Jesus’ description of himself as the Good Shepherd is matched by his periodic description of people as sheep. At times the animals, and therefore people, are described as faithful and innocent and at other times a bit gullible, if not stupid. This Sunday, sheep are described as faithfully hearing their shepherd’s voice calling out to them. The shepherd then “walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger,” Jesus says. “They will run away from a stranger.”
Is there at present one influential stranger whom self-titled Christians are following – the white supremacist? The white supremacist is certainly collecting many gullible, if not stupid, sheep. However, when self-titled Christians make their beds with the white supremacist, it unfortunately cannot be said that he is a stranger. In fact, white supremacy and institutional Christianity are old friends. In particular, U.S. Protestantism has routinely diverted people away from following Jesus and toward following a nationalist white supremacy. U.S. white supremacy is proposed as the co-mingling of the slave holding founding fathers and the Protestant frontier religious populism in both the North and the South. Frontier evangelists promoted white supremacist racial ideology and sanctified slavery. President Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) was a primary promoter and beneficiary of the racist ideology. Jackson waged war on Africans and Natives. His military domination forced ever more Africans into slavery and forced ever more Native Americans from their lands. Slaveholders and Indian killers like Jackson were acclaimed heroes. They were upstanding members of government and of mainline Protestant churches. The seventh President has been in the news of late. The current president who can be described as a ‘Bad Shepherd’ with gullible if not stupid sheep, recently put a new portrait of Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office. The new president is promoting and benefiting from that same white supremacist racial ideology. Mainline Protestantism through its churches is again accommodating to this new white supremacist president. As mainline Protestantism is no stranger to white supremacy, neither is Evangelical Protestantism. They are not following Jesus nor his witness of communion. As in the era of the founding fathers, the era of the Jackson administration, as well as other eras, so again, white supremacists are currently holding place as upstanding members of government and of Evangelical Protestant churches. Neo-Nazis emboldened by their racist president and his racist team also proudly and routinely feature portraits of Andrew Jackson. The Jackson portraits are often accompanied by a quote from Steve Bannon, another self-titled Christian: “Like Andrew Jackson’s populism, we’re going to build an entirely new political movement.”
White evangelical self titled Christians are the ‘stranger’ Jesus warned people about in the Gospel. Take heed.
Prayer: Spirit, guide us as good shepherds for people who have followed strangers.
Question: In what ways do I stray toward a stranger’s call?
May 07, 2017 Gospel John 10:1-10 4th Sunday of Easter