Kingdom of God

The scriptures referred to are Ephesians 3:14-21 and John 6:1-21.

I was listening to the Holy Post podcast's 4 part series on the book Jesus and John Wayne by historian Dr. Kristen Kobes Du Mez. The book is a history of Evangelicalism from the beginnings of the twentieth century to today and shows that, whatever you think of their current positions on social and political issues, these are not betrayals of their beliefs and ethics but merely the culmination of their effort to replace “the Jesus of the Gospels with a vengeful warrior Christ.” Because they've always defined themselves as over against an enemy, be it modernism or communism or liberalism or Islam. And that's why they have always liked strong tough male leaders who were in control and not afraid to use their power to mete out justice, like the cowboys and soldiers portrayed by John Wayne. Wayne became a model for Christian manhood, despite being a thrice married, twice divorced heavy drinker and chain smoker who did not share their beliefs. It wouldn't be the last time Evangelicals idolized a person who was hardly a poster boy for family values. Being a lifelong Evangelical Dr. Du Mez wasn't surprised by the very masculine culture of Evangelicalism that saw men primarily as protectors and providers while assigning the “softer” Christian virtues like love and peace and kindness and sexual self-control to women. But I had the same question as the podcast's host who asked, “When did strength become the chief Christian virtue rather than love?”

This preference for a leader with military and political power over one with more spiritual qualities is not new, as we see in today's gospel passage from John. And, true to his style of telling Jesus' story, John takes the one miracle that is in every gospel, the feeding of the 5000, and tells us the reason why Jesus sends the disciples away in a boat. Speaking of the crowd, John tells us, “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” At night as the crowd sleeps, Jesus crosses the sea on foot.

Think about that for a while. Jesus has been preaching about the kingdom of God. He has been displaying God's power over disease and death. He just fed 5000 followers in a land rife with poverty and injustice. What would be more natural than making Jesus king so he can use his power to make the kingdom of God become a reality on earth?

They might be forgiven for thinking that. After all Jesus kicked off his ministry by reading this passage from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) Those sound like things a king could do: freeing prisoners and releasing the oppressed. And Jesus spoke of being anointed. 3 types of people were anointed in the Bible: prophets, priests and kings. Was Jesus hinting he was the rightful king of the Jews?

Of course, parts of this don't seem to go along with the popular idea of a king, especially the part about the sight of the blind being recovered. That's not something a king did. A prophet like Elisha healed people. Also the passage talks more about preaching and proclaiming than things a king does. Proclaiming God's word is the job of a prophet. Prophets don't generally become kings. They criticize kings, or at least the bad ones.

Still people considered King David a prophet. (Hebrews 11:32) and his psalms were included in scripture. And many thought the Messiah, which means the anointed, was supposed to be a new David, a holy warrior who would do to the Romans what David did to the Philistines. So it was natural to think that Jesus should have political authority added to his spiritual authority. Which shows how people then, and now, misunderstand the kingdom of God.

We think of kingdoms in terms of geography and political structures because that's what constitutes earthly kingdoms. But the Greek word translated “kingdom” can refer to the rule of a king, such as when we talk of Queen Victoria's reign, which lasted 63 years and covered not just the United Kingdom but the British Empire. Even if you weren't physically in England but in India after 1876 you were living under her reign. Just so, the kingdom of God would probably be better translated “the royal reign of God.” It is not limited to a place, like, say, Israel, but it is wherever God rules. That's why Jesus could say, “My kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36) No, it comes from God. It also explains how Jesus could say, “...the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

In his last address to his disciples on the night of his betrayal, Jesus says, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) He also says, “Remain in me and I will remain in you.” (John 15:4) He says of the Holy Spirit, “...you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” (John 14:17) The Triune God lives in us. And by obeying God's commandments, we show that he reigns in us and rules our lives as our king.

But notice that Jesus always links this indwelling of God with love. Loving God is connected to the Father, the Son and the Spirit coming to us and making God's home with us and in us. Jesus says, “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.” (John 14:21) But in this whole long final speech, encompassing 5 chapters of John's gospel, Jesus only mentions one commandment. And it is not about being holy or punishing evildoers or anything sexual. He says, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

Why? Because, as we are told in 1 John, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8) How can the God who is love live in the heart and mind of a person who has no love?

Look at it this way. What would you do if someone important was coming to your home to live with you? You'd clean it up, wouldn't you? You'd repair the broken toilet and fix the leaking roof. And if it were someone especially holy, like the Pope or the Presiding Bishop, you'd get rid of anything bad or offensive. All drugs, pornography and racist material would have to go. If you can't get rid of your Nazi flag, you know that Jesus, a Jew, would not feel welcome there.

That's why, in his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says he prays “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” Faith or trust in Jesus allows him to live in our hearts, and the result of opening our hearts to him is that they send down their roots into the very ground of our being, the God who is love.

