Sermons

Sun, Dec 13, 2020

Resisting evil

Series:Sermons
Duration:14 mins 29 secs

Last month… 

a heavily redacted report was released into alleged war crimes…

which were committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

It recommends that nineteen soldiers be investigated by the Federal Police…

for the murder of thirty-nine prisoners and civilians…

and the “cruel treatment”––

military-speak, it would seem, for torture–– 

of two others.

According to the Inspector-General of the Defence Force…

none of these incidents could be dismissed as “disputable decisions made under pressure in the heat of battle”.

There is one incident that is completely redacted in the report…

but described as “possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history”.

Many of the prisoners killed were restrained by patrol commanders…

who ordered junior soldiers to shoot them in order to get their “first kill”.

Other soldiers carried foreign weapons or radios…

which they would plant alongside the bodies of civilians…

in order to suggest that they were ‘legitimate targets’.

According to witnesses, many of the civilians killed––

including women and children–– 

were simply running away.

But, in field reports, the reason for their deaths were recorded as ‘moving to a position to attack’.

Yet, according to the Inspector-General, in all of these incidents…

“it was, or it should have been, plain that the person killed was a non-combatant”.

It was suggested that the problem was a “distorted culture”…

with a “misplaced focus on prestige, status, and power”.

According to one soldier––

who gave evidence to the Inquiry––

“it got to the point where the end justified the means”.

But the end never justifies the means––

that is a basic, fundamental ethical principle.

What was done was inherently wrong.

Indeed, I would want to label it as “evil”.

And yet, that’s a word that’s much misused these days—

especially in the realm of international politics.

It’s been used––

seemingly throughout history––

to describe those who think and do things that violate our particular sense of what’s right.

As such, “evil” seems to be an inherently subjective term.

It’s also, inherently, political.

But, the way that we tend to use the term makes “evil” something “out there”…

an external force––

a force to be reckoned with…

a structure to be broken down…

a system to be overcome.

Evil is something to be conquered…

something from which we can––

and should––

be set free.

 

But is it?

 

Not according to the philosopher, John Gray.

He argues that evil is not something that can be eradicated…

nor even overcome…

because evil is not some external force––

let alone some external ‘other’ or some personified being…

as much as simplistic, fundamentalist faith often presumes.

Rather, the source of evil is us.

According to Gray, it’s inherent to who we are as human beings.

Evil is a manifestation of our innate propensity for violence.

Evil is a manifestation of our “natural tendency to animosity and destruction”.

And yet, it’s more than that.

Gray suggests that true evil is not just a manifestation of animosity, violence, and destruction.

Rather, it is predicated on a dehumanising of ‘the other’.

It occurs when ‘the other’ is altogether excluded from moral concern.

In other words, ‘evil’––

true evil–– 

is justifying animosity and violence against another because… 

in the perpetrator’s eyes…

‘the other’ is not human––

not in the way that we are––

and, hence, not deserving of our pity, mercy or compassion.

 

In our reading this morning…

from the closing of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians…

he offers two very significant exhortations:

“Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good”… 

and…

“Abstain from every form of evil”.

Given what he says a bit earlier in the letter… 

it’s clear that Paul equates false prophecy with those who proclaim “peace and security”.

In the socio-political context in which he wrote––

in the context of ‘Empire’––

he’s clearly referring to a complacent, acquiescing form of prophecy;

the sort that offers a “peace at all cost…

don’t rock the boat…

and don’t dare make any critical connections between faith in Christ…

and what’s happening in society”…

approach to faith. 

Instead, what Paul considers genuine… 

is that proclamation that looks at what is happening in the world…

and tries to see it through God’s eyes…

and tries to interpret it according to God’s values––

the values that were incarnated and made manifest in Jesus of Nazareth.

He calls upon them to assess what is said by those who claim to speak on behalf of God…

to ensure that it is, genuinely, of God.

In other words…

is it life-giving and life-affirming, not life-denying?

Is it genuinely compassionate and loving––

without qualification?

Is it, in and of itself, good and right, just and holy?

Thus, he calls upon them not to be theologically naïve…

or, even worse…

to allow the social and political structures…

the social forces…

and the values of their world…

to water down or even negate that which is ‘of God’…

and how that which is ‘of God’ challenges the values and behaviours of the world around…

and the structures of society.

He calls upon them not to delude themselves into thinking that that which is life-denying…

and wrong…

is actually good.

On that basis, then, Paul calls upon his readers to “abstain from every form of evil”. 

In so doing, he has, in effect defined what evil is––

from a Christian perspective.

And, in many respects, John Gray isn’t far from the mark here.

We are called to abstain from evil––

implicitly recognising that it’s something innate to human nature…

something inherent to our nature…

and, thus, something to be resisted and avoided…

in all of its manifestations.

But, also, evil is the opposite of ‘godliness’.

And I don’t mean that in a trite, moralistic sort of way.

Evil is doing the opposite of what God would do…

how God would act.

Evil is dehumanising…

evil is destructive…

and evil is life-denying;

rather than what is loving and compassionate––

life-giving, life-affirming, and life-renewing––

which is ‘of God’.

And that… 

Paul suggests… 

is how we are called to live while we wait for God’s purposes to be fulfilled.

Indeed, it is only by resisting all that is evil…

working for love and compassion…

striving for that which is life-giving…

for that which is, innately, ‘of God’…

and re-humanising the dehumanised…

that we bring closer the fulfilment of God’s intention for creation.

 

So, as we draw nearer to Christmas…

we’re challenged to incarnate anew that which is of God.

That means…

at all times and in all ways…

resisting what is evil.

 

For us, today, within an Australian context there is one unavoidable and unmistakable conclusion:

we cannot condone…

let alone support…

the actions of our government in dehumanising asylum seekers…

subjecting them to inhumane treatment––

locking them up for years without any sense of hope…

and causing untold physical and mental harm––

or returning them to places that they have fled…

where they have been… 

and may again be… 

tortured… 

or worse.

None of the treatment that is being dished out to these poor, vulnerable, broken people…

can be justified when seen through the eyes of God.

None of that treatment can be seen as anything other than evil.

And, as such, we have a solemn and a sacred duty to name it as such…

and to resist it… 

with all of our might.

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