Counting the Real Costs: The Price We Pay to Feed the War Economy
Sermon by Rev. Amiri Hooker
For which one of you, when he wants to build a watchtower [for his guards], does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to finish it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is unable to finish [the building], all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish!’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one who is coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else [if he feels he is not powerful enough], while the other [king] is still a far distance away, he sends an envoy and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not [carefully consider the cost and then for My sake] give up all his own possessions. (Luke 14:28-33)
Jesus was clear with the need for his followers to be able to apply economics, logic and resource management/stewardship to the work of ministry.
Our country spends more on its military than any other country. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned of the dangers of militarism, the United States was in the middle of a devastating war in Vietnam, with U.S. bombing campaigns ravaging neighboring Cambodia and Laos. And in the five decades since, powerful elites in the United States have never wavered from their conviction that “hard power” – meaning brutal military force – is the “American Way.” But I don’t think our church or our country are looking at the real costs of war. Or if they are, they’re ignoring most of us.
When I drive around small rural towns in the South, I see the real effects of the Military Beast. Followers of Jesus must ask is it the JESUS WAY to take bread from the widow and orphan and buy weapons.
Yes it is hard to find the JESUS WAY – and quoting Jesus or the Bible on matters of war and peace can be complicated – but one must see that the JESUS WAY is concerned with the needs of the poor.
The prophets seem to give conflicting views. One said, “beat your swords into plowshares,” while another said, “beat your plowshares into swords” (Isaiah 2:4; Joel 3:10). And while Jesus said cool stuff about loving your enemies, he also said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34).
But we must acknowledge in our text Luke 14, the JESUS Way is all about “counting the costs” of war (14:28-33).
To follow the JESUS WAY means to be a follower of a kingdom life of service and kingdom building is in support of the poor and people in need.
The JESUS WAY is defined by following Jesus and “carrying the cross.”
The JESUS WAY never leads its followers to an “easy believism” or a “low-cost” form of faith. Instead, it stresses the high cost of following Jesus.
The two brief parables below illustrate these costs.
The first is about a landowner building a tower, for guarding land and animals (14:28-30). If the landowner had not estimated how much the tower would cost, it is possible that the project will remain unfinished due to lack of funds. The end result will be ridicule from all who see the unfinished structure.
The second is about a king who assesses the number of his troops in light of the greater number that his enemy possesses (14:31-32). If he cannot win with the number of soldiers he has, the only wise course will be to negotiate with his enemy long before they meet in battle.
Jesus uses these two stories to illustrate the necessity of “counting the cost” of discipleship. I also suggest that these two illustrations also have very clear economic indications. These texts show a real need to look at one’s defense and military budget as moral allocations of a country’s wealth.
Following Jesus in the JESUS WAY is an all or nothing proposition. We understand Freedom is expensive, but America has to be clear that fighting wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, having U.S. drones and planes in Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and be deployed in 149 countries is very expensive.
Move One (What is the Cost)
The real costs of being the world’s military are both direct and indirect. The direct cost of U.S. militarism are evident; we just need to do the math and see the $6 trillion that have gone to war over the past two decades. The indirect costs of our bloated Pentagon budget are woefully under- reported.
Many of us don’t realize how the indirect effects of the expansion of the U.S. military around the world causes serious problems, from assaults on local women to environmental destruction to distorting local economies.
No one counts the emotional, phycological and spiritual costs of training people to hate other people, based on their culture, skin tone, and place of birth and then returning these programmed killing machines to police our prisons, communities, schools and public places.
No one has done the math for the indirect costs of my hometown of Bennettsville, South Carolina, receiving federal military grants to purchase mini tanks, yet having to spend community resources for training, storage, and maintenance of those weapons.
Move Two (What We Pay)
Feeding the war economy means we have to reduce the true work of ministry that the JESUS WAY calls us to. There is a Biblical mandate to feed and care for the poor, the widow, the stranger, the oppressed. And what confounds me is why such care isn’t considered to be just as vital to America’s national security as weaponry, war, and surveillance? When will we realize that by feeding the war economy, we are depleting our very souls?
It doesn’t take much to see that terrorism and other threats to our country stem from poverty, hunger, and other desperate needs, including inadequate medical care and poor education. If we spent just a few of those billions and trillions that fund war on meaningful assistance around the world, we wouldn’t need such a massive arsenal, nor need to live in fear of our many enemies. If we spent money on good jobs, quality schools, and making sure we all had housing, health care, good food and clean water, maybe our neighborhoods wouldn’t have to be war zones.
Our communities are paying the costs of war with our children, widows and homeless Veterans. Many people continue to see the military as a way out of poverty. The ranks of the so-called “all- volunteer military” are still filled by a draft—not a legal draft, as during the Vietnam War, but an economic draft. Today, our young people are still subject to a draft enforced by poverty, by lack of other jobs, by lack of college opportunities, and by the limited options available in rural areas and small towns.
Move Three (The BELIEVERS Can Still Speak Peace)
The Hebrew Bible uses a familiar but significant word, shalom. In its purest sense, shalom means “peace.” The connotation is positive. When someone says, “Shalom,” or, “Peace unto you,” it doesn’t mean, “I hope you don’t get into any trouble”; it means, “I hope you have all the highest good coming your way.”
The biblical concept of peace does not focus on the absence of trouble. Biblical peace refers to a goodness of life that is not touched by what happens on the outside. You may be in the midst of great trials and still have biblical peace.
It was American Civil War General William Sherman, who used to say, “War is hell!” He was both right and wrong. It is hellish in its horror and destruction: the unleashing of the forces of evil. It is hellish in its suffering. The four horsemen of Revelation, riding out to conquer and fight, to impoverish and to kill, are the realistic images of war. For with war comes not only conquest and hostility, but also economic disaster, illness, and death.
But war is also not hell. Like all human self-willed chaos, it is only the foretaste of hell. In fact, the poverty in this country – and others around the world that come from war, is Hell: to be clear, this is not a condemnation of the poor, who are brought into this suffering by those in power who perpetuate the sin of poverty by perpetuating the sin of war.
We must count the real costs of war. That is the JESUS WAY, so that we may know the value of life and peace, and dedicate our lives to their truth.