EXODUS 20:1-17

PSALM 19:7-14

ROMANS 7:13-25

JOHN 2:13-22

Sermon – 3/23/02

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.” So wrote St. Paul to the Church in Rome about 1,950 years ago. His anguished words, which we just heard, are by a man who understood well the temptations people wrestle with – especially those who are most zealous to do the right thing. Paul, after all, was such a person when he was a Pharisee – zealously persecuting Christians, going (as it were) 80 miles per hour in the wrong direction until God’s dramatic intervention caused him to do a U-turn with his life.

I think that Satan, the tempter, loves best tempting those with a zeal to do the right thing, and one of the commonest temptations humans face is to do bad things to accomplish a good end – or vice versa.

Saddam Hussein clearly is what the baptismal service in The Book of Common Prayer calls “an evil power of this world which corrupts and destroys the creatures of God.” Ignoring him or tolerating him in the interest of peace – peace which has been repeatedly shattered by him and with his own people or immediate neighbors as the victims – might be considered using a good means (lack of violent confrontation) but with a bad end (the perpetuation in power of a dangerous totalitarian dictator).

On the other hand, using war to remove Saddam from power and eliminate the Weapons of Mass Destruction which he allegedly has means using horrifying destructive power to accomplish that end. No matter how sophisticated and precise the weaponry, there are going to be considerable casualties and damage. War is still war.

Of course, many people hoped there was a “middle way” between tolerating Saddam and invading Iraq (and we Episcopalians characteristically look for “a middle way” between extremes in many situations) but now the world will never know if any middle path could have worked, or how “success” might have been defined.

We live, after all, in a broken, sinful, fallen world, and the idea that “evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God” will just go away or simply stop hurting people is nieve, while the idea that any person or country can use violence to subdue or eliminate that evil power without also setting into motion evil effects is equally nieve.

Power brings with it the temptation to use it almost for its own sake. Years ago Lord Acton declared, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” We can see the effects when one person wields absolute power. But when our country wields unstoppable military or economic power, the temptation to use it in a manner unchecked by what Thomas Jefferson in our Declaration of Independence called “a decent respect for the opinions of mankind” becomes considerable.

Americans have certainly woken up to the fact that the world is more broken, fallen – and dangerous to us – than we realized 18 months ago. We are now far more vigilant and protective, as we need to be. But another change in the world situation in the months since 9/11 should alarm us more than the continued existence of Al Quaeda. It is this. Eighteen months ago America had the sympathy and support of the world in a way that was unprecedented in my lifetime. There were massive prayer vigils for the victims of 9/11 in Iran, for crying out loud. All that has vanished. America now has less sympathy and support in the world than at anytime in my lifetime, and the reason is that American power – and the way it is being used – scares people, including America’s friends and those who might like to be America’s friends.

American military spending – as budgeted before this war is taken into account – is now greater than all the other countries of the world combined. That’s 191 other countries. That is a situation perhaps unprecedented since the days of Genghis Khan or of Roman Empire, which for a long time did pretty much what it felt like regardless of what anybody else wanted. Does America want to become like that? I certainly hope not.

America is indeed a good as well as a great country in many respects, and I am a fiercely patriotic American – which is why I am so concerned. And my Americanism must be answerable to my Christian faith, which warns so clearly of the risks of power and the dangers of self-righteousness.

I respect and applaud the bravery of America’s men and women in uniform. I applaud also the President’s talk of liberating the Iraqi people, and I hope that these sentiments are followed up with a serious commitment to feed the people, rebuild the economy, and keep peace among rival groups while not being seduced into thinking American power is the answer to all problems. I applaud the Administration’s apparent effort to focus on military and leadership targets as opposed to generalized destruction, but relative success in such precision will bring with it the temptation to do this sort of thing again and again in country after country.

In our national life as well as our personal lives we must remember that “success”, however defined, brings its own temptation: to worship success instead of God. At the same time, making “peace and quiet” an idol instead of pursuing justice takes people off the path of righteousness.

As individuals, communities and as a nation we are called to engage the world with our eyes wide open to injustice and oppression while striving to use means appropriate to the ends of true peace and justice. That path is likely to be harder than either ignoring problems or than using any means to impose solutions.

Ultimately, however we engage the world as individuals, communities and as a nation, we need to remember the sobering wisdom of Paul’s words: “I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.”

But let us not despair. We cannot earn salvation by our behavior, never mind our politics. We are offered salvation by the grace of God received in faith. We are not saved by any power but the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. As Paul triumphantly concludes, “Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ one Lord!”

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church