People who believe they are ‘Chosen Ones’ are undertaking a violent coup. They believe their mythical warrior deity, ‘the Lord,’ has unchosen Saul as King and chosen David. “(T)he LORD said to David, ‘You shall shepherd my people Israel and shall be commander of Israel.” Soldiers, some of whom once fought and killed for the ‘Chosen’ Saul as king, will now fight and kill for the ‘Chosen’ David as king. Today’s Gospel too tells of soldiers and kings. After soldiers loyal to King Caesar tortured and crucified Jesus, they “jeered, called out, ‘If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.’” The Gospel also tells of chosen ones. “One of the criminals hanging there (with) Jesus, … said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus replied, ‘Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.'”
Violent ‘Chosen Ones’ always live inside their own myth; myth being a story that gives meaning to their existence. That meaningful existence as ‘Chosen’ usually involves telling stories of conquest that justify their kingly or chosen status. The ‘Chosen People’ of the Old Testament, for example, are renown for composing and living inside their own story of bloody conquest, their ‘Chosen’ myth. Other people have told similar myths across history. Israel’s myth of bloody conquest and the mythical deity who sanctifies it all has preeminence in the West. A bloody ‘Chosen People’ myth that borrows from the Old Testament is told for the U.S. It too starts with soldiers fighting for a king, Ferdinand of Spain. A preeminent soldier who fought and killed for the chosen king was Christopher Columbus. Christopher ironically means Christ-carrier, but Columbus didn’t carry Christ to others. He carried king and killing against Christ-like people. Columbus went to paradise a criminal and criminally crucified many. Like his earlier Old Testament soldier counterparts, Columbus also switched kings. He switched to whichever king would fund his soldier’s desire for plunder. Columbus was, in his time, regarded as a turncoat for doing so. This is one of the assertions in Edward Wilson-Lee’s, The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books (2019). The turncoat label required Columbus to begin telling mythical stories of himself. The mythical telling of the Columbus story obliterated the truth of his thievery and bankruptcies, his mistreatment of women, torture of his own soldiers, and slaughter of indigenous people. Columbus had always believed himself a Chosen One, a man of destiny meant to fulfill Biblical prophecies. He and soldiers loyal to him thus told mythical stories of him that propelled him into history, not for the man he was but for the king he wished to be. Other such mythical stories persist in U.S. history. For example, mythical stories are told of Pure people landing on this soil of Impure heathens and developing a manifest destiny to conquer them. Mythical stories are told of kings/presidents who owned slaves being regarded as founders of democracy. Each U.S. king has had mythical stories told of him. The current U.S. king has long told mythical stories of himself. He is a premier businessman yet admits “I have used the (bankruptcy) laws of this country.” He is a man of the people yet asserts, “I am the Chosen One.” In the mythical stories told, Trump and his loyal soldiers obliterate the truth of his thievery (denying workers their pay,…) his bankruptcies (6x), his mistreatment of women (sexually assaulting 24+ women), his torture of his own soldiers (U.S arms sales harming U.S. soldiers in Pakistan, Qatar, and now Turkey), and the slaughter of indigenous people (Mexicans, Central Americans, Kurds). Kingship has always been a deadly myth. It has always been a story told to sanctify the rule of ‘Chosen Ones’ over the people and to sanctify the violence they do us. We need no longer live inside the myth of ‘Chosen Ones.’
“His Grace! impossible! what dead! Of old age too, and in his bed! And could that mighty warrior fall? And so inglorious, after all! Well, since he’s gone, no matter how…’Twas time in conscience he should die This world he cumbered long enough; He burnt his candle to the snuff; And that’s the reason, some folks think, He left behind so great a stink…. He had those honours in his day. True to his profit and his pride, He made them weep before he died. Come hither, all ye empty things, Ye bubbles raised by breath of kings; Who float upon the tide of state, Come hither, and behold your fate.…From all his ill-got honours flung, returned to that dirt from whence he sprung.” (A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General – Jonathan Swift)
Prayer: Spirit of Life, help us make this earth a Paradise.
Question: What is my myth of meaning and who does it benefit?
November 24, 2019 Gospel Luke 23:35-43 Feast of Christ the King