2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14 Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20
Gal. 5:1, 13-25 Luke 9:51-62
In our modern age, we have tried to clean of the image of the powerful by putting
cosmetic lipstick upon the proverbial pig; we have justified conquering and
subjugation of people in the name of having superior religion, superior culture,
superior science effectively rendered in having superior military weapons to back up
our superiority complexes.
I would like to highlight the Scriptural stories of Elijah and Elisha, St. Paul, and Jesus as they pertain to the theme, "When the Powerful are Evil."
When the last great Judge Samuel was prevailed upon to anoint a King for Israel, he warned them about the corrupting power of absolute power. But the people thought that a King's army would be a protection against the neighboring tribes and nations. Israel and Judah did have some good kings, who endeavored to unite their country around their chief totem, the One Holy and Highest God. But Israel and Judah had some really bad and evil kings, with King Ahab and Queen Jezebel being representative of perhaps evil power at it worst. Beyond wanting to steal the property of the citizenry, they promoted departure from the unifying totem of Israel, the One Holy and Highest God, and the covenantal relationship with the Holy One found in the Torah. What we know about the prophets of Israel is that one of their harshest duties was to "speak the truth of the Torah" to power, namely, to corrupt kings.
It was given the task to Elijah to speak the truth of the Torah to King Ahab and Jezebel who hated him and wanted to kill him, especially after he presided over the showdown of the Great God El with the god Baal and his priests and prophets. Elijah's intercession called down fire from heaven to win the battle, and one would think that such an obvious victory would make Elijah bold to face Ahab, but he ran in fear and became a pouting prophet feeling alone in his resistance to evil. He had another theophany in knowing the still small voice, but the aftermath of this theophany meant that God would give Elijah relief from his prophetic ministry; it was time to turn over his counter-culture resistance movement to a very doubtful protege, Elisha. A pupil has doubts about being able to perform up to the standards of one's mentor and teacher. Elisha had self doubts about his prophetic authority. Can the prophetic mantle be passed on to the new prophet? Will the new prophet have a way with God and nature so as to validity work and speak in God's name? Elisha did not just want the mantle, the academic gown of Elijah, he wanted to have a double portion of the spiritual authority of Elijah. And he wanted a sign before he would take up the mantle of Elijah. And so we have a record of the visionary epiphany to Elisha and the succession in the office of the chief prophet. Elijah said, "If you see me leave, then that will be proof that you will assume the prophetic mantle with a double portion of my spirit." Sure enough, in the epiphany Elisa saw Elijah ascend riding the chariots of fire in the whirlwind, and he took up the mantle and the magic of the office worked for him as well. Elisha went on to see the end of Ahab and Jezebel, and to continue to speak truth to powers, both foreign and domestic. Elijah and Elisha are witnesses to the divine mission on earth, speaking truth to power, always.
St. Paul lived within minority synagogues and Christ-communities of the Roman Empire. Ironically, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven is not articulated by Paul as it is found in the Gospel words of Jesus. St. Paul has settled into his other-worldly heavenly citizenship status; he has conceded that the Roman Emperor is the evil power of his world. But as an apocalyptic prophet, Paul believed that he was biding time until this great intervention will happen. So what was Paul's strategy of preparation for this impending end? His strategy was to let the kingdom of God take over the interior or your life and free people from enslavement to all manner of evil. St. Paul is perhaps a crucial source for the many 12 step programs. Evil is an external power, but always it is an internal force of enslavement and addiction. To counter evil, one needs to know the grace of a higher power, a Holy Spirit power, an identity with the Risen Christ power, to begin to sublimate one's life energies and be known as the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, kindness, faithfulness, generosity. Over-coming external evil with goodness begins when God's Holy Spirit interior kingdom has worked the transformation of wrongly aimed desire into the power of the fruits of the Spirit. When the powerful are evil, what does one do? Don't respond in evil; but learn the generating power of the Holy Spirit to produce the good fruits of the Spirit in the words and deeds of one's life.
Isn't it rather ironic that the words of Jesus which came to writing quite some time after the writings of Paul included the message about the kingdom of God? During the time of Jesus through the writings which became the New Testament, the most obvious kingdom was the kingdom of the Roman Emperors. To speak and write openly about another kingdom would certainly have been seen as rebellious behaviors. Such writing would have been easier to hide in underground and stealthy movements which promoted a greater kingdom than the one of the Emperor.
It may not have been easy to convince people about this other greater kingdom when the visible presence of the Roman Emperor seemed so obvious.
How does one respond to the mission of preaching the kingdom of God? Should one be an over-confident zapping apocalypticist? "Jesus, if these people don't accept God's kingdom, shall I just call down fire from heaven to zap these evil people?" Jesus is presented in the Gospels as rebuking the people who wanted to zap those who did not agree or understand the kingdom of God. Assassins are people who often think that they are to overcome evil with evil and falsely think that they have the power to make almighty God back up their attempt to instigate the apocalyptic end. Our world just recently experienced a "Christian" political assassin in Minnesota proving that evil can lead to egomaniacal insane acts of terror. There are evil deranged people who think that they can violently instigate some wrongly founded version of an apocalyptic end.
Other responses are found to the kingdom of God message and its receptivity. Some felt confident, even over-confident about their embrace of the kingdom of God. They promised to follow Jesus everywhere, just like Judas and Peter, but they were caught up in excessive pride about their own ability, rather than the gentle coaxing of the lure of the life of love and goodness of the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus. Jesus warned Peter and all who put their confidence in their own ability alone but misunderstood the "coaxing weakness of God" to honor true freedom, even the freedom for evil to seeming temporal and local control.
Other response to the kingdom of God can also include more trivial excuses. "The kingdom of God is a nice concept, but it's going to interrupt my everyday life with family activities. I'm going have to be here to bury my parents; and I really need to say good bye to my family members. I can't decide now."
The words of Jesus seem rather cruel, as in "Let the dead bury the dead." But we should understand the ironic intent. To paraphrase Jesus, "If you think following me and accepting a mission in the kingdom of God is bad for you and your family, don't do it. If you have thought that I would propose something that is bad and impossible for you and your family, then you have misunderstood me and my mission."
I think it is safe to say that the kingdom of God is so immanent that it is portable to one's life situation such that it enhances one's life and one's family if one embraces the mission of the kingdom of God.
We live and move and have our being in God, but so do all the evil powers of the world. The truth is that evil, greedy, lying powers, live as parasites off the largesse of God's expansive being, and as parasites they try to consume and devour as much as God's acres as they can for their selfish purposes. In our own day a very few people with power and wealth control most of the world's assets for their own purposes. They engage in their own forms of emperor worship, seeking loyalty, but we have to be mindful of our commitment to everlastingness. That which is Everlasting will outlive every evil power and while we may know temporal and local oppression by evil powers, we must confess that the kingdom of God is always, already, and unavoidable. Loyalty to the kingdom of God is shown by engendering the fruits of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and faithfulness. The manifestation of these are what keep this world alive even when the control and destiny of the world seem to be decided by evil powers.
Rather and resorting to bullying evil, let us commit ourselves to the winsome fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, and faithfulness. Let these virtues be our passport membership in the kingdom of God. Amen.
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