Good Men In The Service Of Evil (November 2, 2003)

The other day I chased a historical rabbit trail and discovered the story of a good man caught on the wrong side of an armed conflict.

I had long been curious about the backstory behind the Irish folk song "Grace" (sung magnificently by Anthony Kearns). The song is a first-person account of a man getting married just before his execution. The chorus goes:

Oh Grace, just hold me in your arms and let this moment linger
They'll take me out at dawn and I will die
With all my love I'll place this wedding ring upon your finger
There won't be time to share our love, for we must say good-bye.

The song is so emotionally powerful that I almost cried when first I heard it. So I looked it up and found that it referred to Joseph Plunkett, a key figure in the "Easter Uprising" of 1916 in Dublin. The uprising was a miserably ill-advised coup attempt by Irish rebels that the British easily crushed. Plunkett and 15 co-conspirators were arrested and executed. The night before facing the firing squad, Plunkett married his sweetheart, Grace Gifford, in a brief ceremony at the chapel in Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). Widowed within hours, she never remarried. Grace Gifford Plunkett became a leading voice for Irish independence as she honored (or some would say "exploited for political purposes") her husband's death, and died in 1955.

I do not know if there are any Sinn Fein sympathizers among my readers, but if there are, I will lose them right now by saying I think they are a bunch of terrorists. Their cause, methods and ideology are light-years removed from the valid struggles for independence on the part of India in the 1940s or the American colonies in the 1770s. It is not unreasonable to credit Irish nationalists with inventing the brand of terrorism that became the scourge of the latter 20th century and that now bleeds into the 21st.

The Easter Uprising of 1916 was wrong through and through, and it set the stage for the horrors that plague cities like Belfast to the present day. But - and this sets my mind reeling - Joseph Plunkett was a brave, devout Christian man. He was a fine scholar and poet, and some of his religious poetry is superb. Read this one, and note the simplicity and elegance with which Plunkett expresses the truth that Christ's glory is found in nature:

I See His Blood Upon The Rose

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows
His tears fall from the skies.

I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice - and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.

All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined by every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

I believe that Plunkett's heart was touched by the grace of God. So, how could he have been so wrong in his choice of political alignment?

It occurred to me in mulling this over that Plunkett was not alone. Perhaps the two worthiest Christian men who fought in the Civil War were Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. (My favorite example of Lee's integrity has to do with the fact that, when offered money to write his memoirs, he refused on the grounds that he would not profit from the blood of his men. No such scruples inhibited Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell, who signed book deals for 5 and 6 million dollars each after Gulf War I.) But Lee and Jackson were on the wrong side. They did not see the war in terms of upholding the institution of slavery, but, ultimately, that is what it came to be about. Good men fought for evil.

Even Judah's best king, Josiah, fought in a bad cause. 2 Kings 23:25 says of him, "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did." But when he was just 39 Josiah foolishly went after Neco, the Pharoah of Egypt, who had gone to help Assyria against Babylon. Neco warned Josiah to stay away, saying, "I have no quarrel with you. God told me to hurry, so do not oppose God." (2 Chronicles 35:21). Neco was right; Josiah was wrong, and Josiah died needlessly in battle.

In trying to sort out a lesson from such tragedies, it seems to me that they ought to inspire humility among the people of God. The best among us can sometimes be found contending on the wrong side. Remember that, and pray always for wisdom, and know that the holiness of your character does not guarantee the rightness of your cause. And let these cases move us to obey Jesus' command to love our enemies. Some of them are very good people. And even though - in the name of duty and justice - we have to kill them sometimes, remember that we may well see them in heaven, and be able to resume our brotherhood with them there.