So this one is going to be a little different. I watched a movie I love today. It hits me right in the feels...over and over and over. I think I know why now.
If you haven't seen it, Lone Survivor is the heart wrenching, soul cleaving story of Operation Red Wings, a Navy SEAL operation in Afghanistan that began about 10 years ago, June 27, 2005, to be exact. It was intended to bring retribution down upon the head of a notorious Taliban warlord and his crew is miscreants that had, a week or so prior, murdered 20+ Marines. The movie is gripping, it is beautiful it is horrible and it is overwhelming. It also tells us some really important things about ourselves, about life and about, I think at least, the Gospel.
1) Life is rough and rarely goes to plan:
Seemingly from the beginning, this operation had problems. It was, by SEAL standards, incredibly complex. There were numerous moving parts, most of which involved the back up units in the case that this mission encountered problems. The unit of Michael Murphy, Marcus Luttrell, Danny Dietz and Matthew Axelson inserted without incident and completed a successful patrol to their observation post. They identified the target, Amhad Shah and prepared to execute their mission of capturing and killing him. This was just about the last good thing that happened.
While resting and waiting for a chance to reestablish communication with their base, comms were notoriously unreliable in this region due to the mountainous terrain, a group of shepherds stumbled across them. They were carrying a radio that clearly mean that these "men", one was a young boy, another a teenager, were in contact with the Taliban stronghold in the valley below. The team argued at length over what to do. Release the shepherds and guarantee discovery and risk annihilation by the much stronger Taliban force, tie the men up and proceed, while likely dooming them to death or kill them outright and proceed. Ultimately LT Murphy, the leader of the team, decided to release the men and evacuate as quickly as possible. They simply were not fast enough.
The military force housed in the village below mobilized with incredible speed and cut the SEALs off from their exit strategy. Despite continuous efforts to find an escape route after contact was made, the SEALs were effectively trapped. The fire fight that resulted was tremendous. Bullets filled the air and the men seemingly could not move with out taking another shot. In their attempt to escape down the mountain to find fightable ground, Danny Dietz sustained grievous wounds, was captured and killed. By this point all of them had been shot more than once and were beginning to question their fate. They were surrounded, shot to pieces and one of them had been captured and, to their knowledge, would likely be killed. Everything had gone wrong, as life sometimes or perhaps often does.
2) They relied on each other, even when all hell was coming down on them.
This was the first take away that, to me at least, is something the Church desperately needs to recapture or perhaps even learn for the first time. One of the things that makes the SEALs, and other elite units like them, so effective and so incredibly powerful is their reliance on each other. Their commitment to each other. This is demonstrated in vivid and gut wrenching clarity in Lone Survivor. When all hell breaks loose, these men, who loved each other dearly, repeatedly lay themselves in harms way to save the man next to them after he gets hit. Dietz gets shot up early in the fire fight, but his friends keep him going. Keep encouraging him and remind who he is, even though in the midst of a firefight and the initial waves of traumatic shock, this once mighty warrior begins to falter. They never let him and remind him to stay in the fight despite his wounds and despite his mistakes. Does this sound like most of the churches you have been to? Does this sound like many of the Christian men you know? Or is it instead a culture of gossip and "pick yourself up by your boots straps?" It is my hope and prayer that you have not experience the duplicitousness and outright abuse that churches can deliver in the wake of a mistake, both miniscule and monumental.
It is my contention and strongly held conviction that the Church is meant to be exactly what these SEALs were to each other. A place where we do not hide from the reality of the wounds and mistakes but instead we accept them and then bind them up to the best of our ability. And when they have been bound, to move on and bring the wounded member with us. Because that person is one of ours. Is our teammate. Is our brother, our sister our friend and our family. That is who the Church is, or at least who it is meant to be. A team that risks all for our brothers and sisters. Not a group who shames and abuses.
3) Sacrifice
The ultimate moment in the first act, so to speak, of Lone Survivor is the incredible act of LT Michael Murphy. With Dietz captured and his men shot to pieces, Murph realizes that there is only one way that his men will survive this fight. As he tells Marcus what he intends to do, "I need to make the call for back up" he starts unloading his magazines and handing them to his friend and brother. Marcus, instantly realizing what this means, starts pleading with Murph, his voice catching in his throat. Murph, with only the bullets remaining in his weapon, starts running directly into the teeth of the enemy fire. Marcus, trying his best to cover him. Climbing as fast as he can through a rock fall, Murph attains a high point on the ridge, makes the call for back up and is shot to death while doing so. He takes the bullets that would have been destined for his men, his friends and his brothers, so that they might live. Sound like anyone you know?
