There are more drawers in the curio cabinet than I expected. And
more unsorted junk. Open a draw and pull out a sample.
His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 2:22-23). That’s
what they tell me, and I try to believe it – but why haven’t my
morning glories bloomed yet?
Capitalism engenders pride – I did this. I deserve this. Socialism engenders humility – I couldn’t have done this alone.
Broadly speaking of course, but I think it’s true. Still, an
acquaintance of mine writes to tell me that, “Pride is the root of
original sin, and it leads to greed. Socialism is a flawed philosophy
since all humans bear the burden of original sin.” Perhaps he is
right, but I wonder if he’d apply his analysis to capitalism as
well…
Is
So-and-So a
prick or a prince? Hard to say – they’re usually the same.
It is what it is, until it isn’t. So on, and so what?
- The only way to be 'richer than Midas' is to be as merciless as spiders.
- Only the rich can afford another war. And that's only because they have the rest of us pay for it.
- The so-called Christian Nationalist has the same complaints as the Egyptians in Exodus - "these foreigners are becoming too numerous and if we don't stop them, they're going to side with our enemies and take over the country..." - Exodus 1:10
- When it comes time to choose a theodicy to explain the existence of suffering - and there are many to choose from, some better, some worse - keep Vincent VanGogh in mind. "La tristesse durera toujours."
1 – The Trumpet
of God is the trumpet of faith, true and living. Thank you, President
Trump, harmonious in power, just in wisdom, empathy, love, and truth.
2 – No
subscription, no price. A pure estate Printed free. Your deposit will
not be returned.
3 – We believe we
are a chosen people, of a favored nation, on these blessed shores
unto salvation and eternal life. Particular and unconditional.
America first and amen.
4 – Utterly
depraved with no desire for freedom. Failed and fell, our desire is
to be deceived. Nothing is less expensive. No one is safer. We voted
for this.
5 – This is our
obligation to good works. Appearing and disappearing from our reality
dimension, a new faith. Forever cursed by law though the courts are
on our side. To change the laws and times and seasons is our reward.
6 – Power is for
control. Power is for external and internal use only. These are the
ordinances of the church. Immersion is the only mode and none but
those who have been baptized thus are to be admitted. DHS will
determine if deportation is warranted.
7 – We are
stubborn and obdurate. Everlasting to everlasting without question,
without doubt, without turning, without treason. Humiliating hopefuls
and rivals alike. The perfect ticket has little to offer.
8 – Who are the
vulnerable? What systems of injustice? The punishment for resistance
and dismantling initiatives will be swift and eternal. Federal
ecclesiastical authority is clear.
9 – The
Scriptures are best preserved in the only authorized King James
Version, fully licensed and endorsed with the Presidential Seal,
embossed in gold. This is how to govern in full faith and practice.
10 – The Great
and final days will come with the full weight of the American
military. Thrust and counter-thrust. Strike and counter-strike. The
righteous will live in America forever. The unjust will be crushed
with iron and sold to recoup our losses. A regency of fear forever.
Amen.
What are we going
to do? That’s what everyone wants to know. Your talking head
propagandists, your nationalist social scientists don’t know. These
scholars
and lobbyists claim to see
the invisible hand but cannot see the
kingdom of God in
history. What are we going to do? We cannot claim the banks and loans
and deals and assets on your books. What are we going to? That’s
what the managers of decline are asking. That’s
what everyone wants to know.
Have
ye not read?
Do not consider
riches as private property but as common good. Your economic
philosophy is in practice, godless. Insatiable greed. Domineering
avarice. They demand the spirit of men and destroy the breath of
women. They deny. They defend. They depose. But they cannot explain
the irruption of the spiritual in the physical realm. Fools of one
flesh.
Like the smoke of a
fire, drifting gone. Like melting wax in
a fire.
Let God arise
-Father and defender of orphans and widows. Sheltering the homeless
lonely in a holy place. And prisoners too. Freemarket rebels can find
their own place in the wilderness. Let them have the bootstrap
deserts they have made.
What are we going
to do? Ride through the deserts – let them see. What are we going
to do? Build a road through the desert for the Rider on the Clouds.
Sing and play
music. Dance and be glad. But – and I love this part – What does
the Rider on the Clouds need with a road?
(8) A Sweaty Sky
Too much, too much.
We are overwhelmed. Even nature by fear is beset in the presence and
glory of the one who strides across the desert. The wind stops its
bluster and blow. The great expanse of heaven gets nervous. The sky
breaks out in sweat and rains shower down upon the earth.
(12-14)A
Long Sequence of Non-Sequiturs
Chieftains and
kings of armies, having failed in highly confidential negotiations
and transactions, having failed to deregulate, or discourage the
enemy, are in flight, in flight. Their ambitions in flight. Their
strategies are not working. Gathered militias and blockading forces
have failed to secure the straights despite the outlandish
destruction of material property and the slaughter of civilians. They
are loose-tongued commanders with no charge.
The nuclear
maneuvers of fighter jets and submarines turned back and routed.
Rerouted.
Meanwhile the women
– fair and beautiful – at home divide the spoil and booty of war
-sorting through the pots and saddlebags for free blessings as they
sit in the sheep pens. Sheep pens!
They are singing
the good news. They are singing
and at ease.
Then there’s
something about metallic doves with wings of silver and pinions of
green-gold. Victory doves. This is not an assault. Peace doves. This
is not an attack.
Now the snow is
falling on Mount Zalmon – which might be something clever about
white snow on the Dark One. No more bluster. No more bloviating boast
or bluff. Disordered, self-glorifying kings are scattered as the
purity of snow falls on the mountain.
(20-23,30) The
Contradiction of Blood
This God of ours,
this God we know This is the God who
saves.
Take comfort in the
Violence and the Vindication though it seems
like contradiction.
He smashes the
heads and long-haired skulls of his enemies, the hairy crowns of
psychopathic gunmen. Bullies and bulldogs. Abductors. Exploiters.
Captors. Slavers. Smash them dead! Liars. Thieves and Liars.
Murderers from the lowest and highest estates. Smash them dead!
Dictators. Authoritarian tyrants and Fascist fools. Smash them dead!
He drags them back
from the hills, drags them back from the sea to do it all over again
so you may bathe your feet in blood.
But! A word of
caution. A word of restraint. Take warning here: Our enemies may not
be his and he will fling far and scatter wide all who take orgasmic
delight, all who take profit and material gain, from the horrors of
war. You have been warned.
(24-26) A Musical
Interlude
The
noble procession proceeds: Singers
ahead (sing good news and at ease) musicians
behind and
in between are are
row upon row of
beautiful girls beating
their drums.
