What’s Going On?
“The Pharisees and Sadducees came to
Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven. He
replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair
weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will
be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the
appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be
given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then
left them and went away.”
Religious people. That’s who the Pharisees and Sadducees were in Jesus’
day. They were the religious
leaders who were always concerned about people following the law to the point
of oppression. They taxed people
heavily, dealt underhandedly with the Romans to further oppress the Jews, they
ostracized people and felt threatened by Jesus’ ministry, because Jesus
preached to the people they used to control. He was giving them words of life that could open their eyes
to the freedom and choice they actually had in this life, without feeling so
oppressed by those in charge. The
Pharisees and Sadducees were educated, powerful and scared of what might happen
if the people actually listened to Jesus as he gained more and more popularity.
Last night I watched the election results with a
group of people, most of whom I didn’t know until last night. In the house were blacks and whites,
old and young people, all hoping for an Obama victory. When I looked on some of the news
programs I saw the people at the Mitt Romney gathering and the people at the
Barack Obama gathering, all hoping for a victory for their candidate. I couldn’t help but notice that the
Romney camp looked like they were majority white, whereas the Obama camp was
shockingly diverse. I kept
thinking that the Republicans don’t get it yet. I’m not sure they even want to
get it yet. But something is
happening and it’s happening now.
You can no longer see the world from one perspective. There are other people here around you
and they have a voice too. And in
those voices is an incredible power.
And in this country, we have the right to speak and to let our voice be
heard, and I think that those who have been ignored for a long time are
starting to see that.
Barack Obama is not Jesus. Let’s be clear.
He is not the Messiah, not the Savior. Nor is he the Anti-Christ as many claim him to be. He is Barack Obama, the son of
interracial parents, raised by a single mother, reared in a home with his
grandparents, educated in American Universities, organizer of low income
communities, friend to some of the wealthiest people on the planet, husband of
an educated, African-American woman and father to two African American young
women. He plays basketball, smokes
Newport’s, walks with a stroll, inspires a crowd with his charisma, is
politically savvy and has a way to make you feel like somehow you are related
to him. (He’s my uncle in my
head). But what he represents is
important. What he represents is
something that was prayed for a loooooooooong time ago by people who are no
longer alive to see it come to pass.
He represents a sign of our times.
And if we are not careful, we will miss what God is saying and revealing
in this season.
The voice of the minority is important. Regardless of what you think about
Obama’s politics, do not miss what God is doing. It would be easy to get caught up in the negative aspects of
what has happened in this campaign or to focus on the loss of Mitt Romney. But don’t miss God. If you miss God here, you are going to
end up like the Pharisees and Sadducees, persecuting the one God is using to
further reveal His kingdom. Which coincidentally,
is not with the voice of the majority, but is found amongst the minority (See
Matthew 5). The kingdom of God is
with those that society at large oppresses. The kingdom of God is with those who are dealt a bad hand in
this life. The kingdom of God is
with those who have been downtrodden.
And those people exist in the United States. They are not just in other “poor” countries. The ones who
don’t have access to healthcare; the ones who need a helping hand in order to
get a decent education; the ones who live in danger everyday because there are
no jobs in their community; the ones who even with education cannot get hired;
the ones who struggle to feed their families everyday. You know, the 47%. Technically 47% is a minority. Seemingly unimportant. But collectively they matter. Apparently, an additional 3% of the
"other" folk decided to go along with the Obama program this time based on the popular vote numbers. Somebody has to listen to their
voices. Most of them didn’t feel
like Mitt was that guy. He
couldn’t connect to that voice. He
didn’t make those voices feel like they mattered. And they do.
And it is about time that the people with those voices realize it.
