In Norse mythology, the world will end with an event called Ragnarok. First, a great battle between good and evil will take place. Gods will slay other gods, and such notables as Odin, Thor, and Loki will all die. Finally, the entire world will be consumed in fire. Although a few gods and humans do survive to repopulate a new heaven and earth, all their descendants have to look forward to is another eventual conflagration. The best that those who worship the gods faithfully and live their lives honestly can hope for is a stalemate between good and evil. In contrast to this rather pessimistic view of the future, the prophet Jeremiah offers a message of hope to a people who have been taken into exile and are now suffering at the hands of an oppressor. The Jews, whether in Babylonian exile or still in the land of their ancestors, looked around them and saw that they had lost their political freedom and their wealth. Although a couple of attempts at armed revolution against their Babylonian overlords were attempted in 587 and 582 B.C.E., these were quickly and decisively crushed. It was apparent that the people had no hope in their own strength. Where could they turn for hope? In verse 11 of today's reading, Jeremiah provides the answer: "For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him." The people are too weak to fend for themselves, so God will take up their cause. Throughout history the powerful have oppressed the weak, and the trend continues today. The Bible clearly teaches that God sides with the oppressed against their oppressors, and those of us who consider ourselves progressive Christians must learn to identify not with those most like us in terms of nationality, skin color, or socio-economic station. Instead, we must proclaim the message of hope to those who are in danger of losing what hope they had. Our message to the oppressed is that God will deliver them from hands that are too strong for them, if they will only put their trust in God. Our message to the oppressors is that today's oppressed are likely to become tomorrow's oppressors. It is important, then, that those with economic and military might show restraint and compassion toward those strength is small. The industrialized West cannot continue to run rampant over the rest of the world without long-term consequences. It is time for those of us who live in the West to side with the poor and weak, for in doing so, we will find ourselves on God's side as well.
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When things are going great, it's hard to think that circumstances might change. You have a great job, a great family, great kids. You are in good health, you have a solid retirement plan, you have a great life. If that's your current situation, enjoy it! Praise God for it! Walter Bruegemann calls psalms like Psalm 147 psalms of orientation. In The Message of the Psalms, he says, "[These psalms] affirm that the world is a well-ordered, reliable, and life-giving system, because God has ordained it that way and continues to preside effectively over the process." The psalmist is rejoicing over God's provision for the city of Jerusalem. God has strengthened the city's defenses, blessed its people, and given it peace. Furthermore, God has granted the unparalleled blessing of the law to its inhabitants. Even the weather is great! When things are going so well, why can't they stay that way forever? Since the days of the psalmist, and assuming that the psalm dates to the preexilic period, the city has been ruled over by the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Seleucids, Romans, Byzantines, Turks, British, Jordanians, and Israelis. Some of the inhabitants were happy with each of these rulers, while others were not. Any way you look at it, the lives of the inhabitants of Jerusalem have been anything but well-ordered over much of the past 2,500 years. When things were going great, the psalmist was able to say with pride, "God has not dealt thus with any other nation," implying that Jerusalem and its inhabitants were God's special people. In the light of its history since that time, one could with justice still say, "God has not dealt thus with any other nation," implying that Jerusalem and its inhabitants have suffered more than perhaps any other city on earth. Both the Babylonians and the Romans burned down the temple and other parts of the city, several Crusades were launched over Jerusalem, and Israelis and Palestinians continue to fight over it. Is there any hope that the words "God grants you peace within your borders" will ever be true again? Ironically, the fact that Jerusalem is considered holy to the three major Western religions--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--has made it an object to be fought over. Not until the citizens of the world, and adherents to all these religions, can accept Jerusalem as a city belonging to the world, not exclusively to one group of people, will Jerusalem ever be at peace again. The Geneva Initiative, proposed by moderate Israelis and Palestinians last month, is just such a plan: a Jerusalem shared by Israeli and Palestinian states and open to Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others. Moving beyond the city of Jerusalem itself, can we envision a world where peace reigns? If we can, it won't be one in which some people are incredibly rich while others are abjectly poor. It won't be one in which there are oppressors and oppressed. It won't be one in which discrimination against women, homosexuals, certain ethnic groups, or followers of minority religions is allowed to exist. It won't be one in which either individuals or nations are allowed to thumb their noses at international law and judgment. We are very far from such a world now, but the same God who brought peace and prosperity to Jerusalem for a brief time more than two thousand years ago can bring peace and prosperity to the whole world, if that God has followers who have faith that peace is the destiny of the world that God desires.