Obviously, this is also the story of Jesus, and it is a beautiful image of the interposed blood of our Lord and Savior. So my question above almost certainly brought Jesus to mind. But in this instance, it is not Jesus that I am talking about. Do you know anyone who puts their life, their reputation and their standing in the world on the line to protect those they love. Again, I see this as a devastating absence in the American Church today. American Christians seem to be much more interested in being theologically correct than in upholding their end of Jesus' declaration and command that we lay down our lives to gain them. We fight over government actions and who deserves wedding cakes, all the while, millions of people in our nation spend their days hungry and wondering where the next bite of food will come from. We battle over theological minutia, all the while hundreds of thousands of people live on our streets, many with treatable mental illnesses and addictions. But instead of binding up those wounds, we shame them and tell them its their fault and treat them like they deserve to be in the situation they are in, or perhaps more alarmingly, that WE deserve our better situation because of some greatness that is found in us. We have forgotten the phrase "there, but for the GRACE OF GOD, go I." We count the cost of helping and deem it too much because our budget is too tight.
4) The Good Samaritan and Pasthunwali
This is the on that gets me every time. After Murph makes the call, the cavalry comes. However, because of a logistical screw up, the Chinooks, (great troop carriers with basically non existant defensive or offensive capabilities, come in to a hornets nest of small arms and rocket launcher without gunship support. As a back up team of SEALs prepare to fast rope out of one of the helicopters, an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) hits its mark and obliterates the vehicle and all who were in it. The second Chinook barely escapes. Axelson and Luttrell witness this calamity and within minutes are returned to the knowledge that they are going to die. Axelson is killed at some point after the crash and Luttrell continues his fight and flight. He finds refuge in a rock cleft and falls asleep. The next day he is discovered by an Afghani local. Marcus is certain that this man is going to kill him or at best capture him and turn him over to the Taliban. And why wouldn't he? The US military had been conducting operations in this man's country for nearly 4 years by this point. Thousands of Afghans had been killed at the hands of the US Military. Very likely, this man knew and loved some of them. But instead, he extends his hand to Marcus and takes him to his home. He feeds him and gives him water. He gives him clothes and works to bind his wounds. He has taken in the enemy of his people and cared for him. But this is not where he stops. He goes further. Further than Marcus or really anyone would ever expect.
News travels quickly that Gulab, the man who rescued Luttrell, has taken him in to his home. The Taliban reaction is predictable. They descend upon this village that they rule over with an iron fist and attempt to execute the American. As the machete is preparing to come down on Marcus' neck, Gulab and the other villagers open fire with warning shots. The villagers outnumber the small group of Taliban that have come to kill Luttrell but as they leave, they promise retribution on these people who have defended an American of all people. As Marcus is dragged back to his room, gravely injured, he begs to know why these people are protecting him. Not in complaint, but in utter disbelief.
The reason is Pasthunwali, a moral and ethical code that permeates the Pashtun region of Afghanistan. It has many points, but the first two are key. 1)Melmastia: a radical form of hospitality that is central to Pashtun culture. This hospitality is to be shown to every visitor, regardless of their creed, race, family or any other identifying characteristic. 2) Nanawatai: the practice of providing asylum to a stranger and protecting them, at all costs, from their enemies. It was these two precepts of the Pashtun code that saved Marcus Luttrells life. The village fought a pitched battle against a strong Taliban force to protect the life of an American soldier who had certainly been involved in the deaths of some of their countrymen. Many died in the effort to hold out until the US military could come to retrieve Luttrell.
This is perhaps one of the more pressing issues that I have witnessed within the Church over the last week and really for quite some time. We see people who are in need of asylum. People in need of love, grace and mercy. People who are pursued by their enemies. And what do we so often do? We ask for their references. "Are you gay? Sorry, can't help you until you get yourself fixed. We have a Scriptural reason to disregard you. Sorry not sorry" "Are you hungry and destitute? Sure we will help you. But first you have to prove that you are willing to work and arent an addict and wont wast the help we give you. Oh and you have to start coming to church or we will cut you off." "Are you...anything we don't agree with? Well, sorry but we have standards and theological grounds for excluding you and when you can get that fixed, yeah, maybe we will let you be apart of us."
I wasn't expecting to get this out of Lone Survivor today. I was expecting to have my heart opened and my tears to fall. I was expecting to see what these brave men went through and get some perspective. I just wasn't expecting it to be this.
Friends in the Church. We have some serious work to do. We need to get ourselves right because right now we are costing people eternity. Our desperation to be "right" theologically is coming at the cost of the souls of people we encounter every single day of our lives. They are our friends. They are our family. They are people that have abused and mistreated us. But in the end, Jesus loves them and so should we, at any cost.
Friends outside the Church. I'm sorry. If all you ever learn of Jesus is the way his followers behave, I am sorry. If the church has shunned you for anything, whether it was your decision or not. I am sorry. But also, thank you. Thank you for being my friend, even though I represent a body of people that can sometimes appear to do everything possible to mistreat and abuse those with whom they disagree.
Hope this makes some kind of sense. If not, I'd love to talk about it with you sometime. Whoever you are and whatever you believe. I promise to protect you from your enemies, to do my best to bind up your wounds, to give you what food and refreshment I have. Because it is what Christians were made for, even if we sometimes forget.
Jesus, help me to be more like the Samaritan. To be more like Gulab. To be more like Marcus, Dietz, Axe and Murph. But most importantly and above all, to be more like You.
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