Christians believe that all people are created in God's image. Referring to Genesis 1, our Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective says We believe that human beings were created good, in the image of God. (p.29).

If that is so, then why do some people act so terribly-so ungodly? In 1977 Ugandan Dictator Idi Amin was at the height of his terror. Thousands of innocents were being brutally murdered and tortured. Campus Life, a popular evangelical magazine for youth ran a provocative feature article titled "Would you kill Idi Amin?"

Thirteen prominent evangelical Christian leaders were asked to give their response to this question. The majority of the respondents gave a qualified no saying they may not personally be able to take Amin's life, though they wish someone would. Jay Kesler, then President of Youth For Christ, said "Knowing my own personality, I'd have to say, yes, I would probably kill him." He later adds "...I would call upon God for his mercy and grace as my only possible hope of redemption."^[1]

Two gave an unequivocal no expressing God's love for enemies and that Christians use weapons of love and reconciliation, not hatred and war. Both men were Ugandan refugees, one telling of how his life had been threatened by Amin's secret police during a worship service. How ironic that those closest to the violence who had suffered personally from Amin's terror were the clearest in their Christian pacifist convictions.^[2] What these men articulated was a different way of defining enemies.

I remember vividly a moment in my upstairs bedroom at home on the farm. I was about 10 or 12 and I had just learned about WWII and the horrors of the Holocaust. I remember an overwhelming feeling of righteous anger against Adolf Hitler. I remember making a fist and vowing that I would kill Hitler if I had the chance. Hitler by that time was long dead, but Hitler symbolized for me the worst of human evil. In the '70s it was Idi Amin, in the '80s the Ayatollah Komeni, in the '90s it was Saddam Hussein, and now it is Osama bin Laden. Each generation finds an enemy to pin its worst fears on, to attribute the worst of human behavior. As I grew older, I came to embrace a different way.

Paul says that the real battle is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers of this dark world. The ancient world view went something like this: The earth was a floating disk on an endless and chaotic sea. The "heavens" (plural), were in two levels. What we call the atmosphere was where the principalities and powers resided. The spirit world was taken for granted and evil forces were out and about in the first layer of the heavenlies. God resided above that in the upper heavens, the second level.

Hell then, was not below but above, separating us from God. Paul said it's those malevolent forces that we need to be on guard against. Listen to what Jesus told his disciples when he sent them out on their first mission assignment. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell (Mat 10:28).

There were structural and systemic forces at work that went beyond individual enemies during Jesus' day and the 1st Century church. The Roman Empire was more than just a particular governor or soldier who persecuted the Jews and early Christians. It was an unjust societal structure that oppressed those without voice or vote. Can Christians today embrace the idea that other human beings are not the enemy?

President Bush has already sounded the call for revenge and retaliation, vowing to wage war on those responsible and anyone who harbors them. How should we as people of faith respond? The place to start is with Jesus.

Luke 9:51-54 finds Jesus and the disciples heading for Jerusalem. Galilee, where Jesus was from, and Jerusalem, where he was headed, were separated by Samaria. Conflicts between Jews and Samaritans were well known even though the Samaritans held the first five books of the Bible as sacred and claimed a common patriarchal heritage. We are familiar with the woman at the well, the Samaritan leper, and the so-called "Good" Samaritan. That the messengers who were sent on ahead were rejected was no surprise.

James and John were ready to put the Samaritans in their place and asked Jesus "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" Notice the footnote in your Bible. "Some manuscripts add 'even as Elijah did.'"

Elijah you'll recall was the fiery prophet who not only called down fire from heaven to defeat the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:38), but later destroyed the messengers sent by the King of Samaria (2 Kings 1:10)! James and John were simply following Biblical and prophetic precedent. They knew God was on the side of Jesus. So why not destroy the enemy the old fashioned way?

But Jesus turned and rebuked them, with some manuscripts adding "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy people's lives, but to save them." And they went on to another village.

Jesus gives us an important lesson on how his followers are to respond to opposition. Were the disciples out of line to want to take revenge on the Samaritans? That's a different spirit, Jesus says. "If you want to follow me then understand what Spirit I'm about. My purpose is to save people's lives, not destroy them." The spirit in our country just now is a dangerous one. It is one of vengeance, of getting even, of justifying additional loss of life and an escalation of violence with language of Holy War and righteous indignation. WE are always the good guys, WE always have God on our side. WE are always the victims and by god, WE are going to punish those responsible.