Things happened last night that may slip right by
people who are focused on what didn’t happen. Even if you don’t agree with what happened, look for God in
it. NBC News said this: “Finally, it was an
historic-making election. With Obama’s re-election, we now have the first time
since Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe that Americans have elected three two-term
presidents in a row… Tammy Baldwin will
become the Senate’s first openly gay member… The Senate will have at
least 19 female members -- the most ever -- and there’s a chance that
number could increase to 20 if Heitkamp wins… Maryland and Maine became the
first states to
approve of gay marriage at the ballot box… And initiatives to legalize
marijuana passed in Colorado and Washington state.” The minorities
mattered last night. They have
always mattered, but now maybe more people will pay attention. And unless the minorities somehow stop
speaking, they will continue to make sure you know they matter. Somebody better start listening.
You
can let religious law blind you: Abortion, gay marriage, marijuana
legalization, etc. Or you can take
a step back and see the bigger kingdom picture. There is always a battle in the
spiritual realm. But you cannot
see it with natural eyes (John 3:3).
The more people who participate in the bigger battle, the closer we come
to Jesus’ earthly reign. All over
the world, people are starting to learn that the empowerment of the minority is
a worthy fight. And the minorities
are learning that we are a stronger force together than we are apart. Can we keep it going? Time will
tell. But I will tell you
this: Don’t pride yourself in only
looking at the signs of what you may think may be the world going to pot. Because then you will miss seeing how
heaven is also coming to earth at the same time. God is always bigger than politics. And yet, speaks in politics too. We need to learn how to listen and stop talking so much.
**Bible
Study Tip: Read Matthew 15 and 16
in light of what I wrote here for more perspective and if you want to discuss
I’ll be happy to have that conversation.
"The voice of the minority is important. Regardless of what you think about Obama’s politics, do not miss what God is doing." Well, evidently by your logic, and your interpretation of scripture- God is complicit with bombing and killing innocent children, and people who are not even our enemies. I read the scriptures you reference to bring your narrative together, and I want you to be sure not to take the Word out of context.
ReplyDeleteTo go to "The Beatitudes" as an example of the "oppressed" in our society, then include people with lifestyle choices that run counter to the Word, well, that is unacceptable. Blessedness is not static, but progressive. This progress depends upon the full-fillment of the conditions set down in the Word itself- not our simple well wishes. Our hope is built on nothing less than the Messiah's blood and righteousness. (1)Poor in spirit= helpless, not poor, but somehow able to help oneself. The first step toward blessedness is a realization of our own spiritual helplessness. (2)they that mourn= the ones who sorrow for their sins and the sins of others,(3) The meek= people who see themselves as they really are, this is evidenced by their submission to God and His Word, as well as how they deal with others,(4)they which do hunger= they have a constant and recurring satisfaction with God's righteousness, the "man does not live by bread alone" thing...(5) the merciful= those with a genuinely caring attitude towards those who are in misery- taking the heartaches of others and making them their own.(6)Pure in heart= can only be acquired through the continuous cleansing that believers experience when they full-fill the previous conditions of blessedness, so the purer a person becomes, the clearer they see God.(7)A peacemaker=not only a person who tries to stop fights between people and nations- but a person who has experienced the peace of God and as such, they work to bring that peace to their fellow human beings.(8)Being persecuted for righteousness' sake causes a person to reach the highest level of the satisfaction of blessedness. How does a man drop bombs on little babies, then turn and reconcile himself with any one of these conditions of blessedness? The real joke of the matter is that this man represent absolutely NONE of the things that our enslaved, whipped, chained, raped, bought and sold ancestors prayed for. They prayed for one of their own, which he decidedly is not. Our people prayed for a righteous man to come, a good man that would represent us on the world stage- not a black faced puppet of white supremacy imperialism. What God is saying and doing in this season is what He promised us in Zechariah 11:16, "For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs." We have been taken advantage of by a modern day Absalom, the politician,(2 Samuel 15:1-6), a man who told everyone exactly what they wanted to hear- all the time, until he won their hearts over.
