This meditation was written for the Church of the Messiah in response to the October 7 invasion a year ago.

When I was at seminary in England, I traveled with a group of fellow ordinands by bus to the British Museum. We spent some time viewing the ancient objects recovered from the area known as the Levant, which includes Syria (the western part), Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and Jordan.

Along with the various statues and relics on display, there is a large wall frieze, carved from stone, of the capture of Jewish town of Lachish by the Assyrians in 701 BC. The frieze is contemporary, which makes it a close pictorial record of what actually happened at the time. 

It shows an army of archers and shield bearers, on an Assyrian “tank” - a battering ram on wheels - with a platform for archers to shoot from at close range. The inhabitants of Lachish throw lighted torches, stones and arrows at their attackers. The end of the frieze shows the aftermath of battle. The civilian population is led peacefully away, while three captured soldiers are impaled on pikes outside the gates. Other soldiers, believed to be mercenaries, are shown being skinned alive, presumably to serve as a warning to others.

I remembered the siege of Lachish last week when I read about the terrible atrocities, including the rape of women and the beheading of babies perpetrated by Hamas on Israelis and others during their surprise invasion. What made this all the more repugnant was the fact that it was premeditated; the outrages committed on defenseless men, women and children had all been planned beforehand.

In the 2722 years between the siege of Lachish and the events of last week, the human capacity for evil remains as strong as ever. Although in many ways human beings have progressed, in other ways the human race is governed by its baser qualities, born of hatred, revenge and violence. 

Many people will turn to God at this time, and rightly so. God knew our potential for both evil and good. God gave us the law to guide us towards the good and to build patterns of right living. The ten commandments are a blueprint for how humanity should live, with devotion to God at the top of the list. We are answerable to each other for our actions, and ultimately we are answerable to God.

If we look with sadness at the unfolding situation in the Middle East, be sure that our suffering Lord Jesus weeps too for those who are frightened, abducted, tortured and killed. I am sure that many will say to God, “how can you let this happen?” but God gives us too much freedom to be always putting right what we frequently get so wrong. We must find a way to deal with the problems we ourselves have created.

What can we do? As Christians, our first duty is to pray for the victims of war. In the Ukraine and the Middle East, we ask God to raise up peacemakers to bring an end to the destruction and suffering. Our prayer is needed as a counter-balance to the evil that is never very far from us. The Rev. Giles Fraser recently wrote, “Prayer is my category for the most important of things that I cannot and do not know how to solve. Like tears, it is a bubbling up of something impossible to silence.”

In our uncertain times, we need to take everything to the Lord in prayer. In the small patch of vineyard which God has granted us, we must cultivate love and forgiveness, and weed out hatred and resentment. Take to heart this advice from the apostle Paul, from yesterday’s reading, 

“The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5-7)

With love and prayers,

Father David