A Call To Arms?

Here's a great line for a song:

“Lord, may all your enemies die like Sisera! But may those who love you rise like the sun in all its power!” [Judges 5.31]

In this "tone" of battle, there are some interesting conversations in Luke's account of Jesus last few days before being crucified. Among those is the dialog in the upper room when Jesus told His guys to get a sword. Between them they had two swords. Why get swords? Obviously to defend themselves as they would be considered rebels.

Then, when accosted by the soldiers who came to arrest Him, Jesus told His guys not to fight...

What gives?

I believe that timing is everything. Apparently, Jesus signified that His men would indeed encounter circumstances where defending themselves would not only be necessary, but recommended. Because it was absolutely necessary for Jesus to be crucified, the time to defend themselves had not yet come. I guess if one were to think about it, Jesus waited until the absolute last moment to even mention the swords. However, had Jesus mentioned it any later, it would have been during or subsequent to His arrest and would certainly have led to a violent response to events that were necessary for the salvation of mankind... yes, timing was everything.

So what about swords and Christ followers? What about Christ followers defending themselves? Is it right or wrong? Were the early founding fathers of the USA wrong to rebel against England in their pursuit of religious and civil liberty? A Christ follower must exercise caution when answering these questions because real hypocrisy stands ready to reveal itself.

If it is determined to be wrong for those who follow Jesus to defend themselves, then our founding fathers and every Christian who pledges allegiance to the United States were and are hypocrites. If, on the other hand, they were right, then Christ followers today could arguably be called hypocrites as well to sit idly by while God haters increase and even take power.

How appropriate that the Psalms in today's OYB reading contained the following:

Can unjust leaders claim that God is on their side—leaders whose decrees permit injustice? [Psalm 94.20]

A call to arms?

Father, I have quite aptly "painted myself in a corner" here. Give me the grace to respond to Your Word in a way that both represents and defends the Good News of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.