A message for Remembrance

Mark 12:38-44

Today we have brought to mind the tragic loss of life in the two world wars and all subsequent conflict.  For many people today is a poignant and important day, especially so with today being the 100^th anniversary of the armistice, the event marking the end of the so-called Great War.  A war that was supposed to be the war that ended all wars.  Sadly, like Pandora’s box, it has proved to be extremely hard in subsequent generations to put away the thirst for vengeance or nationalism and to move towards a substantial peace.

Those of you who are on social media will no doubt have seen a multitude of pictures of poppies of all colours; red, white, purple and so on.  You will have seen calls to remember young men shot by their own side due more often than not to a poor understanding of the effects of war on mental health.  Some of you will have seen pictures that are pushing an agenda, some pictures will have been peaceful, some less so.

We have in our own way today, shared our own remembrance today in film, action and in words.  Services such as this will have been led up and down the country today and across Europe as we remember our joint heritage and how in forging links and in understanding we seek to avoid the bloodlust, horror and murder of war.  More poignant now than ever with the resurgence of nationalistic right-wing parties across Europe and in the US.  Of movements to break up Europe into it’s constituent states.  Attitudes that call for the return of capital punishment, that deride those with disabilities, that seek to disenfranchise huge swathes of populations, that wish to build walls rather than bridges, and to create hostile environments.

In Matthew’s Gospel in Chapter 5, Jesus is quoted as saying; ” Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the Children of God”. In more recent times political rhetoric has tended to deride peacemakers as cowards, as weak willed and most recently bearing the term, Snowflake.  However, arguing for peace doesn’t mean that one doesn’t have respect for one’s own country or for the people who have been part of the armed forces.

One of my good friends was a nurse in Territorial Army and was sent to Iraq in 2003.  24 hours before deployment she was told that she would be accompanying the frontline troops into battle.  She was subsequently based in Basra and witnessed at first hand the poverty of the local population who had suffered persecution at the hands of the ruling government under Sadham Hussein.  She witnessed horrific injuries sustained during battle, she was there when the seven military police officers were butchered.  This person still remembers with vivid clarity all that she experienced in Iraq, every day.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like guns.  Do I think badly of soldiers who are combatants because they do? Or the medics who are armed so as to protect their patients?  NO!  People find themselves in situations and are required to behave accordingly.  I consider myself to be a pacifist; but Bonhoeffer himself decided that the need to act against Hitler and the Nazi movement was necessary despite his fervent antiviolent beliefs.  Life is complex and as humans we need to be adaptable in how we react.

It is always challenging to look at scripture and try and learn or decipher what it might say about conflict and what it might offer at this time of the year.  One of the most quoted sentences is of Jesus saying “No-one has greater love than this” John 15:13. However, this is presented in a form of eisegesis; one of those theological words that means that we interpret the scripture the way we want to.  As such it links Jesus to the idea of military sacrifice which couldn’t further from how Jesus meant it.  In context, Jesus is pointing directly to his impending death – he is reported to have said this the night before at the last supper; and his death was due in part at least to his refusal to choose a military path for his revolution.  Instead he insisted on change and revolution through non-violent means.  Here, John is trying to paint a detailed picture of the depth of love that God calls us to follow and live by.  To be willing to give up everything including life itself is his way of saying “This is how much you should love one another”.  This tool is used often in scripture, another example of the tendency to exaggerate to made a point is when Peter is told to forgive his brother not 7 times but 7 * 70 times Matthew 18. The idea is not to count to 490, but that the number is so extraordinarily large it means you forgive.  John is saying never stop loving.  In fact rather than sacrifice, John is talking about an active live despite all opposition.

Mark alludes to this in our reading today. Again, context is everything.  It is Holy Week and Jesus is stepping into the perfect storm that will lead to his murder.  His enemies are pooling together. The chief priests had challenged him about his authority which he had successfully parried by challenging them what their views were on John the Baptist, thus derailing their scheme in front of his supporters who loved John the Baptist.  The Herodians and Pharisees challenge him about taxes. Jesus appears at first glance to choose a middle path of compromise but in fact is being his usual radical self.  Give to God what is God implicitly meaning that if God is ruler of this world, which is what Jesus had been announcing for the last 3 years then we need to give everything to God who outstrips Caesar. Dangerous talk in a Roman outpost. 

Finally, the Sadducees concoct a story about resurrection which they don’t believe in anyway.  Of course, they are playing political games with Jesus and he calls them out.  This is the context for our reading. Jesus placed himself strategically in view of the entrance to the Temple where people give their donations. You will find a similar story in Matthew’s Gospel about Temple leaders making a show of their prayers; something for preachers and church leaders to take note of!

These same people then, whom Jesus has just put down, he now publicly shames and berates by comparing them not without irony to a poor widow; the exact same focus of the Sadducees story about resurrection and marriage.  Jesus points to the hypocrisy of the political elite who give in order to gain kudos and status, the people who like to be seen saying the right things at the right time.  Consider a contemporary image of a political leader talking of their commitment to a cause and then delivering the total opposite when in power.  Consider leaders who offer thoughts and prayers for victims of gun crime whilst promoting gun use and the language of violence.  Compare this to the widow who represents the little person.  The one who has little or no status. The private on the battlefield, the single parent; trying to get by, the refugee searching for a safe place, the nurse trying to run a ward singlehanded. They give not as an investment but because they give.

What is being said here? Perhaps we are being urged to be honest and transparent. To live in a manner that doesn’t seek to get one over on our neighbour. To give of ourselves out of love rather than act of speculation in the hope of accumulation.

If we are in positions of authority, then we need to search ourselves.  Have we misread our authority? Are we being tempted by a sense of love of power? Are we loving ourselves more than our neighbour? 

We are called to remember that we shouldn’t reach after a false hierarchy, we are all in need of God’s grace, we are  to love our neighbour as ourselves, not more so and not less so.

If we were to love our neighbour and to consider that our neighbour includes our enemy, then we are called to take that further step and to love our enemy as we love ourselves.

It may be then, that we would remember war for all of it’s horrors and we would learn from it and draw back from it if at all possible.

Each year the National Remembrance Service at the Albert Hall sees ever more poppy petals dropped.  How many more young people need to die on the alters of political greed before we choose a different path.  A path of peace.  For blessed are the peacemakers for they are the children of God.

Amen