Ugly Stuff

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 -- Week of Proper 15, Year One
William Porcher DuBose, Priest, 1928

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 980)
Psalms [120], 121, 122, 123 (morning) 124, 125, 126, [127] (evening)
2 Samuel 18:9-18
Acts 23:12-24
Mark 11:27 - 12:12

It is easy to get completely sick of politics and economic greed. Sometimes you just want to wash your hands of it. It's all so corrupt and disappointing. What can a good person do? The odds are stacked against you. It is easy to slide into cynicism. Cynicism is fun and tempting. You can stand back in smug self-righteousness and hurl snide insults at a system that is really easy to insult. The whole thing is corrupt. People are stupid and self-serving. Why spend the energy to try to fix or help, when it proves so fruitless, over and over?

All three of today's readings are stories of the dirty muck of power and politics. If you thought you'd retreat to the private purity of your sanctuary, turn off the TV and ignore the newspaper, pray and read the scriptures, pray with the Church the Daily Office and mind your own business... Gotcha.

Large portions of the scripture are enmeshed in the mess, and tell the stories of God's people struggling and fighting in the ugly ambiguity and violence of power. You can't escape, at least not if you want to carry your Bible with you.

Today the sordid tale of Absalom's rebellion and coup against his father David comes to a bloody end. Or does it? So much of it starts with the dysfunctional parenting of David. He allows his son Absalom to grow up without healthy boundaries. He does not pass along his servant's spirit. He only passes on David's own Machiavellian temperament to his son. Even as David sends his loyal troops to fight their own brothers in a deadly war, David tells them to deal gently with the instigator of the rebellion. David will receive their sacrifice and triumph with grief that will dishearten the very soldiers who risked their lives for him. It's an ugly tale.

Paul is under a gentle form of arrest as the Romans try to investigate what happened to cause a near riot. Some of Paul's enemies, religious people acting out of loyalty to their beliefs, conspire to assassinate Paul. Paul's nephew hears of the plot. Paul gets the intelligence to the authorities, and they take him under a considerable guard to the capitol to meet the governor. Politics, conspiracy and threats. More ugly stuff.

In the gospel we see Jesus fending off questions from those who aren't really asking questions. They want to trap Jesus. So he turns the tables and traps them with his own lose-lose question. "I'll answer your question if you'll first answer mine. Was John's baptism from heaven or of human origin?" If they answer honestly, they will suffer public disapproval. They believe John was a charlatan, after all John attacked them. But the people loved John. If they save face publicly, Jesus will ask them "Why didn't you respect John?" Jesus plays the political brinkmanship game well.

Then Jesus tells a political parable. It is a metaphor about Israel. It is a story about corrupt leadership. The tenants will not give the landowner his due. It is also a story about the futility of violent rebellion. If some other tenants think they can succeed with violent rebellion, they risk utter catastrophe. Underneath the story is a metaphor about non-violent resistance. It is the rejected stone which actually becomes the cornerstone.

Those of us who are Biblical Christians do not necessarily embrace our tradition when we withdraw from the dirty fray that is politics and economics. We are called to bring our values into those struggles. If we don't, the politics of power and money and fear will trump the politics of Jesus.

Right now we have a Jesus-issue in front of us. Our nation has an opportunity to talk about healing. Jesus spent a major part of his ministry doing the work of healing. How can we improve the way we do our healing work in our nation? Right now, a huge proportion of our population lacks access. Right now, the system runs with money as its primary motivation. Americans spend more money on healthcare than anyone in the world, and our outcomes lag.

But the politics of power, money and fear is dominating the debate. The most disheartening part of this debate is how some in the Republican party are intentionally stoking irrational fears. Some are treating this only as a partisan political debate -- if we can beat Obama on this we can regain power. The real issue -- getting our people the best health care possible in the most efficient manner possible -- is lost in the ugliness.

Welcome to the Biblical world. This is the stuff of David and Jesus and Paul. Threat and violence and conspiracy; corrupt leadership and lack of imagination that thinks only in power terms. The Scripture invites us to bring our values into the struggle, and work the system to help it do the best it can.

Ask the tough questions and play the political brinkmanship game well, like Jesus. Bring the dangerous conspiracies to light, like Paul. Recognize when those we love are tearing the fabric of society apart, and deal with them with healthy self-definition, rather than David's dysfunction. Getting disgusted and withdrawing is an unacceptable option. After all, washing your hands of the whole matter was Pontius Pilate's solution.

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas