Advent in the Empire

Loving Subversively Under the Empire


Advent in the Empire


Last Sunday we discussed the calling to challenge the empire directly; this Sunday we consider how that challenge is lived out in light of Christ's example.  It can often be difficult to frame our resistance in the context of loving our enemies; it seems as though violence is ultimately a more effective means of overthrowing evil, violent men.  And yet, the Maccabean revolt that culminated in Hanukkah lasted only 100 years; Jesus' revolution continues 2,000 years after His death and resurrection.


Dust of the Rabbi: Loving Subversively Under the Empire
 

Nothing unravels the systems of the Empire like the love that Jesus embodies.  In Luke 6:27-36, Jesus gives what is often called "the Sermon on the Plain."  This set of commands is more than merely moral teaching - it is designed to radically reshape our understanding of community, economics, relationships, and conflict.  To love subversively means that we can effect more transformation through our faithfulness to these commands than through all the political maneuvering and mass media and commercialism of our modern Empire.  Violence will not be overthrown by violence, but by the suffering servant (Isaiah 53:1-12).  Greed will not be overcome by financial regulators and anti-trust suits, but by giving to everyone who asks of us.  
 
Jesus models this life for us in His radical love that accepted and overcame even suffering and death.  We then are called to challenge the empire by a subversive love that undermines the pillars of all empires: power, greed, violence, self-centeredness, indulgence, entertainment.  Look over the last century and note the impact of even one person following Him faithfully (Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa).  If all the disciples of Jesus truly embraced His commands, how do you imagine the world would be today?  Do we choose to ignore the tools Christ gave us because we think they will not work, or because we think they are not worth the work they require?


Extras:
  

In the midst of this Christmas season, we have the opportunity to challenge the empire's assimilation of our holiday.  The institutions of the secular Christmas industry (from Santa Claus and elves to Macy's Christmas sales) are designed to focus our time and wealth on the purchase, giving and acquisition of things.  And yet, our money is entrusted to us by God so that we might use it for His Kingdom.  How can you make loving subversively a part of your holiday season, refocusing on Christ in the midst of a culture focused on commercialism?  

Challenging the Empire: Jesus' Festival of Dedication

Advent in the Empire 
 

Jesus and our Jewish ancestors had a great deal of experience living under imperial oppression.  Often this required striking a difficult balance between living faithfully for God and also accommodating, as much as possible, the ways of the empire.  Scripture is full of men and women who negotiated this balance:  Joseph, Daniel, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, etc.
 
However, sometimes an empire arose that was so explicitly in opposition to God that no balance was possible.  Pharaoh's Egypt was one such example.  Pharaoh set himself up directly in conflict with the LORD, and the LORD brought plagues and disasters upon Egypt in response.  Over 1300 years later, another king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, an emperor of the Seleucid Empire (which included Israel), similarly placed himself in conflict with God and His people.  Under such regimes, the only option left to God's people is to challenge the empire directly.  This does not require use of military force (for example, no military force is used by God's people in the Exodus story); but it does require a disciplined rejection of the right of the empire to rule.  The story of Hanukkah is one such conflict where God's people emerged victorious against overwhelming odds.

Dust of the Rabbi: Challenging the Empire:
Hanukkah, Jesus' Festival of Dedication
 

The story of Hanukkah is found outside of the Protestant Bible (in 1 and 2 Maccabees, located in the Catholic Bible between the Old and New Testament - you can read 1 Maccabees here.).  Nonetheless, the conflict between the faithful Jews and Antiochus IV is historical and inspirational.  Moreover, by the time of Jesus (almost 200 years later), Hanukkah, which means "Dedication" in Hebrew, was a significant Jewish festival that Jesus Himself attended (See John 10:22-42).  
 
Many scholars believe that portions of the Book of Daniel refer to this very conflict.  In Daniel 7:1-14, Daniel speaks about a series of four empires, depicted as wild beasts, and on the final beast there is a final horn with "eyes like human eyes in this horn, and a mouth speaking arrogantly."  This horn is believed to represent Antiochus IV.  Ultimately, in verses 11-14, the kingdom of this beast is destroyed and a new kingdom ushered in by "one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven."  As in the Exodus story, God's response to this king is overwhelming.  Indeed, in the historical account of Hanukkah, the faithful Jews, who were vastly outnumbered, defeated army after army until they finally liberated Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple that Antiochus had defiled.
 
