The title of my message today is Melting M4s into Garden Tools

The scripture reading will be from Micah 4:1-5 NLT

“In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all— the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between peoples and will settle disputes between strong nations far away. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore. Everyone will live in peace and prosperity, enjoying their own grapevines and fig trees, for there will be nothing to fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has made this promise! Though the nations around us follow their idols, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever.”

On the morning of April 19th,1995 Oklahoma City experienced the worst act of homegrown terrorism in the nation’s history. At 9:02 a.m. a homemade car bomb of fertilizer and diesel exploded in downtown Oklahoma City, devastating the Murrah Federal Building. Within moments, the surrounding area looked like a war zone. A third of the building had been reduced to rubble, and floors had been flattened like pancakes. Clouds from concrete turned to dust filled the air. Cars were instantly incinerated, and more than 300 nearby buildings were damaged or destroyed. As flames engulfed the streets, 168 people were killed, 19 of whom were children. Hundreds more were injured. The terrorist who organized the Oklahoma bombing was Timothy McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran who had been tormented by the horrors he had experienced in Iraq. He wrote afterwards that he had bombed the federal building in hopes that Americans would wake up to what had been labeled the “collateral damage” of war. He had hoped they would cry out against the bloodshed happening in Iraq, if they had experienced it in their own backyard. He claimed that it was hypocritical to fund the destruction of cities in Iraq, and then to go on to condemn him for bombing a U.S. city. McVeigh had been so distraught by the horrors of war, and he had lacked a community that could help him understand and process his trauma, that he believed that bombing an American city and forcing others to see what he experienced in Iraq was the only way to remedy his own mental anguish. 

Israel in the 8th century had also experienced the anguish and horrors of war, being surrounded by the Assyrian empire they would have been familiar with the utter destruction of war. The prophecies from Micah consisted of several oracles foretelling how the Assyrian empire and later the Babylonians would come and conquer Israel in response to their rebellion and rejection of God’s ways. The prophet spoke warnings of war and destruction for the rampant injustice that had been taking place. It appears at first glance as if the prophet, speaking on behalf of God, was calling for a redemptive use of violence, like that of McVeigh. Unlike the war veteran turned domestic terrorist however, Micah’s prophecy held within it a deep escaholgical hope, one where the Lord would reign and meditate between peoples and settle all conflict. One where the Lord would be worshiped, and war would cease. One where the people will have no use for weapons of war and instead will begin to mold them into gardening tools. While the outcry and anger toward the horrors of war may have been warranted from McVeigh, his continued use of violence offered no hope. It built nothing, and left only more dead. This veteran was tormented, left without relief from his mind and began to believe the only way to see the horrors of war end was to orchestrate more violence. Micah, however, offered Israel something more amidst their doom — a hope that is far greater than any form of so-called redemptive violence that was attempted in the bombing. What if McVeigh had someone like Micah to call him out of despair and into a future hope?

Many of us have never felt the draw of war, some of us have served our country in the military, but likely none of us have ever contemplated big displays of domestic violence. Even still, we live in a country, and in a world, that has made a God of war. Jesus warns us in Matthew chapter 6 that where our treasures are, there our hearts will be also. If this is true of America, our hearts are in the business of war. The proposed US military budget for 2026 is $1.01 trillion, a 13.4% increase from 2025. For context, if the government decided instead to divide that money equally between every person in America, all three hundred and forty three million of us each would receive a check for nearly $3,000, every year. This budget continues to increase year to year with bipartisan support and almost no objections from politicians, or the American people. Republicans and Democrats alike seem only to agree on this, that the military budget is worth increasing. This number is also over 3x the amount spent on the next top military budget in the world, China being $304 billion. The U.S.military budget is over ⅓ of the entire military spending globally. 

Meanwhile, we continue to cut funding to things like food distribution around the world and in our own country. The World Food Program points to food insecurity as one of the biggest causes of war and conflict around the world. U.S. national security has often hindered on which countries were experiencing the most hunger. And yet, our budget goes to increasing our military in astronomical ways, while funding to programs that provide food, public education, healthcare, and other global peace efforts are all being cut. At the beginning of this year, in an attempt to save money, the Trump administration gutted the USAID, which housed global aid efforts all over the world. The money estimated to have been saved by ending the programs, is less than .5% of our military budget. Our treasure is in war, and there are our hearts also. 

Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 6 that we cannot serve both God and money. Paul similarly exhorts us in 1 Timothy chapter 6 to reject longings for riches because as he puts it, “The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” Alongside our astronomical military budget, resides a trillion dollar business. Between 2020 and 2024, the Pentagon awarded $2.7 Trillion in contracts to private companies. While the American tax payer funds the military, a few private companies with huge lobbying power, continue to profit. Colt’s manufacturing company for example, the company that makes all of the standard issue M4’s for the military is a billion dollar company, and spent upwards of $80,000 in lobbying efforts in this year alone, to increase the defense budget. The incentives to continue to fund war, expand military spending, and build a country defined by war are linked directly to the love of money. While we continue to prioritize the companies profiting off of war, those most affected by it in our midst— veterans, suffer. Those who have served our country have higher risks of homelessness, mental illness, and social isolation. Many of our vets suffer from PTSD, a disorder not discovered until the mental health crisis sweeping those who served following the Vietnam war. 30% of veterans have a service connected disability. Those we have asked to serve our country through the waging of wars are discriminated against, marginalized, and pledged with anguish from the service they’ve done. Those who profit off of war continue to get salary increases provided for by our tax dollars. Our treasure is in war, and there are our hearts also. 

