Category: Faith and Politics

Political Violence Must Stop

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics
My high School 60th Class Reunion

Last Saturday was one of those good days, until it wasn’t. My 1964 graduating class (pictured above) held its 60th reunion at lunch time in Wapakoneta, OH, my hometown, which is about an hour away from my house under normal conditions.

I had my usual problems with inertia when I woke up, you know “a body at rest tends to stay at rest.” That combined with a home maintenance issue I needed to tend to and road construction delay made me about 30 minutes late arriving at the reunion.

As the only clergy person in our class I normally get asked to deliver a prayer to begin the program at our reunions. And I had prepared a prayer (which I have posted separately). I didn’t get to offer my prayer since I was late and learned that someone else had prayed so lunch could begin on time – which is a good thing, to remind everyone that lay people can pray just fine.

I enjoyed visiting with my classmates, learned that many more had died or were in failing health than when we met five years ago. Maybe that reminder of our mortality made us more willing to talk. At least it seemed our conversations were more open.

From the reunion I drove a few miles further to visit an aunt and a cousin who live now in an assisted living/nursing facility. I had good visits with both of them and a good trip home listening to an audio book as I drove.

Because I was listening to a book I did not hear the news of what had happened to former President Trump in Pennsylvania until I turned the TV on later that evening.

If you know me at all you know that I am no fan of Donald Trump. But the news that we had another act of political violence sent me into a deep depression. I was and am glad that President Trump was not hurt any worse, but this recurring nightmare is getting really old.

I’ve lived through at least nine political assassinations or attempted ones. (JFK, MLK, RFK, George Wallace, Ronald Reagan, Paul Pelosi, Gabbie Gifford, Steve Scalise, and Donald Trump). That’s in a 61 year span or on average one every seven years! Our insane love affair with guns is literally killing our dream of democracy.

My funk lasted all day Sunday as I watched all the news I could stand about the assassination attempt. And then the sun did come up again, and I felt better this morning (Monday). Life moved on, and I decided to watch less news and refuse to let my emotions be controlled by all those things I cannot control or impact.

My resolve was sorely tested. Another of Trump’s hand-picked judges dismissed the classified document case in the morning and by afternoon we learned that Trump’s Vice President pick is a senator from my own state. J.D. Vance, in my opinion, was the worst of the three final apprentice candidates on Trump’s list.

Vance has out hypocrited all the other hypocrites by moving from one of Trump’s most vocal critics in 2016 to sucking up so much that he is now Trump’s chosen running mate. Moreover Vance was one of the very first to fan the flames of violence on Saturday by saying that Biden’s rhetoric was directly responsible for the attempt on Donald Trump’s life.

At a time when calling for peaceful and respectful conduct is so badly needed Vance’s comments were like throwing gas on a fire already on the verge of uncontrollable. Vance is more radical than Trump on reproductive freedom; he is opposed to helping Ukraine in her life and death fight against Putin.

Vance is a terrible choice, and I must stop now before I drag myself down again into the pit of despair.

If you are one who prays, please do so for our broken country.

Challenging Political Hatred: Lessons from Biblical Figures

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Lectionary Texts

“So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.”          2 Samuel 6:15-16

“Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, ‘Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.  For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.’ And Amaziah said to Amos, ‘O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.’” Amos 7:10-13

“For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ’It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not.” Mark 6:17-19

At a time when I am beyond discouraged by the political mess my country is in I find it very interesting that all three Scripture excerpts (emphasis added) above are from the lectionary selections for this week. Each one in order describes the life-threatening peril David, Amos, and John the Baptist are in because of their political enemies. For me those three different narratives from different times and situations are a reminder that the political hatred we see today here in the U.S., in Israel and Gaza, in Moscow and Ukraine, in North and South Korean, or between Beijing and Taiwan are not unique to our particular context.

Throughout all of recorded human history people have resorted to violence as the primary solution to disagreements. Rather than use our innate ability to be co-creators of a beloved community, the loudest and most insecure among us have usually risen to positions of power and put human ingenuity to work building bigger and better ways to kill one another. And the vast majority of people are never taught how to critically reflect on the absurdity of the violent approach to life. Not knowing how to face and deconstruct the dark side of human history those people are condemned to believe that the way things have always been is the way they have to remain.

