflicts rage in Ukraine and Russia, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Yemen, the Sudan, and in Haiti. Other conflicts include Myanmar, Ethiopia, and The Sahel. The Middle East and North Africa have more than 45 armed conflicts including Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Yemen, and Western Sahara.
As these conflicts rage, today we remember our loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives fighting for our country in similar wars through time. Yet, Scripture makes it clear that war is not of God, that Jesus came to bring peace. Indeed, he is the Prince of Peace. So why do we keep making war? Memorial Day bears this built-in tension. We rightly honor the bravery and sacrifice of those who gave their lives in war, including the rarely-mentioned cost to those they leave behind, while at the same time believing—knowing—that war is not a good.
What does it mean that Jesus is the Prince of Peace? Perhaps the prophet Isaiah said it best:
3 Many peoples shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the LORD’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
That he may instruct us in his ways,
and we may walk in his paths.”
For from Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and set terms for many peoples.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks;
One nation shall not raise the sword against another,
nor shall they train for war again. (Chpt. 2)
Jesus came to free us from sin, to offer to us the grace of forgiveness and thus to satisfy our deepest hungers and thirsts. When Jesus’ gift and God’s mercy justify us before God, we no longer need to compete for honor or recognition. We have more than we need—a super-abundance, a measure pressed down and overflowing, the fullness of life itself. We no longer have a need for war. We don’t need to grasp anything from others. We are literally at peace.
Why is it so difficult to embrace peace? It means giving up some of our cherished assumptions that somehow we are lacking in essential qualities that we can only gain by getting them from others. In this case, with an attitude of scarcity, believing that we are somehow competing in a sort of zero-sum game, we are naturally pitted against one other. My survival and triumph depends on wresting the same from you. In place of that, an attitude of gratitude helps me to see the superabundance Christ offers, and that someone else’s giftedness is not a threat, but a confirmation that there is enough of what is needed in the world to go round. It takes courage to fight a war. It also takes courage to embrace peace.
