2 Maccabees 15: Battle – Part I
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the season of Lent, a time of reflection, good works, prayer, and transformation. In our secular world we are experiencing a time of tumult and change. In the coming days we will reflect on the nature of battle – how it affects us, and how we might best react to or participate in conflict.
It is not through arms but through the Lord’s decision that victory is won by those who deserve it.
We know this, and yet we insist on determining what best disciplines us, rather than deferring to God’s own discipline.
For those of us who are fortunate to live outside of active warfare, the turbulence of today’s story is reflected in the ups and downs of our daily existence. Strife appears in many forms. We might see the bloody stories of Nicanor, Razis and Judas Maccabeus as a more sanguine version of interoffice gossip, of political disagreement, of neighborhood one-upmanship, of family betrayal, or backstabbing among apparent friends. Human beings are constantly striving to prove things, to win battles, to sway or coerce, to be right, to be included, to belong, to exclude.
It is not through arms but through the Lord’s decision that victory is won by those who deserve it.
We cling to hope that our point will be seen. We believe that if we work long enough and try hard enough we can win or do anything, rather than understanding that no victory without God is a true victory. A conquest not attended by God may, in fact, spell the beginning of our end.
Spending hours plotting, gathering others to rally around us, using shrill speech to gain allies, or extreme and ugly force to obtain that on which we have set our eye, these are all tactics we read about today. We call these measures excessive and beyond necessary; yet they remain the mark of the human struggle that draws us in constantly.
It is not through arms but through the Lord’s decision that victory is won by those who deserve it.
Tomorrow, God’s skirmish.
Use the scripture links to learn more about Nicanor, Razis and Judas Maccabeus.
Written on February 28, 2009.
Image from http://www.artnet.com/artists/frans-floris-the-elder/the-triumph-of-judas-maccabeus-_40ZvRvvvz4hHJDvb7i3sA2
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