The Adventurous Lectionary -The Third Sunday in Lent – March 3, 2024
Exodus 20:1-17
Psalm 19
I Corinthians 1:18-25
John 2:13-22
Today’s readings focus on interdependent and potentially supportive relationships, with God, humankind, and the non-human world. Faith and ethics are built into the nature of things. The heavens declare God’s glory and God’s law is implanted in our hearts and communities. The readings embody a holistic faith that takes us beyond personal and individual piety in joining theology, ethics, spirituality, economics, and public policy. The personal is the political and the political is the personal. Without advocating theocratic rule, they suggest that religion and politics really do mix, indeed they must mix, since in biblical religion the personal is the political and the political is the personal.
While the Hebraic wanderers lived under the rule of a proto-theocracy that we do not wish to embody in our nation’s laws, their understanding of the relationship of God and values is not a historical aberration. Even secular and pluralistic societies promote certain economic and relational behaviors as representative of their highest values. Deep down, we have an implicit recognition of the moral arc of history, despite our differing views of its direction. We should aim to the far horizons of Shalom while recognizing that the contours of Shalom are historical, contextual, and relative.
In spite of usual interpretations, the Ten Commandments begin with relationships rather than rules, concrete experiences rather than abstract edicts. The centerpiece of the commandments is the divine-human covenant, and God’s unique relationship with a wilderness people. God’s graceful liberation and deliverance undergirds each of the commandments. God reminds the people that grace requires a response. God’s fidelity – God’s choice of an enslaved people – calls forth our fidelity and relationship with God and each other. Saved by divine power and love, the people need to live up to the values of holiness. God is moral, actively liberating the oppressed, and that should be our calling in the political realm.
Theologian Paul Tillich spoke of three types of law: autonomy, or self-determination, based primarily on my personal values (I am a law unto myself, rugged individualism whether related to gun ownership, property, or bodily autonomy); heteronomy, the enforcement of laws and behaviors, often contrary to my personal desires, by an external source (others coerce me into behaving, law infringes on human rights, personal freedom is restricted to fit into other’s convenience or quest for power); and theonomy, laws and behaviors emerging from the divine-human relationship and promoting my own authentic well-being, even if I currently unaware of this (law that is good for me, and reflects my inner being, articulating what is best for me in the context of the overall wellbeing of the community).
The Hebraic people, at their best, saw the Ten Commandments as a form of theonomy, insuring personal and social well-being. God’s love for the Hebraic people elicits a loving response which embraces their day-to-day relationships. Our fidelity to God is measured by our fidelity to God’s creatures. Accordingly, the commandments provide a framework within which to live our lives.
Grounded in divine grace and deliverance, the commandments begin with our relationship with God. In a God-breathed, God-designed universe, alignment with God’s vision is the foundation of social and personal morality and well-being. Following God in all things orders our priorities and values and places them in the widest possible ethical and spiritual context, God’s graceful covenant. If we love the creator rightly, we will appropriately love creation. We will find ourselves fellow companions with one another, not self-ruled individualists, accountable only to ourselves, and heedless of our impact on the environment.
Sabbath-keeping is one commandment that is routinely violated without any remorse. Here I am not talking about blue laws and external prohibitions, but a challenge to the willingness to place work and profit-making above everything else. In our 24/7 culture, we need to find ways to disengage from action; to slow down, pray, and meditate. Health of body, mind, and spirit – indeed, communal health – depends on rest as well as action.
Murder, theft, greed, adultery, and lying are condemned but also accepted in our current social context. Genocide is being committed by Hamas and Israeli leaders. I am amazed how many lies I hear invoked by political pundits, politicians, and posts on Facebook, especially by those who claim to be the “real” Christians in politics. Lying and conspiracy theories – adherence to the “big lie” regarding the election are brazen and pronounced more vocally when they are found to be without merit. These are not accidental lies but intentional fabrications from the leaders of political parties and their leaders. Greed is celebrated through television commercials as well as the identification of increased spending with national well-being. We are willing to destroy the environment to create a few jobs and short-term profits. We sell commodities based on sex appeal and find ourselves trying to keep up with our neighbors in economics and providing opportunities for our children. Lying and infidelity, indeed, objectification, destroys our relationships and public trust. Healthy relationships are grounded in affirmation, trust, respect, and empathy.
