Our gospel reading for Sunday is John 15:9-17. NT Wright contrasts the texts of laying down one’s life for another and the abuse of that verse in the context of a nation sending soldiers to war.

But precisely one of the great dangers, and great wickednesses, of the world is the very common belief that fighting is a fine thing, that war is a useful way of settling disputes, and that, to put it crudely, might is right. One of the reasons human civilization has struggled to promote justice is the recognition that things aren’t that easy. And justice, at its best, knows that it has only a negative function: to clear the decks and leave the world open for people to love one another.
You can’t legislate for love; but God, through Jesus, can command you to love. Discovering the difference between what law cannot achieve and what God can and does achieve is one of the great arts of being human, and of being Christian.

We need to quit justifying violence to hold on to our power or justify it as patriotism. We need the way of the Kingdom. It is to love God and love others as we believe in the justice and righteousness of God.

May our lives as believers be marked by our ability to abide in Christ and love our neighbor. God’s justice will flow down. It is his timing, not ours.