Put Away Your Sword

Editor’s note: From the writer’s sermon delivered at Lakebay Community Church Sept. 14, after a week of violence in the nation and around the world.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus was in a garden with friends. While deep in prayer, pleading for strength in a difficult moment, he was approached by the traitor Judas and the temple guard. One of the men drew a sword to defend Jesus, only to be chastised for his action. “Put your sword away,” Jesus said, “for those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”

“Put away your sword,” not because they were outnumbered, but because violence begets violence. Author Shane Claiborne once wrote, “When people succumb to violence, it infects them like a disease or poison that leads to their own death… Violence goes against everything we are created for — to love and be loved, so it inevitably ends in misery.”

There is a cycle in our world that goes back as far as recorded history. A nation or a people experiences a tragic event. For a moment, they pause to grieve. In their pain, they look for somebody to blame. Hurt gives way to anger, and their rage fixates on any available enemy. In self-righteous fury, they lash out at the perceived source of pain, believing themselves innocent victims of an enemy worthy of elimination. Fighting offers temporary catharsis, and they feel better.

Their enemy, however, has experienced their own horror at being attacked and begins the cycle anew. It happens on playgrounds, it happens in families, it happens between nations and peoples.

It is the logic of gang warfare. It led to civil war in Rwanda and ongoing war in the Middle East, and it is happening now in our own nation between liberal and conservatives. It is a story that repeats itself across the ages.

“Put away your sword.” We are in a difficult moment in our nation and in the world, and the call to be peacemakers has never been more important — not just living in peace but advocating for and actively working toward peace in our families, our communities, our country.

What do we do? I offer some simple suggestions that might lower the rhetoric, lessen the anger, and lead to a more peaceable future.

It is imperative that we take time to grieve with those who grieve. Violence leaves a gaping wound in its wake. Sitting in grief is difficult and uncomfortable, but it is necessary work if we are to experience healing. We have all faced great losses in our lives, and we are not all OK. Allowing space and time to grieve is the first step toward a better tomorrow.

It is also important that we take time to reflect on our own complicity in the broken systems and structures of this world. Rarely are we and our people fully good and innocent, and rarely are our enemies the evil, inhuman, despicable creatures we make them out to be. We move toward peace when we recognize the ways our actions, words, and beliefs have caused harm to others, and then seek to make amends.

Learning to temper our language is essential. James writes of the tongue being like a small spark capable of setting an entire forest on fire. While declarations of war and hyperbolic denunciations of supposed enemies make for great sound bites and mouse clicks, they only serve to inflame our anger and broaden the divisions among us.

If we truly long for peace and prosperity in our country and our world, it is critical that we learn to live peaceably toward our neighbor. This is hard work, but it is the path toward a meaningful future. As Wendell Berry wrote, “If we are serious about peace, then we must work for it as ardently, seriously, continuously, carefully, and bravely as we ever prepared for war.” 

Our airwaves and podcasts are filled with angry voices calling for revenge and war. Would that we heed the words of Jesus and put away our swords, pursuing peace and goodness in our common humanity and working to leave our children and grandchildren a better place to call home.

Award-winning columnist Dan Whitmarsh is a licensed therapist and pastor at Lakebay Community Church.