Christ and Power

(Mark 11:1-10; Zechariah 9:9-10)

By: Andy J. Funk

April 17, 2011

This morning we have read the story about a king of sorts, who processes into the holy city of Jerusalem. For first century Jews, this city was the city of God. When king David established it as the capital, it was believed that God literally lived there in the Ark of the Covenant. God favoured Jerusalem and would save her from all her foes. Today, it is important that we get some background as to what makes the procession into Jerusalem important. What did it signify? What does it teach the church today? Most churches have become accustomed to celebrating Palm Sunday with Palm branches waving as congregations sing joyous songs. I have often wondered if I even understand the significance of what it meant to the first century listeners of the Gospel. How would their understanding of events surrounding the life of Jesus up to this point in the story differ from how we have been shaped to understand it? There is so much packed into this morning’s topic that I will not cover absolutely everything. There are many books on this subject and I’m sure even more coming. The question they all deal with is “what , if anything, did Jesus have to say regarding power structures and how faithful Christians are to relate to them?” 

Many people I have come into contact with throughout my life believe that Jesus really only spoke to personal, private faith and conversion and had nothing to say about social ethics; in other words, they believe that in order for Christians to deal with issues such as crime, finances, politics, war...we must find our guidance in places other than with Jesus, because he was more concerned with spiritual matters. What this means is that when we go somewhere else for this guidance, what we end up with are a pile of principles which are designed to bring about outcomes usually for the sake of the greater good. These outcomes and the means by which we achieve them do not nearly always align themselves with what Jesus taught. John Stewart Mill was the biggest proponent of something called Utilitarianism. He says that in every situation in a democratic government, this principle must be the guiding force. If killing one person will save thousands...then we must do that. We could take that further and say that according to this principle, if oppressing one nation means lifting oppression for ten nations, we must do it. Mill was an insanely smart man, but I don’t take my guidance from him when it comes to trying to be faithful to Jesus. Christians do not take guidance from him. We get it from Jesus. If Jesus has nothing to say about the power structures in our realities and how we ought to relate to them, then we are indeed in trouble. Then we may as well go with whatever the next smartest person says we should do. But the problem with that path of reasoning is that we end up systematically rejecting the truth of the Gospels as they were originally intended to be heard.

So many words we throw around nowadays were loaded with political meaning in Jesus’ day and his contemporaries would have interpreted what Jesus said and did in those same terms. It appears as though Jesus borrowed from the imperial lexicon and then turned those concepts and terms on their heads in beautiful political satire. Let us consider the words: Gospel, Faith, Kingdom, Throne, Saviour, Banner, Lord and Messiah. We see them as purely Christian, or Church dictionary type words. That only people who have read the Bible would even know what those terms mean. What we forget sometimes, is that Rome, in the time of Jesus, was very familiar with these words. To the people of Rome, it was Caesar who had brought order out of chaos as he established his kingdom through military might. Thus, he was hailed as a god. Jesus speaks about a kingdom as well, but that kingdom looks quite different than Caesar’s. Romans frequently heard and spoke of things like gospel, Christ, son of god, ekklesia, which has come to mean church, saviour, faith, lord, Emmanuel, worship. Believe it or not, these are not “Christian words”.  

So, when Jesus spoke about some of these concepts the way he did, they held significant political meaning. We will have great difficulty if we do not understand this properly. For instance, if we believe that when Jesus was dealing with these topics, what he was really talking about was an ideal of how he wished things could be that could only be attained in the afterlife or on some other plain of existence, then his words hold very little meaning, and his life makes even less sense. If, on the other hand, we can see that Jesus showed us an alternative way of living that is different from the options presented by Empire, or principalities and powers, then we have some hope for our life on earth. As a church, we have been remembering Biblical stories that are gradually leading us to the death and resurrection of Jesus. That is what Lent was designed to do for faithful Christians.

If we try to understand Jesus and his journey toward execution without understanding his context, it would be like trying to understand Martin Luther King without learning about the well known “bus boycott”. King tried to show his world in the US that there was a better way than man could devise. This got him in all sorts of trouble. He was arrested upwards of at least 20 times, his home was bombed, and was subjected to personal abuse several times. Many people hated Dr. King. But, there were those who heard, in him a message of hope. By the age of 35, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure. Many people also loved Dr. King. You see, the “I have a dream” speech can only have a true impact and become life transforming when we understand what came before…what led to that speech. This wisdom must be applied to Jesus as well. 

