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, thoughtlessly defending thoughtless rulers and pulling people aside from a peacemakers open and truthful witness about them?
Rulers, wealthy and usually male, have, from time immemorial, constructed a self-serving thoughtless (but conniving) system of suffering and murder which is sinful/harmful. But, they theologize it all as holy, especially their rule in it. They thereby religiously condition unthinking people to defend them when their sinful rule and behaviors are challenged. When rulers developed a theology of sin, they could really only have developed one that was personal and that targeted commoners; sin-redemption. Sin-Redemption theology targets every commoner as a sinner while it enthrones every ruler as a judge over them. It 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 who stood as and with common people and challenged that ruling theology – and the rulers killed him for it. The rulers used their ancient sin-redemption theology to cover up their murder of Jesus. Continuing to target every commoner as a sinner, 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.” So, acting like Peter, the ruling class pulls us aside. They pull us aside from Jesus’ common life spent challenging rulers and changing the sinful social system they devised. To the degree we the people are pulled aside, theologized and damned by rulers with the lie that we are Jesus’ murderers, we are drained of our Christ-like energy, while Jesus’ true murderers are fortified in their Caesar-like rule. There is a method to the theological madness of the ruling class when they pull us aside from Jesus; it enables their rule.
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 murders people and believes his doing so is holy. Pence believes the same about another man, President Trump, whose 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.”) An unthinking Pence and unthinking white evangelicals defend as holy a twice divorced bankrupting adulterer 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. It is so very harmful for a sinful social system to have a knowingly unthinking and unholy president. It is also very harmful for that system to have unthinking, yet believed holy, underlings. They will vigorously defend as holy the entire system. They will do so in Jesus’ name which they betray as they rule, inflict suffering upon, and murder those who are Jesus of our time.
Prayer: May we be as Christ, standing with our brothers and sisters and against a ruling theology that targets them.
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