Democracy as a way of governance will only work if our education systems create a well-informed population that can choose leaders wisely. Unfortunately those education systems have failed to produce a critical mass of informed citizens, and the gaps in the curricula of schools and universities have been filled by religious zealots, anti-intellectual politicians, and right-wing media owned and controlled by those who want their politicians to keep in place unjust legal and economic systems that line their pockets.

That system leaves no room for prophets like Amos and John the Baptist to safely challenge the status quo. It leaves no room for visionaries and critical thinkers to combat the destructive forces of the military-industrial complex or the fossil fuel conspirators from destroying our planet. In the rural county where I live there is huge organized opposition to solar farms being built in our area. The solar opponents cite the loss of agricultural land as their rationale for opposition, but instead we are seeing that same farm land sold to developers who smother the earth in asphalt and fill those fields with houses that attract urban sprawl which overwhelms infrastructure and overcrowds schools. How does that make any sense?

Obvious climate crisis evidence like earlier and stronger hurricanes, floods, wildfires, tornadoes, and heat domes higher and earlier than ever experienced is ignored by short-sighted and greedy politicians who just want to continue our planet killing lifestyle and “drill baby, drill.” And those incapable of critical thinking for themselves believe what they are told and/or are distracted by fear-mongering racist political speeches.

In the recent Presidential debate I lost track of how many times Donald Trump ignored the questions posed to him by the moderators and blamed almost every problem facing our country on migrants crossing our southern border. Yes, there is a problem there that needs to be addressed, but the same Donald Trump is the one who killed the best bipartisan immigration bill ever proposed with one simple message to his minions in Congress, and he didn’t even attempt to hide his motives for that despicable act. He proudly admitted he didn’t want the immigration problem solved because he wanted to continue to use it as a campaign issue. And his worshipful followers were either unable or unwilling to see the total hypocrisy in that action.

Our myopic society reminds me of a line in a wonderful Ray Stevens song that says, “There is none so blind as he who will not see. We must not close our minds.  We must let our thoughts be free.” (“Everything is Beautiful,” Ray Stevens, 1970).  

But a Google search of that quote revealed a much richer and older history. “According to the ‘Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings’ this proverb has been traced back to 1546 (John Heywood), and resembles the Biblical verse Jeremiah 5:21 (‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not’). In 1738 it was used by Jonathan Swift in his ‘Polite Conversation’ and is first attested in the United States in the 1713 ‘Works of Thomas Chalkley’. The full saying is: ‘There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know.”

And so yet another great Hebrew prophet, Jeremiah, reinforces the observation that our problems today are part of the age-old human condition. I find little comfort in that knowledge. In fact it adds to my frustration and despair to know that we are either hard-wired that way, or we are perpetually taught to behave in such self-destructive ways. I refuse to believe the former. I am convinced our individual and collective behavior is socially constructed which means it can be deconstructed and replaced with a more loving and compassionate society.

That is a monumental task but one that is necessary to avoid multiple existential threats to the future of the human race. The problems we have cannot be solved by the educational, economic, religious, and political structures that have created them. The question is do we have the vision, tenacity, leadership, and courage to take on that kind of transformational rebuilding of our communities, nation, and world? The effort has to begin with individual relationships, but it must also include widespread systemic change at every level of our communal life.

A New Independence Day

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Government Reform

How ironic that Donald Trump’s handpicked Maga Supreme Court should choose 3 days before Independence Day to eviscerate the founding documents that have been the foundation of our freedom for 248 years! At least now the stakes are clear for what the 2024 election is all about, and there can be no excuse for anyone ignoring the danger posed by our only President who has ever staged an insurrection to try and cling to power and overthrow a free and fair election.

Lost in the obvious failure last week of President Biden to withstand the barrage of Trump’s lies is the appalling lack of honesty coming from Trump’s mouth. He is such an accomplished liar that only the well-informed listener would see through the bull crap he spouted for the entire 90 minutes. And sadly we do not have a well-informed electorate. A dangerous portion of our population have been so indoctrinated by the right-wing media to believe Trump’s lies uncritically. He has cult-like control over just enough minds to possibly win another election while again losing the popular vote.

