(Please read the Scripture passage before the homily.)
People with power tend to abuse the power. Many years ago, youth groups played a game where the group was divided into two, the guards and the prisoners. The leaders had to stop the exercise because the guards had started bullying the prisoners.
In today’s reading, God was defunding the Assyrians. God had sent them to punish, but they had gone on to genocide. They had abused their authority.
I think this tendency lies behind calls to defund police. I think it is not to cancel all monies for law enforcement, but a call to rethink the purpose of policing. So long as the purpose is punishment or crime, it will be subject to abuse because all of us tend to abuse power. If, on the other hand the emphasis were on growth and health, the tendency to abuse would be much lessened.
When the Lord punishes, the Lord heals, loves, and gives life. We are supposed to imitate the Lord’s way of acting, not our own selfish ways.