(28-35)
Let God Arise
Take
command – it befits your power. This is the way. One way. Take
command; it is yours. Reclaim what is yours, most powerful, most
respected, inspiring awe and admiration of the entire world. Stop the
wars that we have unleashed. Bring unity to the world we have
divided. Bring prosperity to the world we have plundered.
Rebuke
the crocodiles in the reeds who lie in wait to devour. Rebuke the
bulls who rage and trample over us and our children. Rebuke the
silver idolaters trading in secrets and exploiting the mammon-market.
Sing
this song, Play and perform it for the Rider of the Heavens. High
heavens. Ancient, primeval skies. Singers ahead (sing good news and
at ease), a crescendo of instruments and the climactic pounding of
drums. The crash of symphonic cannons and solemn bells and chimes and
gongs.
Then
let the reverberations of silence ring long into eternity.
The
Kingdoms of the earth with outstretched hands. Europe. Russia. China
with outstretched hands. Latin, South, and North America with
outstretched hands. India, Australia, Palestine, Cuba, Indonesia with
outstretched hands. Syria, Venezuela, Kenya with outstretched hands.
All the tribes and nations of Africa with outstretched hands. All
islands with outstretched hands.
Speak
with a voice of power. Splendor
in the clouds of power. Awesome
strength and power. Blessed
be God. Amen.
He came to me from out of the cold, wind and snow outside. I’d
worked the day – hauling myself and letters and parcels through the
snow, eight and a half miles. A long day and then more. I came home
and shoveled my driveway and sidewalks. Tired and worn, I sat down to
rest. And he came to me from out of the cold.
“You’re a false teacher,” he said. Flat. Solid. No doubt, all
conviction. “Satanic, even.”
“We’ve gone over this already,” I grinned. “I’m a
Methodist, not a monster.”
“Whatever.” He waved me off and continued on. “God has a
purpose and a plan with no exceptions. God’s authority will be
acknowledged.”
“Yes. God’s universal kingdom…”
“Render obedience. Give what is due. You are a man and little
else. You are a man and nothing more. You’ve come to destroy heaven
and earth – jot and tittle. You do and teach the same. What you
need…”
“What I need is the nobler moments. The ideals realized and true.”
He said nothing immediately so I offered him a drink. “I have some
homemade lavender and lemon wine.” He sniffed at the glass I handed
him before setting it down.
“No rebellion – Christ is truth. And as long as sin commands
you’re playing the wrong notes. Your lifestyle and pattern are all
wrong. Stay away from children. I’ll tie the millstone around your
neck myself. You’ve been warned.”
“Give me grace upon the lips, hope and consolation, realized and
true. In the law of love there is no injustice, no loss. The poor are
not exploited and the workers enjoy the fruit of their labor. Every
man beneath his own fig tree.”
“Socialist crap. The pipe-dreams of Babylon. God never promised…”
“Earth shall be fair, and all her people one. Not till that hour…”
“God never promised that life would be fair. That’s completely
unbiblical.” He paused and smoothed his hair into place. “Not
only are you a false teacher of false idols and false doctrine, but
you are a false convert as well.”
Here’s the thing
- I know the Bible doesn’t explicitly endorse Socialism. It would
be anachronistic to say otherwise. Socialism, as an economic theory,
did not exist in the times that the Bible was written. But neither
did capitalism for that matter. But when asked (and sometimes even
without the question) I tell people that I learned my socialism from
Jesus, and the Hebrew prophets rather than from Karl Marx. There's no specific chapter and verse that says "socialism," but the
ideas, the underpinning values of socialism are scattered throughout
the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.
Case in point –
the prophet Isaiah in chapter 65 of his eponymous book (or more
probably, Third-Isaiah…) describes the coming new heaven and new
earth of God’s creation by saying:
They shall build
houses and inhabit them; they shall plant
vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another
inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat for like
the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor
in vain… Isaiah
65: 21 – 23a
Labor
creates all wealth. Capitalism exploits labor to redistribute the
profits to the owners, providing only enough to keep the workforce
from dying. But in the Kingdom of God, individuals are able to enjoy
the work of their hands. Their labor is not in vain. The wealth they
create is not siphoned off to the vaults of a hoarding billionaire.
This is justice. This is righteousness. This is the
Christian Socialist ideal. Heaven on earth.
If this is to be a Christian nation – founded on Judeo-Christian
values – let this be the baseline standard: “There should be no
poor among you.” Deuteronomy 15:4 We can argue over words and names
and the interpretation of the law, all of our internal religious
disputes. But let this be the minimal standard: “There should be no
poor among you.”
But
there are billions in amusements and billions in military spending.
Always billions more uncounted. And those budget cuts are never an
option. There is always money for guns and butter. Let the poor
starve. The free-market has spoken.
“Do
you have any better ideas, whiz kid? Smart alec. Jackass.”
“Defund
the military. Demilitarize the police. Feed the poor.”
The
cold air operators and cold war operatives recoil in horror. Taped
phone conversations are tagged, flagged, and reviewed. Who is this
criminal? Who is this asshole?
“A
sociopath, obviously.” This is their detailed analysis. “A commie
libtard with a poor memory. We have all the evidence that we need:
the phone calls are real. The photos are authentic.”
“Blessed
are the poor and the hungry…”
“...the
poor in spirit! It says the poor in spirit, you illegal piece of
shit. You’re not entitled to a damned thing except hostility and
bodily harm.”
Blood
and hair. Bone and blood. Drag marks in the dirt. Hanging and beating
in the public park with all the other liberal scum. Strung up and
left bleeding. “This is the way. This is way things are. Who are
you to object? Who are you to complain? We stomp commies like you.”
I’ve read Stephen King’s apocalyptic magnum opus, The Stand, repeatedly. More than half a dozen times. It’s a powerful piece of work. Maybe he does, as he admits, have a case of “diarrhea of the word processor,” maybe 1141 pages (in the uncut 1990 paperback edition) is going on a little long. Maybe. But the book affects me; I am hung upon this “long tale of dark Christianity”.
I've also been reading John Howard Yoder’s book The Politics of Jesus and it strikes me that there is some significant overlap. Absurd, I know, but it’s there.
As the book nears its climax, Stu, Larry, Glen, and Ralph (along with the dog, Kojak) set off on foot from Boulder, Colorado - sent out like the disciples of Jesus (“go in the clothes that you stand in. Carry nothing.”) - towards the Dark Man and his legions in Las Vegas, and the threat of death by crucifixion. Before leaving, Larry Underwood asks, “Do we have a choice?”
