Jesus's Call: Beyond Spiritual Platitudes
Christ's Reign of Revolutionary Love
The headlines have been filled with discouraging words lately, but I found a word of hope in this morning's bath in Scripture.
Today is Tuesday after the Sunday on which Christians across the globe celebrate the Reign of Christ. It's the last week of the Church year.
The year begins with the Son's advent and incarnation. It takes us through Jesus's mighty works, leaving us to name the conclusions we rationally draw after remembering the stories of Jesus's life, death, resurrection, and ascension. As Luke and Paul repeatedly remind us, Jesus is the Lord of Lords, King of Kings.
With that conclusion fresh in our minds, the lectionary confronts us with today's word from the prophet, Ezekiel (Ez 29:1-12). We contemplate YHWH's oracle against Pharoah, king of Egypt. Why? For reasons that evoke our contemporary context: Pharoah's declaration, 'My Nile is my own; I made it for myself' (Ez 29:3), is a stark reminder of the arrogance and self-centeredness that can be found in leaders today, who often claim ownership over resources that should be shared for the common good.
Pharoah, in Jewish thought, is the primary archetype of evil, the epitome of one who traveled so far from God as to be devoid of goodness. Pharoah makes the perennial claim of would-be autocrats: that the great river of blessings through which God sustains us was created by and belongs to them and their minions and not to the people YHWH calls and empowers leaders to serve. YHWH says through the prophet, "I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your channels stick to your scales....I will fling you into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your channels; you shall fall upon the open field and not be gathered up....Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord" (vv4-6).
It's quite a stern warning to the Pharaohs of our time and a word of hope for those of us who sometimes feel defeated and fearful for our future as we witness the ascent of pharaohs who arrogantly claim rights to our rivers of blessings and greedily plot evil against those who oppose them.
But there's more. Many American Christians recognize Mark's narration of how Jesus called his disciples, saying, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people" (Mk 1:17). Too often, we domesticate that story by reducing it to a New Age mandate to invite people to grow spiritually.
But Mark's gospel has a revolutionary edge: he's telling the story of how God established the reign of Christ in a world dominated by his era's pharaoh, the Roman emperor, who outdid Ezekiel's contemporary in his arrogance, greed, and violence.
Jesus's call for us to become "fishers of people" echoes not just Ezekiel but also the prophets Jeremiah (Jer 16:16-17) and Amos (4:1-2), whose oracles pronounced God's judgment upon those "who oppress the weak and abuse the needy."
When Jesus calls us into discipleship, it's not about becoming Cross-decorated New Age groupies who text each other platitudes when times are tough.
It's a call to revolution, a movement that invites Jesus's followers to the dangerous mission of constructing lives that falsify Pharoah's ways by embodying the depth and breadth of neighbor love made possible by our participation in Jesus's faith, hope, and love.
Now is not a time for despair but for courageous stillness, for joining arms with our neighbors, trusting in the reign of Christ, which is bringing about God's victory over the evil imagined by history's Pharaohs.
Don't be harassed by headlines. Don't despair at the ascent of despots. Because Christ reigns, hope is rational. Join the revolution that conquers caesars by steadfastly and creatively sharing bread and wine with our neighbors.