There were many groups who tried to create a better world than what the Romans had in mind. There was the Zealot movement. They were a violent revolutionary group, ready to overthrow Rome. The Sicarii (named after the curved blade of their daggers) was another extremist group. It is widely held that Judas of the Sicarii (Iscariot) was a member. This group kidnapped prominent authorities in order that they might negotiate the release of fellow rebels. They would assassinate symbols of power and any Jewish collaborators. Essenes and Qumran communities withdrew altogether from such a polluted society. They lived in the hills, caves or desert to set up little utopian villages far away from the struggles between the peasants and the powers. According to scripture, it appears that Jesus was not part of any of these groups, but some of his followers were sure different, weren’t they? The Zealots embodied in Peter, the closest one to Jesus, Judas the betrayer who was actually in charge of the purse in the Jesus movement. And oh, how they struggled with the approach Jesus took when dealing with the powers. 

Let’s think for a moment about the kinds of songs we have sung. One that comes to mind is “His banner over me is love, love, love”. The banner of Jesus, not Rome’s banner, is over me and his banner means love, love, love; not Rome’s freedom, peace and security. Do the last three sound familiar? They sound like campaign slogans used by almost every politician in North America. Was Jesus trying to wrestle Rome’s power away, or take over so Jesus could occupy Caesar’s throne? Some of his disciples surely wanted nothing more! All of Israeli tradition of the coming saviour pointed to this kind of redemption. But, the answer is NO! This answer is evident in the garden when Peter cuts off the ear of a soldier and Jesus intervenes to heal the ear…to restore it with peace. Jesus seemed to spend a lot of energy and time on teaching and urging his disciples to be the unique, peculiar and set apart people that began with Abraham in the Hebrew scripture. When Jesus prayed, he did not pray for the world in order to make governments more religious; he called Israel to be the light of the world; to abandon the way of the world and cultivate an alternative society in the shell of the old, not merely to be a better version of the kingdom of this world. This theme is seen throughout the gospels. 

The ministry of Jesus was a dangerous one. It was a real threat to Rome and to the Jewish priestly elite who acted as though they possessed infinite power and authority over the people. But, God’s Kingdom does not work as they do. There is a story of two brothers. James and John ask to sit one at Jesus’ right and the other at his left hand side. Most of you know this story. Jesus says it’s not for him to decide, but for the Father. Soon after this, we begin to grasp the meaning behind this. For Mark, Jesus becomes King precisely when he is crucified, publicly branded as “King of the Jews”. Who is on his right and on his left? There hang two brigands, two insurrectionists. Perhaps not what we would expect, is it? 

So what do we do with the powers of this world? The Bible reminds us that the “powers” were part of the good creation of God when everything else was created. Society, history, even nature would be impossible without regularity, system, order. Everything was created in an ordered form and “it was good”. In Christ, everything systematizes, is ordered properly; everything holds together. But the world’s systems and orders are fallen. Most references to the “powers” in the New Testament consider them fallen. So, although the systems were originally part of God’s good creation, they are broken. These structures like governments, were supposed to be our servants, but have become our masters and our guardians, but they still perform their function. Even Tyranny is still better than chaos and so we should be subject to it. This might be hard for some to hear, I realize that. Perhaps the claims about Jesus in the Gospels would hold more meaning to those living under such Tyranny. Perhaps the life of peaceful resistance would also make it more difficult in those circumstances. Do we think it was easy for Jesus to openly challenge the powers of his day? Was it accidental that he was executed for insurrection, treason? When people start calling you the Son of God, it becomes a direct challenge to Caesar’s title as king and also his authority as son of the gods. 