The question for the follower of Christ, then, is twofold:  First, under what conditions are we called to challenge the empire, instead of living faithfully and counter-culturally within it?  And second, as Christians, what does challenging the empire look like?  Jesus explicitly rejected the sword as the means to challenge empires (Matthew 26:51-54), so we must find alternative methods of transforming the political powers around us.  Perhaps we find the best model of that Christ-like work in the non-violent resistance of modern heroes like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, who explicitly tried to follow the example of Jesus as they took on the empires of their day.  

The Hanukkah Story
 

From the fall of Judah in 586 BC to the first celebration of Hanukkah, the Jews consistently lived under the rule of foreign empires. The Babylonian Empire, which led the Jews into the exile, was overthrown by the Persian Empire in 539 BC. The Jews were allowed to return to the land of Israel, but remained subjects of the Persian Empire. When Alexander the Great overthrew Persia and entered Jerusalem in 332 BC, little changed for the Jewish people. So too, when Alexander died and his kingdom was divided amongst his generals, and Seleucus began the Seleucid Empire, the people of God simply exchanged emperors yet again.
 
 However, in 175 BC, a new emperor arose in the Seleucid Empire. This emperor took on the name Antiochus IV Epiphanes ("Epiphanes" meaning "Manifest" and being short for his self-proclaimed title, "Theos Epiphanes" or "God Manifest"). Antiochus IV not only called himself God Manifest, but he attempted to force the Jews to abandon their worship of the LORD and to adopt Greek customs and religions. The persecutions that he unleashed against the Jewish people were horrific. Unlike any other previous time in their history, the Jews were threatened not because of who they were or what land they occupied, but specifically because they refused to reject the faith of their forefathers. Ultimately the persecutions and desecrations of their faith led the religious Jews into armed revolt. Their leaders were Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah the Maccabee (from whom the rebel armies took the name "the Maccabees").
 
After three years of guerrilla fighting, the Maccabees reclaimed the temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC. During the preparation for rededicating the temple ("Hanukkah" means dedication), they found only enough ritual oil to light the temple lamp for one day. But miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days - the exact time necessary to prepare more of the sacred oil. 

Living Faithfully Under the Empire

Advent in the Empire

During this Advent season, we continue to reflect on the significance of our God's decision to be born amongst a conquered and oppressed people.  Our God sets Himself up in contrast and opposition to the political powers of this world: against Pharaoh in Egypt, against the Canaanite rulers during the conquest, and even against the corrupt kings of Israel and Judah, His own people.  Part of that opposition comes in speaking dangerous truths to power, as we discussed last with the story of John the Baptist.  For those who follow our Rabbi, however, this begs another question.  How are we to live faithfully under the empire?  For the Christian today, just like the faithful under the Romans, there is a constant conflict between the systems and structures of the kingdoms of this world and those of the kingdom of God.   

Dust of the Rabbi: Living Faithfully Under the Empire
 

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus' enemies attempt to trick Him with a question about paying taxes to the Roman emperor (see Luke 20:20-26).  Jesus' response reminds us that living in the empire brings a constant stream of potential compromises.  Will we participate in a system of entertainment that glorifies sex and violence?  Will we participate in a system of economics that exploits the poor and centralizes wealth in the hands of a few?  Our participation seems to require a compromise of our faith as well.  Yet Jesus does not instruct us to simply withdraw from the Empire, for to do so would be to abandon any hope of welcoming its people into the kingdom of God.  Jesus helps us to wrestle with how to live faithfully in the systems of the Empire while we wait for His return and the establishment of the kingdom of the true King of Kings.
 
While our circumstances in America today are dramatically different than those of the Jews under the Romans, the lure of political power and solutions can still distract us from our Rabbi's voice.  Even in a free country, we are called to be "strangers and foreigners on the earth ... [who] desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one."  (Hebrews 11:13-15).  As we find ourselves increasingly comfortable in the kingdom of our Heavenly Father, we must find ourselves increasingly uncomfortable in the kingdoms of this world, even those founded upon principles of freedom.  What does it mean for us today to be a people who give to America what is America's, and to God what is God's?  How can we be thankful for the privileges of living in our nation, and yet also maintain our first love and loyalty to a different King?


