Luke 12:49-15
'All
is fair in love and war'. I'm not
sure where that phrase came from or what kind of philosophy or virtue it tries
to express, but I don't think it can honestly be said that 'all is fair in
love' in the same context as all being fair in war. Mindless expressions as these are as careless
and as condescending as advising our children to 'follow their hearts' knowing
as we should that an undeveloped or underdeveloped spiritual heart can lead to
more trouble - and ultimately more heart ACHE - if 'think first' is not part of
that advice. Let's face it; "if it
feels good, do it" is NOT
good advice! It is horrible, it is
senseless, it is heartless, it is irresponsible, it is downright ungodly
dangerous, and it is incredibly self-serving - that is, it is ANTI-Christ!
When we are speaking in terms of
Christian theology and what our Lord expects and commands of us for the sake of
the Church and the Gospel, 'fair' will hardly ever enter into the picture! At least, not "fair" on our
own terms. Love is not always fair. War is never fair, and life in general is
often extremely unfair especially if in each we do little more than follow our own
hearts because as it is written in the Proverbs:
"He who trusts in his own heart (that
is, his own impulses, his own instincts, his own sense of pride and what is
right) is a fool" (28:26a);
probably the same "fool" who says there is no God.
These days it seems everyone - inside
and outside the Church - is in more of a fighting mood than in a loving mood. Love seems only to get us hurt because to
truly love as the Lord commands makes us vulnerable - but if we fight back, at
least our adversaries will know where we stand and maybe they'll back off. Well, they might - BUT - only to regroup!
Life is getting even more complicated
and we seem threatened from all sides, all of which has the appearance of general
hostility toward Christians. Several
years ago prayer was removed from public schools, and that just was not fair -
to Christians. Courts have since ruled
that prayer is not allowed at public school functions such as ball games, and
that also does not seem fair - to Christians.
We forget, however, or do not know that the Courts have never said we
"cannot" pray any time or anywhere; they only ruled we
"cannot" compel others to participate such as through the use of a PA
system owned by the public (aka, "state") school.
In each of these and many other
instances, we feel overpowered by the authority of the secular state which
seems not impartial to religion but specifically hostile toward
Christianity. It's not fair, we say,
because 'Christians founded this country on Christian principles' and/or
'Christians are in the majority; therefore Christians should make the rules and
call the shots'. It's a nice idea for some
Christians, of course, and that Day will one day be upon us but it will not be
"Christians" in charge - it will be the Lord and those He appoints upon
His return (Luke 12:44)! Until that Day, however, Christians cannot
always get along or even agree on fundamental doctrine, and individual churches
have been destroyed over the simplest of silly arguments such as the color of
carpet, where to hang a picture, or where to place a table. How have we come to believe we can - or even
should - be trusted to run a whole country while the Church is itself in such
decline??
St. Paul advises the Ephesians, "Be
careful how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the
time because the days are evil. So do
not be foolish (remember the Proverb!), but
understand what the will of the Lord is."
It is important for Christians to note - with jealous intensity,
I might add - that St. Paul did NOT say, 'Be careful how others
live.' And when Jesus warns His
disciples that the burden of making peace with an adversary is upon US, He is advising us that if we
are only protecting our frail egos, our senseless pride, or our constitutional
rights (no matter how "right" we may think we are!) and are not
honestly assessing and measuring our part in the conflict according to "the
will of the Lord", it could well be we who will be handed over to the judge and thrown into
prison. WE could be the ones under condemnation until "WE
have paid the very last penny."
It doesn't seem fair, but "fair" does not factor into the Holy
Standards by which the people of the Holy Church are held accountable and will
be judged on the Day of the Lord!
I admit this is all a bitter pill to
swallow sometimes, but Jesus and St. Paul are both offering remarkably sound
advice within the very harsh reality that life is never fair, especially within
the nature of conflict itself, because everything is subjective. When human temperaments and human impulses
begin to clash with Christian principles, if we are living faithfully, we
should expect to get stepped on - and we should answer that violation by a
sound understanding of "what the will of the Lord is",
NOT according to what we think we are entitled to - because when we think in
terms of "fair", we are only thinking in terms of what WE want and
what WE think we are entitled to.
None of this is to say Christians do not
have the means to fight back, but we are compelled by Scripture to fight with
the understanding that even though "we live as human beings, we do not
wage war according to human standards ... we are ready to punish every
disobedience WHEN OUR OBEDIENCE IS COMPLETE"
(2 Corinthians 10:3, 6). Remember the "log in our eye" verses
the "speck in our brother's eye" thing? Ouch.
"Do not repay anyone evil for evil,
but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on
you, live peaceably with all. Never
avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written,
'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay', says the Lord ... do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans
12:17-19,21).
An evil act at the hands of a person who
only thinks he is right according to his own standards and self-serving desire
is still an evil act, and only puts us at war within ourselves in doing what we
would prefer to do and neglecting the better part of what we are called to
do. So when Jesus says He came to bring "division
rather than peace", is He only referring to the inherent conflict
between those who will believe and choose to follow Him, and those who will
not? I think maybe there is much more to
it than that because even though there are those obvious external conflicts,
there is also that internal conflict between doing what we have been conditioned to do (impulses,
instincts, and sense of entitlement), and what we are called to do by our Lord.
That, I think, is the worst conflict of all because when we drill down
to the ultimate source of the conflict, we will almost always find
"pride" at the core protecting the "ego".
It all boils down to whom or what we
trust and believe. We call Christ our
Lord, but are we prepared to obey Him as Lord?
If not, then we do not consider Him our "Lord". We call Jesus the Savior, but are we prepared
to trust Him fully to judge what is truly fair, truly right, truly just? If not, then we do not seriously consider Him
the "Savior of the world". We might
often rather call our own shots and be our own judge according to our own
standards, those standards we sometimes arrogantly refer to as
"common" sense. Such is an
impossible standard because all is not "common" to each and every
human person. "Common" sense arrogantly
assumes everyone had the same background, the same upbringing, the same
advantages, the same education, and the same experiences. Such, also, is ultimately our understanding
of what is "fair" - according to what WE know and what WE want.
Leading up to our lesson from Luke's gospel, Jesus is asked, "Lord,
are you telling this parable for us - or - for everyone?" (12:41).
The parable is of the master who has gone away and the faithful slave
who lives as though the master will return anytime but certainly will return "at
an unexpected hour" (12:40). Jesus answers that the slave who lives
faithfully and serves faithfully (that is, "obediently") "will
be put in charge of all [the master's] possessions" upon his
return, but the unfaithful slave who only did as he pleased and only for
himself, perhaps according to his own perception of what is "fair", "will
be cut to pieces and put with the unfaithful.
That slave who knew what his master wanted but did not prepare himself
or do what was wanted (by the master; that is, "willful"
disobedience) will receive a severe beating" (12:42-47). Our Lord is clearly
speaking to His own; the faithful, the ones who should know better, the ones "to
whom much is given and from whom much will be required" (Luke 12:48).
Our Lord has so spoken, and His Church
has embraced His words. Let Him be the
Judge of what is fair and right, and let us be found at His return faithfully
serving at the "unexpected hour"; for being found and judged
"faithful", we will NOT receive what is "fair" or what we
truly deserve - thank GOD for Christ! - but we will receive from our Lord all
He desires for His faithful, obedient servants: Eternal Life in the Kingdom to
come. Amen.
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