Today is Veteran’s Day. It is the day when we recognize and celebrate all those who served in any branch of the U.S. military. My father, George C. Brown, Jr., was one of those veterans. He served in the U.S. Army in 1946 and 1947, spending part of the time with the forces occupying Japan following the Second World War.

So, thank you, Dad. And thank you to all the other veterans who have served.

There is an automatic aura of honor conferred upon the person who served in the military… even if that service consisted solely of washing pots and pans in a Navy mess hall for two years. That honor derives from the awareness that you decided to willingly elevate something – in this case the liberty and security of your fellow citizens – to a place of higher priority than your own comfort and well-being. 

We honor those people, partially I suspect, because that kind of sacrificial service is an increasingly rare commodity these days. In a world where we are trained to focus ALL our attention on ourselves – our own entertainment, fulfillment, and satisfaction – it seems rather quaint and anachronistic to consider putting the needs of OTHERS above our own. 

In fact, I believe the man currently sitting in the U.S. Oval Office once famously used the word “suckers” to describe people who willingly make that kind of self-sacrifice.

As scandalous and outrageous as his statement sounds, it kind of makes you stop and think a minute, doesn’t it? You begin to wonder… does sacrificial service – the kind where we submerge our OWN needs, security, and satisfaction BELOW the needs, security, and satisfaction of other people – really make sense? Won’t it get you HURT? Or OVERLOOKED? Or even maybe KILLED? And for WHAT?

I mean, sure, I might consider putting myself second in line behind someone I really love and care about. But to do that for a complete STRANGER? Or better yet, for someone I passionately disagree with and even dislike?

That’s crazy.

And YET, that is exactly the kind of recalibration of priorities followers of Jesus are called to make. 

Every day. In every encounter.

You know Jesus. He is the one who famously did NOT say, “If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn around and hit them with a solid right cross to the jaw.” No. He said something crazy and nonsensical like, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer the other one also.”

WHAAAAT?

Yup. Those words are right there in Luke 6:29 in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Holy Bible. 

I mean, how is THAT approach going to help you get ahead in the world? Unless maybe you’re competing for the title of PUNCHIEST HUMAN PUNCHING BAG.

Despite the seeming irrationality of his advice, Jesus never backed down from it. He never altered his approach. He never stopped offering his other cheek… or his hands… or his feet to the Roman executioner tasked with nailing him to the cross.

And so, whatever became of this crazy, counter-intuitive, “punching bag” approach to life? 

Nothing much. Only a world that was completely transformed. Transformed by the power of sacrificial love and sacrificial service to others. EVEN to those who hate and despise you.

Most of the time we seem to have completely lost sight of the power love and compassionate self-sacrifice hold. Except, of course, on the designated national holidays that lift it up and celebrate it. 

Nevertheless, this truth remains; the power of love TRUMPS (pun fully intended) the love of power. 

Always has.

Always will.

Yes, we set aside this day to celebrate the heroic deeds of our men and women in the military. Yes, we use this time to give them long overdue thanks for their bravery and dedication. To that end, I personally want to thank my dad, George Clifford Brown, Jr.

But what if we used the occasion of this Veteran’s Day as a prompt to remind us of the powerful prayer attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi that reminds us of that crazy, upside-down perspective of Jesus. Especially the second half that goes:

“O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love,
for it is in giving that one receives,
it is in self-forgetting that one finds,
it is in forgiving that one is forgiven,
it is in dying that one awakens to eternal life.”

Abundant blessings;