Just as a head’s up, today’s sermon is an uncharacteristically serious one. Our world is struggling so, Godspeed to all of us and here we go.
Once upon a time in Europe, the Roman Catholic Church via the pope and the Vatican, possessed ultimate power. Whether it was a spiritual, religious, or a worldly transgression it was all the same and people were judged and sentenced directly or indirectly by the Church. As early as 438, after his father Theodosius the first declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, Emperor Theodosius II, issued the Theodosian Code. This Codex is a compilation of laws of the Roman Empire, that also provided for the confiscation of property and the death penalty for heretics. Religion and power aligned. Eventually the pope held the convenient view, that even the monarchy is accountable to the Church, kings themselves were accountable to the pope. Of course this turned into a power struggle before too long, and as a result the monarchy came up with the concept of God’s Mandate, or the Divine Right of Kings. King Henry the 8th for example might be the most famous for being the first monarch who declared himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England in the 1500s. The Divine Right stated that the king was ordained to be king by God himself and therefore is not accountable to any authority, parliament or pope. Monarchy was above the law of the land and above the canons of the Church. Two facts are quite obviously causing trouble in a situation like this. 1, that kind of absolute power turns kings into tyrants. Because absolute power does corrupt absolutely. 2, the Vatican was not ever going to take this lying down, they quite enjoyed their power as well. So, they devised plenty of plans to continue their grip on power, their hold on the governments and their kings. Inquisitions are one of the tools the pope would use. Under the so called Episcopal Inquisition, everybody unclench, it’s way before our Episcopal Church was a thing, under the Episcopal Inquisition of the 12th century for example local authorities, kings, counts, barons, and rectors were required to take responsibility for punishing heretics that the Church handed over to them; any authority, including the king, who failed in this duty would be excommunicated, removed from office, and stripped of all legal rights. Commercial boycotts were imposed by the Vatican on cities that supported people who they deemed heretics. Indulgences, originally designed to restore a penitent sinner to the church with good deeds, assigned prayers, or even a pilgrimage, Indulgences ended up being sold to people of means, to people in power. The immoral sale of Indulgences was the catalyst that inspired Martin Luther to finally write and sent his 95 Theses to the Archbishop of Mainz, in October of 1517. I know, the image of him nailing them to the Church door is more exciting, and Martin Luther may have absolutely posted the Ninety-five Theses on the door of churches in Wittenberg. It was in accordance with the University customs in Germany back then. I like to imagine that he did. But we know for sure he sent it to the Archbishop of Mainz. Martin Luther found that Indulgences are positively harmful to the recipient because they hinder salvation by diverting charity away from those in need and by inducing a false sense of security. He was convinced that Christians should be taught that he who gives to the poor is better than he who bought a pricey pardon. This of course challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, and from 1517 on life in Europe is filled with strife and violent bloodshed as monarchs either embraced Protestantism and forced their constituents to deny their Roman Catholic faith, or the king and/or queen held on to their Roman Catholic faith and punished any Protestants in their realm. Keep in mind that kings and queens were regularly overthrown and replaced, and the new monarch imposed their religion, many people did not know which religious view point was safe on any given day. Many people would lose their possessions and livelihood, and worse, their life. The Protestant Reformation also brought about a Counter Reformation in the Roman Catholic world. Once again, the Inquisitions were used. The Spanish Inquisition published their first Index of banned books in 1551. Banning books has and will always be a tool of the powerful to not only attain and remain in power but also to increase their power even more. The uneducated and uninformed are easier to control and govern. In Spain, the effect of the Inquisition’s censorship was to end free and scientific and artistic thought. A contemporary Spaniard living in exile at that time, was recorded saying that ”in Spain one cannot produce any culture without being suspected of heresy, error and Judaism. Thus, silence was imposed on the learned." The learned people, the intellectuals and artists usually get silenced first. And yes, sadly Antisemitism dates back this far and further.