Paul then continues, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” That's one of those sentences by Paul that gave us nightmares when we had to diagram them in Greek exegesis class. It boils down to Paul wishing that church members reading this comprehend just how enormous the love of Christ is. And he wants us to know this love, even though ultimately we cannot understand it completely. Nevertheless, we can experience being full of God's love.

So the royal reign of God is his love ruling over us and guiding our lives. To paraphrase something I read, if the fear of hell is the only thing that's keeping you from doing wrong you are simply a psychopath on a leash. A Christian should be acting out of love for God and for others. That's what it means to have God reigning in your life.

And if you can't say this describes your experience perfectly, don't despair. Jesus compared the kingdom of God to seeds and yeast and the investment of talents. (Mark 4:3-32; Matthew 13:33; Luke 19:11-27) In other words, things that take time to grow.

When God comes into our hearts, there is not an immediate total transformation. C.S. Lewis compared it to a renovation project. At first, the builder's changes make sense: strengthening a load bearing wall, removing rotting timbers, etc. But then the builder starts tearing out things you were satisfied with and adding onto the house. Lewis said the builder is not just making small repairs but turning the house—your life—into a palace fit for a king. Because that is what we are becoming: a place where God will reign.

Paul uses the metaphor of a temple. God was present in the tabernacle, accompanying the Israelites through the desert, and later in the temple built by Solomon. But after the exile, the ark of the covenant, thought of as God's footstool and symbol of his presence, disappears. There is no ark and therefore no special presence of God in the temple of Herod. However, God is present in Jesus. And after he returns to the Father, God is present in us, through his Spirit poured out on us in baptism. So Paul says, “Do you not know you are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)

Paul shifts the metaphor a little in Ephesians to refer not merely to individual Christians but to the entire church. “...you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:20-22) Which makes sense since by yourself it is hard to demonstrate love for others. But in a community where God reigns, we can display giving and receiving Christian love, which Paul describes in the 13^th chapter of 1 Corinthians. In such a group, one can show love that is patient and kind and does not envy or boast, is not proud or rude or self-seeking, is not easily angered and does not keep a tally of others' wrongs, which does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It is in the body of Christ that we should be putting the divine love in action, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always persevering.

Again we are not there yet but we should always be growing into that temple, that space where God's Spirit is both alive and active. If we let him, “the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”

So why haven't we seen such things? If we went to the 12 men who were the church at the very beginning, and showed them the church today, they would marvel at the hospitals and schools and homeless shelters and feeding programs and disaster relief programs that the church has created and runs globally. They would be amazed that this small gathering of Christians could be seen and heard by anyone in the world who tuned in. I'm sure all of it would be more than they could have imagined 2000 years ago.

Remember: in their day there was no such thing as democracy; there was no capitalism or communism; slavery was universal, freedom was not. And landed, rich men had all the political power, as well as power to control the lives of women and the power of life and death over their slaves and even their children. The world has changed...a lot.

And if we now seem to have stalled, perhaps it is because we have limited our vision of what the future can be. Like the Evangelicals, who settled for imitating the marketing practices of the business world and the political tactics of earthly governments, rather than trusting in the things that come into being when God reigns. Instead of hitching our wagons to the limited options of this world, we need to be open to the God who creates.

Paul wrote, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” And in Revelation we are given a vision of God's kingdom. It includes “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language.” (Revelation 7:9) It is a place where there is no murder or deceit. More importantly, God “will dwell with them and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. He who sits on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'” (Revelation 21:3-5)

God reinvented the idea of a kingdom. His is not a political or geographical place; it is located in every heart where he is invited to reign. But like a seed, the kingdom of God grows; it bears fruit; it manifests itself in our thoughts, words and actions. And if all Christians were less concerned about dictating how others lived and more concerned about letting the Spirit of God rule their lives, and if we seek how we can come together as the body of Christ, not to gain power over others, but to demonstrate the power of God's love to change lives, then we will see the words of Jesus' prayer become reality. God's kingdom will come and his will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Sheeple?

The scriptures referred to are Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23 and Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56.

“Sheeple.” It's an insult people hurl at folks who blindly follow a leader or a group. Well, actually it is an insult hurled at folks who blindly follow a leader or a group that the insult-hurlers dislike. So it doesn't apply to them and whoever or whatever they follow. And, yes, there are such people, primarily in cults, who do whatever the person they've elevated to god says. Think Jim Jones or David Koresh. Or Hitler. People turned off their critical thinking and, in one case, literally drank the Kool-Aid. Or Flavor-Aid, to be accurate.

But to say that none of them ever speak up or object is to ignore the evidence. After all, the Jonestown massacre took place after Jones had the 14 people who wanted to leave gunned down along with California respresentative Leo Ryan and his entourage. And some of the cult members, rather than swallow the cyanide-laced drink, ran for the jungle or hid under a bed or lay in a ditch pretending to be dead. Because even sheep do not uniformly follow a leader. Dogs are more likely to show that kind of obedience.