Their spiritual guide, Mother Abigail, says, “A choice? There’s always a choice. That’s God’s way, always will be. Your will is still free. Do as you will. There’s no set of leg-irons on you. But...this is what God wants of you.” (King 905)
It’s a foolish quest. But they go, and willingly, towards an uncertain end.
Yoder writes in The Politics of Jesus: “The key to the obedience of God’s people is not their effectiveness, but their patience. The triumph of the right is assured not by the might that comes to the aid of the right, which is of course the justification of the use of violence and other kinds of power in every human conflict. The triumph of the right, although it is assured, is sure because of the power of the resurrection and not because of any calculation of causes and effects, nor because of the inherently greater strength of the good guys. The relationship between the obedience of God’s people and the triumph of God’s cause is not a relationship of cause and effect but one of cross and resurrection.” (Yoder 232)
A great combination of thoughts in this time of plague and quarantine and Easter.
The powerful ones were there that afternoon in the lakeside
home of the Missouri millionaire - a couple of bankers, a senator, a rancher
from Wyoming. Powerful men. Wealthy men. They declined, however, to think of
themselves as “movers and shakers” of society. They preferred Stability and
Status Quo to progress and change, unless it was happing in one of those
socialist countries in South America or someplace in the Middle East. Shaking
there could be turned to profit. No, these men (all men, of course) were
assembled to plan for the future. They’d come to discuss their candidate for
the next presidential election.
A silver haired and silver tongued Senator welcomed their specially invited
guest: “Jesus, we want to thank you for sharing your time with us this
afternoon. We know that you’re busy, and we appreciate you willingness to be
here as we plan how we can return our country to its Christian heritage. Before
we begin, can we offer you something to drink? Some water, perhaps, if you’d
like a glass of wine…”
There was polite laughter around the table. Jesus smiled. “No thank you. But I’m
glad to be here among you,” he said and made the sign of blessing over them.
“Well, let’s get right down to it, shall we?We’d like to put your name forward to the
nominating committee of God’s Own Party as the presidential candidate with our backing and
support, but first we’d like to discuss your platform, your stance on a number
of important issues.”
“Wonderful,” Jesus said.
“Let’s start with domestic policy.” The men around the table nodded for Jesus
to describe his plans.
“Excellent. One of my first steps would be to announce the cancellation of
debts…”
The nodding ceased; a low grumbling ensued. “Excuse me for interrupting, Jesus,
what are you talking about?”
“Well, you know. The obvious - student loans, mortgages…”
“Jesus, Jesus!” the silver tongued Senator exclaimed. “You can’t be serious!
Why, several of the men in this room own banks that hold those loans, Jesus.
Why would you want to do something like that?”
“At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.” Jesus explained. “This
is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to
their fellow countryman. There need be no poor people among you…”
“I’m sorry to interrupt again, Jesus,” said the Senator, who did not look at
all sorry to be interrupting, “but where are you getting this policy?”
“The scriptures; that’s in the Law of Moses. Deuteronomy 15.”
“I see. I see. Obviously that’s where the confusion is, Jesus. Deuteronomy? That’s
in the Old Testament, right? We thought you’d be guided by the more relevant portions
of the New Testament. The gospels perhaps…”
“Sure. Sure,” said Jesus. “How about “…forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors…?”
The murmuring around the table became a low grumbling. “Alright. Alright. Let’s
change topics for a while; we can revisit this issue later.Let’s discuss military spending.”
“Excellent,” Jesus said.
“And Jesus,” said the rancher from Wyoming at the back of the room, “don’t be
bringing up that whole ‘turn the other cheek’ thing. We ain’t pacifist peaceniks
here. This is serious business.”
“Right,” said Jesus. “Serious business.”
“Okay then, Jesus.We think we can get
you another 10 to 12 percent, but we need to hear your plans. How much do you
plan to increase military spending?”
“Actually, I’d like to reduce our spending to one-sixth of its current level.”
The grumbling exploded into vexed vocalizations. “For the love of God, Jesus!”
“Exactly" Jesus said. "I’d prefer to reduce it further, but this seemed like a
decent compromise for the first term. We can discuss further cuts in my second
term.”
“And just where did you pull this one-sixth figure?” the exasperated Senator
inquired.
“It’s an arbitrary number, yes. But it is grounded in the same kind of policy I
gave to my disciples.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Jesus?”
“After the last supper, the disciples said to me, “Lord, here are two swords,”
and I said to them, “That is enough…”
The silver haired Senator threw up his hands in frustration. “I told you this
would be a bad idea,” he said to the men around the table in a low, curt voice.
Then he turned to Jesus and said, “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, Jesus.
Security will be here shortly to escort you from the premises.”
It was a time of peace and prosperity. It was a time of
luxury, even, of affluence and delight. The statesmanship of King Jeroboam II
had “made Israel great again,” had brought back the glory and opulence of the
rule of Solomon. King Jeroboam II had waged aggressive military campaigns to “recover
territory from the Pass of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah” (2 Kings 14:25). He’d
forced Damascus and Hamath to return to their promises of allegiance to Judah
and to Israel (2 Kings 14: 28). “By our own strength,” he boasted, “we captured
Karnaim” (Amos 6:13).
And with the expanded borders and this peace secured through
superior firepower came an economic boom. The people of Israel were buying both
summer and winter houses, fine ivory houses and splendid mansions (Amos 3:15). They
lived in comfortable confidence on the hills of Samaria (6:1). They slept on
carved ivory beds and plush divans. They dined on stall-fattened veal, drank
wine by the bowlful, oiled their skin with fine oils, and relaxed to soothing
melodies played on the lyre (6: 4 – 5).
“We are rich,” they proclaimed, “and we are strong.” And they believed that
this was of God. And why wouldn’t they have thought this was true? After all, “Blessings
are on the head of the upright…” (Proverbs 10:6). Yes?And “the wealth of the rich is their stronghold,
while poverty is the undoing of the weak” (Proverbs 10: 15). Their wealth was a
strong wall around them (Proverbs 18: 11). They remembered that “In the house
of the upright there is no lack of treasure…” (Proverbs 15:6).
The people of Israel went to the city of Bethel - to the “house of God’ – to worship.
They brought sacrifices and offerings each morning. They brought their tithes
every third day (Amos 4:4). They made oblations and burnt offerings, they
attended solemn assemblies and exuberant festivals (Amos 5: 21 – 22). All was well in Israel, or so it seemed.
Amos came from nowhere, from obscurity – without pedigree or college degree –
to challenge and condemn the houses and people of power in Israel. Amos was a
migrant worker, moving between tending sheep (1:1) and cattle (7:14) in the
high hill country of Tekoa where the shepherds eked out a subsistence existence
on the stony slopes of the limestone hills, and tending the sycamore-fig trees
of the low Jordan valley (7:14). He was not a trained prophet or a member of
the brotherhood of prophets (7:14). He spoke by intuition and inspiration (and
maybe those are the same thing). He saw visions of Israel and her impending
doom.
