The king must not acquire too many horses, too many wives or too much gold and silver. . . He is to have a copy of the law with him, and read it all the days of his life, to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of the law and decrees and not consider himself better than his people and turn away from the law.
from Deuteronomy 17:17-20
Once upon a time in a land far away, there was a king who ruled his country with an iron fist.
The land was rich in resources which the king and all his cronies exploited for personal gain. The people worked hard but could barely make ends meet due to the high cost of food, health care, and other basic necessities. They cried out to their God and king but there was no relief.
Instead, the king kept raising taxes and tariffs to support his own friends and family and their luxurious lifestyles. When the people complained, he rounded up the leaders, put them in jail, cut off media access and threatened to throw away the key and kick them out of the country. When people went into the streets to protest, the king told his soldiers to shoot them, not just with rubber bullets or tear gas but with live bullets if necessary.
The journalists who tried to write about this one social media were sued, censored, or arrested. The lawyers who took the king and his cronies to court were hit with counter lawsuits, and sanctioned. Most cases were dismissed and if the king lost, he just ignored the courts or had the judges replaced or worse. Most church members still supported the king who kept promising to lead them to prosperity. Many priests did too, as they were in debt.
Once upon a time, you would have assumed I was telling a story about my growing up in Asia under martial law. Maybe I’m writing about my years of working in Africa. Not anymore. Now this could be anywhere, even in the United States. Things I saw and my friends lived through in Asia and Africa, are now happening to many people living in US as well. The world is upside down.
When I’m listening to news, sometimes I’m not sure where they are talking about.
- Leaders using political office to make money? Check.
- Citizens paying higher taxes but getting fewer services? Check.
- Police not serving or protecting people but abducting, detaining them illegally and deporting them? Check.
We thought it would never happen here, but now it is. Too many politicians shrug it off as the price of security, instead of a violation of basic civil rights.
This is not the way life is supposed to be. Deep down we know it, even as our leaders normalize the abnormal. Constitutional checks and balances don’t seem to be working. Two political parties working together for the good of society feels like fantasy from the past. Using taxes from the rich to give aid to the poor at home and abroad is slandered as socialism. And pastors who protest are told to stay in their lane. Don’t mix politics and religion, just preach and teach about Jesus.
Jesus didn’t say much directly about politics, but in Luke 13:32 he called King Herod a “fox” [known for ruining the vineyards in bloom in Song of Songs 2:15]. Then, just a bit later, he lamented over Jerusalem in 13:34 saying, “How I long to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.”
- Herod had John the Baptist killed for speaking the truth. Then, Jesus was killed — and many others since.
- Twenty were killed in Kenya in June.
You can cut all the flowers, but you can’t keep the spring from coming. Pablo Neruda
Nairobi, Kenya
The church can be the mother hen, sheltering the victims of police violence within its walls (as the cathedral in Nairobi did). But what about the foxes? Who will catch them and stop them from destroying what’s left of the vineyard?
For hens to defeat foxes, they will have to be organized and fearless. Peaceful protests can defeat dictators. I remember nuns putting flowers in the guns of soldiers in the Philippines.
The Philippines, 1986
Jesus told his disciples going out to “be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” There’s a new class we need in our curriculum.
I was encouraged by millions in the “No Kings” day protests, even in red states.
I’m happy there is another mass protest scheduled for 17 July and will be glad to use one of my vacation days to march in it.
I’m glad the National Council of Churches of Kenya issued a pastoral letter about current events in Kenya. (Click here to see the pastoral letter from the National Council of Church of Kenya.)
The National Council of Church in the United States lamented the recent US budget bill passage, beginning with Proverbs 22:22 “Do not exploit the poor because they are poor…” Amen and amen. (Click here to see the NCC’s Lament.)
We must continue to pay attention, speak truth to power, and be a voice for the voiceless. It’s the least we can do.
What I wonder most, however, is how much further should we be willing to go? What is Jesus asking us to be and to do in the coming weeks, months and years?
How many hens does it take to defeat a fox? I think we are all about to find out.
5 Responses
Thanks Rowland. The ending of your piece reminded me of Bonhoeffer’s famous remarks on the Church’s political roles. First, when the state is not meeting its obligations, the Church must voice strong opposition and boldly attack public evil. Second, the Church must act in service to the victims who are crushed beneath the wheel of unjust government policies. Third (and most controversially), the Church must act against the state to stop it from perpetrating injustice by actively disrupting government functioning. Like you, I wonder where the Church is.
Rowland, What you write about sounds like the USA. I have been to Ethiopia and I saw very humble people who love the Lord above everything else. I am sure there are many people in the US who feel that way but the quelching down of the poor and disabled does not fit this feeling. We are the richest nation in the world with resources to help those who need it. Let us believe this and act accordingly.
Thank you Rowland,
There is a lot to be said about the OBBB. There is too much in it to comment intelligently in one comment, but the bottom line headlines are mostly accurate. The wealthy get more money with tax cuts (they pay the most taxes, so this makes sense), and the bottom 20% suffer the most with cuts to Medicaid and SNAP (they rely on it) (31% of Medicaid cuts are connected to new work verification requirements-not work requirements. Arkansas tried this and found employment didn’t increase for those on Medicaid while tens of thousands fell off the roles. Georgia reports spending $26 million to set up their “Pathways to Coverage” program and currently pays $9 of overhead costs for every $1 they paid out in benefits. Now every state will need to adopt similar types of new verification programs for this required reporting, and many states already have work requirements. The other 69% are cuts-like increased co-pays and co-insurance payments-are not really getting top line headlines).
Here is the thing we don’t talk about. Significant income/wealth inequality leads to worse health outcomes for EVERYONE. The wealthy and the poor getting sicker as inequality gets worse. These things are BAD for all of us, and we never hear that, but for those of us who are people of faith, this should be obvious. These dynamics are admittedly complicated, but the prophets tell us the foundation of every society. How are the orphans and widows (i.e. the poor) doing? If this is God’s measuring stick, we should be using it, so, how are the orphans and widows doing in our country, in your community, in your church?
https://inequality.org/facts/inequality-and-health/
If you would like to learn about and discuss authoritarianism and resistance, you are invited to join ICS’s Summer Read (“On Tyrrany: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by Timothy Snyder) with Kristin Kobes Du Mez and Bruce Berglund: https://f2bf.icscanada.edu/#summer-read
I don’t think Jesus said, Fight, fight, fight! I think he said, Love, love, love!
I heard a good sermon recently that said we in the US are suffering from many things of our own making, especially pride. We are more likely to destroy ourselves than be taken down by outside forces like Iran, Russia, or China. The pastor (who was not born in the US) said we all think we are ‘kings’. I sense the truth of that statement.
The way I follow Jesus’ instruction to love will probably be different than the way you do. But I want to find that path and walk in it.