Sheep do exhibit flocking behavior, keeping close together, but only when there are 4 or more of them. And “in regions where sheep have no natural predators, none of the native breeds of sheep exhibit a strong flocking behavior.” [Wikipedia] And sheep have a dominance hierarchy, maintained through aggressiveness, competitiveness and even fighting. As for intelligence, they are about as smart as cattle. Maybe smarter. They do display some problem solving skills. People in West Yorkshire have reported a flock that figured out how to get past cattle grates by rolling over them on their backs!

The Bible, reflecting an agricultural background, has sheep right: they do tend to flock and they do follow leaders, but they also can stray, or else why do they need a shepherd? The issue then is not so much the sheep as the shepherd. If the shepherd is good and is looking out for the sheep, it is a good thing that they follow him. Jones, Koresh and Hitler are extreme examples of bad shepherds.

It's Good Shepherd Sunday, though you wouldn't know it by reading the passages in Track One of the Revised Common Lectionary. In the Old Testament, Psalm and Gospel selections there are a grand total of 3 references to shepherds. Whereas in Track Two, we have Jeremiah's denunciation of the bad shepherds or kings of Israel, as well as Psalm 23, which pictures God as a shepherd. They make a good contrast between what a bad shepherd and a good shepherd do. That's why I included the Celebrate in the bulletins and read them rather than those on the Episcopal insert.

Right off the bat, Jeremiah lists 3 things bad shepherds do: destroy the sheep, scatter or drive them away and neglect them. Let's look at each.

The primary duty of a shepherd is to keep the sheep alive and intact. Destroying them is therefore the worst thing you can do. It seems absurd to even call a person who would do that a shepherd. But at the beginning of this sermon, we mentioned 3 leaders whose actions ultimately led to the death and destruction of their people. In the case of Jones, it was the mass suicide of more than 900 people, including about 300 children, “the largest number of American civilian casualties in a single non-natural event,” up until 9/11. However, with Jones' armed guards overseeing it, there is a disagreement as to whether drinking the poison could be called voluntary on the part of most of the people. Koresh would rather his people fight it out with the overwhelmingly better armed government forces, who had tanks, than for him to simply surrender and face a trial. 76 Branch Davidians died. Hitler kept overruling his generals and when his defeat became inevitable, he blamed the German people for not being more loyal to him and not fighting harder. It is estimated that as many as 2 million German civilians and 5 million German soldiers died in World War II. None of these men took any blame for what happened nor did they choose alternatives that would let their people live. They failed to protect those who followed them. Contrast that with Jesus who let himself be arrested in return for letting his disciples go. (John 18:8)

Jeremiah accuses the bad shepherds of scattering the sheep and even driving them away. Remember that sheep together follow the leader if kept in a large group. Smaller groups do not flock. Also fear of predators keep them together. Even bad shepherds know this and use the fear of enemies to keep people in line. But their leadership also creates defectors, people who cannot stand the destructive and self-destructive ways the leader displays. And this makes dissenters enemies as well. Bad leaders are just as paranoid about enemies within as they are those outside the group. And the loyalty tests and purges that result create divisions. Hitler also created a tremendous brain drain in Germany as Jews, as well as other Germans who could not in good conscience support the Nazis, left the country before the war. Many joined the Allies.

Now people do leave and even betray good causes and good shepherds as well. One of Jesus' twelve closest students led those who arrested him. And a large number left him after his Eucharistic speech about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. John tells us, “After this many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer. So Jesus said to the twelve, 'You don't want to go away too, do you?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'” (John 6:66-68)

But Jesus did not run after those leaving, nor put out a hit on them, as Jim Jones did on the 14 who wanted to leave Jonestown with Ryan. David Koresh let 51 children, all fathered by other men, leave his compound before the siege. But 25 children, fathered by him through various women, were herded into a central room to die along with him and his original wife and 2 pregnant women. After Rudolph Hess' unauthorized flight to Britain to broker a peace, Hitler went after anyone in the Reich whom he felt he couldn't trust to obey him above all. Bad shepherds are such narcissists that they simply cannot let go when someone leaves them.

Finally, Jeremiah says that the bad shepherds “have not attended to” the sheep. They haven't paid attention to them. Because with the bad shepherd it is all about him, his needs, his fears and his desires, not those of his people. Contrast this with Jesus in today's gospel passage. The disciples have returned from the mission he gave them and they are sharing what happened. “He said to them, 'Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile.' For many were coming and going and they had no leisure to eat.” Jesus himself would get so worn out he could sleep through a storm. (Mark 4:37-38) And he realized his disciples needed to eat and to rest as well. Bad shepherds don't have empathy for their followers.

