Not the father's country...

We came to the U.S. in 1994. Afterward stuff happened. There was Clinton, then Bush, then Obama. I used to think it would be amazing to live to 1984, the fabulous year of the eponymous book. Then I thought it would be amazing to live to 2000. But those dates passed and I wasn’t amazed.

Then, then came now. Now really, truly, is amazing. As Jack Cafferty, the CNN journalist, recently wrote, “This is not your father’s country anymore.”

We elected an African-American president with a Middle Eastern name. Who would have dreamed it? And along with that millennial surprise goes the crisis that broadly brought it about. The U.S. is fighting for its life, economically, culturally, militarily. But then so is the world, and the planet that holds the world. One thing piling on another, with no one with a real advantage, no one really in control.

The possibilities are open. In four years time we could revert to an authoritarian militarist state, with the Obama train running out of track and hope. The U.S. may have a $12 trillion debt and counting, but it does have enough weaponry for a really spectacular all-guns-blazing finale. Or, we could continue to change positively. We might really move to a universal health care system. Public transport might really become a priority. Even military action and spending might come into question. And then the poor of the world might really have cause to rejoice. Not just a very good night at the Oscars (though I wouldn’t begrudge that either).

Long before I came to the U.S. a good friend of mine pointed out that the apostles, Paul and Peter, seemed to head instinctively to Rome. They took the gospel to the heart of imperial power in order to interrupt its beat, to subvert it to a rhythm of a new heaven and new earth. He also said that today they would probably head to the U.S.A.

But how would that look when this country is so much already a confessing-Christian country as prayers at the inauguration (and Obama’s own quotation of the New Testament) confidently showed? Wouldn’t it be bringing coals to Newcastle, pizza to New York? As many point out, Christianity is peculiarly vigorous here because it is not established or controlled by the state. It’s a free market enterprise and has done pretty well for itself in that rough-and-tumble arena. But there’s the rub. It is comfortably accommodated to the market, which is now in free-fall.

Cafferty, in his article (cnn.com/2009/Politics), has a pretty grim assessment of the market’s ability to keep delivering as it did before. “At the end of the day, we are going to have to settle for less. Less money, smaller houses, smaller cars and smaller dreams. This is not your father's country anymore. And we had better all start getting used to it.” What does that mean for Christianity? Is it perhaps an opportunity to learn that, yes, it is not your father’s country, but it might in some measure be our father’s country. As in “Our father your kingdom come, your will be done.” And “Call no one your father for you have only one father and you are all brothers/sisters.” And “Do not worry about what you are to eat, or what you are to wear. Your father knows you need all these things.” And “Love your enemies, for even so your father makes the sun to rise on the just and unjust alike….”

It’s not a matter of bringing a new religion, as the early Christians did to Rome, but a new style of humanity (which was perhaps what those early Christians were doing all along anyway). A really new humanity. Smaller houses, smaller cars are not an issue for those for whom “Seek ye first the kingdom of God” is much more signal than having a Lexus or a Beamer.

I have very little idea of how this Christianity will look. I just know that this is the way it must be. Wood Hath Hope does not claim to be this, but it’s a place where this is talked about. It’s all we talk about. And we also worship on this basis, yearning “Come Lord Jesus…,” not the judge of the earth but the new human for a new earth. Now wouldn’t that be totally amazing?

Journey with Jesus #3

Here is the summary of last Friday's study. A reminder that we have Jesus yoga this week and a continuation of the bible study (Old Testament - Water) the week after that. Peace, Linda

New Testament - Water 02/06/09

For Jesus, the land and sea were more than just a backdrop to his ministry. They were signs or sacraments in themselves. Jesus used various media to communicate his message and water is one of the most powerful and significant of these. In Mark 1:10-11 we have the account of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan by John the Baptist. In the tradition of the prophets who had used physical objects (broken pots, filthy clothing) to illustrate deeper truths, John used the land as a medium for his message of repentance. The Jordan runs along the eastern border of Israel and had been the point of entry for the people after the Exodus and returning from their exile in Babylon. For John baptism symbolized a time for starting over – a re-entry into the land after exile. There had been a physical resettlement of the land, but God’s presence was not yet evident. The land was suffering under the Roman occupation and John was looking for the spiritual return – for a true union of God and his people.

When Jesus goes to the Jordan and emerges from the water the heavens are torn apart and the Spirit descends on him like a dove. The opening of the heavens is an apocalyptic motif, the in-breaking of God into the human space marking an end to the present order. It holds echoes of Isaiah 64:1-2 “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence …to make your name known to your adversaries, so that the nations might tremble at your presence”. In Jesus’ baptism God enters the human space in a definitive way through the person of Jesus. So Jesus’ baptism is more than John’s national event – it becomes a cosmic event for all people. Water becomes more than the symbol of entry into the land. The spirit hovers over the water just as it did in creation. Jesus’ baptism marks the second creation.

