Gospel of Luke, chapter 3:16

Hardly a day passes that we do not hear the sad news of violent aggression and brutality against innocent people somewhere around the world whether it be Columbine (U.S.); the island massacre in Norway; or Newtown, Connecticut. To make matters worse, some perpetrators of these acts often try to justify their atrocities by claiming that they are fighting a holy war in God’s name. Think of the Taliban in Afghanistan; Al Qaeda in Iraq; and several other fanatical, politico-religious groups. Today’s scripture is indeed a call to war: not a war against other people but a war against sin and corruption; not a war against people whom we perceive as evil, but a war against evil itself, the cause of all wars.

Scripture scholars tell us that Jesus’ baptism of the “Holy Spirit and fire” puts the children of God in opposition to the children of the world. The world is divided into two camps: the camp of the believers and the camp of the unbelievers. There is a perpetual conflict between these two groups as one group strives to purify the world of evil and the other tries to pull it down to hell. These two groups do not live in different parts of the world; they live side by side in the same neighborhood; sometimes under the same roof; and often within the same people themselves as they struggle with the forces of good and evil.

The baptism of Christ is not a call to war against nationalities; cultures, creeds or ideologies, but a war that confronts the forces for evil in our own natures and in the natures of those who are dear to us; such as father, sister, son, mother, daughter, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law (Luke 12:53). The parable of the wheat and the weeds also deals with this conflict (Matthew 13:24-43) even in families or in churches.

The church has drawn up a list from scripture of the evil forces that are constantly warring within us. They are called the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride (self-righteousness); Covetousness (greed and seeking material prosperity at the expense of one’s soul); Lust (sexual abuse of minors, pornography, and treating women as objects of pleasure); Anger (bitterness, hate, and bearing grudges); Gluttony (excessive eating and drinking); Envy (self-hatred, and disinterested rivalry); Sloth (laziness or wanting success without working for it.) We can add the mother of all evils to this list: injustice. If we declare battle against these evil forces we will be fighting the fight of our lives; the one that Jesus wants to ignite in His followers.

Those engaged in this war against evil can expect persecution because those who have much to lose will not give up easily. Read ‘The Help’; by Kathryn Stockett, and you will see what it was like for a bunch of African American maids to resist injustice during the civil rights movement of the early 60’s in Mississippi. Look at what Martin Luther King had to endure to achieve civil rights for African Americans! He was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Look at what Mother Teresa had to go through in Calcutta to save the poorest of the poor. Look at what people of conscience have to fight against in a world compromised by sin! Jesus did not escape suffering and death in His fight against evil.

The good news is that the Lord will never abandon us in our struggle against evil in ourselves, and in the world because we have been baptized in His baptism of the “Holy Spirit and fire.”

Fr. Hugh Duffy