Least Learns

^“Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” John 6:15

In the Sunday message at CrossPoint, we discussed one of the problems of religious people in the first century was that they kept trying to force Jesus to support their demand for thrones and swords. It’s understandable because they were living as oppressed people under the foreign rule of Rome and then forced to pay taxes to support the government that took away their peace (Matthew 22:15-22 is the example we wrestled with on Sunday). So, it is not a surprise that the natural inclination was that they wanted God to raise up a messiah to overthrow Rome, take the throne and pick up the sword to defend it. We can’t know for sure how large this group was, but we know it was significant enough that it is addressed several times in the biographies of Jesus (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

The most blatant example is in John 6. After feeding the hungry multitudes with only a few fish and loaves John 6:15 says, ^“Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.” Jesus knew they wanted to “make him king by force.” And, I think we could argue, there has been a segment of the people of God who have been trying, sadly, sometimes even successfully, to force Jesus to be king ever sense. Why? I suppose for the same reason the religious who are spoken of in John 6:15 did—we think the best way to secure our position in the world…the best way to keep ourselves fed…the best way to ensure our safety…our rights…and even our beliefs is to force Jesus to take the throne of some kingdom of this world and defend it at all costs with the sword. And it makes sense…because once we convince ourselves we are taking thrones and picking up swords in the name of Jesus we can justify all kinds of hate in the name of truth, we justify becoming the judges of the world and need not have the humility to be held accountable ourselves, we justify not caring for the poor in the name of fiscal responsibility, threaten war in the name of peace, refuse due process in the name of safety, criminalize homelessness in the name of property values, justify our own lawlessness in the name of the law.

All we have to do is look at what history shows us about the times the Church forced Jesus to sit on a throne and take up swords to see why Jesus refused to do so. (I found this great list of examples in the book, “Searching for Sunday” by Rachel Held Evans).

In 1099, Christian Crusaders lay siege to Jerusalem then occupied by Arabs. They screamed, “God wills it!” as they found a breach in the wall and killed every defender, woman and baby that was in their way.  

Century long inquisitions swept across Europe accusing thousands of people from everything from heresy to witchcraft and in the name of truth and tortured people into submission.

Martin Luther, the great reformer, for all the good he might have done encouraged civic leaders to burn down Jewish synagogues and expel Jews from the land. German officials would later cite his writings as spiritual justification for the Holocaust.

Referencing Joshua’s defeat of Cannan, European Christians justified rape, violence, plunder and enslavement in the new world.

In 1838 President Andrew Jackson referenced the providence of God as he ordered the US military to forcibly remove sixteen thousand Cherokee people from their homes in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia and marched them to Oklahoma on what is now called the Trail of Tears because thousands died along the way.

In the years proceeding the Civil War in America, Christian ministers wrote almost half of all defenses of slavery.

On the second day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s imprisonment in a jail in Birmingham a guard slipped him the morning paper. The headline read, “White clergymen urge local negroes to withdraw from demonstrations.” The next day the churches were full as they celebrated Easter.

Sadly, I could go on…the point is every generation of the people of God has tried to force Jesus to be king. Every generation of the church has been deceived by hell into thinking that if we can just force Jesus to take the throne and pick up a sword then somehow, we are helping him save the world. But Jesus refused to let that happen and no matter what throne or swords we try to tie his name to, he still refuses to let that happen. Instead, Jesus, in the face of his people forcing him to be king, withdraws to a remote place. Those words ought to scare us to death as his Church. Jesus withdrew…Jesus left…Jesus who says he will never leave or forsake us does both the very moment his people try to tie him to any kingdom of the world on any side. Not only should that terrify us because we have experienced the withdrawal of the presence of Christ, but because when Jesus withdraws his presence the church substitutes his real presence with a version of Christ that looks oddly like the thrones and swords of the kingdoms of this world. We turn Scripture itself into a weapon of self-justification, and all the while conveniently ignore every teaching of Jesus on the Kingdom of God he died and rose again to make possible through the Church in part now and one day in full in his return.

So, if Jesus is not about thrones and swords like the kingdoms of this world then what is his Kingdom about? Jesus in Matthew 25 says come with me and I will show you the remote places I withdraw to whenever the church tries to force me to be king. ‘I was hungry and you fed me…I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…I was a stranger and you invited me in…I needed clothes and you clothed me…I was sick and you looked after me…I was in prison and you came to visit me.” This is where Jesus goes when his church tries to force him to be king. And he is very honest, if we stay with thrones and swords from which he withdrew then we will go to hell. Or we can withdraw with him from thrones and swords, care for the ones the world calls the least, come to know who he truly is right there among the “least” and then go to heaven when we die. It’s not a worked based theology. No, it’s the purest form of salvation by faith because you cannot be saved by Jesus grace if you insist on clinging to the thrones and swords of this world that are absent of his presence.

And whenever the church withdraws from thrones and swords and follow Jesus to the remote places where the “least of these” live we discover the Kingdom of Heaven breaking in on earth.

The Kingdom of Heaven broke in on earth when Bishop Ambrose refused to let the emperor receive communion until he repented from the violence he did in the name of Christ.

The Kingdom of Heaven broke in on earth when John Huss was burned at the stake because he protested the Crusades.

The Kingdom of Heaven broke in on earth when Pedro Claver a Jesuit priest devoted his life to caring for slaves and those who suffered from leprosy and smallpox brought by European conquerors.

The Kingdom of Heaven broke in when William Wilberforce refused to quit until slavery was abolished in England.

The Kingdom of Heaven broke in when Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar, volunteered to die in place of a Jewish stranger at Auschwitz.

The Kingdom of Heaven broke in when black and white pastors linked arms and marched on Washington to proclaim a dream.

And the Kingdom of Heaven still breaks in, but not through empty social media posts like this. Rather it breaks in wherever God’s people, however few or many they may be, give up their right to demand to force Jesus to be on the throne and pick up the sword of any political power or side but withdraw with him to the remote places that are occupied by the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned. Those places will not go viral. Those places will not start or win fights on social media. Those places will not secure our place in the power structures of this world or protect us from its swords, but those are the places where we come to truly see the difference between heaven and hell.

Oh…that reminds me…its time to get out of my study and make sure those down the hill in the Emergency Shelters know to tell anyone who might come by to give them a ride to park at the top of the hill so they don’t get stuck in the weather that might come.