Psalm 19 celebrates God’s cosmic law embedded in every heart. The micro and the macro mirror each other. The order of the planets and the order of the human spirit are conjoined. The heavens are telling God’s glory; this same glory is also present in humankind. Aligned with the dynamic laws that created heaven and earth, our spirits are revived. Awe and gratitude lead to a joyful life and enable our words and meditations to bring healing and wholeness to the world. God intends for the creative order of the universe to be replicated in our personal and public lives.
Paul asserts that following God’s cross-centered way of life appears to be foolishness to the world. Imagine winning by kenosis, or self-emptying love. Imagine sacrifice and hospitality as our polestars. Imagine suffering as a source of healing. Imagine God as present in the least of these, the humblest among us, receiving our joys and sorrow – like the Tao supporting all things – without alienation or condemnation. The cross, representing ultimate defeat to the world, is the pathway of healing and wholeness. Only a suffering God can save, as Bonhoeffer proclaims. God is the fellow sufferer who understands, as Whitehead asserts. Suffering love – the love of parent and grandparent for child, of lovers for one another – can save and transform. This is foolishness in a world that glorifies power and individualism. In this foolishness, love wins and the world is saved.
The Gospel reading portrays a passionate Jesus, willing to practice civil disobedience to purify the Temple. Indeed, Jesus’ prophetic anger is manifest in what the Temple leadership would describe as destructive and illegal behavior. The Temple is to be a place of worship, not profiteering. God is concerned about our economics. While profit has its place in securing well-being for ourselves and our families, profit-making is governed by the ethics of time, place, and person. Economics are to be conducted as if “people really mattered.” Joining love of God and creation, our economics are intended to heal the earth and the human family.
“So what?” we might ask. Our cultural values are so far from this vision that generosity, fairness, and ensuring a social safety net seem impractical and almost un-American. In our cultural values, our own well-being is personal and individual. We believe that how we spend our money is private, and without ethical implications, whether in our personal lives or our influence on the political system. We delight in a tax cut with minimal benefits, that will only further erode the social safety net and increase the gap between the rich and poor. We crusade against embryo destruction in fertility clinics and cut programs for children’s and mother’s well-being. Despite another school shooting, gun rights and property rights trump personal safety, and profit eclipses the well-being of employees. Care for the vulnerable, however, is not optional in today’s scriptures. Caring for the least of these is God’s demand, whether in economic or religious life. Religious institutions should be the primary proponents of the common good. Moreover, our incomes are not our own; they fall under a broader and deeper ethic of holiness and social wellness.
We cannot promote theocracy, especially the kind envisaged by some conservative and fundamentalist Christians. But, in a diverse world of separate spheres of power, we can promote behaviors that look beyond self-interest to bring healing to the world in all its diversity. We can seek a world in which God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. We can recall that institutional decisions reflect individual choices and the choices of the people like us at the voting booth. Shunning theocracy, we nevertheless seek God’s Shalom in every political decision.
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Rev. Bruce Epperly Ph.D. has served as a professor, seminary administrator, university chaplain, and congregational pastor at Georgetown University, Wesley Theological Seminary, Lancaster Theological Seminary, and South Congregational Church United Church of Christ on Cape Cod. “Retired,” he continues to teach in the Doctoral of Ministry program at Wesley Theological Seminary, give seminars, write, and rejoice in grandparenting and marriage with Rev. Dr. Kate Epperly. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), he is the author of over eighty books, “The Elephant is Running: Process and Open and Relational Theology and Religious Pluralism,” “Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet,” “Walking with Francis of Assisi: From Privilege to Activism,” “Simplicity, Spirituality, and Service: The Eternal Wisdom of Francis, Clare, and Bonaventure,” and “Taking a Walk with Whitehead: Meditations with Process-Relational Theology.” His books on faith and politics include, “Talking Politics with Jesus: A Process Perspective on the Sermon on the Mount,” “One World: The Lord’s Prayer from a Process Perspective,” and “Process Theology and Politics. His most recent texts are a trilogy: “Process Theology and Healing,” “Process Theology and Mysticism,” and “Process Theology and Prophetic Faith.” He may be reached at drbruceepperly@gmail.com.
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