After his baptism Jesus moves from the river to the sea. The medium of the sea fits better with his message. He does not have the same focus as John (the river mediating the land to the people, involving the symbolism of cleansing and repentance in preparation to enter it). For Jesus the sea is more important. It brings to mind the chaotic primordial abyss out of which creation was brought forth. The Sea of Galilee is hardly ever mentioned in the Old Testament. The sea was feared and avoided, a place of violent storms and associated with monsters. In Is 51:9-11 the prophet exhorts God to awake and slay the sea monster Rahab. Isaiah is drawing on ancient myths from Mesopotamia and Phoenicia as metaphors for the oppression being experienced under Babylonian rule. In the ancient myths the gods destroy the sea monsters before the cosmos can be created. (The later Priestly account of creation found in Genesis 1 is remarkable in that it has no big battles or violence). It is from the sea that the monsters in Daniel 7 emerge to terrorize the land and its people – again symbolic representations of violent empire. The beasts from the abyss have taken power – representations of chaotic and violent humanity.

Only Jews who had been displaced from the land in some way would be forced to make their living from the sea. In Mk 1:16-17 Jesus walks along the sea and calls his first disciples – fishermen. This is a purposeful act by Jesus. He says to them that they will become “fishers of men”. They will rescue those drowning in the abyss. Jesus spends much of his time by, on or crossing the sea in the first part of his ministry. Check out MK 2:13; MK3:7; Mk4:1; Mk4:35; MK 5:1; 5:20-21; 6:32; 6:45; 6:53; 7:31 and 8:12-13. This only changes after Peter’s declaration at Caesarea Philippi, when Jesus turns his face to Jerusalem. The sea is important to Jesus both symbolically and strategically – he uses it as a place to escape the crowds and the Pharisees.
One of the most memorable accounts of Jesus and the sea is found in Mk 4:35. Here Jesus is asleep in the boat when a storm overtakes them. The disciples wake him and he calms the storm. This story has many parallels with the Old Testament story of Jonah. Jonah also was asleep while the storm raged. In the story of Jonah the storm abates when Jonah is thrown overboard and is swallowed by the sea monster. Jesus rebukes the sea – exorcising the monsters/violence it contains.

The story continues with their landing in the land of the Gerasenes and the account of the healing of the demoniac living among the tombs. The man is called “legion” – a Latin term used to denote a Roman military unit. The explanation “for we are many” is likely an editorial addition to soften the language and its critical implication for a Roman audience. This individual displays uncontrollable violent behavior (just as the Romans did). Jesus, having subdued the violence of the sea, now exorcises the human violence internalized by the demoniac. The violence is cast out but cannot be totally dispersed – it enters the pigs that then return to the sea, completing the circle of symbolism. To deal finally with the core violence of the cosmos, which is human, Jesus must go to the cross.

In Mk 6:45 Jesus again shows his mastery over the chaotic abyss when he walks on water. Then in Mk 8: 11-13 he is asked for a sign from heaven. The Pharisees are looking for an Elijah style calling down of fire to wipe out the Romans. But when the heavens split at Jesus’ baptism – the Spirit descended like a dove. Jesus says “no sign will be given to this generation” and gets into a boat to cross to the opposite shore. In a parallel (and generally considered more authentic) account in Mt 12:38-41 (with a doublet of this in Mt 16:1) Jesus says “the only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah”. In Mt 12:40 the editorial gloss says this is because Jesus would be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights as Jonah was in the belly of the whale. This comes from early church teaching. When Jesus makes his comment it is more likely that he is saying that they should not be looking to the heavens for salvation, but to the abyss. In looking to the heavens in our search for a violent divine intervention against our enemies we are only projecting our own violence on to God. The new creation comes when we look to the abyss and address what it represents.

Human beings are 90% water. In the context of this study, water corresponds to the unrestrained violence and chaos that we have always been unable to face or deal with. People cope by displacing their violence on to scapegoats. (An example of this is soldiers who carry not only the physical burden of war but also the spiritual burden. In January 2009 more U.S. soldiers died by suicide than in enemy fire – a marked increase from the previous year). Jesus, however, is more powerful than anything within the abyss. He is able to control our storms and exorcise our monsters. And he is able to bring new creation out of the depths. In the vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelations 21, the author describes “a new heaven and a new earth, the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared and the sea was no more”. Instead of the angry sea there is a light-filled sea of crystal and a river of life flowing through the city.