Trying to be a student of history (and
thereby perspective), and preferring to avoid too much melodrama in life, I
have resisted acknowledging how divided, traumatic, and painful life has become
at nearly all levels of our relational life: international, national, community,
congregational, family. But I have
finally relented, and become convinced that there is much that is unique about
our present existential experience, and I have been working at trying to
understand and interpret what is going on.
One analysis I found intriguing before
the election was the one made by Selena Zito of the Atlantic wherein she pointed out that the left, and the mainline
press, tended to take Trump literally, but not seriously, whereas his followers
took him seriously, but not literally.
That seemed to make a certain level of sense before the election. However, as many, including Charles Lane of
the Washington Post, wrote after the
election, both of these views are incorrect, because President Trump needs to be
taken both seriously and literally. He
is serious about building a wall! He is serious about deporting immigrants here
illegally, even those who were brought here as children, now have US-citizen
children, and have lived here for decades without any criminal conduct. He is serious about banning Muslims and he is
willing to profile, as Muhammad Ali’s second wife, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, and
his son, Muhammad, Jr., found out at an
airport in Florida where they were detained for two hours for questioning. He is serious about keeping us from finding
out the nature and extent of his business interests. He is serious about cutting back
environmental regulations and funding to combat climate change.
During the month of February our lectionary
Gospel readings were from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as recorded by Matthew. As I read them week by week it occurred to me
that, while President Trump needs to be taken both and seriously and literally,
our strong tendency as a church and as followers of Jesus is to take his
teaching neither literally nor seriously.
And that often starts in the
pulpit. I have watched preachers avoid
taking Jesus literally by going through homiletical spinning so intense I worry
they may get so wound up they would spring right out of the pulpit.
Take Matthew 19:24 where Jesus says, “’Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of
God.’” Some scholar centuries ago
figured out that there is a gate in the wall around Jerusalem, called the “camel
gate”, that a camel can get through if you take off its load and it gets on its
knees. Now, really, knowing all that
Jesus said about the dangers of wealth, do we really think that is what he
meant, or should we take him literally, and begin to ask serious questions
about how we get our wealth and what we are to do with it? I found it interesting, and disturbing, that
during the election there was constant talk from both parties about helping the
middle class, but hardly a word about the poor.
If we take Jesus’ literally, we will begin with the needs of the poor
first.
Here is a challenging
admonition for our times: “Do not judge, so that you
may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the
measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s
eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” [Matthew 7:1-3] Taking this literally could easily push us
into inactive quietism. But can we find
a way to humbly speak what we see as the truth without self-righteously
condemning those who see things differently than we do?
How about Jesus’ teaching
that “’You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek,
turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and
take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one
mile, go also the second mile.” [Matthew 5:38-41] What would happen in our lives and in the
world if we took Jesus’ literally and treated others different from us in this
way. Granted, interpreting these kinds
of passages is filled with
difficulties. But might it not be possible to find a way to
love those different from us without submitting to abuse?
And then there is this, which may
be one of the most important statements of Jesus for our times: “You have heard
that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say
to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may
be children of your Father in heaven.” [Matthew 5:43-45]
Perhaps the best example
in my lifetime of the attempt to apply the principles of our texts to politics in
this country was the Civil Rights Movement of the 50’s and 60’s. Interestingly enough, it was a Hindu, Mohandas
Ghandi, who took Jesus both seriously and literally before many Christians in
this country did. From Bonhoeffer in
Germany to James Lawson and Martin Luther King, Jr. in America, their
understanding of active non-violence came in part from the way Ghandi used the
principles of Jesus in India to overcome British rule in the 1920’s.
This is not passive
non-violence, where you sit back and let whatever is going to happen to
yourself and to others to occur. Active
non-violence enters directly into the conflict, but, rather than responding in
kind, exposes the evil of abuse and violence by giving in to it in a way that
shows how corrupt and bankrupt it is. It
is a painful and often frustrating process (and many people gave their lives to
the civil rights struggle in this country), but Jesus tells us that it is the
only real way to overcome such evil. It
is through forgiveness, generosity, love, kindness and graciousness that sin is
exposed for what it really is, and therefore overcome. Martin Luther King put it well: “Darkness
cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do
that.”
But where do we find the
strength and courage to love in this way?
First, Jesus teaches us that this is the way of life in the realm of
God, where love for God leads directly to love for others, as each person is
treated as our neighbor, and their needs put before our own. God is the one who empowers this kind of
amazing love. We can be gracious,
merciful and forgiving because we have already experienced that kind of love
and mercy from God. We can be generous
because God has so richly blessed us and called us to be a blessing to
others. We can learn how to pray for and
love our enemies because we trust God that this is the only way real peace and
reconciliation can occur.
If we act this way the
world most likely will not get it. But
that is because the world does not get Jesus.
It does not take Jesus literally or seriously, and that is why we are
called to help make him real to the world by doing both.
I have had the chance to
meet Representative John Lewis of Georgia three times. [Blog Post, 1/16/17, Meeting John Lewis] The first time I was able to tell him that as
I toured civil rights sites and studied the movement, I was amazed to
see the many ways and times he practiced non-violence, from the lunch-counter
sit-ins in Nashville, to his being beaten twice during the Freedom Rides (in
South Carolina and then in Montgomery), to his being beaten on the bridge in
Selma as part of the Voting Rights March.
 |
| Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King, and John Lewis leading march from Selma. |
The last time I saw him,
this past December, he spoke of his long journey practicing non-violence, which
has included weeks in jail and being arrested 40 times in the 60’s and several
other times as a legislator. And he told
of a visit a couple of years ago when a man and his son from South Carolina
showed up at his office. He said to them,
“I represent the Atlanta area of Georgia.
Why are you here?” The man
replied, “I am one of the men who beat you on the Freedom Ride. Before I die I wanted to come and ask for
your forgiveness.” John Lewis got up
from his desk, embraced the man and his son, and they all cried together.
After he spoke, I was
able to tell him that in my nearly forty years as a pastor I had become
convinced that the most lasting and effective approach to social change is
active non-violence, and I had the opportunity to thank him for the witness he
has been to me and to our country.
Shall we take Jesus
literally and seriously? You be the judge,
based on the words with which he ends the Sermon on the Mount: “’Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them
will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because
it had been founded on rock. And
everyone who hears these words of mine
and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on
sand. The rain fell, and the floods
came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was
its fall!” Now when Jesus had finished
saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught
them as one having authority.'“ [Matthew 7:24-29]