Because of this violent time of reformation, this bloodshed, this absolute control, tyranny, and terror exerted over the average citizens day in and day out in the name of religion, the Founding Fathers of this country felt that it was of the utmost importance to keep the governing body, and the religious body separated. James Madison said that “the purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe with blood for centuries.”
Christianity, any religion really, is never at its best when it is in allegiance with worldly power. Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us of this truth in a most poignant way when she preaches: “Jesus was not brought down by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion, which is always a deadly mix. Beware those who claim to know the mind of God and are prepared to use force, if necessary, to make others conform. Beware those who cannot tell God’s will from their own.”
We cannot know God’s will. To think that we can is presumptuous at best, and it’s downright blasphemous at its worst when the powers that be are trying to force and control the people with religion.
But the Bible, especially the Gospels, give insight into God’s will through the words and actions of prophets and of Jesus Christ. Today’s Gospel has two big stories. The feeding of the 5000, which is the only miracle recorded in all 4 Gospels, and Jesus walking on water. As big and as rich in meaning as these two great signs are, what caught my attention was the one sentence paragraph of verse 15, the sentence between the miracles: When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
That does say a lot about the kind of leader our God and Messiah is, doesn’t it. More literally translated it can say:
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he fled back to the mountain alone.
He fled. Jesus reaction to earthly powers and political campaigns is unequivocally negative throughout the Gospels. God does not seek that power. Why would God need to? He wants nothing to do with our tedious earthly kingdoms. As Jesus says later in the Gospel of John, God’s kingdom is not of this world. He has no need or wish to rule our earthly governing bodies. Jesus withdraws, He flees, Jesus separates himself from the world of politics and governments. This separation Jesus seeks from any earthly position of ruling power, the fact that Jesus Christ flees from those who wish to conscript him in their political campaign is a powerful declaration that God knows the need for separation of state and church. Maybe John, our Gospeler wisely placed these words between two very popular and often read miracles, to make sure we the readers could not easily overlook them.
It is only natural for people to want to see their Messiah in charge of all that is. It provides a feeling of safety because it makes us feel powerful ourselves. This world has us so convinced of the utmost importance and benefits of worldly power, that we just like the people in our Gospel reading today assume that God’s power is anything like ours. The contemporary theologian Benjamin Cremer had this to say about it:
“We want the warhorse. Jesus rides a donkey. We want the bird of prey. The Holy Spirit descends as a dove. We want the militia. Jesus calls disciples. We vote for Barabbas. Jesus stands in chains. We want the courtroom. Jesus sets a table. We want the gavel. Jesus washes feet. We want to take up swords. Jesus takes up a cross. We want the nation. Jesus calls the church. We want the roaring lion. God comes as a slaughtered lamb. We keep trying to arm God. God keeps trying to disarm us.”
Trying to arm, trying to weaponize God is like using Jesus Christ as some kind of mascot for a temporal earthly political power movement. I believe it is blasphemous. How dare we use coercion and violence and force and political power in the name of the one God who is not only above these things, but who in our holy scripture is always outspoken against such kings, against such governments, and against such clergy? God’s prophets speak God’s truth to power over and over again in the Bible. And no one did so more effectively than God the Son in Jesus Christ. It’s preposterous and arrogant and blasphemous to assume that any nation knows God’s will and may speak and rule and judge on behalf of God. Europe paid a bloody price for this lesson. As a matter of fact, violent fighting between Catholics and Protestants still killed innocents in Ireland when I was a kid. My hope is that we benefit and learn from that history. May we follow the way of Christ, may we imitate Him. May we be so consumed by God’s loving kindness and grace for us and all people, may we be so filled with our adoration and praise for Him, that we never confuse our will with God’s will. May we instead of seeking power rest peacefully and with thanksgiving in God’s power. As Christians we must assure that we put nothing and nobody above, or even on par with God. As Christians we can never forget that only God is God. And none of us are.
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