The Only Holy War

A homily given on Palm Sunday, April, 28, 2024 at St. Stephen the First Martyr Orthodox Church, Crawfordsville, Indiana

The Orthodox Church begins Holy Week with a celebration, the Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem, commonly referred to as Palm Sunday. The remembrance of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem, where He will face betrayal, arrest, trial, torture, and crucifixion, reminds us that Jesus goes willingly, victoriously to all of this. He is not a victim.

Indeed, Jesus has come to conquer, and he does. In fact this is the only true victory ever accomplished on this earth, for it was a defeat of the only real enemy, sin, death and the devil. It is a victory that does not oppress, but frees. It does not dominate, but sacrifices. It does not compel at the edge of a sword, but offers freely, with a cross.

This stands in stark contrast to victory in a worldly sense. Even the most honorable victory, say, in war to defend an oppressed people, still involves bloodshed, violence against another, and as we see in the world it always spins off into another set or cycle of conflicts. Earthly war, victories, conquering does not solve the ultimate problem, and any honest look at history shows us this.  

Only Christ can claim true victory in this world. In turn those who follow after his example can share in this victory and strive to share this victory. Bringing the kingdom to earth is not restoring some so-called “christian” domination or governance. But even those in the church have distorted to be this, even justifying so called ‘holy wars.’ The only holy war was the one that Christ enters into in Jerusalem. The King enters into his battle, not with sword or armies or laws, but on a donkey, humbly but assured, focused, and willing to lay down his life for.. all of us… even those who will put him to death. This is the only holy war we can speak of as followers of Jesus. 

The Prophet Zephaniah, whose words are read on the Vespers of Palm Sunday, predicts the day of the Lord’s triumphant moment:

The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” “I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly, Who are among you, To whom its reproach is a burden.Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, And gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame In every land where they were put to shame.

Zephaniah 3:17-19

God came to us. He comes to us. The hope we live in is that this promise can be incarnated, as it was by nature in Christ, by grace in us. We are people who should hope and work for living in this victory. What does that mean? We look around the world, in our own nation, in our own lives and often we see disaster, affliction, and shame. Our life in Christ calls us to not just throw up our hands and say “that’s how the world is, nothing you can do!” or fall into despair and fear or reaction against how the world is. Rather we are called to follow our King into his victory, to enter into our battles in imitation of Him. The goal is not escaping this life in a hope of just going to heaven, but realizing that God entered into our condition and now we can live in that. He wants to redeem the world and he still does it the way He did on that week in Jerusalem! How quickly we forget or are like the ones in the crowd who eventually choose Caesar, earthly power, violence and conquest over the only true victor who still wins the war in the way He did before.

I invite you to reflect on the ways Jesus faced His battle, His conflict, His war on that week in Jerusalem. And then let us consider our own conflicts in our lives and ask the question: how can I be like Him? Let us also remember in prayer and mourning all those suffering in great conflict in our world, especially those suffering in Gaza, in Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, throughout the world. Let us pray for an end to that suffering and a ceasing of false holy wars that only destroy and do not bring life.