Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot

St.Anthony assaulted by devils

 Lectionary: 313

"Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil,
to save life rather than to destroy it?"

Our scripture readings today describe two situations of combat. The first story is about a fight to the death between warriors; the second concerns an argument with deadly consequences. In both cases, we who hear them must take a great interest in the outcome; our faith hangs in the balance.

In "the best of all possible worlds," combat would not be necessary. Reason and good will should prevail. I know people who would like to live in that better world; they grieve continually about its loss, or its failure to appear. 

But I also know people who choose to live in this world and have made their peace with it. I would not call it a choice between the real world and worlds that should exist. I am not sure what people mean by real, reality, true, or truth. But I have seen conflict in this world where I have also met the Lord. 

In his Iliad, Homer describes a contest between Menelaus and Paris not unlike that of David and Goliath. Two armies, weary of warfare after a ten year struggle, and with nothing to show for it, select champions; their duel should settle their differences. Paris had kidnapped Helen, the wife of Menelaus, who seemed all too willing to be kidnapped by the charming Trojan. But she had tired of him after ten years and missed her homeland and her husband. Not many Trojans would grieve the loss of the handsome couple if the aggrieved husband slew the thief and took his wife home. Unfortunately, the meddlesome gods intervene and the dreary siege of Troy continues for several more years. 

The story of David and Goliath is more plausible. The Philistines were accustomed to pillaging the fields, livestock, and storehouses of the Hebrews, but they had finally met enough resistance that they tried a different tact. The Hebrew farmers would surrender and go home if a Philistine champion were to kill the Hebrew champion. The equally exhausted Hebrews had little choice but not even Saul, who enjoyed God's particular protection, would fight Goliath. 

And so the lad David, with the bravado of youth and the assurance of Samuel's secret anointing,  stepped forward. The Hebrews could afford the loss. "Why not let the boy have a go at it?" 

The denouement is not implausible either; history records many stranger incidents. The shepherd boy killed the battle-hardened warrior and the unnerved Philistines fled. Eventually, as Saul's star descended and David's rose, the Hebrews captured Jerusalem, subdued the Philistines, and built a a small but significant nation amid the superpowers of Egypt, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. 

Modern romantics might wish that God's selection of Abraham's children should have protected them from the greedy, violent peoples they encountered. Can't God manage things without warfare? But the Scriptures remember the sins that betrayed God's covenant and left them vulnerable to alien encroachment. They also remember the heroes whom the Lord appointed; they were capable, sinful, virtuous and foolish; and appeared at the right moment to effect God's purposes. The list includes men and women, Jews and gentiles, slaves and emperors, warriors and martyrs. 

Sometimes combat is necessary; despite its horror. It leaves lasting damage in victims and victors, and is never glorious. If we fight, it's only with the hope that it will finally be justified when the lion lies down with the lamb, and every sword is turned to a plowshare.