He is Risen!

The other day, I watched an interview with someone who used to be an evangelical New Testament scholar who is now an agnostic/atheist New Testament scholar (Bart Erhman). He doesn’t really believe in God anymore.

Last night as I listened to the story again, I heard the same words over and over again, “the Jews.” I suppose I can understand how that part of the story has been used to fuel antisemitism for millennia, but I don’t think that was the intent - I hear something else.

I hear the deep pain of betrayal.

Today is Good Friday, the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Many of us were taught that because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, our sins are forgiven. 

A popular theory as to how this works is that because humans are totally depraved we are worthy only of God’s wrath, therefore God sent his own son to take the punishment for our sin to reconcile us with God so we can go to heaven when we die.

I realized this week that it’s this characterization of God and understanding of salvation that I’m fighting against. 

Several years ago, I learned an interesting backstory to Palm Sunday.

In the time of Jesus, the king would enter the city before Passover through one of the city’s gates. The “king” (royal governor) would ride his horse and enter with all the pomp and circumstance of a royal parade.

And so it was that Jesus chose to enter the city at around the same time…

“Americans came to liberate, not to conquer; to restore freedom and to end tyranny.”

These are the words inscribed at the base of the flagpoles at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

I used to think that something we could all agree on was that tyranny, as a general principle, is bad. There seemed to be consensus around the idea that tyrants are bad. 

It was seven years ago this week that I spent hours building a play house in the wooded section of our yard in a cold drizzle, and in those woods, I saw two roads that diverged.

 I chose one and it has made all the difference. 

 What I saw was that I could continue on the path of American “biblical” Christianity or I could follow Jesus.

There are a lot of people with a lot more power and influence than us that I wish showed more courage. If they did, we wouldn’t be here, but here we are and so the need for courage falls to us.

 What does courage look like to you? I think it begins with having honest conversations about where we are.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way. I was going to focus this lesson on what Superman would do, since Jesus doesn’t really give us a lot to work with on the topic of patriotism. Or did he?

Minnesotans understood the assignment: do not be afraid.

 What’s been happening in Minneapolis, and around the country, is not about immigration, it’s about power. We are witnessing a corrupt, authoritarian government use a crisis to consolidate power.

Do you ever read, or hear, something and then a bunch of dots suddenly come together and offer clarity? That happened to me this morning. I learned something new about myself.

I’m a race traitor. I’m also a class traitor. I learned that this is why people like Renee Good and Alex Pretti are called “domestic terrorists,” “Marxists,” and “leftists.” 

I am not a Marxist or a Communist,

My family watched The Sound of Music on New Year’s Eve again, as is our tradition. I’ve seen it at least a hundred times, but this time, I saw something new.

 In the scene when the children were introduced, the Captain used the whistle and Maria refused to take it. I realized that this is what the movie is about and why it deviated so much from the true story of the Trapp Family Singers.

 We hear that it’s unprecedented all the time, but it’s not. It’s frustrating, it’s depressing, it’s exhausting, but it’s not unprecedented and we need to remember that.

 Other people have been exactly where we are today, and we can learn from them. In my research, what I’ve learned is that if we don’t want to continue this path, which historically ends badly for everyone, there is another group out there, well, two groups

What are your values right now? What is most important this year?

Last night, President Trump posted a video that ended with an image of the Obamas depicted as apes and today I was planning a post about living in a world ruled by the thought police.

 We’ve been taught to fear the idea that the thought police will come, and we will lose our sense of identity. We fear that we will become clones, incapable of independent thought.

We’re supposed to advocate for the poor and oppressed and that means that we do things like show up to protest, feed the hungry, heal the sick, and protect the vulnerable not only with our words, but in the flesh.

 Yet why do so many Christians ignore his teachings? Why do they demonize anyone who dares practice the kind of corporeal politics that Jesus did?

Tyranny is dependent on citizens who are willing to comply with terror. 

How does that happen? How do people support their own government terrorizing their fellow citizens? 

Once we believe our neighbors are a threat to us, we want that threat neutralized. It takes very little effort to convince people to fear their neighbors; just sprinkle a few half-truths, sensationalize one extreme story, and continually use defamatory language. Day after day, year after year. 

I used to be a conservative, evangelical-adjacent, Republican. 

I went to a George W. Bush rally in 2000, a Sarah Palin rally in 2008, and a Mitt Romney rally in 2012. I understood that Hillary Clinton was one of the greatest enemies the United States has ever known.

I was worried that when Obama won, with Democrats in full control of Congress, they would implement all kinds of socialist policies that would destroy the fabric of America.

Then…all the things that I had been told to worry about didn’t happen.

What we are experiencing today, at every level, is an assault on truth. We must hold on to the truth and reject lies.

 Yet, we all believe in lies. We do it for self-protection. We do it when we’re grieving. We do it for our own ego. Many are harmless and temporary.

 Some lies though cause us to break with reality and then require us to accept more and more lies.

Call out the propaganda.

 People fall for propaganda because they are not well read. Reading expands our vocabulary, increases empathy, and opens our minds. That’s why books are banned. 

 Read books. Real books. 

Jesus always stood on the side of the oppressed. That is righteousness.

This is the story of Sodom of Gomorrah. When a few bullies showed up at the door and demanded to rape the visitors, not one townsperson intervened. None were found to be righteous and so they all perished.