U.S-Iran bombing: What would Jesus say about war?

By Bishop Gretchen Rehberg | FāVS News Columnist

This morning I woke to the news that the U.S. and Israel had engaged in bombing multiple locations in Iran, and that Iran had responded by bombing in Israel and U.S. military locations in the Middle East.

I was not surprised at the news because I had been listening to the increased rhetoric and watching the build up of our military capacity in the region. But I was disappointed.

For me as a U.S. citizen I am concerned when our president says we are at war without engaging in the constitutionally required process of obtaining congressional approval for being at war.

I am quite aware that presidents of both parties have skirted this requirement by declaring emergency actions, but I believe it is a dangerous action to take with respect to our government that is built on a separation of powers.

It is not, however, as a citizen that I write to you. It is as a follower of Jesus. Jesus would not be asking if the president obtained congressional approval. Jesus would ask why we think violence is something that his followers would approve of or participate in.

Jesus would ask how we are working for peace, how we are seeking to feed the hungry and cloth the naked and house the homeless. Jesus would ask why we think that bombing another country is appropriate at any time.

I am not ignorant of the tradition of the church that has created “just war” standards for when we might legitimately go to war. The just war tradition itself would argue against bombing Iran based on first principles — we cannot go to war based on a possible future threat.

War cannot be justified unless nonviolent options have been fully exhausted. The use of force must be intended to restore peace and justice, the effects of the war must outweigh foreseeable harms and there must be a reasonable chance of success.

I also am aware that of the argument that that the just war tradition itself is a failure of Christians to truly live into his teachings. Jesus himself did not engage in violence and told us to refrain from it.

I believe that the bombing of Iran, both back in June of last year, fails the just war test and the Jesus test. I believe the church is called to stand against those who would glorify and support violence as an approach to the challenges of this world.

I believe we are called to pray that we may be aligned with God’s will, and to act for the changes we pray for, so that this world may more closely come to reflect the realm of God where love and peace are the reality.

Those of us who believe that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine should be capable of holding two things true at the same time. We can both strive to support the members of our armed forces, and actively work for peace and pray that we never engage in war.

We can both support the need for protection for our national interests and believe that often that is used as an excuse for actions that are not truly needed.

We can decry the actions of our elected officials without demonizing them. In living this way we show the world a different way of being, a way of being that does not descend to sound bites or silos, but strives to walk the Jesus way.

On this day, as we wonder what is next, our call as followers of Jesus remains the same. We are to continue to show up for worship and seek our own strength and nourishment from the Sacraments and community fellowship.

We are to pray for others, the needs of this world, for ourselves and to be people who pray day in and day out. We are to serve the people of our community as our own family, and understand that there is not one person in this world who is not part our family in God.

We are to work for peace, show mercy, offer compassion, give forgiveness, confess our own complicity in sin, resist evil and do so over and over and over again.

It is easy to get discouraged and feel that there is nothing one can do when great powers in our world act in ways that are contrary to our faith. But our faith does not depend on the great powers of our world.

Our faith depends on Jesus. It is Jesus who has called us to follow, and Jesus who strengthens us for the journey.

So, as we listen to the news of yet more violence in our world, and know that even more will come, let us commit to continuing following Jesus first and foremost.

Wars and turmoil might be a constant of our world, but we do not need to resign ourselves to that reality. We can work to do our part to show this world a different way.

For this world needs Jesus and the witness of those of follow him. May we be creative and compelling witnesses to Jesus Christ, here in our diocese and for this world.

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