So, that was then. What about now? What claims do we make about Jesus that put us at odds with the power structures of our day? A couple of years ago I was taking a course at Red River College and was asked to write a paper that dealt with disabilities. I learned some great wisdom through that assignment. For me the issue was between Humanitarian and Christian philosophy. At first glance, the humanitarian view of supporting people living with disabilities looked quite like how Jesus treated people on the margins of society. The agency I worked for at the time was considered a Christian organization, but in reality it was a humanitarian one. Would you like to know the difference between these two? It is a very clear difference. When it comes to providing aid, the humanitarian approaches the situation with whatever it takes...almost always it comes down to money, whereas the Christian approaches with concern for being faithful. One looks for anything that will work and when that runs out, then it is abandoned. The Christian ethic is informed by a spirit of faithfulness as being the goal. That means that if the outcome is what was desired, it is added blessing, but the ultimate virtue is faithfulness. This alone drives us in very different ways than our society. Our leaders would have us believe that the only response to violence, is more violence. You just have to make sure you are bigger and stronger than the other guy...of course that only works until there is a bigger and stronger guy than YOU. Jesus taught against this way of thinking when he told us that “eye for an eye” was not what God had in mind. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, he was entering in the most non-coercive manner, in absolute peace very unlike Caesar who would have ridden a white stallion as a warrior, accompanied by soldiers all around. The symbolism of a donkey was not lost on the people of his day. Perhaps it would be like Stephen Harper coming to a major world summit, not in the usual pomp with limos and such things...but maybe driving a Chevette or K car, losing its bumper and sputtering all sorts of strange sounds and bangs. 

Jesus came as this kind of King. He showed us how to live in the world without having to be governed by all the principles our world tries to dictate to us. For us to be relevant to our world, we must understand Jesus as relevant to the needs of the world. God seeks a relationship with every person and offers salvation to all individuals, but if we think that the only thing the world needs is personal, private experiences of salvation for themselves, then we will not be preaching the whole good news. Jesus lived in an alternative community with his disciples where serving the world, peaceful living, equality, reconciliation and forgiveness of debt and sin were some of the greatest virtues. Not freedom, security, prosperity, power, status, comfort, popularity. Those are all lies fed to us by someone else. Jesus wants us to live in communities of mutual sharing and he wants us to bring his good news to ALL people. That is what bringing God’s Kingdom to earth will look like and that is why Jesus prays “your kingdom come” and “your will be done on EARTH as it is in heaven”. 

Where do we go when we need to learn how to relate to the power structures of our day? We go to Jesus because he had lots to say about it. When we face impossible questions of what to do about injustice, violence, hunger...where do we go for options? We have to go to Jesus! If what will work lines up with being faithful to Jesus, then it is a blessing, but if what will work ends up not being what is faithful, we can have no part in it. When it comes to issues of violence and injustice, the world almost never uses the means provided by Jesus to work for justice and peace; to love our neighbour and love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Our world leaders would have us believe that we must be suspicious of our neighbours and hate our enemies, in fact to strike our enemies before they do much worse to us. We cannot give in to this lie. Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey to show Rome that the Kingdom of God is much bigger than the kingdom of Rome and that the Kingdom of God brings peace and not war. It brings life, not death. Life everlasting, both spiritual and physical. 

What, do you suppose, would happen if a man came into town in the middle of the campaigning season and he spoke like Jesus did. This politician proposed a system of commerce which released the poor from debt slavery; that would mean as business people, you may have to rethink how you regulate your accounts. This man proposed things like working for peace in local settings as well as internationally; this proposed government would not have a standing army. How about the basics of how we do politics. I am reminded of all the character assassinations that take place when the campaign trails are hot. This new man proposing all of these weird ideas has no smear campaign...is that even possible in politics? In essence, what I’m asking is “If Jesus rode into town running for office, would he get your vote?” Are the things he offered just for the afterlife? Most people would respond with, “is this guy for real?” The things that people think will save and free them; financial institutions, military, Church traditions, education; often are the things which enslave, deceive and destroy. The truth is, Jesus had the option to run for office, if you remember his temptation in the desert. He refused to take power from Caesar and use it to bring about the Kingdom of God. He told Pilate that His Kingdom was not of this world. The Kingdom which Jesus began to establish here on earth is made up of faithful followers of a different way. A way of humility, like Jesus riding on a donkey; a way of peace and love, not in the hippy way. The way of Jesus, is the way that let’s Empire know that God’s way is the ultimate authority. It tells the “Harper government” that his way is broken and fallen, and even though it provides order as God intended, God has something better in mind.