Pax Christi Metro DC

By Alan Smigielski

According to Mark’s Gospel, Jesus began his public ministry with a dramatic proclamation: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Reign of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) It’s a direct and clear message to those of us who profess to be followers of Jesus. We are called to enact the Reign of God here and now; to take the Gospel, the “good news” of Jesus seriously.

But what is this “Reign of God” or “Kingdom of God,” as it has been variously translated? Jesus speaks of it over 100 times in the canonical Gospels, usually in parables. The Reign of God, he says, is like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large tree in which the the birds nest, a great treasure hidden in a field that a man sells everything to acquire, a pearl of great value sought by a merchant; something indescribably wonderful which is hidden in plain sight, but growing into greatness in our very souls.

Arguably the fullest vision of what the Reign of God looks like is contained in the great discourses of the synoptic Gospels, The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew (Matthew 5-7) and The Sermon on the Plain in Luke (Luke 6: 17-49). Here we are presented with at least eight beatitudes which turn the world upside down. The things which the world blesses; violence, killing, greed, power, comfort, vengeance, and wealth are not blessed by God. Instead, Jesus says that God blesses the meek, the mourning, the hungry, the poor, the persecuted, the pure of heart, the merciful and the peacemakers. What an astounding and beautiful vision and one so at odds with the way that many of us live our lives! Even more astonishing is Jesus’ vision of enacting the Reign of God through loving everyone, even our very enemies; by doing good to those who hate us and by always returning good for evil.

Human history with all the agony, terror and bloodshed of endless war and violence has demonstrated that we lack faith in Jesus’ means of achieving the Reign of God through love and non-violence. Like the “faithless generation” of disciples that Jesus rebukes, we are not listening to the Resurrected One. We can’t believe that there is another way to resolve conflict and division than to return evil with evil, violence with violence. But yet, if we break open the Scriptures we find the invitation of the loving and non-violent Jesus awaiting our response.

Sadly, Christians have responded to Jesus’ invitation over the centuries largely by ignoring or misunderstanding his essential teachings against violence and enmity and confusing the Reign or God with the reign of empire. When the Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the established religion of the Roman Empire in 313 A.D., Christians suddenly found themselves in positions of great temporal power and authority. What were they to make of the organized violence that held the empire together and from which they now benefited? Could imperial war be justified in light of the teachings of the non-violent Jesus?

These essential questions were answered by what has become known as the “Just War Tradition,” a series of thoughtful and well reasoned conditions that were to be taken into account before a resort to war or its continuing conduct could be justified. In principle, these Just War conditions should have significantly reduced violence and killing, as war would always be a last resort and conducted with the greatest concern for innocent lives. However, in practice, every war of aggression by every nominally Christian group since 313 A.D. has been justified by an appeal to the Just War Tradition. Even the calamitous U.S. War on Iraq; a preventive war of choice and occupation waged on false premises has been justified by many Catholics (and other Christians) under the framework of a “Just War.” This despite Pope Benedict XVI’s assertion that “There were not sufficient reasons to unleash a war against Iraq. To say nothing of the fact that, given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a ‘just war’.”

By embracing the reign of empire and ignoring Jesus’ teachings when we find them “impractical” we effectively claim that we know better than God. Jesus, the Son of God, was impractical in his love and in his beautiful vision of the Reign of God and its realization here and now. We know better. Let us have our violence, our revenge and our wars. Jesus didn’t live in the real world. “This is the time of self-enrichment.”, we say, “The reign of empire is at hand. Sin, and forget the gospel.”