The farmer-prophet Micah saw this same love of money had been corrupting Israel’s leaders and prophets and promoting all kinds of injustices for centuries. The leaders had become wealthy through theft and greed, stealing land from the poor and forcing them to work it. The prophets were also corrupt, offering promises of God’s protection to anyone who was able to pay them. The land was organized around bribery, justice was twisted to favor the wealthy and punish the poor. Wealth had become more and more centralized among the elite few, while the poor were stripped of their rights and their land was being stolen by the wealthy. All of this corruption from the prophets and leaders of Israel was in contradiction of Torah, which prohibited the stealing of land owned by families, even if they were poor and cannot pay their dues. In response to this, God’s judgement would come in the form of an oppressive nation that comes to take out the northern kingdom, Jerusalem and the temple. As Micah warns, the Assyrians would come and conquer, destroying their land and people. 

In the United States, we do not have to look with much fervor to find parallels to that of Israel. Our military is perhaps the most apt example of this. Military recruitment has long been criticized for disproportionately targeting impoverished communities. Black and Hispanic Americans also are continually overrepresented in the military, highlighting biased recruiting tactics. For many who join the military, they do so with the motivation to afford an education, have health care, and to escape poverty all together. One veteran and civil rights advocate, Russell Ellis, describes the U.S. military as offering the benefits of socialism for those who are willing to die for capitalism, saying he only joined the army because he was trapped in poverty and needed the free healthcare, education, and security that joining offered him. In similar ways that the leaders in Israel were penalizing the poor and benefiting the rich, the U.S. military industry lines the pockets of the wealthy who are producers of war, while it takes advantage of the poor and marginalized through targeted recruitment. 

Amid oracles warning of destruction and judgement for the sins of greed and injustice, Micah reminds Israel that the Lord is merciful, and even when we fall prey to the downfall of our own proclivities, we will not be under judgment forever. Even amidst the destruction of Jerusalem, there is hope for a restoration. While the rich steal the land from the poor now, there will be a day when we will all prosper and own our own fig trees and grapevines. While wars and rumors of wars persist around us, there will be a day where peace and prosperity will rule. While our budgets for war keep expanding, there will be a day when all our resources will be put into farming. While the threat of attack exacerbates the production of weapons, there will be a day when swords will be beaten into plowshares, and spears into pruning hooks. 

This hope is not reserved for Israel, nor is it foreign to Christ. Jesus perhaps calls us to live even more fully into this eschatological hope of redemption through his life. In Matthew 5 Jesus calls us to the highest of standards, imagining a world in which the eschatological reality might break into our lives now. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” he says. “Do not resist the one who is evil, but if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”, and perhaps most outlandish, “love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.” Jesus himself lives into this reality as well of course, in Matthew 26 Jesus is being confronted, and Peter attacks a man in an attempt to protect, cutting off his ear. Jesus responds by condemning Peter, telling him if he lives by the sword, he will die by the sword. In addition to condemning the act of violence, Jesus heals the man trading the sword for healing. The most powerful example of this eschatological hope is the crucifixion. Christ willingly accepts torture and death on a cross in order that resurrection might be made manifest to us all. 

Twenty-Seven years before the Oklahoma bombing, another protest of war took place, but in this instance one filled with an eschatological hope. In contrast to McVeigh, these protestors did not wish to take life, but were compelled to save it, at all costs. A group of fourteen priests, nuns, and lay ministers were convinced that the draft for the Vietnam war was needlessly sending young men to their graves, and that the U.S. had no business being involved, beyond that they believed that this war could not be justified in the eyes of God. In the dead of night, these women and men snuck into a government building, stole thousands of documents and destroyed them. These documents were the only copies of the names of those who had been chosen to be drafted but had not yet been identified by the authorities. This act of civil disobedience and protest effectively saved their community members from being drafted into the Vietnam war. Many of these Christian peace activists, known later as the Milwaukee fourteen, faced prison time for their protest, but they were compelled by their vision for peace and desire to save the lives of those being drafted into war. They were compelled to live into a future where violence and death was just a memory. The Milwaukee fourteen and Timothy McVeigh saw the same horrors in war, but where McVeigh could only see the violence in front of him, the little band of nuns and priests held onto the eschatological hope that compelled them to find ways to bring the future peace of Jerusalem to the present day reality. 

We may not see world peace in our lifetime, wars may continue to rage on. As greed and injustice plagues our world we may see the consequences of our own choices like Israel did. But what might it look like to live into the eschatological hope, of a world that one day will worship the Lord? What would happen if we refused to put our treasure in war? What might it look like if we planted gardens rather than built our military? Might God be calling us to be like Micah in our day? Calling out the ways our nation has put our treasure in war with bipartisan support, allowing veterans to go undersupported as they cope from the horrors of war, and defunding food programs while increasing military spending exponentially. Could we imagine a world where everyone enjoyed their own land and lived in prosperity and no one feared? A world where no man or woman needs to serve their country in order to afford college or healthcare, where no country is driven to war from a lack of food, where no veteran is driven mad by horrors of war and trapped in a cycle of violence and mental anguish. What would it look like if we put our treasure elsewhere? If our hearts were in teaching veterans to garden, in providing resources for their healing and wellbeing as they heal from their wounds? What if we invested our trillion dollar military budget not into greater defense, but into world food programs, healthcare, and education? What if we lived into Micah’s prophetic words? What if we gave each man and woman their own figtrees and grapevines so they need not worry about where food would come from? What if we invested in peace efforts rather than nuclear weapons? What if we, believing in the same future that Micah did, that the Milwaukee fourteen did, and that Christ did, dared to hammer our swords into plowshares, and to turn our M4s into garden tools?