Extras

Hanukkah is the only holiday celebrated in our Dust of the Rabbi series that is not instituted in the Old Testament; the events surrounding Hanukkah took place during the period between the Old and New Testaments. However, we do know that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah(see John 10: 22-23). The story of the Maccabees and the rededication of the temple is described in 1 and 2 Maccabees, books included in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but considered non-canonical for Protestants. 1 and 2 Maccabees are part of what we Protestants call the Apocrypha; books that neither we nor the Hebrews believe are inspired by God. However, while they are not Scripture, they are books of our faith (not unlike something written by St. Augustine or C.S. Lewis) which can instruct us on both the history and faith of our ancestors.

Speaking Dangerously Under the Empire


Advent in the Empire


As we enter the season of Advent this Sunday, we begin a new sermon series, Advent in the Empire. We are reminded that Jesus, our Rabbi and Messiah, came to His people not during the victories of Joshua, nor the height of King David's reign, but during the Roman occupation. The people of Israel were no strangers to foreign empires; indeed, the experience of being conquered was more common to our ancestors than that of being the conquerors. These experiences shaped the history and identity of Jesus; from the massacre of children at his birth by King Herod (not a Jewish King) to Jesus' death at the hands of Pontius Pilate, the life and ministry of our Rabbi were forged in the shadow of imperial oppression.
 
During the Advent season, we will give some special focus on the Festival of Dedication, also known as Hanukkah. The celebration of Hanukkah has a special significance for us: it is a triumph of God's people over and against an imperial power. Yet more significantly, we see that in Hanukkah there is a foreshadowing of the work of Christ, who brings victory not only over worldly powers, but even over sin and death itself.



Dust of the Rabbi: Speaking Dangerously Under the Empire

Israel during Jesus' day was longing for the Messiah who would bring freedom from the Roman Empire.  Jesus' cousin and herald, John the Baptist (the "Elijah who is to come") demonstrated this longing for Messiah quite clearly. He also boldly spoke up to offer dangerous criticism of the Empire's behavior, members and leaders. As we learn from John's story (see Luke 3:1-20), speaking up against the Empire is dangerousbut an essential part of the Christian life. Hoping for the Messiah who will bring complete transformation, and demanding incremental transformation today, are two inseparable behaviors for those who live faithfully and speak truthfully/dangerously in the Empires of our time.
 
What are the imperial powers of today? How do modern political establishments attempt to coerce us into "the party line"?  What truth do we need to speak to the powerful, and what might be the consequences of those words?
 

Extras:  The Hanukkah Story
 

From the fall of Judah in 586 BC to the first celebration of Hanukkah, the Jews consistently lived under the rule of foreign empires. The Babylonian Empire, which led the Jews into the exile, was overthrown by the Persian Empire in 539 BC. The Jews were allowed to return to the land of Israel, but remained subjects of the Persian Empire.  When Alexander the Great overthrew Persia and entered Jerusalem in 332 BC, little changed for the Jewish people.  After Alexander's death, his kingdom was divided amongst his generals, and the general Seleucus began the Seleucid Empire, which included the land of Israel.  The people of God simply exchanged emperors yet again.
 
However, in 175 BC, a new emperor arose in the Seleucid Empire. This emperor took on the name Antiochus IV Epiphanes ("Epiphanes" meaning "Manifest" and being short for his self-proclaimed title, "Theos Epiphanes" or "God Manifest"). Antiochus IV not only called himself God Manifest, but he attempted to force the Jews to abandon their worship of the LORD and to adopt Greek customs and religions. The persecutions that he unleashed against the Jewish people were horrific.  Unlike any other previous time in their history, the Jews were threatened not because of who they were or what land they occupied, but specifically because they refused to reject the faith of their forefathers. Ultimately the persecutions and desecrations of their faith led the religious Jews into armed revolt. Their leaders were Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah the Maccabee (from whom the rebel armies took the name, the Maccabees).
 
After three years of guerrilla fighting, the Maccabees reclaimed the temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC. During the preparation for rededicating the temple ("Hanukkah" means dedication), they found only enough ritual oil to light the temple lamp for one day. But miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days - the exact time necessary to prepare the sacred oil.  

More about Hanukkah to follow next week!