It was true, of course, that King Jereboam II ruled in a time of peace and
economic prosperity, just as it was true that the people of Israel made a show
of their faith at the temple in Bethel. But this was all veneer. Beneath this
beautiful and laudable exterior the Virgin Israel was a dead woman, a rotting
corpse (Amos 5: 1 – 2).
Amos came up from Judah to Israel to make an announcement, for the prophets
seldom engaged in debate or argument. They did not entreat or exhort; they
announced; “Thus says the LORD” (Gowan 343). He began his announcement by
listing the sins and offense of Israel’s neighbors, the war crimes of the
surrounding countries. The Aramean city-state of Damascus had cruelly threshed
the region of Gilead, completely suppressing it. Gaza, a Philistine city, had
sold an entire population into slavery, as had Tyre, a wealthy Phoenician trade
port, in spite of a covenant of brotherhood. Edom was condemned for pursuing
his brother with a sword – a reference to the familial heritage between Israel
and Edom going back to the book of Genesis (Genesis 25: 23, 3:1). Ammon had “disemboweled
the pregnant women of Gilead” in order to expand their borders. And Moab had
desecrated the grave and the bones of a king (Amos 1: 3 – 2: 3). Amos continued
by condemning the southern, brother nation of Israel, Judah despising Yahweh’s
law and for failing to keep his commandments (Amos 2: 4 – 5).
This rapid fire denunciation of Israel’s neighbors may have rallied the people
in Bethel to excitement. “Yes. This Amos fellow really tells it like it is.”
But before their schadenfreude glee
could be fully realized Amos turned his gaze on Israel and launched into a most
uncivil criticism.
Israel had sold the upright for silver, sold the poor for a pair
of sandals, crushed the heads of the
weak and powerless into the dust of the earth, thrust the rights of the
poor aside (2: 6 -7) They had crammed their palaces
full with violence (3:10) and exploited the weak and
the poor (4:1)
They had despised the man teaching justice at the city gates
just as they had loathed anyone speaking the truth (5:10). They’d trampled on
the poor man and taxed his wheat in order to build their own storehouses and to
plant their own pleasant vineyards (5:11).
Yes. They slept on carved ivory beds and plush divans, and dined on
stall-fattened veal. Yes. They drank wine by the bowlful, and oiled their skin with
fine oils – but for the ruin of Joseph, for the ruination of the poor and the
low – they cared nothing (6:6). They were swindlers and cheats, generating
their fortunes by force and by fraud, tampering with scales and exploiting
loopholes in the law so that they could buy up the poor as slaves to further increase
their gains (8: 5 – 6).
This is why Amos called them “fat cows of Bashan” (4:1) and Virgin corpses (5:
1 – 2): in their mistreatment of the poorest of the people they had forgotten
Yahweh, God Sabaoth, the Lord of the Angel Armies.
“But,” they objected, “we bring our tithes and offerings to
the temple. We make the ritual observances. We sing the hymns and recite the
prayers.”
“Screw your sacrifices,” Amos answered speaking for God. “I hate, I abhor your festivals
and assemblies. Your sacrifices do not please me, and spare me the execrable din
of your incessant chanting. Your piety is worthless without justice” (5: 21 –
23).
“Let justice flow like water.
Let righteousness flow like a never failing stream! (5:24)
This is what I want.”
“Who can ascend to the mountain of Yahweh,” the psalmist asked. “Who shall
stand in his holy place?Only the clean of
hand and the pure of heart. Only the one not set on vanities. Only the one who
does not lie and deceive (Psalm 24).
“So go ahead and go to the sanctuary, to the temple in Bethel” Amos said,
speaking for God. “Go ahead and go to Bethel and sin, sin all the more. Take
your sacrifices, and your tithes, burn your offerings if it makes you happy.
But I’ll have none of it” (Amos 4: 4 – 5).
Now this was all too much for the Amaziah, the priest of Bethel. It was
uncivil. It was rude. It was treasonous. So he sent a message to King Jeroboam
II: “the man Amos is conspiring against you in the heart of the House of
Israel. The country cannot tolerate his speeches. He threatens you with a
sword, and says that Israel will be taken away into captivity” (7: 10 -11).
And to Amos Amaziah said, “Get out of here you so-called seer. Go back to Judah
where you belong. Prophesy there, if you like, but never come back to speak in
Bethel. This is a sanctuary, a national temple” (7: 12 – 13).
There’s little arc in this brief narrative nestled in among the words and
visions of Amos, the shepherd of Tekoa. There’s no introduction and no
conclusion; it’s all second act and no denouement. We do not know what happened
to Amos. Did he return home to tend the sheep and pluck the figs having
proclaimed his message of imminent doom? Was he arrested and put to death by
the religious and political forces he’d offended in Samaria and Bethel? We do
not know.
But the words and visions of Amos, the shepherd of Tekoa, were recorded and
preserved as the earliest part of the prophetic tradition (though he himself
declined that title.) Maybe he isn’t quoted as often as the prophet Isaiah.
Maybe he isn’t as famous as the anti-prophet Jonah. But his indictments and
challenges stand: religious ritual is not enough and displays of worship are
grotesque parodies of faith without a commitment to justice and righteousness.
His warning that a people held enthralled by military might and economic prosperity
while exploiting and abusing the poor and powerless are despised by God should
cause us to tremble – even if his announcements and threats were not addressed
specifically to us. His instruction to “seek good and not evil so that you may
survive” (5:14) is just as relevant to the USA in the 21st century
AD as it was to Israel in the 8th century BC.
“Hate evil, love good,
and let justice reign at the city gates” (5:15).
This is, and not our nationalistic displays of empty worship is what God wants.
How we treat the poor, the immigrant, the widow, the orphan, the minority, and the
powerless is a better signifier of our faith than our grand churches and
worship services. We may claim to be a Christian nation, founded in the values
of the word of God, but if we do not protect and serve the poor, it is a lie.
Our wealth and power are not indicators of God’s unequivocal blessing.
“Hate evil, love good,
and let Justice reign at the city gates.”
This is what God wants.
Gowan, Donald E. “The Book of Amos: Introduction,
Commentary, and Reflections” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VII.
Nashville, TN. Abingdon Pres. 1996.
Here’s a switch, something I never expected to see, something that still astounds and flabbergasts me. President Donald J. Trump and his administration have endorsed a bill that takes seriously an important biblical command. I know. I’m surprised as you are.
