Thoughts on war, part 3

 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?  If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ~ Luke 14:31-32

A friend of mine is in Jerusalem as an academic, studying, writing and doing research. She has become very familiar with the shelters available to her, especially the one in the library, housing the ancient texts that have survived centuries. Today, she marked the fifth time she would be in the shelter - the fifth time today.

As I refelct on this war, I am reminded of the scripture from Luke - Jesus says this to describe what discipleship will entail: there will be a cost to following him and it is good to understand the cost before making the decision to follow. He uses this example of war almost as a given: of course a king would sit down beforehand and determine the cost - of human lives, of families destroyed, of financial resources to enact a war and the price to rebuild afterward, the retaliation to come, the alliances broken, . Certainly, a leader would count the cost before going to war.

I wake to the news of strikes in Bahrain, Dubai, UAE, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Oman , Kuwait and Cyprus. Soldiers and civilans killed and wounded. Air travel stopped. Oil production affected. Stock markets plunge. Lives destroyed.

Certainly SOMEONE sat down to count the cost before the strikes began. Certainly someone said, “The consequences are too much for us to bear. Let’s develop another strategy.” I am sure no one thought of my friend in Jerusalem, sheltering in a bunker with her colleagues trying to keep their spirits up.

Our leaders should have.