War on War
The song’s central lyric is deceivingly bouncy. “You have to lose,” he sings, “you have to learn how to die if you wanna wanna be alive.” Remind you of anything?
In Matthew 16, we read about one of the first times Jesus tells his disciples he’s going to die. Peter goes all alpha male, saying that he will never let this happen. His first reaction is essentially “over my dead body.” Jesus’ response is incredibly harsh. He calls Peter “Satan” and then says this:
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?”
The politics of warfare are too complex for me to figure out. But what I can understand is that each of us has a propensity towards personal warfare within us. That “over my dead body” sentiment comes up often, especially when we or those we love are put into harm’s way.
Now, I’m not saying it’s always wrong to defend your family or that you shouldn’t have harbored Jewish people in the Holocaust. What I am saying is that each of us is called to start a “war on war” within ourselves. The implication is that the conquest of this self-defense mechanism within each of us is perhaps the most important task of our lives. Whatever “lose your own soul” means here, it doesn’t sound comforting.
Jesus demands that we fight the “look out for number 1” mentality. Lose your life. Full out war.
Comments
Post a Comment