I have been in my room for nearly all of break. My skin is pale, my eyes are bloodshot, my hair is long, my room is a mess, and my muscles are atrophied. I have been contemplating with absolute intensity the justification of assuming an occupation and that of political structure in America as it corresponds to full-fledged allegiance to the Kingdom of God.
The first thing I would like to say is that my desire to find the answers to these questions should not be confused with genuine integrity. In fact, oftentimes I laugh at the apparent absurdity of being willing to die homeless for “JUSTICE” while being unwilling to control my anger or lust in the smallest and easiest of safe circumstances. I admit no avoidance of hypocricy, indeed, I often fear that I am the most hypocritical person I know.
Nonetheless, for whatever reason, I do find it painfully important, and at times paralyzingly so, to identify a consistent world-view with that of Christ – whatever the cost.
I had a breakthrough unlike any other thought I’ve had this break and so for those of you who are interested (and I can’t imagine there are too many of you), here is my conclusion as of today: We are to compete at the highest level of society and support the lowest rung. We are to fight with those who have had the same opportunity and especially with those who have had more opportunity than we’ve had; yet, we are to be charitable and supportive of those who have had less opportunity than we. We are to seek developing the most disciplined and joyful attitude of all, while teaching others how to be disciplined and joyful (oftentimes this will naturally occur by genuinely having those attitudes) We are to love all of humanity in context. And our strategies of competition and support may seem foolish to many, they may seem paradoxical, this is fine. But at the heart of it all is a compassion towards the brokenhearted and a competition with those in power.
Now, hold on, I can already hear many of you hesitate to support this idea because the Kingdom of God seems to be directly opposite at first glance to competition. But did Jesus “compete” with Rome? Absolutely. He loved and taught others to follow a different Caesar. His ministry was funded by Rome itself (ironic) as the wives of Roman officials seemed to support him ( Luke 8 ) and others housed him and fed him (so he wasn’t without money and resources in his ministry). He performed miracles and signs which was something even Caesar couldn’t do and doing so with the poor and brokenhearted, which were a people-group that Caesar couldn’t have cared less about. Jesus taught persuasively, though at times many disagreed with him and walked away while others (such as the Pharasiees who also competed with him for the minds and allegiance of the people) persecuted him, he continued on his ministry until the end where his greatest move was yet to be found through crucifixion. It was like a cosmic jujitsu against all of God’s competitors. Go ahead, kill me, spit on me, give me your best shot. And with all of the strength and might of his enemies, he strategically took on death with love and thereby resurrected and so became a rather persuasive figure; persuasive enough for the early Christians to hold allegiance to Christ above Rome even unto their own death.
Now for Jesus, his competition wasn’t only with Rome and the Pharisees but it was with all structures everywhere that failed to glorify the Father. We must be careful not to be so foolish as to try and overcome evil with evil. If we try to fight America with bombs…America will win. This is the power of love – it can’t be overcome. Let us use money, position, power, privilege, etc. but never to rely only on those things, for if we do, it will perpetuate unjust structures. Jesus could have fought that way, and he would have won even if he did, but he chose not to because to fight evil with evil only perpetuates evil. Hate against hate only perpetuates hatred. But love redeems hatred. Goodness transforms injustice into justice. Jesus was given money, but would you say that he overcame Rome through that money? Not really, but he did use it. In the same way, as we work and gather resources and wealth, it’s not that we think that we can change the world through money, but we can use it, in fact, depending upon the culture, sometimes we OUGHT to gather it and use it.
Now it should be noted too that structures never exist independent of people. So when Paul writes that we war not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities, this is true, in that, if individuals who we might associate with an unjust structure were to leave it – our fight would no longer be with them; however, if nobody made up the structure, it would not exist. So we do compete with people, but we do so with compassion, not hating the people that we compete with, but the system they represent. In a basketball game, teams oppose each other. The competition for Player A is and is not against the players on the other team. It is, in so much as those other players represent the other team and make it up, but it’s not in so much as those other players could potentially come and play for the other team or just walk away and they would no longer be competition. In this way, competition can be seen as the most loving posture towards opposition. The rugby team at Westmont has a tradition. After we bash heads for 80 min. with the other team, while we are bloody and bruised and beaten down we go have some beers at the local pub with the other team. We laugh, shoot the boot and have a good time. Competition (even seemingly violent competition) can be done with love, absent of hate towards the individuals. It’s the game we play, to win and the people with whom we play, we love.
War, when it involves civilians, is brutal and inconsistent with competition, it is sheer murder. But warfare between competing nations becomes merely a kind of game. A sad, tragic, game. It is unnecessary. Necessary to protect and defend certain people, yes…but still, not necessary for good to survive and the fact remains even in defensive war, that there will be death. Can’t we think of a more creative way to respond to violence? Can’t we think of a more creative way to defend ourselves than killing others?
I don’t understand what makes us think that if someone shoots my friend, I am justified in shooting them. Perhaps I’ve won, perhaps I’ve succeeded in protecting my other friends from getting shot – which would seem like a noble goal at first. But based off of that same principle, now that guy’s friends/family will be justified in killing me. But when you consider the imperative to love your enemies and the pursuit in the Kingdom of God for all of humanity to be in a psalm of brotherhood, it becomes difficult to reconcile violent competition that kills people or removes legs and arms. It’s just so destructive, so uncreative. I wonder if we could think of a better way to do this. And I think it’s important for us to remember that even if the agressor seeks to kill us, if we remain faithful to love…love wins. Love survives death. The universe is bent towards justice. In the end, the most strategic move is that of love. So as we compete, we compete using Christian methods.
As we come to identify this game of life (Christ vs. the powers and principalities of this world) it is important to note that there is something more important than merely getting food to the hungry and clothes to those who don’t have any. These are very important, but life is more than food and the body more than clothes. This is the case for ourselves and for others. By this, we recognize that it is possible to for people to have food and clothes and be terribly bitter and corrupt and it is possible for people to be hungry and wearing raggedy clothes and be full of joy and love. Because these are possibilities, our priorities in this world ought to be to augment joy and love, not merely clothing and food. However, that being said, oftentimes hunger and coldness can be obstacles in achieving joy and love (just as having too much can also be an obstacle). So we are to practice, teach and promote moderation in material things, that we would never have too little or too much material wealth that they would serve as obstacles to our love, openness and joy. Better still, we ought to practice, teach and promote an attitude which is content in all things as Paul preaches in his letters.
So, there are still issues to be raised regarding where these “evil” or “unjust” structures are in America and how they work and how they can be addressed. But this is a helpful step for me at least to identify this criteria for determining what do to do with our time, how to join God in his mission in this cultural context.
It can be summed up in this way: Strategically compete with with the strong and support the weak. Love all in context.