Be Reflective if You Must Be Armed

Reflections on Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny, Lesson Seven

I have days when I think that we will wake up one day and this will be over. Things will just fizzle and we will find our way back to the post-war liberal consensus through the democratic process. That’s my hope.

On darker days, I think we passed the last exit a long time ago. The only way is forward. The world of diplomacy and compromise was the one built by people who had seen death and destruction on an unimaginable scale. They begged us not to forget.

I fear we will have to learn that difficult lesson once again.

War is not the way of Jesus.

There was a time when the people of God were oppressed. They had been invaded by outsiders who did not respect their ways; they were mocked.

They had to pay unreasonable taxes to support faraway cities, while they could barely pay their own bills.

Their places of worship were desecrated.

They prayed daily for decades that God would send them someone to deliver them.

Then rumors began to swirl that perhaps the time had come. There were whispers of miracles and unusual teachings, so the people started to pay attention.

They liked most of what he said. He talked about freeing people from their oppression and making the poor rich.

His following grew as he traveled all over the country giving great speeches and performing miracles.

But when the time finally came to conquer the city, there was no army. He had no sword.

He told them that if they wanted to throw off the chains that held them back, they had to feed the poor. If they wanted to be free from oppression, they had to free others. If they wanted to be first, they had to be last.

When he was arrested for blasphemy and sedition, the people agreed. He was not the one. So, they chose another instead.

Jesus was not the messiah they were looking for.

After they rejected him, they followed the way of the sword and found another who would lead them into battle. Before that generation had died, their beloved city was destroyed and they were forced to scatter.

But some did turn back and chose to follow his ways. They built small communities rooted in mercy, justice, and humility. The way of Jesus spread.

Yet, again and again, the sword called to them.

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