War, Peace, and Easter

I am not a pacifist.

I believe that war is sometimes necessary in a fallen world.

As I think of my ancestors, I remember the multitude of men who fought and who even died in military service. My Grandfather Lloyd Babb was a decorated soldier who did tours of duty in World War 2, Korea, and two in Vietnam. I think I justly feel some pride at his ability and willingness to serve in this way.

However, war can also be terrible. I think of my 3rd great grandfather Levi Parks Keith. He served in the Illinois Cavalry in the Civil War. He, like many others, succumbed, not to bullets or cannon, but to disease. In the midst of the Civil War, Levi grew ill. Here is how my cousin described the story as it came down to her:

My father related a story told him by his father, James Mason Keith. Grandpa said the only memory he ever had of his father was when he lay on his death bed. Levi was sick in Missouri and wanted to come home. They put him on a train for Crothersville, IN. This was the winter of 1863. The family met him with a wagon, filled with hay and lots of quilts, and took him home to Paris, Jennings Co., IN. This is how Grandpa remembered him, and this is where he died on 2 Jan. 1864.

Levi left behind four young children and his wife Charlotte. This is so often the legacy of war.

If you research your ancestry, one thing you will quickly find is that you don’t have to go very far back in time to find farmers. Most of my ancestors were farmers of one sort or another. Even those who weren’t farmers farmed.

There is a whole different glory in farming than there is in war, but there is a glory nonetheless. I was reminded of this recently as I labored to remove a small stump of a relatively small tree from my yard. It was hard, grueling work. It made me appreciate what my ancestors had done in clearing this continent for productive farming.

In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah envisions a day when the glory of farming will eclipse the glory of war. “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Is. 2:4).

Whether we are pacifists or not, if we believe the Bible, then we should recognize that the vision of the Bible is a world without war. Life-giving farm labor not deadly war is the vision that God has for this world.

The Southern Baptist Faith and Message captured this vision well: “It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war” (Article XVI). Think about the claim of this confession: Christians should do all in their power to put an end to war.

So, what does this have to do with the resurrection and Easter? The vision of Isaiah is a vision of a whole new world in which war does not exist, only life-giving productivity. Jesus has inaugurated this whole new world by rising from the dead. In Himself, He has died to a world of sin and death and risen to a new life and a whole new world where death and sin are conquered and put to an end.

This new creation is a gift to all the followers of Jesus. They are empowered and called to live a new life that among other things would seek to bring an end to war among nations, neighbors, families, and individuals.

This does not mean that Christians always live out this new life. They live in two worlds. They live in the world of war and are moving toward the world of peace imperfectly, slowly, and yet really.

The point here is that the power of Christ is present to bring about a whole new world, and it is available now. We don’t have to let the same old conflicts, the same old patterns, and the same broken relationships be the end of the story. In the power of Christ, we can move forward to be a people of peace that make peace, change destructive patterns, and heal broken relationships, sons and daughters of God.

There is hope. He is risen!