Introduction
Herod’s cruel exercise of power has its parallels today. Alex Proud, in The Daily Telegraph, has this reflection which links with this week’s prayer: ‘What do you want, do you really, really want?’. He maintains that the response to evil has simply created more evil. He concludes that ‘the right course of action is blindingly obvious to anyone who isn’t up to their neck in a swamp of money and power.’
Context
So where is Greece in the battle of money? Surely their referendum vote is a recognition that Greece’s debt is simply unpayable. The tax revenues won’t even cover the interest on what is lent, let alone repay anything, and Greece is reverting to a black market economy, whilst rich Greeks have all their money offshore. And will we come to see that Yanis Varoufakis was a real prophet? Suzanne Moor, in The Guardian thinks so. His resignation was demanded because he spoke for ordinary Greek people too bluntly. We might have an idea about how to deal with an individual who goes bankrupt, or has run up unpayable debts with Wonga, but what happens to a nation? The old answer was devaluation: a wheelbarrow load of notes to buy a loaf of bread. But this isn’t humane, or possible, within a single currency used by nineteen nations. Europe remembers the hyperinflation of Germany in the wake of the First World War, and which brought about the rise of Hitler; the European Community was founded to prevent such a disaster from happening again.
The cruel exercise of power frighteningly exists today in North Korea. With citizens forced to watch executions in order to keep them in terror and subservient. But the article also points out the number of executions by the state in the USA. How is this possible in what is nominally a Christian country?
On the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London, it is worth recalling that those who attempted a similar act weeks later were imprisoned, not executed. We do not, like ISIS, carry out public executions, posted on YouTube for all the world to see.
Reflection
Criticism of ‘Europe’ is all too easy, but what has been slowly built after the Second World War has meant that the states which ruled by fear – Greece under the colonels, Spain and Portugal under fascist dictators, much of Eastern Europe under communism – have slowly been eliminated and replaced by states in which human rights and human dignity are respected. There is real free speech, not the imprisonment of prophetic critical figures. Even waving a black flag in London is not stopped. Our aim is to change hearts and minds to respect all people. There are calls to allow people who have been misguided enough to go to Syria to be allowed to return if they regret their actions.
Where is Greece? A short time ago the fear was that violent right-wing groups would get out of control. Golden Dawn (see Wikipedia) posed a real challenge to democracy. Today the government in Greece is democratic and deliberately anti-fascist, trying not to let the situation fall into the chaos which allows a dangerous demagogue to seize power. The demonstrations culminated in a democratic vote, not in chaos.
In Tunisia we also see an attempt to sow terror and destabilize the economy. In the midst of the suffering by British families as a result of the killing spree in Sousse, the real victims are the Tunisian people, seeking to build an open democratic state after the removal of their tyrant dictator in the first Arab Spring in 2011. Those who have visited Tunisia since then, and particularly those who have visited since the slaughter at the Bardo Museum earlier this year, have actually affirmed their support for what Tunisia is doing, and their rejection of terror. We could have said, after the 7/7 bombing, that we wouldn’t ever go to London, go on the tube, or whatever. But the response to terrorism has to be to deprive it of its power to terrorise by simply living normally. It might even mean that we deliberately choose to visit and support countries which are threatened by destabilising forces, in order to affirm our support for peace.
It is not so many years since terror was used by the IRA as a weapon in London, and in the bombing of the Conservative conference in Brighton. Free, open societies will always be attacked by evil, and this could, in so many places, result in the end of freedom and the imposition of a style of rule as repressive as that of a Herod. But much of the blame for what is happening across the Middle East and North Africa must find its origin in the invasion of Iraq. Britain and America have ‘sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind’ (Hosea 8.7) and against this the prophet Amos (7.8) reminds us of God’s standards, setting a plumb line of justice for every nation.
We recall the fragility of Herod’s repressive regime. In spite of building a magnificent temple, of which the immense foundation blocks can be seen today in Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall, there was a violent rebellion against this rule by the Jewish people which resulted in the complete destruction of both temple and city.
And the Holy Land remains a battleground. Last Monday Palestinians marked the one year anniversary of the attack on Gaza which resulted in 2,500 deaths, with demonstrations that included the shutting down of Israeli weapons factories. There may be a real danger that if the Israeli government refuses to make peace with Palestinians, Islamic State may find an opening here also.
In all this we pray ‘Where is thy reign of peace?’ and pray for the coming of the kingdom which Jesus proclaimed.
Prayer
after Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1
Risen and ascended Lord Jesus,
you have demonstrated
that evil can never have the last word or claim the final victory.
We pray that your love, your justice and your peace
may prevail in our troubled world.
May insult, injury, murder and violence
never provoke us to respond to evil with evil.
You chose us before the foundation of the world
to be holy and blameless before you in love.
You destined us for adoption as children of our Father.
In you we have redemption,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of your grace lavished on us.
With all wisdom and insight
you have made known to us the mystery of your will.
In you we have also obtained an inheritance
so that we might live for the praise of your glory,
and we rejoice that we are marked
with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to you, Lord Jesus Christ,
for this pledge of our inheritance
toward redemption as God’s own people.
Amen.
Questions
- How can we campaign to encourage our government, and people in power everywhere, to seek justice and peace?
- The internet and social media afford vast scope for campaigning today. What ideas can we share?
Action
- Where do we go on holiday in future?
- Is it right, or is it foolish, to defy extremists and go to support nations which are seeking to build a peaceful and just society?
- Is the personal risk too great, or is it actually no more than the risk incurred in, for example, a trip to London?
Young People
Thousands of people use a gap year to try to do some good in the world. Where do you go? Is it important? What kind of thing is right? And, actually, can newly retired people also do the same?
Tom Ambrose is a retired Anglican priest in Cambridge.
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