Much of Psalm 23 is about how the Lord as a shepherd supplies the needs of his sheep. He leads them to green pastures and good water. He protects them. Faced with predators, sheep will charge and butt or stamp their hooves, especially ewes with newborns. But that doesn't worry a predator much. So as the psalm says, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” The rod was a cudgel that was tucked into the shepherd's belt. The staff was his walking stick. Both were used as weapons to fend off predators. Remember how David told Saul that he could handle Goliath because he had rescued sheep from lions and bears by striking them. (1 Samuel 17:34-36) I imagine the sling was used to chase them away before they got too near the flock. If one actually got hold of a sheep, it was clobbering time. The staff extended the shepherd's reach, keeping him out of the range of claws and jaws, and the rod came into use when he moved in for the kill. The sheep knew that the shepherd would deal with threats.

As Jeremiah says of those with a good shepherd over them, “they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.” This recalls Jesus' parable about the shepherd who, despite having 99 sheep safe, will nevertheless go and look for the one sheep who has gone astray. (Matthew 18:12-14)

Again the bad shepherd only cares about himself, not his followers. Jones, Koresh and Hitler only committed suicide to spare themselves the humiliation of falling into the hands of their enemies and having to face the consequences of their crimes. The only thing more precious than their lives were their egos. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11) And indeed he did. He let himself be taken and humiliated by his enemies. Crucifixion was a humiliating death, hanging naked along a major road, unable to do anything except die.

The reason he did this is found in Isaiah: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned each one to his own way; and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) It's not just one of us Jesus needs to seek out and find; all of us were lost. Without a good shepherd our situation is like the one we find in the period of the judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) In other words, chaos. Unfortunately, to avoid that, people are willing to put themselves under the crook of any shepherd, even a bad one, as long as he promises order and stability. That's how a Hitler or any would-be dictator gains power. He plays on their fear of disorder and of the “Other,” however he defines it. He says he will deliver them from that fear. Little do they know they are exchanging that fear for fear of the shepherd himself and his whims, once they are revealed.

But the good shepherd, while offering protection, also offers goodness and mercy, as the psalm says. The Hebrew word for “goodness” means “pleasant, agreeable.” It is used of things pleasing to the senses, like sight, smell and taste. It is used of good times, good places, good people and good news. Bad shepherds don't want you to hear good news. That might make you feel less afraid and feel less need for them. Cal Thomas left the Moral Majority in part because of their fearmongering, like Falwell saying one of the Teletubbies was designed to make kids gay. When Thomas asked someone in charge of their media messages why they didn't highlight the good things they were doing, he was told that good news led to a dropping off of donations. Both robbers and bad shepherds know that you are more likely to give them your money if you are afraid.

The other quality the good shepherd offers is mercy. Bad shepherds are not forgiving. Both Jones and Koresh would publicly discipline and humiliate their followers for breaking the rules. It goes without saying that Hitler was without mercy. But 3 times Peter denied Jesus, even as the man he had called the Christ, the Son of the living God, was being interrogated by Caiaphas. So what does Jesus do after his resurrection? He asks Peter 3 times if he loves him. Each time Peter says he does, while getting increasingly upset at Jesus' question. And each time Jesus responds with “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17) The good shepherd forgave him and called him to be a shepherd to his sheep.

We should not be insulted to be called sheep of the good shepherd. The idea that people make better decisions when not totally free of the influence of God or government has been disproven over and over by history. It's called anarchy. And anarchy is simply letting many people become tyrants, like the warlords who rule various parts of failed nations. Even in a democracy someone has to set goals and give people direction. It's not a matter of there being a shepherd or not; it's a matter of whether you follow a good shepherd or a bad one.

One advantage Jesus has is revealed right after the verse we quoted in Isaiah about us being like sheep gone astray. It goes, “He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) In real life a shepherd has never been a sheep. But Jesus did become one of us. He knows what our lives are like. He willingly gave up his power to be a working man of an oppressed people and a religious minority, under bad shepherds where there was no freedom and no mercy. He ended up nailed to a cross, powerless to wipe the blood and sweat from his eyes or to raise a cup to wet his parched lips. We humans come into this world helpless and we die helpless. And Jesus has done both and knows exactly what it is like. That helps make him a good and merciful shepherd.

Sheep can learn to recognize the faces of individual humans. They can learn to respond to their names. We need to learn to recognize good shepherds and especially The Good Shepherd. And we need to listen for his call and follow him. Though he takes us through the valley of the shadow of death, he will guide us along the right pathways. He will feed us and tend us and protect us and we will dwell with him forever.

Good News?

The scriptures referred to are Amos 7:7-15.

Nobody likes bad news. Especially if you are in charge and someone says you are on the wrong track and it will lead to disaster. So the powerful tend to surround themselves with people they say have a positive attitude, but who are really just yes-men. I think every organization and every government should have, for lack of a better phrase, a designated “devil's advocate.” They need someone smart and honest who is good at sniffing out the flaws in plans, so they can be fixed. They should also alert the folks at the top when the group is drifting from its original mission, so they can course correct, or if they are actually doing something counter to their mission, so it can be aborted.

