And it reminded me again that we as modern western evangelicals may be aligned with the religious Jewish north wind of Jesus' day more than we would care to admit. We imagine that God is on our side, meaning that He will rescue us from the evil in our world by putting political leaders and policies in place that favor Christianity and that give Christians position and power. But as Wright so aptly points out, the Jews themselves (who had the right story and beliefs but completely misunderstood God's radically different way of dealing with oppressive powers through dealing with the Satan behind all the powers and by transforming the heart of humans) would rule in the very same way as their oppressors if God had done things their way.
Blessing the persecutor while suffering in Jesus' name (which the New Testament promises as part of what it means to follow Jesus in this age) is a key part of how God purges us and teaches us to love, thereby transforming us into kingdom rulers who think and feel as He does. Jesus became King on the cross; as His followers we learn to rule with Him on our own daily crosses (Luke 9:23-25), not through fighting for dominance in the political and/or religious arena. It is in the weak and the foolish acts and attitudes of obedience to the God who gave Himself in love to the undeserving that His kingdom is spread and manifested in the earth today.
Could we today be at a critical moment in God's story in which the contrary blowing winds are gathering strength again? On the one hand there is the political storm of the present empire raging under the strong pressure of western culture and thinking, willing to oppress and suppress whatever gets in the way of its dominance; on the other hand there is the religious wind howling for God to intervene in the ways that will keep the religious systems in power; and then there is God's wind that comes in from an oblique and totally unexpected angle. He has never done the expected. Now, after the victory of Jesus over Satan, the spiritual rulers and authorities have been disarmed but they continue to "huff and puff" in hopes of tricking Jesus' followers into waging war according to the systems of the world. Will we His followers recognize and follow Jesus' transcendent ways that make us look like losers? Will the world see the crucified Lord in us or a religious power system?
May we be those who, like Jesus, can interpret the wind of God's Spirit in our day and align ourselves with His cross-like way and therein demonstrate what His kingdom looks like and how the true King rules in self-giving love and what it will be like when that kingdom comes in its full manifestation one day. It will probably mean the capsizing of the Christendom ship, but on the other side of the storm, we will find that He is there and remains steadfast and that His ways are infinitely higher and better than ours!
amen.
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