Twenty years ago today, the unthinkable happened. I remember the horror of hearing that an airplane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. At first we thought it was an accident, but when another airplane crashed into the other tower, we realized that we were under attack. Then a third airplane hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania, and we started to wonder how many more airplanes would be crashing. I remember getting a phone call from my sister saying “America is under attack; you need to leave work and come home right now”. I remember watching the news that night on TV, and seeing the horror as thousands of people began running through the streets of New York City, trying to get away from the area of the World Trade Center as quickly as possible, while the rescue workers were trying to rush in. I remember the fear as people waited to hear from their loved ones, and the sorrow when some of them started to realize that their loved ones would never be coming home. I remember the sorrow and the pain. Now is the time to take stock of where we’ve come since then, what lessons we’ve learned, and what lessons we still need to learn.
On September 11, 2001, we learned that we are much more vulnerable then we ever realized. Similar to the feelings generated by the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, and to the feelings generated by the COVID pandemic, we felt vulnerable. Nothing feels safe in a world where airplanes intentionally crash into buildings killing thousands of people. Nothing feels safe in a world where terrorists hold that much power. America and all of humanity had to come face-to-face with the fact that we are all far weaker and far more vulnerable than we had been telling ourselves. In my opinion, our response to the events of 9/11/01 was both good and bad. Good— Many people gathered in churches and homes to pray. Many people realized that it was time to pray. We (temporarily) acknowledged our weakness. We (temporarily) realized that we desperately needed God. Bad— The prayer meetings slowed down after a few weeks. Once the initial shock started to be alleviated, the prayer meetings stopped. Good— People banded together. There was a sense that “We’re all in this together”. Most of us knew someone who knew someone who was killed when the towers came down. We (temporarily) learned to “weep with those who weep”. Bad— We developed clearly-defined in-groups and out-groups. The in-groups were the patriotic Americans and the conservative Christians. The out-groups were all Muslims and many Americans who were of a less patriotic and more liberal and progressive bent. We were quick to draw a dividing line between the “good guys” and the “bad guys”— “us” and “them”. Good— President Bush helped us to not see ourselves as defeated, passive victims but was able to rally us into bounce-back mode. Bad— President Bush waged a war against terrorism that could never be ended. (When Bush gave his speech several days after 9/11 I remember thinking to myself “If we wage a war against terrorism, how are we ever going to end it? How will we know when the last terrorist cell has been defeated? And why is he bringing the wonder-working power of the blood of Jesus into a speech about waging a war?”). Violence begets violence. War begets war. Every act of aggression guarantees that there will be an act of revenge, which will trigger another act of aggression, which will trigger another act of revenge. The cycle of aggression and revenge never stops. What one side sees as an act of revenge the other side sees as an act of aggression— like two children who refuse to stop fighting because they both insist “He hit me first”. There is no way to end it. That is the way that war and violence work. That is the way of this world. This God-rejecting world sees no other way to solve its problems than to shoot guns and to drop bombs. Perhaps this unending cycle of aggression and revenge will never end until Messiah returns to the earth. Perhaps the planet has chosen its course and will not relent until the Day of the Lord— but that doesn’t mean that Christians should go along with it. We shouldn’t be cheering the Enemy’s tactics. Jesus said “For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Jesus knew and taught that when we go to war against another, we bring war against ourselves. Jesus said “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust”. (Matthew 5:43-45). Many Christians ignored these teaching of Jesus in the aftermath of the events of 9/11/01. We should have led the world in loving our enemy, but we could not. We were too angry. We were too offended. We were too hurt. We were not able to love our enemy. There was too much pain. We were not able to forgive. God knows our weakness. He knows that it is hard to do the right thing when we are in extreme pain and sorrow— but now it’s twenty years later. We need to deal with this now or it will continue to return to us, haunting us at every turn. I am not expecting the United States of America to forgive Al-Qaeda and to act like nothing happened, but I am asking myself and my fellow Christians to search our hearts. What are we harboring in our hearts? Does our remembrance of the events of 9/11/01 fill our hearts with anger and desire for revenge, or do we beg God to help us to love and forgive our enemies? What do we really want? Peace or war? Yes, there will be no peace until Messiah returns, but what do we want? Do we join in with the rest of America in a spirit of anger and a thirst for revenge, or do we act according to who we are: A counter-cultural Church of the redeemed, who represent Christ on earth, who are leaning to love and to forgive those who don’t deserve it, just as Christ loved us and forgave us, though we don’t deserve it? Are we showing the world Christ Jesus, or are we showing the world an odd blend of American nationalism and patriotism with a little Christianity sprinkled in? Jesus called us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. This means that we have to be different from the rest of the world. They hate; we ask God to help us to love. They seek revenge; we ask God to help us to forgive. They seek war; we seek peace. Peace may not be possible until the Messiah returns, but peace represents who we are. It should be the condition of our hearts. If the coming Kingdom of God is a kingdom of peace, and if the Church has been set up by God as a billboard pointing to the coming kingdom, then we should be a people who seek peace and not war; we should be a people who seek forgiveness and not revenge. Otherwise we are not being who we are. We are not being who God called us to be. Jesus would call us light that has been hidden under a bushel, and salt that has lost its saltiness. When we march with the rest of the world instead of marching against it, we betray our calling as representatives and ambassadors of the coming Kingdom of God. “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19). Some day God will set the record straight, but that is his job, not ours. God know the hearts of all people, and only God can judge righteously. We don’t need to worry about vengeance, as that will be taken care of by the only One in the universe who has the right to vengeance. We don’t dare ask for vengeance upon others while we plead for God’s mercy over ourselves. Sinners who deserve God’s wrath don’t pray down God’s vengeance on other sinners who deserve God’s wrath. Instead, we trust God to do whatever is right, and we pursue the things that Jesus taught us to pursue: Loving our enemies and forgiving those who persecute us. This is what makes us the Church. This is what makes us ambassadors of the coming Kingdom. Remembering the events of 9/11/01 should not make Christians more patriotic, more nationalistic, and more filled with anger and the desire for revenge. That is the world’s way, but that is not our way. God calls Christians to march in a different direction. We need to learn to say with King David “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war” (Psalm 120:7). A descendent of David who is greater than David will come to reclaim the throne of David, and He is the Lamb that was Slain, the Prince of Peace. We will spend eternity worshipping the Prince of Peace. We need to be becoming now what we will be forever. Vulnerability is not a bad thing. It is a good thing. When we acknowledge our vulnerability, we place ourselves rightly before God. A surge of American nationalism and patriotism and a show of military strength is buying into the lie that we are strong and not vulnerable, that we can solve our own problems through military might and political power, that “they” are bad and “we” are good, that we automatically have God’s favor because we somehow think that we are a Christian nation and that God will bless our military and political chauvinism. This sets us into a collision course with God and His ways. This positions us to become the enemies of God Himself. Jesus said “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away”. (Matthew 5:38-42). This is not the American way, but it is the Jesus way. We’ve got to make a choice. We can’t have it both ways.
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