There is no time to correct the flaws in the Electoral College which is protected by the very system it perpetuates. There is no time to re-educate the Maga base. The biased court system created by Trump and Mitch McConnell has successfully prevented any legal recourse happening before the November election. The only defense of democracy we have left is exactly what President Biden called for tonight in his forceful and courageous dissent from today’s Maga Court ruling. That defense is ironically what the Trump supporters have also been calling for — let the voters decide.

Well, by God, we will. Today’s court decision is discouraging, and it is very tempting to just give in to despair. But instead what I plan to do is let the rockets’ red glare of our July 4th fireworks inspire me to renew my commitment to the “self-evident truths” that gave birth to this great nation. I will celebrate the vision that all people are created equal, which means no one, NO ONE is above the law. It matters not that six Maga Court justices have forgotten that sacred truth – what matters is that “we the people” have not forgotten.

Those brave men in Philadelphia 248 years ago pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” to the dream of equality and independence for all. Now it’s our turn to do the same.

Deja Vu, 1968, 2024

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Government Reform

The current campus protests over the war in Gaza have me scratching my head about why so many people in politics, the media, academia, and the general public act as if campus protests are something new that we’ve never seen before in this country. Those of us who lived through the 1960’s and ‘70’s have no excuse for such ignorance of recent history.

Demonstrations and protests against the Viet Nam war and others opposed to systemic racism happened in cities and universities all over the country in those two turbulent decades. University campuses were closed at times by the civil disobedience, and much like today the forces of law and order arrested and tear-gassed those who refused to end their occupation of campus property.

When carried to its extreme those who valued order and property over human lives led to the tragic killings in May of 1970 of students at Kent State University in Ohio and the much less well-known deaths of black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi. Nothing seems to have been learned by campus administrators or law enforcement officers from those recent history lessons. Authorities still show up en masse in riot gear and turn otherwise peaceful gatherings into violent confrontations.

My alma mater, Ohio State University, has made the national news for arresting protestors, including a state legislator who was there trying to protect students. Very little meaningful dialogue about important issues can occur under those kind of conditions.

Do such demonstrations and protests ever accomplish anything? The lessons of the 20th century would say yes to that question. It took years, but the case can be made that the campus unrest of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s contributed significantly to bringing the unjust Viet Nam war to a conclusion and helped secure monumental legislation to advance the cause of civil rights, but at great cost.

I find it hard to imagine that any objective observer of the devastating death and destruction in Gaza could deny that the calls for a cease fire and cutting off U.S. military aid to Israel is a just cause worthy of civil disobedience. If the cruel and unusual punishment Israel has inflicted on Gaza in retribution for the October 7 massacre does not rise to the level of war crimes I don’t know what would. Yes, the October 7 attack by Hamas was beyond brutal and horrific, but Netanyahu’s 20-fold death toll on mostly innocent women and children is beyond any justifiable response, no matter how terrible the original crime. 30,000 wrongs can never make a right.

But there are other interesting political parallels between what is going on in 2024 and the 1968 presidential election in the midst of the Viet Nam and Civil Rights protests. President Lyndon Johnson inherited the Viet Nam War along with the Presidency after the JFK assassination in1963. After easily winning reelection in 1964 his chances for reelection in 1968 were greatly diminished by the war and protests against it. Johnson did not want to be the first U.S. President to lose a war and kept digging himself into a deeper whole to avoid that blemish on his legacy. Eventually the protests became so loud that Johnson was forced to withdraw from the race for President, and that decision resulted in the election of the second worst president in American history, Richard M. Nixon of Watergate fame/shame.

In a similar situation this year Joe Biden is increasingly harming his reelection chances by refusing to withdraw his lifelong support of Israel. Supporting Israel’s right to exist has been a noble position for the United States for over 75 years, but continuing to support the war crimes of Benjamin Netanyahu is not only morally wrong at this stage of history it is also risking American democracy by helping the re-election of the worst President in U.S. history. If Biden’s choice is between supporting Israel at the terrible cost of putting Donald Trump back in the White House, then sacrificing Israel and/or Netanyahu is clearly the choice to make.

Reaping the Whirlwind

by Steve Harsh, posted in climate change, Faith and Politics

“They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7)

So far in 2024 my home state of Ohio has the distinction of being number 1 in a very undesirable category. We have had more tornados here in 2024 than any other state in the union, some of which have been deadly.