Billy Graham could have used someone like that on his team when he starting flirting with politics and cozying up to presidents. It began with him begging a reluctant Harry Truman to see him. When he clicked with Ike, he made the gospel about the conflict between godly America and godless communism. He definitely shouldn't have shown such support for Richard Nixon. On one of the White House tapes released after Watergate Graham tells Nixon he is willing to come out and say he is voting for him even if it hurts his ministry! Why that didn't ring alarm bells and tell Graham that he was putting his loyalty to a politician ahead of his mission for God?

As it turned out Graham did not need to go that far. During Nixon's reelection campaign, Graham brought the president up on the platform during his crusades. He took Nixon in his motorcade in his hometown to celebrate Billy Graham Day. His support for Nixon was apparent. And then the Watergate tapes came out and Graham's ministry was hurt.

Most religions sanctify the establishment and the status quo. But not the Bible. Yes, there are passages that talk of how God favors the king and his capitol. But the Bible also includes prophets who often criticize the king, the priests and even the the way the system of worship set up in the Torah is working. The monarchs of the Middle Ages could only justify the idea of “the divine right of kings” by ignoring the multitudes of bad kings in the Bible. Religious authorities likewise have to ignore bibilical condemnations of anointed priests who do evil or who practice rituals empty of faith. God, not those with earthly power, has the final word on what is right and what is wrong.

Amos is one of the earliest of the prophets of the 8^th century BC and one of the most scathing. He goes after not only the Gentile nations surrounding Judah and Israel but God's people as well. Like all the prophets who come after him, he accuses the people of religious arrogance and social injustice. They are mistreating the poor and powerless, while assuming that because God chose them they can never lose his favor. Boy, are they wrong!

Amos declares, “This is what the Lord says: 'Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions—make that four!—I will not revoke my decree of judgment. They sold the innocent for silver, the needy for a pair of sandals. They trample on the dirt-covered heads of the poor; they push the destitute away. A man and his father go to the same girl; in this way they show disrespect for my moral purity. They stretch out on clothing seized as collateral; they do so right beside every altar! They drink wine bought with the fines they have levied; they do so right in the temple of their God!'” (Amos 2:6-8, NET) Notice that exploiting the unfortunate goes hand in hand with contempt for the sacred. Our treatment of our fellow human beings reveals how we really regard the God who made them in his image.

And Amos is not afraid to get specific: “Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax on them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted.” (Amos 5:11) It is already expensive to be poor. A greater percentage of their money goes to food and housing than that of the rich. And then as now, they are made to pay regressive taxes.

Amos continues: “Certainly, I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate.” (Amos 5:12) The city gate was where the elders met and judged legal cases and civil disputes. Taking into consideration the wealth and position of the people involved when coming up with a verdict—in fact, putting any favoritism ahead of justice—are sins according to the law of God the people agreed to under Moses. (Leviticus 19:15)

Thus, far from being mollified by their piety, God says, “I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies! Even if you offer me burnt and grain offerings, I will not be satisfied; I will not look with favor on your peace offerings of fattened calves. Take away from me your noisy songs; I don't want to hear the music of your stringed instruments. Justice must flow like torrents of water, righteous actions like a stream that never dries up.” (Amos 5:21-24) In other words, you don't get brownie points for how good you act towards God if you are also acting badly towards others, especially the poor and powerless.

The reigns of King Uzziah of Judah and King Jeroboam of Israel were peaceful and prosperous times. And though he came from the southern kingdom of Judah, the majority of Amos' prophesies were about God's judgment on the northern kingdom of Israel. That made his voice especially unwelcome to Jeroboam and his priest, Amaziah. The priest, knowing God's law and the conditions of his country, should have supported Amos' criticisms. But, as Billy Graham tried to get Martin Luther King to tone down his criticism of racism in the South for the sake of his friend the president, Amaziah wants Amos to stop going on about injustice in Israel. And the priest goes to the king and tells him, not what God says they are doing wrong, but what Amos is saying about the consequences the king and Israel will suffer.

Ever notice how people tend to accuse others of what they in fact do? Amaziah assumes that, just as his profession is a priest, and he is in the pocket of the king, Amos is a professional prophet and is doing this for money. Perhaps he was in the pay of the king of Judah to stir up dissent in Israel.

There were guilds and schools of prophets. We know that royal courts had prophets working for them. And the temptation was to tell the king what he wanted to hear. For instance, in 1 Kings 22 we are told that King Ahab of Israel wants to recruit visiting King Jehoshaphat of Judah to help in his military campaign against Syria. He gathers 400 prophets who say the action would be a resounding success. But Jehoshaphat is cautious. So they send for a prophet named Micaiah, whom Ahab doesn't like because he is not a yes-man. And we are told, “Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, 'Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success.'” (1 Kings 22:13) So Micaiah does agree but with such obvious sarcasm that he is asked to reveal what God really told him. It is that King Ahab will die in the battle. Micaiah is put in prison but his prophesy comes true.

