How to Fight Like Jesus

Read Mark 8:34-38

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” –Mark 8:34

The word “alarm” comes from an old phrase that first appeared in the 14th century in both French (alarme) and Italian (all’arme). The phrase literally means: “to arms!”

This “call to arms” was first used during the Crusades as a summons to urgent military action—most commonly a call to defense against an invading army. Over the centuries, the “call to arms” has taken many forms. For instance, during the Civil War, Confederate poet Henry Timrod wrote these (excerpted) lines from “A Cry to Arms”:

Leave barn and byre, leave kin and cot.

Lay by the bloodless spade;

Let desk, and case, and counter rot,

and burn your books of trade.

Give up to mildew and to rust

The useless tools of gain;

And feed your country’s sacred dust

With floods of crimson rain!

Come, with the weapons at your call —

With musket, pike, or knife;

He wields the deadliest blade of all

Who lightest holds his life.

During the great world wars of the twentieth century, propaganda posters proudly featured Uncle Sam pointing and declaring: I WANT YOU for the U.S. ARMY. Even those who did not serve in the military heard the “call to arms” by enduring strict rations, growing food in their “victory gardens,” collecting scrap materials, and working in war production industries.

The phrase regularly appears today, not to recruit citizens into the military, but instead to rally people to respond to a perceived injustice. Consider all the massive protests and marches that have taken place in recent years. Listen to the rhetoric used in most political rallies (both on the left and the right). Almost always, you’ll hear a “call to arms,” responding to whatever “alarm” the other side has caused!

If we go back to the last two lines of Henry Timrod’s poem, we’ll notice they sound strangely similar to the words that Jesus spoke to his followers. Timrod called his countrymen to lay down their lives for their country. Jesus likewise called his followers to the same level of sacrifice: “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (8:35) The key difference, though, is in the lines that go before. Timrod called his listener to come with whatever weapons they had available: “musket, pike, or knife.” Jesus, however, did not call for us to take up weapons. Instead, he instructed us to take up our cross.

Even though we live many states away, I have watched the recent protests in Minneapolis (and elsewhere in our country) with some level of alarm. Much of the news coverage has drawn attention to the contrast in “arms” between law enforcement and protesters. (Law enforcement officers have tactical gear and tear gas; protestors are armed with whistles and phones.) I understand the value of the phone in today’s world—that it can bring to light things that otherwise would be done or twisted in the dark. However, I have also been struck (maybe even alarmed) by how aggressive the weapons of phones and whistles can become. I can understand why law enforcement agents have felt confused and flustered by the crowds. When used with absolute hate towards those on the other side, even a phone can become a powerful weapon.

Jesus, though, calls us to lay down our hate, to put down our weapons. He calls us to love our enemy, to pray for their salvation, to turn the other cheek, and to walk the extra mile. The pessimist in me asks what good will that do? Someone has to stand up for the vulnerable, I tell myself. Someone has to fight for what is right! But Jesus was not calling us to avoid the fight. He was teaching us how to fight. To fight for, not against, one another. To see one another’s humanity (even in conflict), and to honor the claim that others’ humanity makes upon us.

So put down your weapons, whatever they may be (phone, social media, gossip, sharp and provocative words, etc.). Instead, take up your cross. Laying your life down for your enemy changes the war, because they no longer remain your enemy.

Give me humility and grace, O Lord. Humility to recognize my own flawed humanity; grace to recognize that same flawed humanity in others. Save us from the path of mutually-assured destruction. Teach us a new way to fight, with Your love and forgiveness in our hearts. Amen.