While on a journey, Jesus is thoughtful with Peter and others about what the future holds. He shares with them the suffering and death unthoughtful rulers will sinfully inflict upon him, I “must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed.” “He spoke this openly.” Peter is not thoughtful in his reaction, “Peter pulled Jesus aside and began to rebuke him.”
Why do many of us act similar to Peter? We thoughtlessly defend thoughtless rulers and pull people aside from peacemakers telling us the truth about rulers? Rulers have, from time immemorial, constructed a self-serving thoughtless, but conniving, system of suffering and murder which is sinful/harmful. But, rulers theologize their sins against us as holy. They thereby religiously condition unthinking people to defend their sinful system. Their sinful system is millennia old. It targets commoners and their personal sin. Rulers’ sin system is called atonement and also sin-redemption. Sin-Redemption theology targets every commoner as a personal sinner. At the same time it enthrones every ruler as a judge over them. Sin-Redemption theology excuses rulers’ personal sins and justifies their horrific social sins while it damns common people for so much less. It can confuse the unthinking mind. The theology did not confuse Jesus. He stood as a commoner with other commoners to challenge that ruling theology – and the rulers killed him for it. The rulers use their ancient sin-redemption theology against all of us to cover up their murder of Jesus. They would have us believe that, ‘Jesus suffered and died because of our sins.’ But Jesus did not suffer and die because of our sins. We know from today’s Gospel Jesus suffered and died because rulers tortured and murdered him; I “must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed.” Acting like Peter, the ruling class pulls us aside. We thoughtlessly defend thoughtless rulers and are dissuaded from telling the truth about rulers? They dissuade us from living Jesus’ life that challenged rulers and changed the sinful social system they devised. There is a method to the theological madness of the ruling class when they pull us aside from Jesus. It enables their rule while they drain us of Christ-like energy for social change.
A current practitioner of the ruling class’ theological madness is Vice-Caesar Mike Pence who, with his white evangelical cohort, constantly pulls us aside from Jesus. Mike Pence is an unthinking ruler who inflicts suffering and believes his doing so is holy. Pence and his cohort believe the same about another man, President Trump. Trump’s personal sins are excused by unthinking white evangelicals who damn others for so much less (“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”) These unthinking white evangelicals defend as holy a twice divorced bankrupting adulterous pedophile and wanna be dictator atop a sinful social system that separates black and brown children from their parents, steals billions from workers to give to capitalist friends, and wages holy war against Arabs, Muslims, and black and brown people including for driving, playing in the park, and standing in their own apartments. Pence and his cohort do all this in Jesus’ name. They vigorously defend as holy the entire sin swamped system. Like Peter, they betray Jesus as they do so.
Prayer: May we be as Christ, standing with our human family and against a ruling theology that targets them as sinners who deserve to suffer.
Question: How can I be openly thoughtful with self-titled Christians?
September 16, 2018 Gospel Mark 8:27-35 Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time