THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM…4/30/08
by SteveYesterday I wrote that part of the uniqueness of Jesus lies in the fact that he was the first to announce that the Kingdom of God is here…it has arrived! He also invited us to participate in it, and insisted that as we do, we should not carry a staff. To me, this is an indication that this new Kingdom will not be realized or brought about by violence. We are called by Jesus to be visibly vulnerable and programatically non-violent.
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom characterized by turning the other cheek, giving away our excess, and going the extra mile. Remember that the people to whom Jesus orginally spoke were under Roman domination, and for the most part, were peasants. They knew what it meant to live under the pax romana, a peace achieved by violence and maintained by the threat and unhesitating application of it. So this new kingdom must be the antithesis of that one.
Jesus said in Matthew 10 that it looks like this: “Tell people that the kingdom is here, it’s at hand, now! Get busy! Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.” (The Message)
In our SS class yesterday, John Dominic Crossan asked, via video: “What would this world look like if God sat on Caesar’s throne? What would a Divine instead of an imperial program look like? What would a Divine budget look like? What Jesus is really saying is ‘In your face, Rome. You are not the Kingdom of God. You are not even the will of God!’”
The Kingdom of God is a way of life more than it is a hope for the future, but in living it out, we bring it about.�
RSS
There’s a saying, (frequently attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but without provenance) “Those who beat their swords into plowshares, will plow for those who don’t.” ‘Guns’ is frequently exchanged for ‘swords’, but you get the point either way. It’s deceptively easy to sit here, in the United States, comfortable and over-fed, members of the best armed civilian population in the world, under the protection of the mightiest standing army in the world, and discuss anything that moves us to words – knowing, without even considering it, that we’re completely within our rights to do so, as we’re protected by the first amendment to our Constitution. Every persuasion of Christian, Muslim, Jew, atheist, pagan, Hindi, Buddhist, Mormon – ANY member of ANY religion, can take to a street-corner, billboard, newspaper, television, radio, or any other means of communication, and do their level best to persuade others to join them in their beliefs. Of course, they may get jeered at, belittled, asked tough questions, and/or otherwise annoyed by others with the same rights, but they will not be jailed, prosecuted, or executed by our government for having a particular religion, or discussing it publicly. After all, it’s one of the primary reasons we keep that standing army – to defend that right, and the others in the Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, most of us have to be pushed to realizing that, we’ve had it too good for too many generations, and we take it for granted. The Jews of the first century probably didn’t even dream of such a thing. They were occupied by Rome, with Roman religion forced upon them, at the point of a Roman sword. Only Roman citizens were offered any protections, and occupied Jews certainly weren’t citizens. Standing out was not a good thing – just like that High School gym class, if you were noticed for anything other than excellence, you knew you were in trouble. And, just like the Borg, resistance was futile – these folks had conquered most of the known *world*. If *all* the Jews in Israel had taken up arms overnight, the most it would have been to Rome was an inconvenience to put them down, and they certainly wouldn’t have batted an eye at the bloodshed. Try to imagine living that way, knowing you weren’t allowed to discuss your religion publicly, and were immediately under suspicion for any public gathering. Consider carefully the reality that other people live under the threat of violence, government sanctioned and executed violence, just for being “different”. Picture raising your children under occupation of a people who do not consider you, or your children, as good as them. This was day-to-day life for a Jew in first century Jerusalem. Jesus was, indeed, a radical! He spoke freely in a time and place that forbid it. He sought – and found – holes in Rome’s armor, and gave his Jewish followers the tools to exploit them. Yes, many of those followers expected a General to lead a new Jewish army against Rome, a solid military victory to push out the invaders. Judas was no exception. But Jesus’ weapons weren’t swords or spears, they were words and ideas! Ideas that diminished Rome’s power, even as they remained. Revolutionary ideas, like loving God before Caesar, turning the other cheek instead of being provoked to (illicit) violence, loving others as you wished to be loved, instead of demanding servitude. Rome could, *would* win an armed conflict, but might not survive the humiliation of the actions inspired by Jesus. Do you doubt? Why else would they have executed the peaceful man from Galilee? Yet three hundred years later, the Roman emperor would call himself Christian.
Weapons are tools, if swords, guns, missiles, axes, or words, they can each be just as dangerous. Although we use automobiles safely daily, they can also be instruments of great destruction.
There will always be times of war, and times of peace, and people who misuse the tools we have created. Our job, as Christians, is to use the greatest tool God has granted us, our minds, to guide our hands, our feet, and our voices, so that the tasks we apply them to reflect the love of God. Sometimes we will fail, and other times our words and deeds may fail to avoid the use of stronger weapons to defend ourselves. But this never, *never* gives us an excuse to nullify or avoid that simple task, or the act of returning to it – love God always, love your neighbor as yourself.
Bj