But it’s true. It's true. The bill, sponsored by Republican senators, proposes a “merit based” immigration system.Under this bill, immigration candidates would need 30 points in order to qualify to become American citizens. Points are given based on a priority that favors people between the ages of 26 and 30 and speak English fluently and who have won either an Olympic medal or a Nobel prize. But a further premium is given to those who are coming to this country with job offers with salaries over $77,000 and those who are planning to invest a million dollars or more in this country. And this, as I said, is a practical way for the Trump administration to govern according to biblical principles Deuteronomy 15: 4 says that “there should be no poor among you.”
This proposed bill would go a long way to make sure that no more poor people are allowed to enter the country. And I should point out that it is a course of action that I proposed three years ago. (And And - this limerick will be included in my soon to be published book of biblical limericks. You should buy three or four copies of it when it's available...)
(And it should be remembered that Democrats have, in the recent past, endorsed a point based immigration policy of their own…)
The world around us has already moved on. They celebrated
Easter with chocolates, and bunnies and then moved on to other things – but in the church we are still in Easter.
The world outside is already gearing up for graduations and summer vacations –
but in the church we are still in Easter. Our scriptural reading for today
(Luke 24: 13 – 35), like last week’s reading (John 20: 19 – 31) takes place “that
very same day” (Luke 24: 13 New Jerusalem Bible) Easter Sunday. We take our
time here; we linger in this, the “Lord’s Day.” The world may have already
moved on to the next shopping holiday – but in the church we are abiding for a
while in this resurrection day. “Now that very same day, two of them were on their way to a village called
Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all
that had happened. And it happened that as they were talking together and
discussing it, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side.” (Luke 24: 13 –
15) These two disciples – Cleopas and another unnamed disciple (in later tradition,
named Simon) (Maclean 422) – may not have recognized Jesus as their risen Lord
and master, their eyes may have been supernaturally blinded against seeing him
for who he was, but the risen Jesus did not want them to remain in the darkness
of ignorance. As they walked those seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus he
walked them through the scriptures, “starting with Moses and going through all
the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were
about himself.” (Luke 24: 27) We cannot know what passages Jesus explained to them on that dusty road, but let’s
take our own little trip through the scriptures, through Moses and the
prophets, and try to understand the resurrection a little better. The first thing that we should understand – and this may help us to understand
why the Cleopas and ‘Simon’ were so disappointed that day – in the Hebrew Bible
/ Old testament, especially the earliest parts of it, there is little that
speaks about a resurrection. The idea of a resurrection of the dead “does not appear except in texts that
are rare, obscure with regard to their precise meaning, and late”
(Martin-Achard 680). In the Old Testament there is no concept of resurrection,
life after death, or rewards or punishments in the afterlife. In the Old
Testament, the dead, all of them –the good, the bad, and the ugly- go to the
grave, the pit, to sheol. And that’s it. Sheol, the place of the
dead, was a place of no return. No one came back from there. No one gets out
alive.
“A cloud dissolves and is gone, so no one who goes down to Sheol ever comes up again, ever comes home again, and his house knows that person no more.” (Job 7: 9 – 10)
The road to Sheol was a “road of no return. (Job 16:
22). For the Jewish people, the grave was an inescapable prison. But this thought caused a sort of crisis of faith for them. IF God is good, and
IF the world belongs to him and is under his sovereign control – then why, they
asked, do the righteous sometimes die horrible, painful deaths at the hands of
powerful and wicked men? IF God is good, and IF the world belongs to him, then
there must be justice for the righteous – if not in this life, then … perhaps in
the next. And so, slowly, over time, an idea developed among them that in the later days,
in the time of the end, everything would be made right; the righteous dead
would be rewarded and wicked, powerful men would receive the punishment due to
them. And there would be, they began to understand, a resurrection of the dead. In the book of Daniel (written during a time of intense persecution and
struggle, during the Maccabean wars against the tyrannical Antiochus Epiphanes)
we find this newly developing hope expressed: “Of those who are sleeping in the
Land of Dust, many will awaken, some to everlasting life, some to shame and
everlasting disgrace. Those who are wise will shine as brightly as the expanse
of the heavens, and those who have instructed many in uprightness, as bright as
stars for all eternity.” (Daniel 12: 2 – 3)
The origins of Jewish belief in a resurrection after death
are unclear (Nickelsburg 685). But by the time of Jesus, many (but not all)
Jews accepted the idea of a life after death; the Sadducees did not accept this
new and still developing theological point, and they argued with Jesus (and
presumably with others who believed in the coming resurrection).
But the idea of resurrection was, at its foundation, about
justice. So, while Cleopas and ‘Simon’ may have believed in, and hoped for the resurrection
of the dead, they still grieved the great injustice that had been done to their
Teacher, their master, Jesus – the one that they had hoped would be the one to
set Israel free (Luke 24: 21) And, while Cleopas and ‘Simon’ may have believed
in, and hoped for the resurrection of the dead, they did not expect Jesus to be
raised from the dead. They thought of the resurrection of the dead as a great and general event all
at once, at the time of the end. They did not expect a dying Messiah, and they
did not expect his singular resurrection. As the New Testament scholar, N.T.
Wright has said, “Nobody expected the Messiah to be raised from the dead, for
the simple reason that nobody in Judaism at the time expected a Messiah who
would die, especially one who would die shamefully and violently” (Wright 19). And
no one expected the Messiah (or anyone else for that matter) to be raised up in
resurrection before the general resurrection at the end. But as they walked those seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus, with their eyes
still blinded and their understanding still darkened, Jesus walked them through
the scriptures again, explaining how Moses and all the prophets pointed to him
and to the justice that his resurrection promised. And this is what the resurrection is really about; this is what we must
understand. The resurrection is about Justice. “The resurrection stories in the
Gospels do not say Jesus is raised, therefore we’re all going to heaven, or
therefore we’re going to be raised.” The resurrection stories in the Gospels are
not there to give us a rosy hope for justice someday. The resurrection stories
are there to say that the Kingdom of God – which is the kingdom of life, the
kingdom of the living, the kingdom of the resurrected – has broken into this
world of death and is bringing life and justice with it. The stories of Jesus’ resurrection
in the Gospels say that “Jesus is raised, therefore God’s new creation has
begun and we’ve got a job to do” (Wright 21). The hope and promise of our resurrection is not (not merely) the hope of life
after death someday – but life after life, and of renewed life and full life in
this world now. We cannot begin to answer the question of how did the resurrection
happen – the resurrection of Jesus is a supernatural event, outside the realm
of observation and quantification. But we can answer the question of why.Why is there a resurrection? Why is Jesus resurrected? Why does he
promise this resurrection to us, his followers? For Justice. For Righteousness.
