Sermon for Sunday, 23 August 2015 on Ephesians 6:10-20: "Onward, Christian Soldiers"

Sermon for Sunday, 23 August 2015

Ephesians 6:10-20

Lutheran Church of the Redeemer,Jerusalem

The Rev. Carrie Ballenger Smith

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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Some years ago I had the unhappy task of planning a funeral for a church member who had died far too young. Only in her early sixties, Paula had been ill for some time, but doctors never could determine the cause of her breathing difficulties. Up to her very last days it was clear that neither she, nor her husband—nor I—were ready to see her go. She had too much living left to do.

In the days after she died, her husband and I began to make plans for the funeral service. Many of the decisions had already been made by Paula: There would definitely be communion. There would be her favorite Bible readings. There would be pie and macaroni salad at the lunch.

And then, her husband told me, we would proceed out of the church and to the cemetery singing “Onward Christian Soldiers.”

This request caught me completely off guard. First of all, I didn’t see how this battle song fit with the personality of my beloved parishioner, who had a deep love of angel figurines and country décor and was one of the gentlest human beings I have ever known. Secondly, I was feeling pretty angry at God that this lovely woman’s battle with an unknown lung disease had not been victorious.

Thirdly, “Onward Christian Soldiers” does not appear in our current Lutheran hymnal.

My first line of defense was to plead this point. “I simply don’t know how we would make this happen, considering we don’t have the music,” I said.

Her husband produced copies of the sheet music to my office that very afternoon.

So we did it—we read her favorite Scripture verse, and I mentioned her love of angels in my sermon, and we had pie and macaroni salad, and then we marched out of the church. First came the cross, then me, then Paula’s casket, and then a battalion of her friends singing “Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war! With the cross of Jesus, going on before.”

As beloved as this hymn is for Americans of a certain age, I confess that up to now I have never understood the appeal. Its military images have always seemed to clash with the “God is love” message I grew up hearing in church. I understand very well why the new hymnal committee decided to say “onward and outward” to “Onward, Christian Soldiers”.

The same can be said about today’s assigned scripture text from chapter six of Ephesians, about putting on the “full armor of God.” Again, I know this is a beloved text, one that is familiar to folks both inside and outside the church. But all the talk of swords, shields, helmets, breastplates, and warfare never seemed to have much relevance to my modern life.  

That is, until I lived in Jerusalem.  

IDF soldiers in front of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem
Photo by Carrie Smith

In this context, we’re confronted daily with the trappings of military power and might. We see weapons of steel and bullets of rubber and helmets of Kevlar around every corner. Rockets and bulldozers, knives and bombs are part of everyday conversation. Given this daily reality, we don’t need to have Paul’s letter to the Ephesians re-told using a sports analogy. We don’t need a skilled preacher to gently explain our human addiction to weapons, vengeance, violence, and power over others.  

Here in Jerusalem—and in Syria, and in Gaza, and in Ferguson, Missouri—the military images of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians are definitely relevant today, because they could be ripped from the headlines. 

When we wake to such headlines every day, and when many of us are here to do jobs which place us at the military checkpoints, in hospital rooms, or in the rubble of last summer’s war, we may feel that we are at war, too—albeit as soldiers for justice and peace. 

Today, at the beginning of a new season of work for many of us, Paul’s exhortation to “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power” seems a bit like a much-needed pep talk for the weary troops. “Put on the whole armor of God,” writes Paul, “so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” These words resonate, because we know we need to draw on a strength greater than our own to engage in this struggle for peace, justice, and human rights.

But if we’re honest, these words may also resonate with us because of that last part…that “wiles of the devil” part. Like it or not, there is a part of us that enjoys being on the “right side”. There’s a part of us that’s pretty sure we know who the devil is, and what color uniform he’s wearing. Sure, we love Jesus, but some days we would gladly march to the drumbeat of “Onward Christian Soldiers” and take down our opponents…all for the cause of peace and justice, of course.

