by Dr. Lani Wilson
Good morning. We live in times of the extreme - locally, nationally, and internationally. It is a challenge to seek a modulated understanding about any issue without hearing, reading polemics on every side. We are taught from childhood that Christians should be peacemakers, peace seekers, and yet there is Jesus. Jesus.
The word we might consider this week is stunned. The dictionary says stunned is to “astonish or shock (someone) so that they are temporarily unable to react: the community was stunned by the tragedy” (New Oxford American Dictionary).
Then the Pharisees went out and planned together to entrap him with his own words. They sent to him their disciples along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You do not court anyone’s favor because you show no partiality. Tell us then, what do you think? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus realized their evil intentions and said, “Hypocrites! Why are you testing me? Show me the coin used for the tax.” So they brought him a denarius. Jesus said to them, “Whose image is this, and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God” Now when they heard this they were stunned and they left him and went away.
Mathew 22:15-22 (NET)
The Physician Luke put it this way.
Then they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. They wanted to take advantage of what he might say so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. Thus they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and show no partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right for us to pay the tribute tax to Caesar or not?” But Jesus perceived their deceit and said to them, “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” They said, “Caesar’s.” So he said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Thus they were unable in the presence of the people to trap him with his own words. And stunned by his answer, they fell silent.
Luke 20:20-26 (NET)
Stunned. They were stunned into silence. Why? Were they shocked that Jesus could escape their trap and answer their question? Was Jesus’ answer a way to keep Himself out of civil-political controversy? Or was this only part of His entire retort?
But is a non-political Jesus historically (or even theologically) credible? Is it really possible to isolate Jesus from the social and political problems of his time? Is it true to the gospel narratives to do so? If the kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed had nothing to do with the kingdoms of this world, why did the worldly rulers of his day conspire to kill him?
Chris Marshall (2006). A prophet of God’s Justice: reclaiming the political Jesus. Stimulus: The New Zealand Journal Of Christian Thought & Practice, 14(3), 28-41.
On the first full day of the Princeton Theological Seminary’s “Black Theology and Leadership Institute” this past July, Dr. Renita Weems titled her presentation “The Empire is Falling and Other Biblical Tropes.” Whose empire? Surely, not America.
The realities of living in a country occupied by the army of the Roman Empire did not escape Jesus during his ministry or that of his fellow Jews. On one occasion, the Pharisees hoped to trap Jesus, asking if it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor (Mt. 22:15–22). We are all familiar with his answer, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Jesus clearly differentiated between an earthly empire and the Kingdom of God. They are not identical. They share neither the same aims and values nor the means of achieving and living them out. More importantly, Jesus’ identification with and loyalty to the Kingdom of God were not in question.
Ibid.
Are we living in the age of the American Empire? And if so and if it is falling, where are African-American Christians in all of this? Dr. Reems made the following points (of many) to us this past July:
• The church is the slowest about change.
• It’s the last place to change.
• We come to protect ourselves from change.
• We come to church to not face certain kinds of issues.
• It is the most conservative institution in our communities.
• No one comes to religion to become a revolutionary.
If the empire is falling, where are we in the crumbling? Are we too stunned at the whirlwind around us and when did it get so complicated?
⎫ A global economy where there seem to be no national borders, only different multinational, corporate distinctions.
⎫ Extreme wealth disparities.
⎫ Ethnic and religious warfare within countries with challenging economies.
⎫ A post-Westphalian (1648 Treaty of Westphalia that established European nation-states after the Thirty Years War) concept of nationhood that conflicts with ethno-cultural identifications.
Jesus was plainly complicated in his response to His enemies, His predators. He answered them but left it open to interpretation for us thousands of years later. Per usual, we have to dig for Jesus’ meaning. It is doubtful that Jesus meant for His followers to mirror the normative empire that persecuted Him. And yet, it did.
He is presented as homeless, property less, peripatetic, socially marginal, disdainful of kinfolk, without a trade or occupation, a friend of outcasts and pariahs, averse to material possessions, without fear for his own safety, a thorn in the side of the Establisment and a scourge of the rich and powerful. The problem of much modern Christianity has been how to practise this lifestyle with two children, a car and a mortgage.
Terry Eagleton. (2008). Was Jesus Christ a revolutionary? New Internationalist, (411), 22-24.
Does this mean that in this modern age we shouldn’t work toward those reflections of Stability: “Two children, a car, and a mortgage?” Not necessarily and yet there are so many, especially African-Americans, who have not accessed that dream. If we peer at the model through the lens of The Christ, maybe it was always a dream, at least for the lower working class and the poor.