For the renewal of all creation. Jesus is resurrected and we’ve got a job to
do. I’m always disappointed when I hear people say - and when I hear Christians especially
say with a sigh and resignation, “well… that’s just the way things are.” Or “that’s
just the way the world is.” No. I do not accept that. If we do not believe in
change, the possibility and the necessity of making change for the good in this
world, then why do we bother to speak of the resurrection of Jesus? Look again
at the scriptures that Jesus opened for Cleopas and ‘Simon’ – the Law and the
Prophets – passages of Holy Scripture concerning justice for the poor and the
oppressed. The resurrection of Jesus may not be about our politics – but it
doesn’t change our political belief, why bother to believe in the resurrection at
all? “A deeply orthodox theology about the resurrection… is the proper seedbed
of radical politics” (Wright 23). Further, I may not agree with the conclusions of John Dominic Crossan, a New
Testament Scholar who believes that the resurrection of Jesus was not a ‘real’
event[i],
but I fully embrace his conclusion that while we might disagree over whether or
not Jesus’s resurrection was a real event, a literal, physical, bodily et
cetera… resurrection, what really matters is what we do as the result of
our belief in Jesus’ resurrection; “I want really to know how we are going to
take back God’s world from the thugs” (Crossan 29). This is what the resurrection means. This is why we linger here in Resurrection
Sunday two weeks after Easter. In his letter to the church at Corinth, the
apostle Paul wrote at length about the nature Jesus’ resurrection and concluded
by saying, “Thank God, then, for giving us the victory [over sin and death]
through Jesus Christ our Lord. So, my dear brothers, keep firm and immovable,
always abounding in energy for the Lord's work, being sure that in the Lord none
of your labors is wasted.” (1 Corinthians 15: 57 – 58).
The resurrection of Jesus (and the promise of our
resurrection) does not mean we sit back and hope for that ‘pie in the sky, by
and by’ – but that we are to be at work in this world, in the here and now,
creating the justice and righteousness that is the character of the Kingdom of
God. Jesus’ victory over sin and death does not mean we kick back and relax
until we are raptured away, but that we get to work, that we make things better
for our neighbors, for the immigrant, for the sick, and the poor. He arose a victor
from the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign” (Lowry).
And this is what is to believe in his victory over the dark domain of death, to
believe in the resurrection – to reign with him in this world by working for
justice.We have a
hope and a mission in this world because Jesus’ resurrection (and the promise of
our own) is about Justice.
***
Lowry, Robert. “Up from the Grave He Arose (Low in the Grave
He Lay)”
MacLean, Gilmour S. “The Gospel According to Luke: Exegesis”
The Interpreter’s Bible Volume 8. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press. 1952.
Print.
Martin-Achard, Robert. “Resurrection (OT)” The Anchor Bible
Dictionary Volume 5. New York. NY: Doubleday. 1992. Print. Nickelsburg, George W. E. “Resurrection (Early Judaism and Christianity)” The
Anchor Bible Dictionary Volume 5. New York, NY: Doubleday. 1992. Print. Wright, N.T. and John Dominic Crossan, “The Resurrection: Historical Event or
Theological Explanation? – A Dialogue.” The Resurrection of Jesus: John
Dominic Crossan and N. T. Wright in Dialogue. Ed. Robert. B. Stewart.
Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press. 2006. Print.
[i] …though we do have to be careful about that
word “real.” “The word real is one of the slipperiest ones in modern
English…” (Wright 32)
I was thumbing through one of my collected hymnals, playing
through songs familiar and not, when I came across one I haven’t sung in a long
time - which is too bad, because it’s a decent little hymn. “Rescue the Perishing”
words by Fanny Crosby / music by William Howard Doane.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
snatch them in pity from sin and the grave.
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying.
Jesus is merciful; Jesus will save.
But as I was singing this song, I realized that American Evangelical Christians
are going to have a difficult time singing this song, at least as it’s written.
We’ll resist, saying that this song is about spiritual salvation. And yes, that is true. But it is not merely
about the rescuing the dying soul. How can we snatch them from the grave, if we
are not concerned for their physical health? We’ve traded our tradition of
social justice and our Christian mandate to empathy and love for a selfish
economy.
I think we’ve traded the words of scripture for the advice
that philosopher John Locke gave to one of his friends:
“…you should feel nothing at all of others’ misfortunes…”
So I’ve rewritten Fanny’s song, and I hope that she’ll forgive me.
Listen America, people are dying,
but the rich and the well should not be enslaved.
The sick and the poor, they’re all just lazy;
if you want healthcare then you’ll have to save.
Don’t buy a new cell phone, get another
job;
if you want healthcare then you’ll have to save.
We are sometimes told that God
has blessed the United States of America – and even more – that God has
“blessed this nation more than any other on earth” (Graham “Facebook” ).
American wealth and power are cited as evidence of God’s favor on America. Franklin
Graham has said, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of
Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we
have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown”
(Graham “Defining Moment”). So it must be obvious that God loves us best and has
blessed us the most. Right? Right?
But this is rubbish. This is not the gospel or, at least, it is not the gospel
that Jesus proclaimed. Wealth and power are not values of the Kingdom of
Heaven. Egypt was rich and powerful once. Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Persia,
Rome – they were rich and powerful as well; they each ruled the world for a
time. But time passed and where are they now? These were not the nations that
God blessed, that God chose as his own. No. Wealth and might are not signs of God’s
favor and blessing on a nation. America should never be confused with the
Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven places value not in wealth and power, but in poverty and
weakness. And this sounds foolish to most of the world. It always has. The
message of the Kingdom, the gospel of Christ is in the cross, and this is
foolishness to the world. (1 Corinthians 1: 18 – 31) We proclaim a Christ
crucified. We proclaim a Kingdom that values the poor, the mourning, the meek,
and the merciful. This is not an empire built on coffers of gold and backed
with bullets and bombs. This is something altogether different.
Jesus saw the crowds that were beginning
to follow him and he left them to go up the mountain. There, away from the
crowds, he sat down and began to instruct his chosen disciples. The crowds were
not ready for this. Maybe we aren’t either.
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate (Albright 45) are the humble and poor in spirit for
theirs is the kingdom of God. The difference between Matthew’s “Blessed are the
poor in spirit” and Luke’s “Blessed
are the poor” is very often noted, as it should be. But this difference does
not get us off the hook. In America most of us are not poor. Not really. We may
not be rolling in money. We may not be part of the 1%, but neither are we “poor,”
not in the sense of the word that Luke uses.
