FUTILE CONFLICT

2 Samuel 2:12-3:39; John 13:1-30; Psalm 119:1-16; Proverbs 15:29-30

“So they stood up and were counted off—twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent's side, and they fell down and died together. So that place in Gibeon was called Field of Daggers.”

“When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus replied, ‘You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.’”

“I will obey your decrees. Please don’t give up on me!”

Today’s Old Testament reading may be one of the saddest stories outside the Crucifixion. Twenty-four Hebrew brothers, separated primarily if not exclusively by political loyalties, decide to participate in a little diversion. Their commanders’ goal is to entertain the troops in the middle of a long and sometimes obscure conflict. The contestants are proud to be chosen by their respective leaders for the exhibition. Every one is a prime example of Israeli manhood. And they each plan to win, period. Well, the “game” commences. The striving begins. Sooner than anyone expects, the field becomes a wasteland of useless carnage. There are no winners, only losers. All because some folks always play for keeps, no matter the cost. For these bloodthirsty predators, every opportunity is a matter of life and death: their lives; others’ deaths. They can never be satisfied with mere success. Unconditional surrender and tribute are the only acceptable outcomes. In sum, their goal is to win or die trying. They frequently do both, but accomplish no more than assuring there can be no real victory for anyone.

I know people exactly like those young soldiers. They populate cubicles and boardrooms all around the world. They are the ones who live all of life as a contest. They can never simply relax, enjoy and be grateful. Everything is a challenge which must be overcome regardless of the price, even if it costs their own health or, worse, soul. Several of these predators attended law school with me. Before the days of computers in law, research was done using cumbersome volumes of case reports and a complex indexing system which required the use of still another set of books. For the predators, each book represented a potential vulnerability, one they would do anything to protect.  So, the most necessary books quickly disappeared, never to be seen again, at least not until the particular assignment was past due. Some were stolen outright. Many students chose to emulate the predators’ strategy rather than stop it. So the predators “won…” until the inevitable pop quiz revealed how pervasive the practice was, and library privileges were rewritten for everyone. Many of those working their way through school were especially devastated, as their book times frequently conflicted with their work times. No one knew for sure who was responsible. We each had our favorite suspects. We did know one thing, though. Long before any predator even attempted to actually practice law, they had already compromised their souls and were failures as “professionals,” regardless of their grades.

Predators can never understand foot washing or much of any type of service to others. But Jesus was abundantly clear that His is the example we should follow, whether we understand it or not. Challenging our peers and fighting our friends is not just counterproductive. Carried to extremes, such competition can destroy them and us. When life is all about winning, few ever really do. When life is about service, curiously, everybody wins. Maybe that displeases the predators, but it makes the heart of God most glad.