As we were sitting through another round of severe weather and tornado alerts today the verse from Hosea above came to mind. Hosea was talking about the consequences of breaking a covenant relationship with God, and in a way our human betrayal of our relationship with God’s creation is a similar situation.

For 150 years at least, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, Western civilization has sown the winds of pollution by prioritizing profits over people. The fossil fuel industry has known for decades that we have been poisoning Mother Earth with our addiction to fossil fuel, but they hid that scientific knowledge just as the tobacco industry suppressed their awareness of the lethal dangers of smoking to protect their bottom line.

And now we are reaping the whirlwind (sometimes literally) of our denial of humanity’s contribution to climate change. More frequent and stronger severe weather, flooding, wildfires, glaciers melting and causing ocean levels to rise, all are consequences of our irresponsible treatment of God’s creation.

And that’s the simple lesson Hosea is teaching us: our actions have consequences in all areas of our lives. It is such a basic rule of life that Paul elaborates on it in Galatians: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever you sow, that you will also reap. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.” (6:7-8)

And as I read recently somewhere, if you sow bullets, you will never read peace.

I Don’t Care Who Started It…

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, Faith and Values

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” Jesus (Matthew 5:38-39)

I wish my mother were still alive, for a lot of reasons. Right now as I survey the current mess in the Middle East I wish she were here so she could sit down with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Supreme Ruler of Iran and talk some sense into them.

My mom only had a high school education, but she had more practical wisdom than most of the “leaders” of the world when it came to resolving conflict. I think a lot of her wisdom came from growing up with 5 younger brothers.

I didn’t appreciate her wisdom as a kid; so I hope wherever she is she can hear my belated praise for the way she dealt with conflicts between me and my two younger sisters. Invariably when two or all three of us got into a squabble she would intervene and one or more of us would say, “She started it!” Or “he started it,” and Mom would just shake her head and say, “I don’t care who started it; I just want to know who’s going to end it.”

When it comes to the centuries-old animosity between Israel and her neighbors there is no way to determine who really started it because it’s been going on forever with first one side and then the other retaliating for some offense by the other.

And that’s where those troublesome verses from the Sermon on the Mount about turning the other cheek come into play. No one can take that advice literally and give it any practical consideration, but that isn’t the point of what Jesus was saying. He was saying “I don’t care who started this, but what matters is who has the courage to stop it?”

Violence begets more and often worse violence. It is a vicious cycle that only stops when someone says “enough” and refuses to retaliate.

In the current crisis the stakes could hardly be higher. I am not justifying the strike Israel made on the Iranian embassy in Syria nor the massive attack Iran launched in response on Saturday night. If allowed to continue to escalate this affair could engulf all of us in World War III, and no one wants that. Or do they?

The scariest part of this scenario is that there are millions of misguided and biblically illiterate “Christians” who are indeed rooting for this mess to turn into Armageddon. They falsely believe such a cosmic battle between good and evil will usher in the second coming of Christ and solve all the problems we humans are unwilling to solve for ourselves.

President Biden has come under criticism for urging Israel to exercise restraint, i.e. to stop or slow down the cycle of violence and destruction by refusing to retaliate. I believe Biden’s calming influence, while it likely will go unheeded, is exactly what this delicate situation calls for.

I shudder to think where the world would be this very day if someone with a purely transactional mentality like Donald Trump were sitting in the Oval Office just now. Trump is on record as saying during the 2016 campaign that his favorite Bible verse is “And eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” Unfortunately his biblical education must have stopped in Leviticus which Jesus clearly turns upside down in the Sermon on the Mount.

Is turning the other cheek or stopping the cycle of retaliation hopelessly naive? Maybe, but it sure beats the heck out of the endless, vicious cycle of violence.

Lent/Holy Week Video: Anointed

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, Lenten devotion, Uncategorized

Our church, Northwest UMC in Columbus, Ohio, is doing a series of worship services and sermons on the events in Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem. For each Sunday in Lent our talented music director, Brian Luke, has recorded a short video of what each event might look like through the eyes of a contemporary character in the story.

For the fourth Sunday in Lent the text was the anointing of Jesus at Bethany in the Gospel according to Matthew. I was asked to portray a witness to the anointing who is being questioned by the authorities about what had transpired. A version of this event appears in all four Gospels, and here is Matthew’s account.

“Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” Matthew 26:6-13 (NRSV)

The link below will take you to the video:

drive.google.com/file/d/1ayIosZ7iMVaeXwPipeyKjrybF1e4aa87/view

Darkness Will Not Prevail

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, spiritual discipline

Black History Month and Lent

Black History month and Lent go well together. Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and our 40 days of Lent pale in comparison to 400 years of slavery and systemic racism, but the determination to not let the darkness prevail requires the same kind of faith.

Darkness and Balance

Darkness has taken on a new significance for me personally in recent years. I was diagnosed ten years ago with peripheral neuropathy which causes numbness in my feet and legs, meaning my sense of balance leaves a lot to be desired.

My physical therapist has taught me some things that help in coping with my impaired balance. There are basically two senses that send information to our brains that help us feel steady on our feet. One is the feel of our feet on what ever surface we are standing or walking upon. Neuropathy plays havoc with that input.

Secondly we get signals from our eyes about our surroundings that help orient us in space. For that sensory data to compute obviously requires our being able to see where we are and where we’re going, and that vision requires enough natural or artificial light to illuminate our path. Simply put it is much harder to maintain a sense of balance in the dark.

That explains why you will find nightlights in every room in our house and why I use a cane to steady myself when walking on uneven surfaces or in the dark. And yes, getting up to make my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night is still sometimes an adventure, even with motion sensor night lights and my cane. It is also why I am very grateful for the flashlight app on both my iPhone and my Apple Watch. I am almost never without at least a small source of light.

Cultural and Political Darkness

On a more macro level Lent 2024 feels really dark to me, even with the blessing of sunshine and above average temperatures here in Ohio. Technology has not invented an app that can brighten the dark night of the soul I feel when witnessing the suffering in Gaza and Ukraine. Natural disasters are still heartbreaking to watch, but I understand the science of how climate change is causing the devastation on the California coast. I cannot however wrap my mind around the evil of modern warfare or the hatred that inspires it.

I despair at the insecurity and depravity that justifies a Putin killing his political enemies or invading a neighboring country just because he can. And I weep over the ignorance about our history that blinds people to the threat of authoritarian leaders and the cult-like devotion to those who blatantly practice it.

Being the Light

When the darkness of sin and evil threatens to drown out the light, God has always called on those like Sojourner Truth to step up and refuse to let the darkness determine our life’s light. That quote reminded me that I am always inspired by the words of another black woman, Amanda Gorman, whose marvelous poem, “The Hill We Climb,” ends with these powerful words:

“When day comes, we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid. The new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

Action Steps

A Lenten challenge might be to find what God wants each of us to actually do to be the light. It may be relating to family members or co-workers in a more caring way, or volunteering for some group that you’ve always meant to get involved in, getting involved in local politics, advocating for justice by writing letters to representatives, or supporting marginalized groups. There’s plenty of darkness to go around and every ray of light does make a difference.

Prayer

O God of eternal light, the darkness scares me. I know in my head the words from the Gospel of John that assure us the darkness will not overcome the Light of the World. But my heart is not so sure! Rather than just spout pious platitudes that fall flat on their face, please give me the courage to really feel your light in my soul and the guts to go out into the darkness and be it. Amen

Epiphany – Herod Lives

by Steve Harsh, posted in Faith and Politics, hope

“Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” Matthew 2:7-8

I am embarrassed to admit this. It took me till the third anniversary of January 6 to realize that horrible event took place on Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas. So for the last 24 hours since that light went on in my head I’ve been trying to think of some way to make theological sense of that convergence of those two radically different events. I don’t believe in coincidences; so I knew there had to be a connection, but all I was coming up with was that the attack on the very core of our democracy was even worse because it happened on Epiphany.

There are just a handful of dates in my lifetime that burned such a mark on my psyche that I will always remember where I was when I first heard about them: the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK; the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle; 9/11; the election of Donald Trump; and the insurrection against our government on January 6, 2021.

I was working my home office that day but had the TV on fearing there might be trouble around the certification of Joe Biden’s election as President. But even though I was worried there might be some kind of trouble at the Capitol that day I never in my wildest imagination expected what played out on my TV screen that awful afternoon. As I watched the badly outnumbered Capitol police be overrun by an angry mob that began scaling the walls of the Capitol building, smashing windows, and swarming into the halls of Congress I sat there in stunned silence. Feeling helpless I finally did the only thing I could think to do. I got on Facebook, and I still remember exactly what I said: “Whatever you are doing, stop and pray. Our democracy is under attack.”