"The kingdom of God is with those that society at large oppresses. The kingdom of God is with those who are dealt a bad hand in this life. The kingdom of God is with those who have been downtrodden." Please substantiate exactly how you mean to make any connection between these people, and President Obama..? In his first two years in office he talked about race less than any Democratic president since 1961. In all of his state of the union speeches he mentioned poverty just three times: last year’s address was the first since 1948 to not mention poverty or the poor at all. When he did talk about it it was to preach better parenting, healthy meals and greater discipline. In a now famous Congressional Black Caucus meeting, he told his former colleagues: “Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying.” Compare that to the meeting he had with bankers not long after he was elected when they thought he was going to impose serious regulation. “I’m the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks. I’m not out there to go after you,” he told them. “I’m protecting you.” Yeah, a real champion of the oppressed. Don't you dare say this man's rise and subsequent agenda are the move of God. That's ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your comments. And they have caused me to think about things a bit. However, I think I may not have been clear in my post. You seem to think that I am primarily discussing the man, Barack Obama. I am actually talking about the people of our country and how the landscape of our country is changing significantly and how this change is being overlooked by many in power or who want power. The continuing trend of the world is that the voice of those who have been overlooked and feel that their voices are not heard is getting louder. And the louder it gets, the more power they feel they have. When you have a presidential election where people in each camp appeal to different audiences and one of them cannot identify with the voices of the (former) minority, but who collectively are actually the majority, you get the results we got. More than 56% of the individual campaign contributions for President Obama came from people who gave less that $200. For Mitt Romney that number was 23%. From a global standpoint, the uprisings in Egypt, Great Britian,Israel, Spain, Greece, Portugal, The Phillipines, China and a host of other places have all been the group of people who are sick and tired of the widening gulf between the wealthy and the rest of the people growing wider and wider and they are all exercising their right to speak up. The more people that do this, the more empowered people begin to feel all over the world. Including the US, where we have the right to vote. What I am suggesting that we pay attention to specifically is this trend. God acts in history. There are signs pointing to something that the church is going to miss if we focus on the narrow issues. There is so much more going on. My God is big and can and will use whomever is in office to point to something more. When Jesus was born, there was also much civil unrest. There were the Zealots, the Maccabees, the Essenes, and others who were tired of being oppressed and waged war against the power structure in many ways. They wanted a millitant Messiah who would come and rescue them, but instead Jesus came with a different kind of kingdom. My point here is that we, the church, need to be on the lookout for Jesus and the kingdom of God right now. Where is it? What is happening? Why so much tension? Don't get caught up in fighting the small battles when there is a major one already won. God loves the underdog. And God is speaking through them right now.
As far as your commenting on my usage of Matthew 5, I would agree with the spiritual dimensions of your comments. However, I would also caution you not to over spiritualize the text. The Beatitudes point to both the future kingdom as well as this present world, where we are to bring heaven to earth. Those who mourn is not just spiritual mourning. It also refers to the pain of the oppressed. The poor (in spirit) does not exclude the poor in reality. The meek, merciful and peacemakers was a reference to those who were expecting and desiring a military Messiah instead of the meek and mild Jesus. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, desiring the satisfaction of God above all else. Pure in heart, recognizing that God alone is our help. You said, "To go to "The Beatitudes" as an example of the "oppressed" in our society, then include people with lifestyle choices that run counter to the Word, well, that is unacceptable. Blessedness is not static, but progressive. This progress depends upon the full-fillment of the conditions set down in the Word itself- not our simple well wishes." By "people" I am assuming you mean homosexuals and not people who don't have healthcare, can't feed their family, women or those out of work. But correct me if I am wrong. Or maybe you meant Barack Obama as "people". But help me clarify. But homosexuals are citizens of this country. And if they are actually going along the "progression of blessedness" that you refer to, why would they be excluded from this chapter of Matthew? How many of us are not walking free from EVERY sin in our lives? Can they not be peacemakers, or do they not mourn, or do they not hunger and thirst after righteousness as the rest of us sinner-turned-saints do? That is of course if that is what you were talking about. Although I am not homosexual, I can confess that I still struggle with things like pride, envy, lust, greed, selfishness and other stuff, but I do hunger and thirst after righteousness, I do mourn and I am a peacemaker, etc. I sure hope Jesus doesn't exclude me. I hope Jesus' "they" meant me too. But I may be well wishing. In that case, maybe I'm going to hell and have no shot at the kingdom.
ReplyDelete