As Anabaptist-Mennonite who not only profess Jesus is Lord, but also try to LIVE Jesus as Lord, know that the Spirit of Jesus is not one of employing lethal violence by calling down fire from heaven to destroy the enemy. His Spirit was to reconcile those enemies to God, to change people's lives and transform their hearts in obedience to God's will, in a word to save them, not destroy them.

But did the disciples get it? Do the disciples ever catch on to what Jesus was not only teaching them but demonstrating? Even at the point of Jesus' arrest we find one of them grabbing a sword and wounding the high priest's servant (Matt. 26:51). Jesus said "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword." At his trial, Jesus told Pilate "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

Church history tells us that for the first three hundred years the early Christians were not only pacifist but persecuted. Is it just coincidence that when the first Christians were most at risk they were the most like Jesus?

Rodney Clapp in his book "A Peculiar People" observes that "The original Christians, in short, were about creating and sustaining a unique culture -- a way of life that would shape character in the image of their God. And they were determined to be a culture, a quite public and political culture, even if it killed them and their children."

Christian Peacemaker Teams, in an e-mail to churches asks the haunting question: "...are we just as willing to give our lives in pursuit of loving the enemy as the terrorists were willing to give their lives to kill the enemy?"

We embrace and confess the radical theology of Anabaptist-Mennonite Christians. It is one thing to champion the cause of peace when things are peaceful. It is quite another to do so when terrorist attacks and catastrophic acts of violence are brought close to home. What are Christians who profess another way to do when the drumbeat of war is beating so loudly?

I'll never forget the huge stained-glass window in one of the stairwells of the Pentagon. Delton Franz from the MCC Washington Office was conducting one of his "Washington Seminars" which included a visit to the military headquarters of the United States. As we came around the corner and entered the staircase the scene depicted couldn't be missed. A man in full military dress uniform is kneeling in prayer at an alter, his family in their Sunday finest devoutly beside him. The caption was from Isaiah 6:8 "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

That was a "teachable moment" in my coming to terms with how our country mixes religion with military might. Were the wars fought by the United States military holy wars? Was answering the call of Uncle Sam synonymous with answering God's call? Was the fire called down upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945 God's judgment upon our enemies? Were those nuclear weapons blessed by God as they rained down upon men, women and children who were deemed our enemies? In the days and weeks to come, I invite you to listen carefully to the language used by our leaders and to filter that with a critical ear, with ears tuned into Christ and the gospel message of reconciliation.

Let's revisit the principalities and powers question. Remember the ancient worldview that had the forces of evil above us? Paul's words in Ephesians 2:14 take on new meaning with this worldview in mind "For Christ himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility..." (NIV). Jesus breaks through the power of evil and the enemy forces that stand between us and God. God and God's power to overcome evil with good is accessible through Jesus Christ. That makes all the difference when we're confronted with questions like "Would you kill Idi Amin?" or Osama bin Laden.

If God's desire is to reconcile everyone to Kingdom ways, and if Jesus modeled a different Spirit when dealing with enemies then we as people of faith need to rethink our view of enemies. Yes, real people do incredibly evil and terrible things to other people. And yes, there is a proper place for evil to be stopped and restrained which we will have to examine in another sermon.

The point I believe Paul is making and Jesus is demonstrating is that for Christians, ends and means must be compatible. We don't kill people in order to save them. This is a wake up call for us to respond in a way consistent with the faith we profess. Let me suggest three responses that all of us can pursue:

1. Let us again study the life of Christ -- his words, his teachings, his lived example -- when he was faced with lethal violence, as we find our way in the aftermath of this catastrophe.

2. Let us also deepen our commitment and practice of prayer as we test and discern the spirit of these times. Everyone expected a bloodbath when the evil of apartheid finally fell apart in South Africa. Instead a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" was formed and a massive retaliation averted. After SS today we invite those who are able to join together in a prayer walk as we take our prayers from the sanctuary to the streets, and put feet to our faith.

3. As we talk with each other in SS, in house churches, at work and at school, let us always keep Christ at the center. The cross is in the center of the sanctuary and for some of you it is in the way. But maybe that's the point -- to allow the cross of Christ to get in the way of our anger and the calls for revenge. Model your actions after the Prince of Peace, temper your decisions by his example. Hans Denk said No one can truly know Christ unless he follow him in life. Now is the time to keep Christ at the center as we witness to another way as Christ's ambassadors for peace. AMEN

^[1] christcenterjsa