But in time the empire struck back. Having failed to suppress the Christian movement by force, it chose to co-opt it. Christianity became the state religion. The maverick Jewish prophet who had inspired this new religious movement was increasingly forgotten, or was rather transposed into a heavenly imperial lord who, on the one hand, secured eternal salvation for the faithful by the merits of his death and resurrection, and, on the other hand, authorised the existing empire to carry on its politics much as before, though with some modifications. It wasn’t long before the institutional church itself began to replicate in its own life and behaviour the hierarchical structures and coercive instincts of the wider imperial order, craving prestige and honour for its bishops and clerics and promoting its own self-interest on earth by a pernicious combination of flattery and battery.
Chris Marshall. (2006). A prophet of God’s justice: Reclaiming the Political Jesus. Stimulus: The New Zealand Journal Of Christian Thought & Practice, 14(3), 28-41.
The question becomes for the African-American Christian is are we stunned by the whiz-bang speed in which our churches are changing, morphing, and diluting? And/or are we stunned by the growing distance between our very recent history of being class-less and our move into the ‘burbs that symbolize our new American status? Or are we stunned at the radical rejection of the latter by dominant powers as evidenced by the slaughter of Black men and women in the streets by the armed defenders of that establishment, the police? We find ourselves whirling in the midst of a contemporary storm of bloodied bodies, bulging prisons, starving children, bomb blasts, and a dystopian 21st century worldview. So we want our Sunday mornings to be bastions of peace, temples of temperance, and respites of hope. Is that what Jesus intended for His people? And who are “His people?”
What if the rudder to stabilize this ever-shifting, ever-expanding world we inhabit is not that peaceful place we seek in some temple on Sundays? What if we are supposed to be stunned into silence by the barbarism of inequality and the shallow, amoral practices of prominent cultural icons?
All Christians suffer contradictions when confronted with the Gospel. This said, the life-long journey of the Christian life of discipleship means confronting again and again our failures, which invites humility and the desire to ask God for forgiveness even as we extend it to others.
Ryan LaMothe. (2007). Render Unto Caesar: Pastoral Care and the American Empire. Pastoral Psychology,
55(3), 339-351. Doi:10.1007/s11089-006-0047-9
What if this is exactly where The Christ wants us? Stunned.
"I’ve come to start a fire on this earth-how I wish it were blazing right now! I’ve come to change everything, turn everything right side up-how I long for it to be finished! Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I’ve come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be-Three against two, and two against three; Father against son, and son against father; Mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; Mother-in-law against bride, and bride against mother-in-law."
Luke 12:49-53 (TMB)
Somewhere along the bumpy way, we made peace with what we couldn’t - or didn’t want – to challenge. We figured our reward for whatever we did was what we had earned: The security of ownership or credential or title or position or the silliest of delusions, personal power. In order to keep that shell intact we reinforced it on Sunday with a dollop in the offering plate, whispered petitions, and heartfelt hugs. During the week we added our “Christian work”: Choir rehearsal, Usher meeting, mission circle, Deacon Board, Trustee meeting, you name it… That kept us steady and silent and comfy until…
o The Great Recession
o Job loss or change
o Serious illness
o Divorce
o An accident
o Unexpected surgery
o Cancer
o Death
o Abandonment
"Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut – make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law-cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t deserve me. “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me. [my emphasis]
Mathew 10:34-39 (TMB)
Maybe Jesus’ declaration in Luke and Mathew was meant to shake us out of the stunned stupor of postmodern Christianity. Maybe we have to get back to the pre-“Christian” concept of the early church; a caring, living, breathing, organic nexus of people of no discernible rank who had their lives upended by Someone who demanded that we look up and out into the chaos of the culture, confront the inequities we see, stand up, and be counted and heard.
And never look back.
“…through thick and thin…If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.”
Maybe it’s time to re-examine that first blush with The Christ, that first love affair with The Master, when it didn’t matter what we had or where we were or who we knew. All that mattered was Him.
O LORD, in Your mercy and grace we hide. We thank You for breaking us out of our stunned silences and our stony, stoic Christian march in and out of your temple. We love You for Your shock and rescue of our very souls. Thank You for waiting for us. Thank You for keeping us. Keep us until we can’t keep ourselves anymore. Then, please, let us flow right into Your arms that await us even now, at this very instant. We promise not to be stunned anymore by life anymore.
Your latter will be greater than your past,
You will be blessed, more than you could ask.
Despite all that has been done, the best is yet to comeAnd your latter will be greater,
Your latter will be greater,
Your latter will be greater than your past.All things are possible,
Possible, possible, possible.All things are possible,
Possible, possible, possible.The best is yet to come,
The best is yet to come,
Oh, the best is yet to come.The best is yet to come,
The best is yet to come,
Oh, the best is yet to come.The King is soon to come,
The King is soon to come,
Oh, the King is soon to come.
-Israel Houghton
Amen.
