“War…what is it good for?” That line itself probably is enough to evoke memory of Edwin Starr’s 1970 hit. The lyrics continue, answering the question, “absolutely nothing.”
The screens of our cellphones, tablets, and televisions have been showing us images of war for quite some time now. We have witnessed war in the Ukraine and now in Israel and Gaza. Images of bloodied, still bodies. Images of explosions that reduce homes and businesses to rubble. Images of people screaming in terror. It may cause us to ask the question from the song as well, “What is this good for?”
As Christians, we are tied to the narrative of Holy Scripture to help us to understand this. We recognize that war is one of the effects of sin, that it is something that God seeks to swallow up in His salvation of the world. We also recognize that stories of war are common in the Scriptures and that war is presented to us as a reality of our sinful age. Christ Himself warns us that in our age before the end will involve wars, rumors of wars; nations and kingdoms rising up against each other. (Matthew 24). He also warns us that those who live by the sword will die by it (Mathew 26) and that we are to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5).
Because this is a reality, the Augsburg Confession states that “Christians may without sin…engage in just wars, serve as soldiers...” Additionally, however, Luther writes elsewhere that “No Christian shall wield or invoke the sword for himself and his cause. On behalf of another, however, he may and should wield it and invoke it to restrain wickedness.” Luther himself seems to follow in thought lines of his former monastic order, the Augustinians. Augustine himself postulated that a “just” war was one that is 1. a last resort, 2. a just cause, 3. comes from valid authority, 4. has a probability of success, 5. that the force is proportional, and 6. that it has an exit strategy.
So what are we to do in an age when wars rage around us? We are to look to our future and to our neighbor. Our future tells us that we are destined to live in a world with no violence and no war, and that we are to begin living that future today. Looking to our neighbor shows us their needs, and we are to live out our days before our Resurrection future in service to our neighbor – defending them if need be, but more over praying for an end to their war and seeking their physical and spiritual good. If war was good for anything, God would keep it for the Resurrection. Edwin Starr gets it right. Before the end of war comes, let find ways to serve even in the presence of this worthless thing called war.