Slaughter – thanks be to God

The common element in all three of today’s readings is persistence: an important topic for our daily lives and we would do well to read and reflect on these readings – especially the epistle and the Gospel – throughout the rest of this day and this week.

But there is something else which leaps out of today’s readings: something that may cause dissonance with some of our personal religious feelings, something that also tragically resonates with what is happening in our world today.

Today’s first reading tells the story of a battle between the people of Israel and a people known as the Amalekites. The Israelites mow down all of the Amalekites with the edge of the sword, whereupon we listening to this reading are called to respond, “Thanks be to God.”

A similar dynamic occurs in Psalm 136:

(Give thanks) to him which smote great kings:
for his mercy endureth for ever:
And slew famous kings:
for his mercy endureth for ever:
Psalm 136:17-18

It is easy to dismiss these sentiments as “Old Testament religion” – alien to our own faith. It is also easy to associate these religiously themed bloodbaths of the Old Testament with the religiously themed bloodbaths perpetrated by some people today.

But, it is also easy to see how a careful application of the classic theological analysis known as “Just War Theory” (having just cause, being declared by a proper authority, possessing right intention, having a reasonable chance of success, being the last resort, and the end being proportional to the means used) can draw helpful and important distinctions between ancient Israel’s battles and today’s suicide bombers.

Also, the Old Testament passages must be seen against the background of a world that was in many ways much bloodier than ours today (although our tools for slaughter have become exponentially more efficient). Remember, “an eye for an eye” was an injunction to limit the bloodshed that was de rigueur in those days. It is not to be surprised at, therefore, that God’s people in that bloodier time would recognize God’s salvation as being manifested even in bloody events.

More importantly, before the time of Christ, it was the people of Israel that constituted the concrete sign and instrument of God’s saving love on earth - as fragile as it sometimes seemed. It was a still small voice, a flickering flame of God’s presence, in the midst of a very violent world. The battles of ancient Israel therefore involved more than just natural right of a people to defend itself: their physical salvation would be a sign and a foreshadowing of the spiritual salvation God would extend to the entire world in Christ Jesus.

The world has changed. God’s saving love has subsequently entered human reality in an ultimate, perfect, and invincible way through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the gift of his Holy Spirit. This love and redemption is also now extended beyond the limits of a single people, offered to all humanity.

The world has changed. Just as we have more efficient tools of slaughter, so also we have more efficient means of resolving differences and protecting the rights of peoples.

We must work for peace and for justice. We must do everything we can to resolve conflict peacefully and to remove those problems that are likely to lead to conflict among peoples. We must also fulfill our obligations to protect in just ways those we are legally responsible to protect.

Most importantly, we must pray. We must pray for true peace. We must pray for real justice. We must pray for protection against evil.

Finally, we must pray to know the will of God: to recognize how his saving will has been manifested in events and to know the best ways for us to make his saving will even more perfectly present in our lives and in our world.