And that’s why we need the rest of Paul’s letter. This letter to the Ephesians was written to a church struggling to survive as a minority community, suffering under oppression and persecution from the outside, but also battling divisions from within. Everywhere they turned, the Christians in Ephesus saw enemies. Though our context is different, Paul’s advice to them is the word of God we need to hear today. Paul writes:

“For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh. These are difficult words to accept when we see our neighbors burned, shot, imprisoned, and humiliated.

Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh. These words may seem foolish in a world where ISIS is expanding its influence, where bulldozers are paving the way for an extension of the wall, and where the best news story of the week is a terror attack stopped just in time.

Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh. We may see the enemy as being ISIS, or the IDF, or Hamas, or Iran, or the American justice system. But the truth is that our cosmic struggle is against this present darkness which covers not only the Middle East, but the world, and feeds us the lie that some children are more precious than others, that some skin is more beautiful than others, that some voices are more to be heard than others, that some humans are more human than others. 

Dear friends in Christ, dehumanization is the number one enemy we face in this world, because in order to fight with weapons of steel, words of poison, or walls of concrete and razor wire, we must first turn the person in front of us into a monster.  

Our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the sin of denying the image of God in our neighbor. More than ever, Christians today need to hear this truth about the true enemy of freedom, peace, and justice. We need to hear it, and we need to confess it, because all around us are those who want us to believe that others are solely responsible for the evil and suffering in the world. 

This, in spite of the fact that Christians have also taken up the sword and the bomb against our neighbors, and have enslaved our brothers and sisters. We have killed and persecuted people of other faiths, other colors, and other national identities. We have even killed each other over different understandings of baptism! Christians cannot pretend that we are exclusively the people of peace, while others have a violent religion, for we are just as guilty of dehumanizing the other for the sake of eliminating them.

Instead of joining in the battle cry against whoever has been branded “the devil” this week, Christians today must stand firm in the biblical conviction that every single person is made in the image of God. “For in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) And Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matt. 6:26) And again, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31) and even “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt. 5:44)

Instead of taking up arms against those who are different, as followers of Jesus we are called to honor and respect the image of God even in people who deny it in us. This is how we resist extremists who behead elderly antiquities professors. This is how we resist those who turn the struggle for justice into an anti-Semitic or anti-Islamic tirade. This is how we resist the temptation to win the struggle for human rights at the expense of our humanity. We will not be motivated by hate. In the face of extremist perversions of religion and extreme acts of violence, we will be extremists for love. We will stand firm in the Lord.

Of course, this kind of war strategy is radically different from what we see around us every day. When we stand firm in the love of God for all people, we may be called weak or foolish. With so many around us tempting us with weapons of steel and the armor of privilege, we may not feel strong enough, bold enough, or faithful enough to take up the cross instead of the sword.

But we don’t have to look very far to find fellow troops, standing firm with us.

We only have to look as far as the Cremisan Valley, to the priests and people of faith who are standing firm in the path of bulldozers, boldly celebrating the Eucharist while nearby 1,500 year old olive trees are uprooted to extend the Israeli separation wall.

We can look to the sheriff’s office in Waller County, Texas, where pastors and activists have been holding a prayer vigil for over a month, standing firm for justice for Sandra Bland who died while in police custody…standing firm even when the authorities cut down the trees providing the protestors shade from the heat.

And we can look to South Africa, where this week the authors of the Kairos document celebrated its contribution to the end of apartheid in that country, while standing firm alongside Palestinian partners in the hope that the same kind of transformation can and will happen here in Palestine and Israel.

Dear friends in Christ, in a time when divisions seem greater than ever and nearly everyone wants to draw a line in the sand, build walls on borders, and fight to the death for doctrinal purity or cultural superiority, we are soldiers in the battle for our shared humanity. With the saints of this and every age, we are one in the struggle to affirm the image of God in ourselves, in our neighbor, and even in our enemies. 

Thanks be to God, we are not in this struggle alone. 
Thanks be to God, we are strong in the Lord, an army of love, standing firm on the foundation of Jesus Christ who on the cross has already won for the victory for us—and for the whole world.