We are comfortable, and so we cling to Matthew’s “poor in spirit” as a way to
justify ourselves, and to include ourselves in this blessed category. “Luke’s
blunt talk about the ‘poor,’ we are instructed, must be interpreted in light of
Matthew’s fuller ‘poor in spirit,’ a classification to which we can all aspire
since it has none of the rude realities of ‘material poverty’ (lack of food,
clothing, shelter, employment) attached to it. ‘Spiritual poverty’ in fact becomes a Christian virtue, and we are
encouraged to affirm a life-style that puts no premium on goods and possessions
but equally does not suggest that we need to get rid of them (Brown, 89).”
Reading the beatitudes only from the gospel according to Matthew is a way of
letting ourselves off the hook without requiring any sort of compromise to our
materialistic lifestyle.
But we must be careful not to
“minimize Jesus’ gospel of liberation for the poor by interpreting poverty as a
spiritual condition unrelated to social and political phenomena … a careful
reading of the New Testament shows that the poor of whom Jesus spoke were not
primarily (if at all) those who were spiritually poor as suggested in Matthew
5: 3” (Cone 79). The poor in spirit are the dispirited, the broken, the “losers”
of this world. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the poor and
humble in spirit, for theirs is the enduring Kingdom of God.
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate are those who mourn for they shall be
comforted. There’s a chorus that I
remember singing in Sunday School as a child. I remember that it made me cringe
then, and it still does, even more today:
I’m H-A-P-P-Y; I feel like I could fly.
I’m going to heaven; I’ll get there by and by.
My name is in the book; you’ll find it if you look.
I’m going to heaven by and by. (Unknown)
I hate that song, but I do not want to discredit the idea that there is joy in
the Christian faith. Neither am I suggesting that a state of mourning is
blessed in and of itself. Depression is not divine and no grief is good. But
those who grieve and those who mourn are blessed in the Kingdom of Heaven. “The
world says, ‘Enjoy!” Christ says “Grieve!’” (Buttrick 281). The world is a
sharp and dangerous place. It wounds us. It cuts us to the quick. And we mourn.
We grieve. Let no one tell you to “forget about it.” Ignore anyone who tells
you to “just get over it.” Blessed are those who mourn, those who feel the
wounding of the world for they will be comforted by God.
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate are the meek, for they will inherit the earth –
though, with the way things are, it often feels like maybe the meek will
inherit what’s left of the earth after the rich and powerful have sucked away
its resources and nuked the ashes. But blessed are the meek. The world derides
the meek as pussies, as pansies. ‘Step up and be a man! Be forceful and strong!
Take what is yours!’ they say. But in the Kingdom of God, the meek inherit what
they would never seize by force (Buttrick 281).
The meek are not arrogant and
forceful, they do not bully or belittle. They do not seek to destroy or defeat their
enemies. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth as a gift from
God.
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
This statement, like Matthew’s “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” has been used to justify those like ourselves despite
our lack of actual hunger and thirst. But this is no easy escape, no cheap
grace. To hunger and thirst for righteousness is to hunger and thirst for something
more than personal moral rectitude; it is a desperate hunger for justice and an
unquenchable thirst for “equity and humanity” (Buttrick 283). Those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness will never “get used to” those who would use their
political power to abuse and mistreat the poor immigrant, and to close the
doors on the refugee fleeing from war and destruction. Those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness will not accept a status quo that leaves people
starving for food and clean water while the wealthy and powerful minority live
in profligate excess. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice and righteousness
for they will have it.
Get used to it. @POTUS is a man of action and impact.
Promises made, promises kept.
Shock to the system.
And he's just getting started https://t.co/AoUsZWClXt
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate are
the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Oh mercy! But this is hard. “We do
not train to be merciful here,” the world says. “Mercy is for the weak. Here,
in the streets, in competition. A man confronts you, he is the enemy. An enemy
deserves no mercy.” We are taught by this world to “Strike first! Strike hard! No
Mercy, sir!” (Karate Kid) Mercy is
foolish. Mercy says, “Father, forgive them,” even as they are killing us. But mercy
is not pity. It is not a feeling. It is not a saccharine, sentimental sop. It
is the recognition that all of us, at times, are cruel and selfish, proud and
hateful and that God has loved us even still. Oh mercy! But mercy is hard.
Blessed are the merciful for they shall be given mercy.
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate are
the pure in heart for they will see God. Blessed are those who seek truth, who honor
and esteem truth as a treasure. Who can abide in the tent of God; who can
ascend his holy hill? None but the pure in heart, only those who speak truth
and will not slander. (Psalm 15) Blessed are those who value truth and not “alternative
facts.” Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see the face of God.
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate are the peacemakers for they will be called
children of God. Peacemaking is a “preventative task” (Buttrick 287) a preemptive
task. Oh, we know all about preemptive invasions, do it to them before they
have a chance to do it to us. But we know very little about preemptive
peacemaking. We are reactive, responding to the outbreaks of violence with more
violence, and still hoping to somehow make peace, instead of identifying those
sources of unrest and injustice that lead to violence and correcting them
before war breaks out. Instead of feeding the hungry and defending the
oppressed, we allow them to suffer until they feel that violence is the only
option. We know something about
peacekeeping, sorta’ but it’s a “peace through superior firepower” and that
kind of peace does not last. We need to be peacemakers – building peace from
the ground up. Blessed are the peacemakers for they are the children, the
favored sons and beloved daughters of God.
I
know that this sounds foolish, like a surefire way to end up broke down and beaten
up. It is the foolishness and weakness of God chosen to shame the strong and
wise of the world. If it were just the hippy-dippy, can’t we all just get along, “cloud of liberal optimism,” this would not be “good news.” It would be “a
mockery of the present misery of the suffering” (Moltmann 59). This is something
more than just the feel good musings of a bleeding heart liberal; this is the
gospel of Jesus Christ and the gospel has teeth. It bites.
I begin to understand why Jesus left the crowds and went up the mountain to
speak these things to his disciples. The crowds were not ready for them. I’m
not sure the disciples were either, and I’m not sure that we are, even today. I
know my faults and failures. I know how far from these I am. They are hard.
They bite. They challenge. They provoke.“To hear Jesus’ words of liberation
requires a radical decision … a decision that defines theology as a weapon in
the struggle of the little ones for liberation” (Cone 52). To hear these Beatitudes
is to redefine our world and our place in this world. It is to reject the idea
that wealth, and power, and privilege are our rightful blessings from God, and
to accept the foolishness of the gospel of the Cross, and a kingdom that values
the poor, the mourning, the meek, the merciful, the peacemaker.
