Sermon for Parish Communion on 17th August 2025, 9th Sunday after Trinity. Preached by Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes.
Words of Jesus in today’s Gospel: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51).
Many years ago, I was taking a Remembrance Sunday Service in a small rural church. Afterwards the churchwarden slipped me a copy of a news-paper article – I can’t remember which paper, though I have an idea – by a journalist commentator of military bent, who had seized eagerly on this verse. The article suggested that, based on this, Jesus was clearly not interested in peaceful solutions to the world’s problems, but that confrontation and belligerence were what he recommended. Well, there are plenty of national leaders today who take this line. The problem is they are not very nice. Rather that attempting reconciliation and harmony they aggressively pursue their own and their country’s narrow interests, generally at the expense of everyone else, and with force if that is possible.
So what did Jesus mean, here in Luke’s Gospel, which is notable for its emphasis on compassion and forgiveness? Think of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, parables found only in Luke; similarly, at the crucifixion, the repentant thief, and Jesus ‘forgiving those nailing him to the Cross. What Jesus meant, in this apparently un-Jesus like verse, was that his teaching challenges people and can cause division between those who can accept it and those who cannot; and this can even split families. His mission- and his death- is likely to have an inflammatory effect. “I come to cast fire upon the earth” he says. It is not a trivial matter to follow him, but one of the greatest consequence. Yet ultimately to follow Jesus does brin peace, “that deep peace with God which leads to real peace with people.” Leon Morris’ Tyndale commentary. That is why he declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God”(Mt. 5:9).
All this I attempted to explain, briefly, to my churchwarden. But I fear he was not convinced, and considered me spineless and drippy in this matter.
So what may we think about war and the Christian attitude towards it? It is a question which we need to consider carefully, whether we have been, or are, in the armed services, or if we rely on them for our security. It is also a critical aspect of teaching and discussion in the services, and especially in officer training: is there a war which is morally right to fight? The majority of Christians down the years have argued and believed that bthere is such a thing as a just war. The conditions for fighting it were first laid down in the 13th century by St Thomas Aquinas. They were
- The war must be started and controlled only by the authority of the state or ruler.
- There must be a just cause: those attacked must be justifiably and reasonably attacked.
- The war must be fought to promote good or avoid evil. Peace and justice must be restored afterwards.
Later, two other conditions were added.
- The war must be a last resort; all other possible ways of solving the problem must have been tried out.
- There must be proportionality in the way the war is fought. For instance, innocent civilians should not be killed. You must use only enough force to achieve your goals, not more. (It would not be proportionate, for example, to bomb a whole village because the enemy was hiding in one house.) Obviously in war, things are seldom as clear as that, and situations differ but the principles remain.
As we look around the various areas of conflict in the world – and there are , sadly, too many – it is right that we should question whether each one matches the criteria for a just war, even if our own influence is minimal. Some Christians believe that it can never be right to use force, whatever the circumstances. The Quakers have long held to this moral stance. Their declaration presented to Charles II at the Restoration of the monarch in 1660 avers “that the Spirit of Christ, which leads us into all truth, will never move us to fight and war against any man with outward weapons, neither for the Kingdom of Christ, nor for the kingdoms of the world.” Since then, and notably in the two world wars, Quakers have often resisted military service or insisted on having non-combat roles such as driving ambulances. Both needed courage and led potentially into danger.
I suppose that the tension between the angels’ message of peace and goodwill to all and the need to stand up to confront evil; is most conspicuous in the ministry of service chaplains. They do not bear arms, and so are often vulnerable in frontline warfare – none more so than those Padres serving in the First World War, in the trenches. One of the most famous was Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, known as Woodbine Willie for his practice of going round his troops giving them not words of encouragement to hearten them but also cigarettes to relax and cheer them. He had been a parish priest in Worcester before the war, and had an easy way with men of all ranks. In 1914, aged 31, he volunteered as a padre, and his down to earth approach was admired and respected by all he befriended in these grim situations. He was also awarded the M.C. for gallantry. Yet his poems resonate with his anguish at having to minister with Christian compassion and hope amid the horrors of war. Here is the start of his poem “A Shell-Hole Meditation.
A Shell-Hole Meditation
COME unto Me, he said,
And I will give you rest.
Deat Lord, is that the best
That Thou canst give
To those who follow Thee,
To stand and see
The strife,
The everlasting war of Life,
Pass by as in a picture or a dream?
It is not thus I deem
Life should be lived;
It is not that I crave,
Not Rest, but strength to save
The wounded and console their pain,
To strive with evil and then strive again,
Until the far-off victory is won.
Not rest from life,
But strength for strife,
A strife unending till its task is done.
I have little doubt that Studdert Kennedy, when he wrote that poem, had this morning’s Epistle reading from Hebrews, in his mind. For it is an encouragement and inspiration to us all not to give up in difficult and adverse circumstances. Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.