On St. Marks Day

I am struck by the appropriateness of the reading for the day today (Mark 13:5-13). Beware, Jesus warns, that no one leads you astray. And there seems to be a lot of stray leading at the moment – but I am not sure who is in the front.

Yesterday it was announced that American troops had killed Osama Bin Laden – this is good news to many people – many claim he deserved it and that justice has been served – further to this many are rejoicing.

But what is the Christian response to attrocity – either attrocity we witness or attrocity which we endure? Whilst is is clear that we cannot just sit back and hope no one will notice us – in an age of global terror this is somewhat foolish wishful thinking even if it were the moral choice.

I mentioned yesterday that we have to come to the question with a basic assumption of God as creator – if God is the source of all life, and more especially all human life, it follows that there is a sacredness to life which we must obey.

As a teenager I thought about declaring myself a pacifist but then I began to wonder whether I really could be – what would make me feel I had to act – who would I protect? Many of us realize that it is not only our own children who we would fight to protect but others as well and with this assertion we have the basis for a society which supports armed forces and armed conflict.

It is all too easy to look at the military as if they are nothing to do with us, but, in fact, few people would be happy simply to allow their homes and families to be removed or controlled by an outside and hostile force, and if we expect help in any emergency then we have to take responsibility for the consequences of that help.

So what is our responsibility in terms of global politics. Both in the events of Spetember 11^th and in London in July 2005 we came under attack, we are under threat of attack and so we want safety – we want someone to go something so that out families and friends are safe – but then we find it hard to condone actions which seem brutal and life-demeaning.

This huge tension between the sacredness of life and our quest for personal and societical safety is not one which we can resolve easily. But it is one which we have to look at – we should not be afraid of asking ourselves the big questions about what is the Christian response to those things which threaten – what is the Christian defense of those things which we feel are valuable to us.

I cannot hope to come up with a blueprint for action and reaction but perhaps we can start from common ground.

All life is sacred, all humanity is made and cared for by God. That means that no matter how badly any individual behaves they are still, very really, a child of God – and this can be almost impossibly painful for us to hear.

What follows from this is that no human life is more or less important than any other. But we have to make decisions which would seem to contradict this assertion all the time.

If we have to make the decision to take another human life this can only be done with the utmost of penitence and sadness. I am not foolish enough to suggest that every conflict can, at least at the moment, be avoided. I understand that there are people who do evil things – but there is never a moment for rejoicing at the death of another.

And then there is the question of justice. Justice and retribution are not the same thing. Taking the life of someone who has taken a life or lives does not somehow rectify some global balance of right and wrong – perhaps we should think about justice as what delights God's heart and not what satiates our own appetites for revenge. God's justice is about bringing people to Himself in love, not about getting back at those who offend Him.

There is no easy answer. We may feel relief that someone who was so much of a threat to peace has gone but I hope we also feel sadness – sadness for the tear that every violent death puts in the eye of God – sadness at every piece of sacredness which is broken by killing and destruction.

But in that sadness there is also a confidence – a confidence in a God who suffers with us, a confidence in a God who came to earth and died on a cross – who confronted human anger and hatred. And in this Easter season we have confidence in a Jesus who rose again – who offered Peace to those whom he met and those whom he loved. Peace which did not mean just quietness, but an honest look and acceptance of the other, knowing that all are created, all are loved and all are capable and invited to redemption.

It is this reference to God and God's holiness – the reference to God's sadness and out own response to that sadness which is missing in most of what we hear – and this is why I say we are being led astray. When our national politics strays into vitriole – when we celebrate not our own life and freedom but rather the death, injury or confinement of another then we are listening to a false prophet of the age.