Taking Action
At the wedding at Cana in John chapter two, the mother of Jesus, Mary, takes a decisive leadership role. She said to Jesus, “They have no more wine.” Jesus responded, “Woman, why do you involve me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
Jesus’ next response, at his mother’s request, wasn’t to give emotional or prayer support. It was a response of ACTION. Mary could not do this herself, so she asked someone who she knew could. At Jesus’ command, the servants filled six large stone jars full of water, and Jesus turned them into wine. The wedding guests were happy with the wine flowing freely.
Years ago, I was on vacation in a small seacoast town in the Yucatán in México. I stood with my friend on the second-story balcony of our tiny hotel room. We were gazing out into the neighborhood, taking in the hustle and bustle of an outdoor street market. I saw a rail-thin old woman wrapped in a shawl. She was obviously hungry. She was begging, with her hand outstretched to those purchasing fruits and vegetables at the market.
I said to my friend, “I’m going to pray for her.” My friend looked at me incredulously and said, “Pray for her? If you really cared, you would walk across the street and buy some food and give it to her.”
I was surprised that I, who had two theological degrees, was learning a lesson from someone who only sometimes attended church. What I didn’t know was the extent of my friend’s faith. I had to stew on this for a while before I could accept that she was absolutely right. Her spirituality was more evolved than mine. To my friend, my words of offering prayer were hollow and dismissive. I had fallen into the trap that my theological knowledge indicated my faith was mature—on the contrary, it still needed to be developed.
Prayer is powerful. It is the correct response when we have no recourse and cannot take action. On the night before he died, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.1 He prayed in anguish to his Father, that he could be spared from his impending suffering the next day. Sure, he is God and could have done anything, but he needed to comply with his Father’s plan. Jesus’ prayer was to receive strength to endure an outcome he couldn’t change. That same evening, Jesus told his disciples to pray so that they would not fall into temptation during the events about to happen. Their prayer was also for strength—there was no action the disciples could take to avoid succumbing to temptation.
Develop your God-given talents
When someone is sick or injured, we may pray for them to get well. Nowadays miracles happen every day when trained surgeons perform procedures which save tissues, organs, limbs, and lives. A few decades ago, in the same conditions, people would have died, or organs and limbs would have been lost. You might say that medical science is the answer to prayer—today we can indeed cure many ailments. The prayer for the sick resulted in action: Students fascinated with science went to school, honed their craft, and became surgeons or other healthcare professionals. Our minds and our reasoning are from God.
To be a good Christian is to be a steward of the gifts and talents we have been given. The healthcare professionals cultivated their God-given talents and became healers.
I’m inspired by Warren Buffet, who in 2008 was the richest person in the world, and even today is ranked at number ten. To date, he has given away billions of dollars to philanthropy. He has pledged to give away 99 percent of his wealth to charity. His children are executors of his will and share his views on righting wealth inequalities. Warren, along with Melinda and Bill Gates, co-founded the Giving Pledge, an organization that encourages and empowers the wealthiest to give away 90 percent or more of their wealth to help make the world a better place. In Acts 4:32-37 we are told the early community pooled their possessions so that the needy could benefit from the wealthy. I see that God raised Warren Buffet as a leader to champion this cause.
“I recognize the absurdity of so much wealth being concentrated in the hands of one person, and I believe the only responsible thing to do with a fortune this size is give it away—as thoughtfully and impactfully as possible.” — Melinda French Gates, 2010
I use the example of wealth to drill home the lesson of being a good steward, of whatever your talents or possessions are. In the town where I live, the local public library advertises for volunteer tutors. They match these tutors with students seeking academic assistance. This is another example of pledging one’s talents for the good of all.
When people are elected to positions of authority—representatives, senators, governors, and other government positions—they have a responsibility to use their seat to act. To effect change.
Unfortunately, Christianity2 has been hijacked by those with an agenda quite different from Christian values. By considering “thoughts and prayers” to be an adequate response to mass shootings is to deny the essence of Christianity. It is to rest on your laurels and not use your abilities to effect change.
We Used to Worship Tobacco
In the fifties, tobacco, a “hijacker of health,” was lauded as a luxury of the urban elite. It took fifty years for our society to progressively realize that it is detrimental to health. Lung cancer was virtually unheard of before the era of smoking. Consider that in 1965, 42 percent of adult Americans were smokers. In 1964, even when reports of the damning impact of tobacco were becoming common knowledge, the powerful tobacco industry used their influence to minimize this impact. Why? There’s too much wealth to lose from this lucrative industry. The dismantling of smoking in airplanes, restaurants, and other public places from our culture took a concerted effort from many voices in the health community, which for the most part has prevailed. In 1966, the United States became the first country to require health warnings on tobacco products, and those warnings (wording, area on packaging) have increased in the following years. The last cigarette television commercial was on January 1, 1971. Dozens of other countries, beginning with Canada, the European Union, and Brazil have required pictorial warnings that unambiguously depict the harsh dangers. The battle is not over; as recently as 2022, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is still using litigation to delay implementation of new warning labeling.
