+Z’ev

Today’s assigned readings:

1 Samuel 8:1-22, Acts 6:15-7:16, Luke 22:24-30

But Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.”
Luke 22:25-26

I love the story in today’s passage from 1 Samuel. The conversation between Samuel and the People, on one hand and between God and Samuel, whispering “in the ears of the Lord” is endearing. God’s heart is clearly hurt. And Samuel is wounded as well - because his sons, who might be judges after him, are royal schmucks that the people don’t want.

Interesting side comments: since when would a judge’s son(s) rule after him? All the other Judges were, seemingly, hand-picked by God. Why would the people or Samuel assume primogeniture? This passage matches nearly perfectly with the picture painted by Julian Jaynes in his seminal work, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind… I’m not capable of explaining his theory in a concise way, but I heartily suggest Jaynes’ work as a reference when dealing with material from the earlier Hebrew scriptures or other early literature, especially if you want to look from a non-theistic point of view.

Anyway… God makes it clear to Samuel, “for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me”. It’s about Israel rejecting God. Samuel then goes on to warn Israel just exactly what a King would do (vrs 11 - 18). And then, today, we have Jesus saying, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them… But not so with you… the leader must be like one who serves.”

I’m left meditation on how many times since Constantine, Christians have taken to themselves a “leader” who was more like the “Kings of the Gentiles lording it over them” and far less one who serves. In fact, most often, we like to take kings in the same way Israel does - “We are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”

Are we rejecting God’s kingdom thereby?

This is an especially interesting question as we enter into a “presidential election cycle” here in the US - but most of us have to deal with it as well. And, given that St Paul totally changes the Bible’s anti-kingly tune by insisting that kings are appointed by God, we’re left with a choice to make. It’s not to pit one against another as if to prove a contradiction in the Bible and make it all untrue. The conversation that’s in the Bible continues today. People of faith have made either choice - for or against kings - and, we continue to make them. I think either can be the right choice for one to make in working out one’s salvation.

Politics, as Tony Blair noted on Tuesday, are a varied field.

The second thing that I would like to say is about politics and to all my colleagues from different political parties. Some may belittle politics but we who are engaged in it know that it is where people stand tall. Although I know that it has many harsh contentions, it is still the arena that sets the heart beating a little faster. If it is, on occasions, the place of low skulduggery, it is more often the place for the pursuit of noble causes.

More than “he arena that sets the heart beating a little faster”, politics can be a huge distraction - for me and others. I’d go so far as to call it an addiction: no matter how many times I say I’ll not blog on it again, I do. No matter how many times I say I don’t care, I do. No matter how many times I manage to not vote - and manage not be overly critical of those whom the rest of you elect b/c I realise it’s not my place to complain - I still find myself in moments of support for or detraction from various political types or movements. How do we make choices in the political arena - not astute choices, not even “right” choices. How, rather, do we make choices that work for our salvation and the salvation of others? Not “Salvation” in the “get out of hell free” sense, but rather in the fullest sense of the Greek word: wholeness. Please note “wholeness” includes this world and the next, neither to the exclusion of the other. How do we make our choices?

One of the curious things in US Politics is that, allegedly anyway, the Government is by “the People”. In such a democratic society, in theory anyway, we are all the leaders. We are all called by Jesus to be servants who lead by our submission and love. In such a political set-up as we have in America it is perhaps even more important that we find a way to be servants rather than lords.

So many times in politics it’s not that way for me, nor, I think is it that way for most of us. We make our political choices without thinking, as the American Indians say, unto the 7th Generation. Rarely do we even think of our neighbour in the process, who may have totally different needs or desires. We think only of getting the most votes and squashing the weaker minority. I can see this among my co-activists in the gay community: our goal is any victory possible rather than to drag the “others” along with us. It’s evident in housing choices where one might seek to increase her “property value” without realising that increased housing costs drive out the poor who, otherwise, might drag down that same “value”.

So rarely do political choices value “humans”. I cannot work out my salvation in a way that enslaves you.

Jesus promises to place those who follow him in a Kingdom where we may “may eat and drink” at his table: that is the Eucharist, the Eternal Paschal Feast that is everywhere. We confuse that divine kingdom with the petty ones of this world - rejecting God. Instead we could be manifesting that kingdom in our very lives and actions: inviting others to eat and drink with us.