Of the corrupt professional prophets, Jeremiah wrote, “The Lord says, 'I saw the prophets of Samaria doing something that was disgusting. They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray. But I see the prophets of Jerusalem doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah.'” (Jeremiah 23:13-14, NET)

As I said, the usual role of religion in society is to say that God is on the side of the leader and has blessed him. Especially if the religious leader wants to keep his job or keep his access to power. But Amos is not a professional or hereditary prophet. He is a herdsman who has a side gig caring for sycamore trees. God called him to leave his jobs and his country to deliver his message of judgment to Israel. Because, says Amos, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) A true prophet is not a Monday morning quarterback, saying afterwards that the reason for a disaster was this or that. The true prophet gives the message beforehand so that those concerned may repent. If they do, God will change the outcome. Amos says, “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, just as you have said. Hate evil and love good, and establish it in the gate; it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:14-15)

In fact, Amos reveals that God showed him his plans to punish Israel. He was going to plague them with locusts to eat all their crops. But Amos pleads for Israel and God relents. God then proposes that a shower of fire fall upon the land. Again Amos begs God to spare the people and he does. And that's where our passage begins. God uses the plumb line to show how crooked his people have become. They objectively deserve judgment. But the priest and the king will not do anything to prevent this. They just don't want to hear it. So in 40 years, Israel will be conquered and go into exile, never to return.

I said that no one wants to hear bad news. There is an exception: a person who is very sick, and doesn't know why. They really want to hear their diagnosis, even if it is not good. Because at least now they know what they are up against. They might be able to change their diet, start exercising, take medication, and/or have surgery. But I have had patients who were in denial about their diagnosis. And unfortunately, in medical matters, what you don't know can definitely hurt you.

In spiritual matters, too. We have seen churches and ministries that refused to admit what was wrong with them or with their leadership. They have denied reports of sexual abuse or financial misuse or misplaced political loyalties. And their sins do find them out. What was whispered in the offices and conference rooms gets broadcast from the rooftops and the internet.

Billy Graham's ministry was damaged by the revelations coming out of the Watergate scandal. A tape of Graham listening to Nixon rail against the Jews, whom he felt owned the media, was released. Graham did not contradict the president but went along with his antisemitism. And other tapes revealed that Nixon, far from being the devout Christian he led the evangelist to believe he was, often ridiculed Graham behind his back.

With his reputation in the US tarnished, Billy Graham concentrated on evangelizing other countries. And it broadened him. After going to China, he said he no longer believed unbaptized babies went to hell. And he learned his lesson about letting partisan politics take over the gospel. He refused to join Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority movement.

Christians can't ignore major issues affecting society. We must act for the common good. But we need to be sure that these acts and policies are in line with God's principles. Our loyalty must be to Jesus and not to any earthly politician or party. We cannot perform or let pass unethical acts or lies or damaging rumors, regardless of how politically effective they might be. While no human being is perfect, we must not condone any illegal or immoral acts by leaders or candidates, whatever side they are on. Which will not endear us to partisans and especially people who assumed we were on their side.

We are on God's side and God is on the side of all people, not just those who are rich or famous or powerful. Yes, he demands high moral standards and personal integrity on our part but he also demands that we be just and merciful and generous and helpful to others, especially those who need help the most. I think God would rather that we err on the side of helping those who it turns out don't deserve it than not help those who did deserve it but whom we judged not worthy. After all, God does not save the worthy but those who aren't, those who because of their sins need him. The world is not made up of two kinds of people, those who are sinners and those who aren't. The world is made up of those who know they are sinners and those who tell themselves they aren't.

On Facebook, some of my colleagues were trying to find the good news in today's readings, what with scathing Amos and the beheading of John the Baptist. The good news implicit in their preaching is this: we are all spiritually and morally sick. But there is a cure. If we let the Great Physician open us up and work on us, we will get better. It won't be fast or easy or painless. We will have to change how we live our lives. We will have to give some things up and follow the Doctor's orders. There will be times when it will be so hard that we will want to give up. But he will never give up on us. Not even if it kills him. And indeed, it already did. But not for long. And if we stick with him, not even death will stop us from becoming the people Jesus intends us to be for all eternity.

A Christian Nation

The scriptures referred to are 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10.

As I go through the Old Testament in my daily Bible readings on Facebook, I am constantly reminded that I am dealing with a theocratic nation. Israel was both a spiritual community, led by God, and a political one, with borders and a judicial system and eventually a central government under a human king with a standing military. And the temptation has always been to identify our country with Old Testament Israel. After all, didn't the pilgrims come to this continent for religious reasons to set up a nation where they could worship God freely? Yes. And unfortunately they also saw the Native Americans as Canaanites that could be removed from the land so they could settle there.