During worship this morning at our church it finally dawned on me what the connection was between the insurrection and. Epiphany. After preaching about the light of the star that leads us to Jesus our pastor, Chris Rinker, went on to say that we also need to remember that there are always forces of darkness that try to snuff out the light. There are always Herods who are so insecure and so desperate to preserve their own power that they will do anything to put down any threat real or imagined to their fragile egos.

Of course there are. I remember as a young pastor many years ago preaching on Matthew’s story of the Magi and Herod, and the title of that sermon was “Be Sure You Follow the Right King.” There are always Herods and the person fulfilling that role on January 6, 2021 was none other than President Donald Trump. Just as Herod told the Magi to go find the Christ child so he could go worship him too, our 45th President urged his angry followers to march to the Capitol and stop his Vice President from fulfilling his Constitutional duty to certify the legitimate electoral colleges votes from the 2020 election.

Three long years later we are still dealing with the fallout from that awful day, and I must admit I am often very discouraged about that and what it means for the future of our nation. But here’s my takeaway from this Epiphany 2024 message from Matthew. I can’t say it any better than Maltbie Babcock said it in 1901 in his great hymn, “This is My Father’s World;” so I will just end here with the third verse of that hymn:

“This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!”

An Eye for An Eye?

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Politics, spiritual discipline

Ever since October 7 I have been pondering the irony of the Israeli response to the horrific massacre of 1200 Israelis by Hamas.  One of the most familiar tenets of the Hebrew law found in Leviticus says, “Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered.” (24:19-20). I learned two things about that Scripture in seminary: 1) It is very similar to another ancient law, The Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian King in the 1700’s BCE, and 2) both the Code of Hammurabi and the Hebrew law were meant not to justify revenge but to limit the amount of revenge one could seek for an offense to an equitable amount.  So, for example, if someone poked out one of my eyes I could not in return poke out both of his or hers. 

Jesus came along 3000 years after Hammurabi and 1400 years after Moses and raised the bar to a whole new level in the Sermon on the Mount where he says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also,and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well,and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matthew 5:38-43).

Now, I’m not expecting the Israelis to live up to Jesus’ ethics.  I can’t, and I’m not sure anyone but Jesus could ever do that.  But it seems like not killing your enemy’s innocent women and children might be a start.  And it does seem fair to hold the Israelis to their own Scriptural standards.  At last count the Israelis have killed 16000 Palestinians in Gaza.   That’s more than 10 for every Israeli killed on 10/7.  That’s a lot more than “an eye for an eye.”

I understand the horror of that dark day.  No, I don’t.  Thank God, I have never experienced anything like it.  I was even far removed from any personal suffering on 9/11.  So, I know I have no right to judge.  I don’t know what I would do in the Israeli shoes.  Nor do I have any idea how I would survive the God awful inhumane conditions the people of Gaza have been living under for the last 60 days.  I just know the insane suffering I see on my TV screen has got to stop.  Not just because it is morally unjustifiable but mostly because it is just plain counterproductive.

War and killing have never solved anything.  If the Israelis could actually eliminate Hamas and terrorism by use of force there might be an argument for their military campaign.  But it won’t work.  The anger being fanned in the Muslim world by the war in Gaza will produce far more terrorists can ever kill.  If history has taught us anything it is that revenge only begets more violence in return.  That’s the point of Jesus’ teaching above about turning the other cheek.  To resist the natural human urge to strike back in anger, as impossible as that seems, is the only way the cycle of violence can ever be stopped in its tracks. 

As progressive as it was in the days of Hammurabi, as Gandhi once pointed out, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth just creates a world of blind, toothless people.”

I know that too criticize Israel opens me to charges of antisemitism, but I assure you I am not anti-Semitic.  I am a Christian nurtured in the Judeo-Christian tradition.  Jesus was a Jew.  I am constantly challenged and inspired by the Hebrew prophets.  I grieve for the hostages still in captivity, for the suffering of the Jewish people throughout history and on 10/7, but the killing needs to stop; the suffering of the people of Gaza must stop. 

December 5, 2023