Today, as I’m sure we all know, is Remembrance Sunday, the day when we remember and give thanks for all those who’ve given their lives in defence of this country in time of war. But given the nature of the day, it’s also a day when we must, inevitably, think about war itself. And so perhaps it’s also a day for us to think about war in terms of our Christian faith, because there’s no doubt whatsoever that war can, and does, affect faith and faith can, and does, affect our understanding of war.
It’s said that the first casualty of war is truth, and there is a great deal of truth in that saying. In war, all sides highlight and exaggerate the faults and wrongdoing of the enemy to make them seem like evil, inhuman monsters, whilst any wrongdoing against them, or any legitimate complaints they might have are downplayed or ignored. Defeats on the battlefield are downplayed or ignored whilst minor successes are trumpeted as great victories. We call it propaganda and it’s seen as essential to do these things in time of war for the good of the morale of the people.
But another casualty of war can be, and often is, faith in God. That’s not necessarily the case, and in fact, it can sometimes appear that the opposite is true because Church attendances often increases in time of war as people come to church to pray for the safety of loved ones who are away fighting and for the deliverance of the nation. People of faith too, can try to make sense of war through the eyes of their faith. The hymn we so often sing on Remembrance Sunday, O Valiant Hearts, is a prime example of that because it compares the sacrifice of those who fought and died for their country with the sacrifice of Christ; a selfless sacrifice for the salvation of mankind. But despite these things, many people’s faith can be destroyed by war. Those who witness the horror of war first hand, who see the atrocities that human beings can perpetrate on one another, can, and do, find that they can no longer believe in God. They can’t understand how God would allow such things to happen. They think that, if God does exist, he would step in and do something to put an end to war and to stop the death and destruction, and the suffering and the misery it causes. And, because that doesn’t happen, they come to the conclusion that there obviously can be no God.
I’ve met and spoken to many people over the years, who’ve done all the things I’ve just mentioned.
People who’ve turned to God in time of war, people who’ve tried to rationalise war through the eyes of their faith, or perhaps theologise war would be a better expression, and people who’ve lost their faith because of the horrors they’ve witnessed during war.
But, as understandable as it is that people should question and doubt and even lose their faith during time of war, it’s something Jesus urges us not to do. In this morning’s Gospel, he tells us not even to be alarmed when war comes and that, whatever happens, we must remain faithful if we want to be saved and enter the kingdom of God. So how do we do that? How do we remain faithful, regardless of what happens in the world, regardless of what happens to us, even in time of war? Perhaps one way would be to think about what war actually is.
In one sense, the answer to that question is simple; war is what happens when two or more nations take up arms and fight each other. But what causes war? And, as we’re told to remain faithful in spite of war, what is war in terms of faith? And we can answer those questions if we look at war in terms of sin, and of individual sin rather than just the collective sin of nations.
For example, I’m sure we’ve all known people, and perhaps do know people, who always want their own way. How many times have we tried to play a game with someone who always wants us to play according to their rules, even when that means that person making up their own rules to the game? And when that person can’t have their own way, it’s ended up in an argument or perhaps even a fight. We’ve all experienced that, I’m sure. People do this as individuals, but nations do it too and when they do, we often call these ‘my way or no way’ attitudes ideologies. They might be political ideologies and they might be linked to ideas about national or racial, or even religious identity. But whatever kind of ideology they are, they can and do lead nations into dispute and conflict.
I’m sure too that we’ve all experienced someone wanting something that we’ve had, and taking it from us, perhaps because they didn’t have what we had or perhaps because they did and wanted more. We call that stealing. And when people have stolen something from us, or tried to steal something from us, we ‘ve no doubt tried to stop them and that’s resulted in fisticuffs. Quite often this happens to individuals in the context of bullying, a bigger, stronger person taking what belongs to a someone simply because they think that a smaller, weaker person can’t really do about it.
Individuals do this, and nations do it too. Nations can be envious of their neighbour’s resources and decide that they’ll simply take them. That very often happens when the nation that wants to do the taking is bigger and stronger than the nation they want to take from. Nevertheless, the nation being stolen from usually does try to stop them, and it results in fighting, in war.
I’m sure too, we’ve all been involved in arguments and perhaps even fights in which other people have become involved, perhaps friends or older family members of ours or of the other person or people involved. And that’s no doubt ended up in a worse argument and fight because more people have become involved. And what usually happens in those situations is that the one with less friends or no older family members ends up getting a good hiding, regardless of the rights and wrongs of the original argument. Individuals do this, and so do nations. In fact, if we look at the very quick and catastrophic fall from regional dispute to world war in 1914, this is exactly what happened.
If we look at the causes of war in this way, it’s quite easy to see that war is nothing other than individual sin writ large. War is caused and fought when nations commit the same sins that individual people commit. And when we see war in this way, how can we blame God for war? Does God tell us to force people to do things our way? Does God tell us to steal from people? Does God tell us to bully people? Does God tell us to argue and fight? No, God doesn’t tell us to do any of these things. On the contrary, God tells us to be peacemakers and to love our neighbours. So how can it be God’s fault if we argue and fight and nations make war on one another because we do what he tells us not to do, and don’t do what he tells us we should do? How can we blame God for war that’s caused by our sins?
But even if we understand that God isn’t responsible for war, we could still question why he doesn’t step in and do something to stop war. But, actually, he has. He’s told us how we should live and act towards one another, and he sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to show us how to live and act towards one another. Is it God’s fault if we choose to ignore him and his Son and go our own way instead? And could we really imagine what life would be like if God did intervene in human lives in a more direct way?
All of us, like to have money in the bank or building society. We all like to have savings, and we all like to get a high rate of interest on our savings don’t we. But the Scriptures tell us that accepting interest on a loan is a sin, it’s something the righteous don’t do. But it’s something we all do, if we can, because it’s exactly what we’re doing when we take interest on our savings. Could you imagine how we’d feel if, when the time came for our interest to be paid, a hand came down from heaven and snatched it away to stop us from committing the sin of accepting interest on a loan?
We’re told not to look lustfully at another person and, if our eye causes us to sin, we should pluck it out. So, to all of us here who’ve ever dated someone, or been in a long-term relationship with someone, or have been or are married to someone, how would you have felt if, when you first saw that other special someone and thought ‘I fancy him, or her’ a finger came down from the sky and poked your eye out to stop you from committing the sin of lust?
When we look at it in this way, we see how ridiculous it is to speak about God doing something to stop war. To do what people mean by that, God taking direct action to stop war, God would have to take direct action to stop all sin because there can’t be any differentiation between sins. All sin is wrong. God surely couldn’t let some sins go and act to stop others. So God would have to take direct action to stop all sin. And if he did that how long would it be resented this great intrusion into our lives and interruption to our lives? How long would it be before we started to resent God’s very existence? How long would it be before we stopped loving God, as he wants us to, and started hating him instead?
If we can see war as individual human sin writ large, we can see those who fought and died in war as sacrifices for sin, in that sense at least, and it’s right that we should remember them and the sacrifice that they made to defend us from those who would have sinned against us and did sin against us in time of war. It would be wonderful to think that we could pay the ultimate tribute to them by making an end to war but, as Jesus himself makes clear in this morning’s Gospel, war will happen. War will happen as long as there’s sin in the world and unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of an end to sin in the world. So we will have to endure war. But let’s not blame God for war, but rather see it for what it is, the result of our sin and the sin of the human race, and let’s remain faithful.
Amen.
The Propers for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (2 before Advent) Remembrance Sunday can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 