The Universal Soldier.

By Ian Boddy in Sermons

the contrasting stories of Jesus and soldiers...

The Universal Soldier
Then the soldiers led him out to crucify him [Mark 15:20].
Biblical images of soldiers are not romantic.
In the gospel crucifixion stories the soldiers are the dogs of Psalm 22
[Psalm 22:16-20], encircling the suffering one, casting lots for their
victim’s clothing. The psalm’s descriptions are expanded by the gospel
writers; the whole cohort of soldiers around Jesus stripped him and
mocked him, put a scarlet robe on him, saying “Hail King of the Jews”,
forced a crown made of thorns onto his head, spat at him, struck him
on the head and led him away to crucify him [Mark 15: 16-20] They are
not brave men. They are not honest men.
Old Testament soldiers who whole cities to the sword in the stories of
Joshua. Warriors exult in dividing plunder [Judges 5:28-30]. Their
garments are rolled in blood wherever their boots march [Isaiah 9:5].
The Crucifixion soldiers are Roman Soldiers.
The Roman Empire took conquered men away from their home lands
and made them into soldiers in other lands where it meant nothing to
them to commit atrocities upon the local people.
At Primary School my Fancy Dress costume was a Roman Soldier. At
home I played with toy soldiers divided into 2 armies who would
proceed to kill each other until there was one man left and he had won
the war.
When I was young I read the Bible every day using Scripture Union
notes. I soon found there was lots of interesting and gory detail in the
verses Scripture Union left out, and I read these inbetween bits
thoroughly every day. There is lots of nasty stuff in the ‘good book’
involving soldiers. Getting soldiers to do the bad stuff is universal.
My dad was a soldier in World War II. He didn’t talk about nasty
details. I asked him if he killed anyone. He said that he must have done
because his combat role was on a machine gun team. But his main job
in the army was as a cook. He was taken Prisoner of War with
thousands of others at Tobruk. His war experiences unsettled him and
he drifted from job to job and brought his family to this side of the
world searching for a better life.
At Boys High School they made us put on army uniforms as cadets, and
at school assemblies they taunted us with the lists of boys on the
walls, proper boys who had ‘given their lives for us’. We would never
be as good as them… I never liked the adoration of the dead boys
listed on the school wall. I got the impression we were being told that
dying was the best thing these lads ever did.
There was a war on while I was at High School, and its horrors were
shown on TV, and the victims were ordinary people whose homes and
homeland, whose livelihoods and lives were being destroyed.
In New Zealand, Army Conscription was being talked about.
In my home I listened to songs which sang “Love, Love, Love” and so
there was a dissonance. I liked Donovan’s anti-war songs, “The
Universal Soldier” (and he really is to blame) and “Ballad of a Crystal
Man” (The big bomb, like a child’s hand, will sweep them dead just so
to win).
A turning point for me was the TV film “Culloden” which graphically
showed the battle, followed by the slaughter of the defeated survivors
and the pillage, rape and murder of the local communities. It was clear
that this was the common outcome of battles. The TV re-enactment
shouted out its authenticity.
So when the time came for the Army ballot I enlisted as a
Conscientious Objector. My birthday didn’t come up so my objection
was never tested.
But I kept on reading the Bible and did always find one person I liked;
one who said “Love your enemies”, who said “Blessed are the
peacemakers”, who said “Turn the other cheek”, and kept on saying
“Follow me”. That one was Jesus.
Jesus, the one the soldiers took to the governor’s headquarters to be
roughed up and humiliated before being taken off to the place of
execution. It is a hopeless situation which the gospel writers search to
describe. They put the words of Psalm 22 in the mouth of Jesus, “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. As his clothes are divided
up, they could have brought in more words, “The dogs are all around
me. Deliver my life from the power of the dog”.
There are also words of hope in Psalm 22:
Yet you are holy, In you our ancestors trusted. They trusted and you
delivered them. To you they cried and were saved.
Jesus is not saved from execution on the cross.
Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.
The next day, according to Matthew only, the chief priests tell Pilate
that Jesus had said he would rise again, and they think the disciples
might steal the body. They persuade Pilate to put a guard of paid
soldiers around the tomb. Matthew likes bringing soldiers into the
story. Despite the soldiers, two or three Mary’s go down to the tomb
and there is an earthquake and an angel, and the stone rolls back and
the soldiers are petrified, but the angel says to the women, “Do not be
afraid. You are looking for Jesus. He is not here. He has been raised.”
And so, if Jesus is the one we have followed, there is no ending to the
story. The story lasts forever and ever because Jesus is alive.
The story of the soldiers is a dead end, a story of violence, death and
bribery.
The story of Jesus is the story of life and love. The story of Jesus lives
on.
Rev Ian Boddy