But a lot happened in the more than a century and a half interval between their landing here and the creation of the United States of America. Contrary to what some people believe, our country was not conceived of as a specifically Christian nation. The Declaration of Independence mentions “Nature's God,” “the Creator,” “the Supreme Judge of the World,” and “divine Providence,” terms so general that it could equally apply to a Jewish or even a Muslim nation. There is no mention of Jesus Christ or of a Redeemer. The Constitution doesn't mention God by any name or title. Religion is only mentioned in the first amendment and then only to say that Congress can't force religion on anyone or prevent people from practicing their religions. The government is basically to be neutral on religions, neither for them nor against them, something some Christians and some atheists don't seem to understand.

Contrast that with ancient Israel whose “constitution”—the Ten Commandments—begins with “I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3) There is no religious freedom there. The Israelites could only worship one God. And he gives his specific name so that there is no confusion about which God. And along with civil laws, like respecting boundary markers and collecting a special tithe for the poor, are laws about ritual matters. You could be stoned for working on the Sabbath or blasphemy or worshiping another god. We don't have any such laws because we are not a theocracy.

Now the pilgrims did have such rules. They outlawed blasphemy, smoking, drunkenness and fornication, of course. You also had to attend church, both Sunday morning and afternoon, both services with sermons that lasted an hour or more. And in Massachusetts if you interrupted a preacher, you were fined 5 pounds, made to stand on a 4 foot tall block, and had to wear a sign that labeled you in large capital letters a “WANTON GOSPELLER”. In Connecticut the sign might call you “AN OPEN AND OBSTINATE CONTEMNNER OF GOD'S HOLY ORDINANCES.”

But Puritan laws didn't just regulate religious behavior. They outlawed things like kissing your wife in public. One Captain Kimble, returning from a 3 year voyage, kissed his wife on his own doorstep and was put in the pillory for 2 hours for his “lewd and unseemly behavior.” By the way, women's clothes were regulated by law. It was illegal for a woman to wear lace. The length and width of her sleeves were dictated by law. And her skirts had to touch the floor. No ankles had better be seen.

Guys, you wouldn't get off easily either. You couldn't play any games that involved gambling. So no billiards, bowling, horse racing or cards. And they weren't crazy about team sports because “they encouraged idleness, produced injuries, and created bitter rivalries.” They were specifically talking about their form of football. Could you image what would happen today if they outlawed football for religious reasons? There's your second civil war, right there.

By the way, your taxes went to support the local church, which was Congregational. If you were a Baptist or a Quaker you might be arrested. If you were a Roman Catholic it would be better if you moved to Maryland, which was the only colony practicing religious toleration by law. Which brings up the question of “If the US is a Christian nation, which denomination's theology and rules should it follow?”

But it's true that many of the founding fathers were Christian. Well, sort of. John Adams was, although he became a Unitarian. Ben Franklin called himself both a Christian and a Deist, rejecting many Christian dogmas but declaring Jesus' “System of Morals and his Religion...the best the world ever saw or is likely to see....” Thomas Jefferson considered himself both a Deist and a Christian but compiled a book of Jesus' life and morals, omitting all miracles including the resurrection and all passages that portray Jesus as divine. He also supported the separation of church and state in the first amendment. As for Alexander Hamilton, he was a nominal Episcopalian and irregular churchgoer but, after repenting his part in the duel, he did receive communion on his deathbed from Bishop Benjamin Moore, who sat with him for several hours until his death. George Washington was an Anglican who frequently quoted the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer publicly but who never mentioned Jesus Christ in his personal correspondence. He was also a Freemason, leading historians to debate when he was a Christian, a theistic rationalist or both. None of them were orthodox enough to be admitted as members of churches run by today's Evangelicals.

To me, the debate over whether the US is a Christian nation or not misses the point. It was the first nation to allow people to be Christians of any type they chose to be. In the United States you can be a Christian who happens to be a Baptist or a Quaker or a Roman Catholic or a Lutheran or a Disciple of Christ or a Mennonite or a Pentecostal or an Eastern Orthodox or a Presbyterian or a Moravian or an Episcopalian or a Methodist or a Jew for Jesus. It also allows people to be Jewish or Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu or Sikh or Bahai or nothing at all. Nobody gets a monopoly on the nation's faith. We all have to compete in the marketplace of ideas. Which is a lot better than the first Christians had it in the Roman Empire. Nobody today is being crucified or burned in the ruler's gardens or fed to the lions in the local arena for professing a faith that is illegal in the government's eyes.

