More Than Stone

I repent for connecting partisanship with faith. I repent for wholeheartedly endorsing a structure that cares nothing for Jesus or His ways. I repent for casting ballots for my morals and beliefs instead of living them. I repent for believing that anything outside of Jesus can bring the Kingdom to bear. I repent for putting faith in empire, rather than faith in God. I repent for not living up to the call of God to invite people into a counter-cultural, alternative community. I repent for living my life through the lens of certitude, privilege, entitlement and democracy. I repent for abdicating my role to be a prophetic voice, speaking truth to both the left and the right. I repent for not following Jesus by loving the marginalized, challenging the power structures and doing so, lowly and riding on an ass.

As I write this, it is Palm Sunday. I think it is befitting that I should be focusing on the Kingdom of God on this day. The focus of Palm Sunday is the declaration that Jesus is King. Jesus ushered in the Kingdom of God. Implicit in that statement is the message that other kingdoms are to be deposed. Jesus entered Jerusalem as a King, but not as expected, not in the triumph of power or militarism as was hoped. Jesus came “lowly and riding on an ass”, and ultimately, ending on a cross. Not exactly the coup that was hoped for.

What message would the people have been expecting from this long awaited Messiah? To take up arms and march against Rome? Abandon their half committed lives, with one foot in the nationalist camp and a toe in with the Romans? Strengthen Torah observance, so that, through their holiness, God would act? Certainly some or all of the above. My fear is that we are not much different than our first century Jewish friends. We expect our Messiah to call us to “march” against the U.S., or extract ourselves from our amoral society and recognize and fight for “America, the Christian Nation”, or perhaps, we simply need to become more Holy, and God will vindicate us.

Was Jesus concerned with politics? If we consider politics to mean seeking power and control in the governmental or public affairs of a state, I think not. If we consider politics to mean concerned with the purpose, structure and destiny of Israel, if it means concerned with society at large and challenging all power structures, then yes, Jesus was very political. This begs the question, “What does it mean to be like Jesus, our King, in our present social, economic, and political systems?”

N. T. Wright states in Jesus and the Victory of God,

“The story of the Kingdom was designed to generate praxis of the Kingdom…Israel longs for consolation, But YHWH has in mind to give her, not the consolation of a national revival, in which her old wounds will be healed by inflicting wounds on others, but the consolation awaiting those who are in genuine grief. Israel desires to inherit the earth; she must to it in Jesus way, by meekness. Israel thirsts for justice; but the justice she is offered does not come by way of battles against physical enemies. It is not the way of anger, of a ‘justice’ that really means ‘vengeance”. It is the way of humility and gentleness. Israel longs for mercy, not least the eschatological mercy of final rescue from her enemies. But mercy is reserved for the merciful, not the vengeful. Israel longs for the vision of her God, but this is the prerogative not of those who impose an external purity but of those with purity of heart.”

Oh my. This quote undoes me. WE are Israel. We want consolation. We want to inherit the earth. We want justice. We want mercy. We want God’s vision. Yet we continue to think, as the Israelites did, that we can do it through imposition, strength, vengeance and purity.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats in the middle. Then the king will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was a Republican and you voted for me, I was a proponent of the marriage amendment and you supported me, I focused on the family and you invited me in, I wanted a Theocracy and you lobbied for me, I was a conservative judicial nominee and you confirmed me, I was a conservative talking head and you listened to me.”

Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when were you a Republican and we voted for you, or a proponent of the marriage amendment and supported you? When did you focus on the family and we invite you in, or lobby for you? When did we see you as a judicial nominee or a talking head and confirm you?” And the king will answer them, “I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.”

“Then he will say to those in the middle, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was a Republican and you claimed God was neither Democrat nor Republican, I was a proponent of the marriage amendment and you wanted to talk about how to show love to the gay and lesbian community. I was focused on the family and you wanted to also talk about AIDS, wanted a Theocracy and you said ‘America is not the Kingdom of God’, a conservative judicial nominee and talking head and you did not confirm me.”

Then they too will answer, “Lord, when did we see you a Republican, a member of the moral majority, a Theocrat, a conservative judicial nominee or talking head and did not give you whatever you needed?” Then he will answer them, “I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me. And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”