MLADIC REMOVED FROM WAR CRIMES COURT FOR DISRUPTION 

This  blog provides a meditation of the Episcopal daily readings along with a headline from world news

1 Samuel 5:1-3,7-23

15Samuel said to Saul, ‘The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. 3Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” ’ 7Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and of the cattle and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was valuable, and would not utterly destroy them; all that was despised and worthless they utterly destroyed.

10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11‘I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not carried out my commands.’ Samuel was angry; and he cried out to the Lord all night. 12Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, and Samuel was told, ‘Saul went to Carmel, where he set up a monument for himself, and on returning he passed on down to Gilgal.’ 13When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, ‘May you be blessed by the Lord; I have carried out the command of the Lord.’ 14But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of cattle that I hear?’ 15Saul said, ‘They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.’ 16Then Samuel said to Saul, ‘Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ He replied, ‘Speak.’

17 Samuel said, ‘Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, “Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.” 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?’ 20Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21But from the spoil the people took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.’ 22And Samuel said,

‘Has the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices,

as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?

Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice,

and to heed than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is no less a sin than divination,

and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

he has also rejected you from being king.’ 

The theology of Holy War is a vexed issue. It’s not clear whether it belongs to an early period in the life of Israel, such as the time of the “judges” and the early monarchy and was practised in conflicts; or whether it may be a construction of much later editors of the traditions of Israel and expresses a theological judgment on all things pagan which was never practised on reality. Obviously there are many other possibilities which lie between these two extreme views. I incline towards the second interpretation.

As the text stands however, I think it’s necessary to say, “This is not the word of God, nor was it ever.” It is contradicted in Christian tradition by the revelation of Jesus Christ which shows that whenever this was written, it is mistaken. God never has and never will command ethnic cleansing: it is an abomination to God.

This is only one of many “events” in scripture which have to be tested against the church’s faith in Jesus. There is no way in which the equal authority of all scripture  can be maintained without denying Christ. No amount of interpretive wriggling can get us out of this dilemma. This text commands a racial massacre. Either it is God’s word-and if it is, I spit that God from my mouth-or it is not. This means that I am utterly opposed to all forms of Jihad in every religion. War is evil in any case but war commanded by God is one of the worst inventions of humanity. Amen.

Luke 23:44-56

44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, 45while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said this, he breathed his last. 47When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, ‘Certainly this man was innocent.’ 48And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

50 Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, 51had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. 52This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. 54It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. 55The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.

On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

the curtain was torn

In Luke’s account the death of Jesus immediately produces repentance: both the Roman power, represented by the centurion and the Jewish authorities, represented by the crowds, are moved to a change of heart. Luke uses Mark’s account but omits Jesus’ cry of abandonment, adds his calm commendation of his spirit to God, and changes the utterance of the centurion from a confession of faith in the son of God to a declaration of legal innocence. This is of a piece with Luke’s distinctive theology, that although there may be miracles which accompany it, the progress of God’s rule in Jesus is comprehensible in human terms. The terrible urgency of Mark’s bleak narrative is transposed into a calmer history which will issue in the story of the church. For Luke, the torn temple curtain may indicate that God is letting people see his holy presence in the dying Jesus. If so, the repentance of the crowd and the centurion is the first response to God’s reconciling love in the cross of Jesus. I never think of the crucifixion without thinking of those I have victimised and turning towards the promise of forgiveness and justice.