The Unpopular System of God

Every age has its systems of political government, of economic value and of social mores.  There are certain standards of behavior which meet public approval; or which place an offender in isolation.  The scriptures we look at this weekend recognize that the People of God don’t always fit in with the greater surroundings–we seem to be always at odds with the prevailing Good of our country or our pocketbooks.  Is it better to “go along to get along?”  Or do we cling to our perceived high-ground even if it means poverty and/or death?  Here are some instances of going against the popular grain…

Jeremiah has been called “the weeping prophet”, and our lesson (8:18-9:1) is a good example of this.  His “heart is sick” with the images/idols Zion worships.  The People trust in YHWH, to be sure; so much so that they think YHWH doesn’t care WHAT they do.  An insider of the Temple and all its corruption, Jeremiah bears his own awkwardness in being part of this People of limited integrity.  Jeremiah takes God’s ethic seriously, so much that he’s eventually put to death for standing up for the unpopular system of God.

Paul urges the Christian movement through Timothy (I 2:1-7) to include EVERYONE in their prayers and concerns:  the high and the lowly, us and them.  As God is One, so then is the Creation, diverse as we are.  This of course goes against the idea that We’re Number One, and that the rest of the passengers on the bus are somehow inferior.  So can we pray for Republicans and immigrants in the same breath?  Can we affirm oil-drillers as well as tree-huggers?  Are we stretched beyond our comfort-zones to recognize terrorists and rapists as children of God?  I have a lot of anxiety about this unpopular system…

The Gospel, Luke 16:1-13, depicts Jesus at his snarky and ironic side:  his parable is about a crooked manager who tries to ingratiate himself by reducing his friends’ bills.  Since he’s about to be fired anyway, he figures that at least THESE guys will take him in.  And Jesus concludes that this is the way the world turns, and if you want to play the system right you should be as corrupt as the rest!  Guess what?  He’s really not advocating this, but he is commenting on How Things Are.  His famous words here are, “You cannot serve [both] God and wealth”.

Alas!  Most of us would opt for “normalcy” over unpopularity.  And so the world turns on, groaning in imbalance like a washing machine with all the towels on one side.  To be scripturally sound, we’ve gotta acknowledge that God’s System is unpopular, and that it’s very difficult to follow Biblical ethics.  Preachers, wear your armor!

God Bless Us, Every One                        Horace Brown King

My encounter with Bible passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com