mbjones

Getting back to [Jesus for President][1] seems prudent, for a post at least, particularly as I’ve thought quite a bit lately about justice in our time. I’m not actually going to talk about that here (perhaps tomorrow); instead, I’m going to continue to explore more from my favorite section of the book: section 3 — *when the empire got baptized*.

One interesting part of it looks at pieces of idolatry in our time, where empire is subverting Jesus in favor of its own welfare. The epitome of this, as far as I’m concerned, comes from our president’s State of the Union speech in 2003:

>There’s power, wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American people.

Compare this to its original:

>There’s power, wonder-working power, in the precious blood of the Lamb

I find it rather offensive that we can so nonchalantly replace the *precious* blood of the lamb with the American people. As Christians, there isn’t anything that can replace yet we let our leaders re-write our liturgy (pushing Jesus right out of the picture).

Here’s another example from the same president:

>The ideal of America is the hope of all mankind. … That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (Bush, 2002 Ellis Island)

Compare that to one of my favorite scriptures:

>1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

>John 1:1-5 (HCSB)

So, we have on one hand a president that says America is the hope of mankind and on another the author of John saying the Word (JESUS!) is the hope of mankind. And then the verse 5 is totally co-opted by our political system. I use this translation instead of my usual (NET) to show how its been taken word for word. It’s kind of scary to think how easily the sacred is subverted by the secular, and how no one seems to be batting an eye. And lest you think I’m railing unnecessarily against one party alone, the other does it as well: *This country is still the last best hope on earth* (Obama on Letterman).

What irks me even more though is when religious leaders of our nation willingly participate in the power of the world, disregarding the teachings of Jesus. Some examples:

>We have the ability to take [Hugo Chavez] out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. ~Pat Robertson

>You’ve got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I’m for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes ten years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord. ~Jerry Falwell

And then the pundits who vocalise the name of Christ (without any visible fruit of the spirit):

>We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war. ~Ann Coulter

This post is titled ***Idolatry Today*** and these are just a few of the examples that one could readily fine. They highlight ever more clearly, in my eyes, the need for the church to *step up and be the kingdom of God to a dieing world*. It’s time we stopped allowing the state to co-opt the kingdom of God by subverting her songs, creeds and scriptures.

I’ll leave you with a thought from a founding father of our nation, who I tend to think had a much better view of the role of church and the role of state:

>The government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion. ~John Adams

And then Frederick Douglass — slave, abolitionist, statesman:

>Between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference — so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. … I love the pure peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.

I’ll let you think on what that *most deceitful one* is.

[1]:http://www.jesusforpresident.org

This past Tuesday I re-watched Pan’s Labyrinth with a special young lady who had never seen it. Besides forgetting how violent it is, one part jumped out at me: the fascist captain rationing food for the villagers. Now you wouldn’t necessarily think that something that would spring out at you, but in this case it did (particularly after having just read Jesus for President). As the villagers lined up, the captain walked by proclaiming “This is your daily bread” while holding out ration cards. “We provide your daily bread” proclaims the state juxtaposed against the Lord’s Prayer which proclaims God as the giver of our daily bread is an interesting thing to dwell on for a bit specifically because I think it tends to highlight the liturgy of the state quite well.

Now with this viewing I was immediately drawn once again to Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Growing up, this story of Jesus was always used to highlight temptation and how Jesus was like us and how God would provide in times of temptation and need but there is an underlying political thread that’s quite important as well. Jesus for President highlights this quite well, pulling heavily from Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder (and others as well). The first temptation in particular jumps out in the light of this scene:

4:2 After he fasted forty days and forty nights he was famished. 4:3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.” 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Matthew 4:2-4

The basic gist is this: Jesus is hungry; the devil knows this and highlights that its within His power to take care of the hunger issue but Jesus points out the higher good — it’s the Word of the Lord that we live by, not just bread. Now its important to keep in mind (particularly when looking at the underlying political thread) that in the temptations, Jesus is entering into the Israelites story. I never caught this growing up, and if you didn’t, take a look back in Exodus:

6:16 “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Each person is to gather from it what he can eat, an omer per person according to the number of your people; each one will pick it up for whoever lives in his tent.’” 16:17 The Israelites did so, and they gathered – some more, some less. 16:18 When they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat.

16:19 Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” 16:20 But they did not listen to Moses; some kept part of it until morning, and it was full of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them. 16:21 So they gathered it each morning, each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt. 16:22 And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers per person; and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses. 16:23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Whatever you want to bake, bake today; whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

16:24 So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 16:25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the area. 16:26 Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

16:27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing. 16:28 So the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to obey my commandments and my instructions? 16:29 See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 16:30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

16:31 The house of Israel called its name “manna.” It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey.

16:32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept for generations to come, so that they may see the food I fed you in the desert when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’”

Exodus 16:16-32

To boil the above down, God delivered the Israelites and as part of His promise to them, He provided them with the sustenance they needed on a daily basis. The mana he provided wouldn’t last any longer than a day (except on the 6th day) and forced the Israelites to rely on God for everything. And this went on 40 years. Now, back to the temptation of Jesus: this part of the Israelite story is being recalled. Jesus is faced with a choice: enter into it by relying on God for sustenance alone or, as the devil points out, exploit the land for His sustenance and security. Juxtaposed against the state, Jesus could have realistically done what Caesar was doing: winning the masses by “bread and circus” but He throw off any temptations of this nature choosing God instead.

Again, as I begin with, this is good stuff to just sit and spend some time thinking and digesting. Ultimately it brings me into deeper consideration of the kingdom of God (and that’s always a good thing). Some questions worth consideration:

• Who am I relying on for my daily bread? God? The state? Some other Idol?
• If not God (and instead some other), how can repent of this?

Amy from Zondervan commented on my first posting about Jesus for President and clued me in to a “blog tour” going on by the authors of the book. It’s an opportunity for them to promote the book (and tours accompanying it) and an opportunity for people like me to perhaps interact with the authors. Rather than rehash what I’ve already written, I’ll let this post be a placeholder for those links (as well as some promotional pieces from them).My ongoing discussions:

• Post 1: Jesus for President, Initial Thoughts
• Post 2: Jesus for President, Imperial Language vs Gospel Language
• Post 3: Jesus for President, Temptation of Jesus (part 1)
• Post 4: Jesus for President, Idolatry Today

Promotional material:You can download a sample here! (it’s well worth taking a look at the style I mention in the first post)Tour Dates:

• JUNE 23 - GRAND RAPIDS
• JUNE 24 - INDIANAPOLIS
• JUNE 25 - CINCINNATI
• JUNE 26 - PITTSBURGH
• JUNE 27 - WASHINGTON DC
• JUNE 28 - NEW YORK CITY
• JUNE 29 - HARTFORD
• JUNE 30 - TORONTO, CANADA
• JULY 4 - CORNERSTONE FESTIVAL
• JULY 6 - OMAHA
• JULY 7 - DENVER
• JULY 11 - SAN FRANCISCO
• JULY 12 - FRESNO
• JULY 13 - LOS ANGELES
• JULY 15 - ALBUQUERQUE
• JULY 16 - LUBBOCK
• JULY 17 - DALLAS
• JULY 19 - ATLANTA
• JULY 20 - ORLANDO
• JULY 22 - RALEIGH/DURHAM
• JULY 23 - RICHMOND
• JULY 24 - PHILADELPHIA

I’ll keep updating this posting as I post more (and perhaps, just maybe, the authors will stop by and leave some thoughts…)