In ancient times, one's religion went hand in hand with one's ethnicity and one's nation. The Canaanites had their gods, the Philistines had theirs, the Babylonians theirs and so on. And they were stay-at-home gods for the most part. But not the God of the Hebrews. He went down to Egypt and accompanied them out of there, traveled through the wilderness and led them into the promised land. His presence was signified by the ark of the covenant, his portable footstool. The tabernacle, and later the temple, where the ark rested, was the place where heaven and earth were supposed to meet. And after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and Solomon's temple, the ark was never seen again. It was not present in the second temple.

Jesus knew that what happened to the first temple could and would happen to the second one. He said that not one stone of the magnificent temple Herod had built would remain in place. (Mark 13:2) At his trial witnesses said, “We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.” (Mark 14:58) Once again, John's gospel, which consciously supplements the others, tells us that Jesus was speaking of his body. (John 2:19-22) And that is significant. Because Jesus is God's presence on earth, and he is not tied to a building or a city or even a nation. (John 4:21-24) And with the coming of the Holy Spirit into believers, we are all God's temples, and therefore not limited to any place on earth. (1 Corinthians 3:16)

The difference is that the Israelites were both God's people and a nation; Christians are God's people but we are not a nation. God's kingdom is not from this world (John 18:36) but is made up of “persons from every tribe, language, people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9) The kingdom of God, unlike Israel or the US or the UK or any other earthly nation, has no borders, no boundaries. Because a better translation of the “kingdom of God” is “God's reign as King.” So it is anywhere people are letting God rule their lives. Jesus said it is within us and in the midst of us (Luke 17:21), just as he, our king, is in the midst of as few as 2 or 3 of us when we gather in his name. (Matthew 18:20)

So while all those reading this are citizens of the US or some other earthly nation, we are more importantly also citizens of the kingdom of God. We can think of ourselves, to use Paul's phrase, as ambassadors for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20) We represent our king in all we do while we are here. We must never dishonor him or God's kingdom. And we must put the way his kingdom operates above the standard operating procedures and principles of any earthly nation in which we find ourselves.

Jesus said, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions use their authority over them. But it is not this way among you. Instead whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life for many.” (Mark 10:42-45)

In the Roman world, only power was respected. In fact their gods were not worshiped because they were morally superior—they weren't. They were worshiped because they were powerful. A man tried to curry favor with the gods so that they in turn might help him prosper. This mirrored how in their society rich and powerful people gave favors to to their inferiors in return for being honored. Their emperors were actually worshiped as gods and acted like them—mercurial, given to fits of rage, lust, envy and overindulgence. Sadly this way of leadership did not crumple when the empire fell. You see it throughout history. You still see it in the news today. It turns out Bill Gates is no more ethical when it comes to exercising his power, especially towards women, than Zeus was. Lord Acton said it: power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It is not to be that way where God reigns. We are called to serve one another, just as our king came not to be served but to serve. In his book Good to Great, Stanford business professor Jim Collins described how he found that the best leader of a company was not the flashy, superstar CEO who makes the news all the time but the humble leader who puts the mission and the good of the company first. He was surprised when he found that a lot of churches were asking him to come and speak. But that was because the concept of the “servant leader” goes back to Jesus. And let's face it, when churches go wrong it is often due to, at least in part, arrogant leadership that has forgotten to serve the people. In fact, you will find this to be true when any organization or nation goes wrong.

And one sign of this problem is when we are absolutely sure that we are righteous and totally in line with what God wants. It's when we don't acknowledge our sins and faults because we are God's people, after all. It's when we pretend that we don't secretly want and worship power and aren't tempted to do whatever it takes to get it or hold onto it. Remember Jesus said it's the gentle and humble who will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5) and that the greatest person in the kingdom of God is not the one with the most self-confidence but the one who has a childlike humility. (Matthew 18:4)

Sadly, we have tried to remake God into our image. Medieval artists depicted Jesus on a throne, just like an earthly king or emperor. Armies conquered and killed in his name. We have made strength, not love, the chief Christian virtue. We have pretended our society is a meritocracy, where only the worthy rise to positions of power, rather than the arrogant and greedy and ruthless. And then we have held them up as examples to follow rather than the one who never went after or achieved earthly power but who was condemned to death by those who had power for challenging their values. But he went willingly to the cross in order to save sinners. As Christians, it is his example we are to follow. And a truly Christian nation would as well.

We were not really founded as a Christian nation. And, as evidenced by how we have treated Americans who happen to also be Native, African, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, mentally ill, physically disabled, women, or different in other ways—in other words, our neighbors—we have a very spotty record of acting like one.

But we could be. A central belief of Christianity is that we are all sinners but that we can change. We can turn to the true God, the God who is love, and let in his Spirit and let him change us into people who are daily more and more like Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life for others. When we want to be less like powers that rule this world and more like the carpenter of Nazareth, who healed the sick and fed the poor and showed his love for his neighbor in concrete and self-sacrificial ways, then maybe we will resemble more closely the kingdom of God, Jesus' vision of a society built on justice, mercy, peace and trust, where God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven by those in whose hearts God reigns.