War Games

Learning to play tic-tac-toe with x’s and o’s

12/08/2019

Genesis 3:9-15, 20 After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me— she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.” The LORD God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.” The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

“Shall we play a game?” Does anyone remember in what movie that famous line was uttered? It was in the 1983 movie called “War Games” starring Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy. That line was actually spoken by a super computer called WOPR, an acronym standing for “War Operations Planned Response.” Broderick and Sheedy play two high school teens named David and Jennifer who hack into the NORAD supercomputer in order to play virtual reality video games. When WOPR asks if they would like to play a game, David types in: “How about global thermonuclear war?” That global-scale warfare was exactly what WOPR was designed to deter, but if provoked, it was programmed to prevail. In other words, it was created to win World War III at any cost.

The young hackers think they are just playing a video game, but WOPR simulated a Russian nuclear attack that sends the U.S. Defense systems into red alert and poised to fire back. Suddenly, virtual reality became very real. David and Jennifer seek out the inventor of the WOPR, named Falken, to deescalate the impending disaster. David guesses the password to Falken’s account is “Joshua,” Falken’s deceased son. Using the password, Joshua, David pulls the WOPR back from the brink of starting World War III, by asking it to play the game of Tic-Tac-Tow. Why? Well, who wins at Tic-Tac-Toe? If you know how to play, no one wins. That was the lesson David hoped WOPR would learn in like the game of global thermonuclear war, namely, no one wins. After searching every possible strategic scenario, the supercomputer finally concludes, “The only winning move is not to play.” In other words, there are some games in which no one win, and in the movie War Games. Some games have no victors.

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and our scriptures contrast two approaches to playing war games, not electronic war games, but spiritual war games between good and evil, between light and darkness, between right and wrong. These two approaches are embodied in two iconic women: Eve in Genesis 3, and Mary in Luke 1. Eve is tricked by the serpent who asks her in effect, “Shall we play a game?” Adam and Eve, like David and Jennifer, play the game of trying to outsmart Satan, who is in reality a fallen angel, a being infinitely smarter than any super computer. Adam and Eve trigger the war games that have been waged on earth ever since, not between superpowers like Russia and the United States, but between supernatural powers. St. Paul explains in Ephesians 6:12, “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness.”

However, there was one person who preferred to play tic-tac-toe, rather than these spiritual war games, namely, the Blessed Virgin Mary. How so? Well, Mary was the only human who understood that in some games, “The only winning move is not to play” which perfectly characterizes her “Immaculate Conception.” That is, Mary was preserved from sin by the prevenient saving grace of her Son, Jesus. And what is another form of the name Jesus – “Joshua” – the Creator’s Son, who died to save us. Jesus/Joshua is not only the “password” who allows us to break through enemy lines, but also the “Passover” to achieve ultimate victory in the war games against Satan. In other words, when Satan asked Mary, “Shall we play a game?” she was smart enough to know the only winning move is not to play his game, and so she never sinned.

Would you allow me to take this analogy between the movie War Games and our spiritual battle with Satan a step further? In the game Tic-Tac-Toe, what symbols represent the two sides in the game? They are X’s and O’s. But have you ever noticed what people use X’s and O’s to symbolize these days, sometimes ending letters with X’s and O’s? They represent hugs and kisses: an “X” looks like arms hugging and an “O” is like the lips in the shape of a kiss. In other words, Tic-Tac-Toe doesn’t just teach us on the negative side that no one wins in war, but it also teaches us on the positive side that instead of waging war, we should pursue the path of peace, with X’s and O’S, with hugs and kisses.

Today, ask yourself how you relate to other people. Some relationships may seem adversarial – us against them – while others feel amicable, like good friends. Do some of your relationships – with family, with friends, with coworkers, with Christians, with God, and maybe even yourself – feel like war games, almost as if you were trying to defeat or destroy others? In adversarial relationships, we try to outsmart them, we try to manipulate them, we spy on them and sabotage them.

On the other hand, we could be a little more like Mary, and our relationship could be more amicable rather than adversarial, and we refuse to play war games with others. We try to play a sort of spiritual Tic-Tac-Toe with X’s and O’s, hugs and kisses, mercy and love. Most relationships, of course, are a mixture of both, we experience friendly fire, and we hurt those whom we love. We learn to look to Jesus, the ultimate password and the eternal Passover, the Creator’s dead Son, who also rose again, so that we might make peace with others rather than wage war.

“Shall we play a game?” asked the supercomputer named WOPR. “Shall we play a game?” was also asked by the supernatural creature named Satan. Sooner or later he will as you and me that same question, too. Be careful how you answer.

Praised be Jesus Christ!