Holy Week - Good Friday - Passion of the Lord

The arrival of Holy Week reminds those of us in the profession of arms of a very sad fact: members of the armed forces were instruments in Jesus' arrest, torture and execution. It starts in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Then Jesus said to the high priests, the temple police, and the elders, who had come for him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit?" Luke 22:52

That's not how it is supposed to be. Jesus' question to his arresters presupposes what we take for granted: armed forces exist to establish justice, not to harm the innocent. It is violent criminals who prey on the innocent who should fear the magistrate armed with swords and clubs, not the blameless in prayer.

Represented in the officers of the temple guard and the soldiers of Rome we see a wide variety of modern ?armed forces,? to include members of the military, state militias, security forces, police forces, law enforcement agencies and others. The common thread that binds them together is that they are all authorized - in certain circumstances - to wield deadly force on behalf of legitimate authority. While these organizations vary in their purposes and methods, their moral foundation is the same. Members of legitimate armed forces bear swords and clubs in the service of the common good, not for the sake of private vengeance, inhuman cruelty or personal gain.

Sadly, as we read the story of Jesus' last hours, we encounter soldiers and police who use the sword entrusted to them in the service of injustice.

And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him; then, arraying him in gorgeous apparel, he sent him back to Pilate. (Luke 23:11)

And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple robe; they came up to him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and struck him with their hands. (John 19:2-3)

And they struck his head with a reed, and spat upon him, and they knelt down in homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. (Mark 15:19-20)

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be." This was to fulfill the scripture, "They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." So the soldiers did this. (John 19:23-25a)

The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" (Luke 23:36-37)

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. (John 19:32-34)

If you want to find New Testament references to men at arms, most of them are concentrated in the passion story. It is true that the members of the armed forces are not solely responsible for Jesus' suffering and death. The armed forces act on the direction of religious authorities, civic authorities, regional authorities and imperial authorities. The soldiers and police are executing the will of all those who called for Jesus' crucifixion. There is plenty of blame to go around. As a member of the armed forces myself, however, that doesn't comfort me much. It was "folks like me" that put Jesus to death.

In the cruel injustice perpetrated by Jesus' armed executioners I recognize the potential for misconduct in armed forces even today. When I was stationed in Germany in the late 1990s, I occasionally took the troops in my unit to visit Dachau. We walked the grounds where so many innocents were shot, hung, beaten and tortured to death. We walked through the reconstructed barracks where men and women were forced to live in inhuman conditions, suffering from hunger, disease and hopelessness. And then we walked to the crematoria, where the thousands of dead were turned to ash. The universal reaction to Dachau was silence and sickness at heart. At journey's end, we gathered to talk about the responsibilities that come with the authority to bear arms. As Spiderman's uncle said, "With great power comes great responsibility," or as Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required." (Luke 12:48)

There is a reason that the Army's keystone manual (FM 1 The Army) and its leadership manual (FM 6-22 Army Leadership) spend so much time establishing the moral foundation of the use of force. "While the use of force is sometimes necessary for the common good, the authority to wield it carries a moral responsibility of the greatest magnitude," says FM 1 (paragraph 1-52). We entrust young men and women with great power when we put weapons in their hands and send them out in our name. Misuse of authority can lead to monstrous results. In this fallen world, misuse happens all too frequently.

I could, by the way, say the same as a member of the religious establishment and as a government employee. These institutions were also complicit in Jesus' death. Like the profession of arms, they have shown their proclivity for abuse in every age. Jesus' suffering reveals the potential for evil present in every human institution and in every human heart.

None of this means that we don't need religious institutions, governments or even armed forces. In the present evil age, these imperfect institutions are still necessary for the sake of the common good. Still, the story of holy week makes those of us involved in the institutions of this age pause. The story of Jesus' unjust treatment raises the question for all who exercise authority in this age: are we serving the cause of justice or are we serving the cause injustice? Insofar as it is possible in this present evil age, it is justice that we seek, tempered with mercy and enacted for the sake of love of our neighbor.

Certainly, we are hindered by what is possible in this world and by the limitations of our own ability to foresee of the consequences of our actions. It is impossible for me to comprehend, however, how the dehumanizing actions portrayed in the story of Jesus' arrest, trial and crucifixion could ever be thought to serve the cause of justice. In the story of Jesus' last hours, the gospel authors show us soldiering at its worst.

I am grateful that the story of soldiers at the cross does not end with their cruelty, but with a statement of faith. One of those who nailed Jesus to the tree recognizes his complicity in evil. This centurion confesses, "Certainly this man was innocent!" (Luke 23:47) or "Truly this man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:39). There is hope and forgiveness even for soldiers who have done great wrong. We look to the one who said, "Father forgive them; they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34) and believe that his word is sufficient for us.

Related: Father Forgive Them

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