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In eleven months, voters in the United States will have the opportunity to vote for members of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the White House. Candidates for these various offices have already begun campaigning, and the airwaves, print media, and Internet will soon be full of messages for and against individual candidates. When voters elect a candidate to an office, they expect that individual to do a good job for the people who elected him or her. They were elected with specific goals in mind, and their job is to accomplish those goals. Ephesians 1:4 says that God chose us--the theological word is "elected" us--before the foundation of the world. Some people speak of election as though it pertained only to a future life with God in heaven, but we would do well to think of political elections when we hear the theological term. Just as politicians are elected to do a job, so are God's people today elected to do a job, but what job is it? According to this passage in Ephesians, we have first been chosen to be holy. Those who are holy are set apart: set apart from the world, set apart to God. That doesn't mean we are to hole up in a church building as often as possible, hiding from the world. It means we are to move about in the world and do the work of Christ, which is to love the whole world. We are also chosen to be blameless. Blamelessness is not the same as perfection. A runner that comes in last place in a race can be blameless if she has run the best race she was able to. Blamelessness has as much to do with effort as with results. Blamelessness doesn't preclude failure, but it does exclude giving up or refusing even to try. We are also to live "for the praise of God's glory." As a new year begins, let each of us ask ourselves: Am I doing all I can so that God will be glorified? Not, Am I advancing my career? or Am I making as much money as I can? In the end, most of our careers will be forgotten, except insofar as they affected people for better or for worse. Aside from a few multibillionaires, the amount of money we amass in our lifetimes will fade from people's memories rather quickly. What won't be forgotten is the positive impact we have on others in the name of God. People may forget our names, and that's as it should be, but they will continue to see the results of our work in the lives of those we've influenced, the lives they've influenced, and so forth. As we begin a new year, let's remember that we've been chosen to do a job. Your job is not the same as my job, but we're equally responsible to God for figuring out what God wants us to do and doing it as best we can. We've been chosen, and we've been given the necessary resources to do the job God has called us to. What are we waiting for?!
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If someone tells you that he understands the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation and can explain it to you, don't believe it. Since the first century, Christians have been arguing over the nature of Christ and the relationship of the divine and the human in him. Some said he was completely human, others that he was completely divine. A consensus developed that Christ was both divine and human, but then people argued over whether he had both a divine and a human nature or just one single nature that was both. They also argued over to what extent Christ was like God. Was he of the same nature, a similar nature, or a different nature? Or was it sufficient just to say that he was like God in some indeterminate way and leave it at that? Bishops excommunicated those who believed one way, and other bishops excommunicated those who believed the other way. What all those who claimed that their view was right, to the exclusion of other views, failed to understand was that the Incarnation is a paradox, a mystery that cannot be put into human words. The prolog to the gospel of John contains a beautiful canonical statement about the Incarnation, but it must be viewed as a work of art rather than a tight theological argument for one particular point of view. The Word--or Deed, or Mind, or Organizing Principle--became flesh and dwelt among humans. Something miraculous and mystical transpired in the life of Jesus. While all humans can claim to be children of God, Jesus' affiliation to God was somehow unique. While all are called to reveal God's glory to others, Jesus was able to do so in a way that exceeded all those before and since. Ironically, not even the scribes who transmitted the manuscripts were able to present a coherent portrait of Christ in verse 18. Was it "the only begotten/unique Son" who revealed God, or was it "the only begotten/unique God," or even "God the only begotten/unique Son"? I suspect that the first of these readings was original, but each in its own way either explicitly or implicitly associates Christ with God. That Jesus was a man who lived and died about 2,000 years ago is a historical fact. That he partook of the divine in a unique way--whatever that way was--is a theological statement that only makes sense when appropriated by faith. It is only those who believe who are able to share in Jesus' participation in God. Fine philosophical and theological arguments might be interesting diversions, but they are of secondary importance to faith. It is only through faith that Christians are able to see the divine break out of the human ("we beheld his glory") in the person of Christ. If others don't see it, no amount of argument will convince them, though acts of kindness and love might. I sometimes think that those who are the most anxious to convert others to their way of thinking do so because they are so unsure of their own faith. Perhaps that's an overgeneralization, but it remains true that a mystery that can be explained is no longer a mystery, and faith is no longer required. The beauty of the Johannine Prolog abides today, almost two thousand years after it was written, because the author understood that words can portray, but they cannot contain, the divine mystery of God in Christ.
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