Trump and Jesus: Literally and Seriously?

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]