The tobacco industry wants us to believe that smoking is fun, enjoyable, and adds to the quality and status of our lives.
Now We Worship Guns
Idolatrous worship comes in many forms. The Israelites worshipped the golden calf. The first century Pharisees worshipped the Mosaic law, and Jesus taught them to go beyond the law, from Ten commandments to Two, himself breaking many laws to prove a point. We citizens of the world continue to worship false gods. Yesterday, it was tobacco. Today, it is firearms. American citizens are worshipping guns, using the Second Amendment as a pretext for gospel values.
The NRA’s uncanny ability to empower citizens to protect themselves, may I suggest, is UNCHRISTIAN. It is instilling fear at the expense of filling their coffers. It is hijacking the essence of the Second Amendment. Jesus never sanctioned the raising of weapons for any reason. When Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, the disciples said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.”3
Having guns for hunting or self-defense in your home is one thing. But hijacking the interpretation of the Second Amendment to allow for weapons of war, like an AR-15 designed for use by the infantry for combat? Jesus spent his life exemplifying pacifism; on Calvary he lifted not a finger and even allowed himself to be beaten, and nailed to a cross. The entire world, be you Christian, atheist, Muslim, or Jew, uses a calendar based on an event that happened 2025 years ago. Jesus’ birth is memorable, because the [peaceful] manner of his approach to his death has affected the entire world. Countless people wear the symbol of the Cross around their necks, which is a recognizable symbol of peace via submission.
This is why claiming to be a Christian while supporting the legality of AR-15s is hypocrisy. It is an utter sham, a disgrace, a flat lie—it is categorically evil. Furthermore, it is not how the Second Amendment was interpreted before the sixties. The hijacking of Christian values has allowed this normalization of guns in our culture.
Hijacking of the Second Amendment
The Second Amendment has largely been untouched since our country’s founding till the twentieth century. In the past few decades, however, there have been significant changes.
In 2008, SCOTUS overturned the District of Columbia’s ban on hand guns at home, in District of Columbia vs. Heller.
In 2018 the NRA backed then president Trump’s suggestion to arm teachers and staff with guns, to deter future gun attacks.
Recall: Smoking became popular in the 1900s, thanks to the tobacco industry’s efforts to glamorize smoking while it raked in profits at the expense of millions dying to lung cancer.
Currently, guns are popular due to Christian Nationalism’s fostering a culture of anti-Christian values and the NRA’s aggressive lobbying. The outcome is a hijacking of the Second Amendment.
Current Call to Action
What can be done in today’s cultural predicament?
Be bold in proclaiming your authentic Christian values.
Identify and denounce false “Christian” values when you encounter them. Expose them as fraudulent.
Speak loudly on abuses of the Second Amendment, that is, denounce firearms of war being used by non-soldiers.
Consider requiring the legal age to own firearms to be 21 or 25. There’s no reason someone should be able to carry a weapon when we do not deem them mature enough to hold a beer or rent a car.
Speak boldly of all these areas to your families, friends, church, and community. Perhaps even your workplace.
Vote! There are still some people (one of my neighbors) who are uninformed, uninvolved, even apathetic. We need to gently rouse them into awareness.
Especially if you live in a district whose congressional representatives largely support guns, contact them and let them know your values! Remember, their job is to represent you, so it is incumbent upon us to inform them.
Lastly, this is not a democratic vs. republican issue! Both democrats and republicans can be united as Christians who espouse values of non-aggression, and call for a check on the use of the Second Amendment.
My friends, when a “Christian” government official with “faith” suggests, “arm teachers with guns,” we need to herald: that is NOT the way of the Lord. A sizable portion of Jesus’ ministry was to unmask the “holy” pretenses of his time. This is our charge, too.
After the Minneapolis shootings last week that occurred during Mass, Pope Leo said, "Let us plead God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world. May our mother, Mary, the Queen of Peace, help us to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.'"
Isaiah and Leo are essentially suggesting the dismantling of weapons. THIS is an appropriate Christian response.
Politicians who connect gun rights with Christianity: Look to Isaiah and Pope Leo for examples of truly embodying Christian faith.
What can you do to voice any dissatisfaction you may have of current gun policy?
Where is the greatest challenge for you—sharing your values with friends, family, or your areas of involvement in community, church, or work?
— Paul
1 Luke 22:39-45.
2 I recognize there are many theists and pray-ers who are not Christian, like Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and Native Americans, to name a few, for which this also can apply.
3 Luke 22:47-51.
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