Hard Choices

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.”

(John 18:36 ESV)

The other day a group of us were watching a sermon by Bruxy Cavey, the pastor of The Meeting House. The sermon was about the meaning of Jesus' death. Commenting on Jesus' statement to Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world, Bruxy made the point that Christians don't fight, they bring peace. That we need to move towards hostility, not to propagate it, but to be peace makers.

During our discussion about the sermon, someone asked how war fit into this philosophy of not fighting. This is an interesting question, although a bit theoretical at this time, at least for Canadians.

I think the important thing is not to get sidetracked with massive theoretical questions like this, but to ask ourselves how we are going to embody this concept in our lives today. How are we going to take personal responsibility for being agents of peace and reconciliation as demanded by being kingdom people within the sphere of influence we have today? Hopefully, if we are practicing this way of being in our daily lives, if the big question ever does happen, we will have learned enough by that time, that we will be able to respond as God would want us to - whatever that is.

As far as the big question goes, I don't know if there is a right answer. I suspect it might be akin to what Frederick Buechner says in regards to abortion: realizing that the decision to abort, or not to abort, doesn't always have a right answer, Buechner says that no matter what one decides, the important thing to remember is that one is never beyond the forgiveness of God. If war were to break out again, similar to WWII, I suspect that both those who would choose to fight, and those who would choose not to fight, would have to depend on that forgiveness.

Thank God!