Blessed – Happy – Fortunate, but we may not be ready to hear this.
It is highly unlikely, altogether improbable that those
individuals who compiled and organized the three year cycle of lectionary
readings for the Church were aware that today’s reading from Isaiah 9: 1 – 4 would
coincide with the very recent inauguration of the 45th president of
the United States of America. So it is a fortuitous – a serendipitous – a providential
text, fitting for today even if by nothing more than coincidence. Many biblical
scholars believe Isaiah 9 to be part of an enthronement event, a “dynastic
oracle uttered on the occasion of the anointing of a new king or at the anniversary
of the event” (Scott 231) and, as such, is a fitting text to read as we reflect
upon the recent transition of power in the government of the United States of
America.
Speeches and songs are part of the pageantry of government – for better or
worse. They can be used to inspire and encourage. They can be used to frighten
and intimidate. They can be used to uplift and ennoble. They can be used to
blame and harass. In his inauguration speech on Friday (January 20, 2017)
President Donald Trump described a bleak picture of the way things are as he
takes office – of “rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across the
landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash, but which leaves
our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and
the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country
of so much unrealized potential.” He described it as an “American carnage” (Trump
“Inaugural Address”).
Now whether or not he painted an accurate word picture of way things are or not
(I’d say not; his description is either wildly hyperbolic or grossly dishonest),
it is not uncommon for new government leaders to describe differences between
the outgoing and the incoming administrations in the starkest and most dramatic
terms possible. All that is behind was darkness and destruction, and all ahead
will be light and glory. For better or for worse, this is the way that propaganda works.
And it is the way that our passage from Isaiah works as well. Although historians and biblical scholars
cannot say with certainty whether this passage describes the rule of a particular
King of Judah or if it is intended to describe the rule and reign of an
idealized king of the future, and Christians have interpreted the passage to
speak of Jesus Christ, it seems likely that the “oracle was composed to
celebrate the ascension of an actual Judean king” in the 8th century B.C.E. (Scott 232). Isaiah describes
the way things were as gloomy and filled with anguish. The people were walking
in darkness and living in the land of the shadow of death. (Isaiah 9: 1- 2)
They were under the heavy yoke of an oppressive foreign invader – the Assyrians.
(Isaiah 9: 4) But the new king would bring light, would bring glory; he would
change contempt into joy and rejoicing. The new king would be a magnificent
figure, a messiah on the throne of David.
Now, please note that I am not equating President Donald J. Trump with the
messianic figure of Isaiah 9 – Trump is not a messianic figure. And neither is
he the Antichrist. And, let me continue, the same is true of his predecessor: President
Barak H. Obama was neither the Antichrist nor a messiah. We read this text
today without praising or demonizing either of those men, but to reflect on the
ways that we can understand our world today. What makes this passage from
Isaiah something more than persuasive political propaganda? What can our
president do, and –more importantly- what can we do to make this reading something more than the inflated
rhetoric and empty promises of political propaganda?
We can’t say everything that might be said this morning so we will limit our thoughts to two
points – a two part plan for bringing light to a once darkened land.
First: We must lift off the burdensome weight of the
oppressor. In Isaiah’s case the oppressor was obvious – it was the Assyrians
led by Tiglath-Pileser III. The Assyrians were the evil empire of the day, the
forces of darkness. In our own day the oppressor may not be the army of a
foreign invader, but still threat, still a danger.
In recent days I have been struck by the prescient words of Reverend Martin
Luther King Jr. He described the oppressors of our day by saying:
I am convinced that if we are to
get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a
radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin...we must rapidly begin the
shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines
and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more
important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and
militarism are incapable of being conquered. (King “Beyond Vietnam”)
Any political or economic system that favors profits over
people and products over persons is an oppressive system. Any law, or practice,
or tradition that favors one ethnic or gender or sexual identity over another
is part of that oppressive weight that must be lifted, part of the burden that
must be removed if we are going to live in light and glory instead of dark
gloom and anguish.
Theologian James Cone wrote, “Yahweh is known and worshiped
as the Lord who brought Israel out of Egypt, and who raised Jesus from the dead.
He is the political God, the Protector of the poor and the Establisher of the
right for those who are oppressed. To know him is to experience his acts in the
concrete affairs and relationship of people, liberating the weak and the
helpless from pain and humiliation. For theologians to speak of this God, they
too must become interested in politics and economics, recognizing that there is
no truth about Yahweh unless it is the truth of freedom as that event is
revealed in the oppressed people’s struggle for justice in this world” (Cone
62).
The weight of the oppressors must be lifted from the shoulders of the poor and the afflicted.
Second: We must put away our reliance on military force. We
must be prepared to burn all the clanking footgear and the blood-rolled
clothing; the signs and symbols of that darkness of death are ritually burned
as the new king comes to power.
Again from Martin Luther King Jr:
A true revolution of values will
lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling
differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with
napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting
poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending
men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically
deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that
continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on
programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. (King “Beyond Vietnam”)
We have been at war for a long time, for far too long. We
have been at war for my teen-aged son's entire life. I cannot wrap my mind around that
fact. And more warfare will not make an end to our warring. We must make the
hard choice to give up our reliance on military might. It has not made us safe.
It has not brought prosperity to our nation. It has not brought light to the
world, only more darkness. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can
do that” (King “Strength to Love”). We must put an end to our warring. We must
burn away our weaponry.
But I should stop here and be very clear to note that it was
not king who did these things. Whoever the historical king in view in Isaiah’s
text may have been, he did not do these things and bring light and glory to the
people living in the land as dark as death. God did. “This is God’s own action.
It is God who is the cause of the rejoicing, God who has given bountifully, and
God who has broken the oppressor’s rod” (Lang). The king was God’s representative,
his adopted son (Psalm 2:7), but it was God himself who brought about the redemption
and deliverance of the people.
We "praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light" (Edwards) for he is our light and our salvation. (Psalm 27:1)
And this is still true today; President Donald J. Trump will not - cannot - save
us; he will not deliver us. Our hopes cannot be in individual who occupies the
presidential office. We cannot put our trust in princes or presidents who
cannot save us. (Psalm 146: 3)
But if we would like to live in that kingdom of light and glory instead of the
land as dark as the shadow of death, this must be our plan and program – to lift
the away the weights of the oppressors so that everyone is free to share in the
good gifts that God has given us, and to burn away our reliance on violence and
military force. If we cannot do these two things then we will continue to live
in the gloom and anguish of that land of death. Jesus began his ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles by saying "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Today we repent of all our oppressive systems and structures; we repent of our militancy and violence. We repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, the dawning of that great light is near even now.
