We visited Pea Ridge National Military Park when we were on vacation in Arkansas this past week.
It’s a fascinating place, where tourists follow a seven-mile route marking the hot-spots of a critical Civil War battle – the decisive victory for Union forces west of the Mississippi.
The weather was perfect for meandering – blue skies and cool, still air. I took photos of the girls posing on cannons that were positioned as they had been 160 years ago (almost to the day).
We admired the dreamy vista from the prominence on which the Confederates staged their last defense.
The beauty and peacefulness of the setting made the descriptions of bloody encounters that had taken place there all the more surreal, all the more distant.
Who Won, and Why
But one discovery made the Pea Ridge story suddenly and specifically relevant to the present moment: The Union victory, I learned, had had everything to do with the killing of Confederate Army General McCullough and his second-in-command, James McIntosh, within moments of each other.
Though the Confederates had had overwhelming advantage in numbers and field position, they became leaderless.
And they lost.
A strong leader can survive against impossible odds (as Union Commander Samuel Curtis did at Pea Ridge – as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has done for several weeks now).
But a leaderless army squanders all advantages, almost inevitably defeated from within (as the Confederates discovered at Pea Ridge – as our present, bumbling Western “alliance” against Russia illustrates daily).
Leaders – Good and Bad
Mark is fond of pointing out that a leader is simply a person whom others follow. This observation has uncomfortable implications for us, because the most overt and well-documented “followers” are on social media – following leaders whose whole objective is to gain more followers. Ahem. The insular, navel-gazing nature of such “leadership” is a topic for another essay – but noticing it helpfully prompts the question, “who am I following, and why?”
Soldiers follow their commanders… most of the time. As the Battle of Pea Ridge illustrates, though, sometimes commanders fall. And as the mutinies, desertions, and coups of history illustrate, sometimes commanders fail to lead persuasively.
The names of strong leaders who delivered victories in the face of horrific deprivation and overwhelming enemy firepower are familiar to us.
Alexander the Great, George Washington, Horatio Nelson – you know them.
Of course, a strong leader is not always a virtuous leader, as other familiar names illustrate: Bonaparte, Franco, Stalin, et al.
But good or bad, illustrious or notorious, a strong leader makes all the difference in battle.
And out of battle.
Good or bad, a strong leader shapes the course of the action and the lives of his/her followers in unmistakable ways, for irreversible purposes.
What makes a strong leader?
Positional titles – “King,” “President,” “Bishop,” “General” – do not, in themselves, confer actual authority.
We’ve all experienced the truth of this, either in classrooms (where some teachers could be ignored, while others could only be obeyed) or in workplaces (same for bosses), or simply in watching the public square.
It is only when positional title aligns with personal strength and focus that real power can be unleashed.
Vladimir Putin exemplifies the way that this real power can be wielded, at least for a time, with complete impunity… Himself safe, well-provided, and excited by triumphalist fantasies, he can subject others to danger, hunger, and despair, at will.
But… there is a limited shelf-life for any tyrant.
And… the ultimate leader is the One whose “Follow Me” always runs counter to earthly tyranny.
Why Jesus?
The question “Why Jesus?” can be ignored – and is ignored – when people are lulled into the delusion that their earthly comforts and personal prerogatives are entitlements.
But when millions of people become refugees overnight, when maternity hospitals and safe passage routes become targets for bombs, when the threat of nuclear war is overtly issued, the question “Why Jesus?” is revealed as the one overwhelmingly, pre-eminently, significant matter.
Why Jesus, today?
Because all the other alternatives are so obviously either evil or inadequate, that’s why.
Because nobody else can bring healing from literal ashes.
Because no other leader can be absolutely trusted and followed with complete assurance, literally forever.
War is Hell
Stories of the Battle of Pea Ridge – of 19-year-olds defending artillery equipment with bullet-less pistols, and a whole regiment of volunteers clad in distinctive white uniforms running headfirst into cannon-fire, and tens of thousands of cold, hungry men lining up against neighbors, friends, even brothers – shock.
Reading them evokes the same horror as reading newspaper accounts of what’s happening right now in Ukraine.
War IS Hell. Always has been. Always will be.
War chronicles the desperate fallenness of our world, of our human nature, in blood and tears.
But war cannot impinge on the peace of Christ, the peace that was bestowed en route to a violent death, the peace that came with both acknowledgment and promise, from the One who was both Truth and Promise-keeper:
Peace I give to you. My peace I leave with you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid… I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!
(John 14:27; 16:33)
Christ’s authority to confer peace (peace that cannot be taken away by the world) makes Him the ultimate Leader… the Commander whose followers are guaranteed victory even when circumstances spell defeat, and assured of life even in death.
“The battle is the Lord’s,” Jahaziel declared to King Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:15). Christ has triumphed over sin, death, and the devil (Colossians 2:15). Following this Leader means walking, quite literally, in the Way that leads to Life. (Matthew 7:14)
And – essential to remember in times like ours – the ultimate victory has already been won – no matter what happens on battlefields in Arkansas or Kyiv or Aleppo or (perhaps soon) Taipei City.
It is the ultimate paradox and refutation of “worldly wisdom” that the ultimate power can come only through Jesus – the One who preached humility, servanthood, and forgiveness, the One who died that His followers might live, the One who lives that His followers might walk in freedom with Him for all time.
Nothing lasts eternally… except Jesus
The Pax Romana.
The French Revolution.
The Civil War.
The Cold War.
Once, those historical labels were people’s everyday reality.
The leaders, good and bad, whose actions determined the course of those battles or the nature of that peace – they dominated people’s thoughts the way the leaders of today, good and bad, dominate ours.
Notice, though, that those historical leaders have become historical labels, themselves: they are all long dead.
Jesus?
He remains “the Living One.” (Revelations 1:18)
Follow The Leader
A leader is someone whom people follow.
Friends, no matter what earthly leaders we are called to follow (or to rebel against) in this life, may we be resolute in choosing to follow Jesus’s lead – always, and everywhere.
Jesus is with us in the battle, and beyond.
He is with us in the sick bed, and beyond.
He is with us in the midst of a culture consumed with the cancer of self-absorption – and He has the healing not just for that culture but for each one of us, too.
Someday
Someday, the war in Ukraine will be history rather than news.
Someday, the battle fields of Ukraine may be tranquil parks, maintained to educate tourists.
Someday, Jesus will return.
In the meantime, let’s be sure we are following the Leader who will still be reigning – in absolute power, without any corruption – forever and forever.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.
(2 Timothy 4:1 – 2)
