Jesus is a loving man. He opens his heart, indeed his whole life to a variety of people who reflect a variety of personalities. Which is not to say his encounters are always pleasant. He is targeted by antagonistic, angry, and even vengeful personalities – always they are dominant rulers or those who desire the status. At worst, Jesus speaks loving truth to these dominant personalities. In being loving Jesus is entirely revolutionary. In time, people come to believe Jesus is sent by God. A revolution spreads throughout the world; God is Love. Love is God. Thus, as today’s Gospel says, “For God so loved the world he gave his only Son.”
Deities of ancient times revolved around a variety of personalities, usually of the people who invented them. Festive people invented their festive Bacchus, likewise the crafty tricksters invented their Hermes, and stormy types had their Neptune. So too, dominant warriors invented for the top of the pantheon dominant warrior gods and demanded they be worshiped, thus coercing divine justification for their domination. The invented heavenly dominators – Shiva, Ares, Mars, Yahweh, Allah – like the earthly dominators, were said to love their people but it was an abusive love; if you obey me I will protect you, if you disobey me I will punish you. Actual gods of love were of course included in the pantheon but usually narrowed to romance. As such they could serve as comic respite from the drama. A god of love poked fun at our human foibles and was, more truthfully, a god of dependency, vulnerability, weakness. Love could not be the ultimate god. To introduce belief in a God of love as THE God, would hinder the rulers’ religion which they had devised for domination. So it is that when “God so loved the world, he gave his only Son to us,” love leaves the ancient realm of frivolity meant to entertain dominators. Love becomes a power. Love becomes THE power. It is the power to reject dominator gods and replace the earthly dominators who invented them. That replacement is a constant dynamic across history, certainly across U.S. history and is happening now across the U.S. U.S. dominators are fighting their being replaced by love. They have been a long time waging a civil war as they fear the loss of their domination and they have long been waging it against lovers. In the face of dominators and their increasingly concentrated and overt civil war, the power of love and lovers keep rising. Love is the power rising and spreading in the wake of African American George Floyd’s murder by a militant dominator. Love is flowing from people in the streets and flowing to rulers and their supporters who want to dominate. Donald Trump wants to dominate as he said on a phone call to U.S. governors after a phone call to Vladimir Putin, “You have to dominate.” “If you don’t dominate, you’re wasting your time.” “You have to dominate and you have to arrest people… the word is dominate… we’re going to have total domination.” The time for dominant rulers revolving around the same old dominant deities is coming to a halt. The revolution turning the world and this land around is the power of people to live in love. It is revolving around loving people, who, like Jesus, are dark skinned. Such love is humanity’s most dynamic and world-changing revolution.
“The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us.” (Dorothy Day)
Prayer: Spirit of Love, you are my power in this world.
Question: What is my revolution of love, especially socially among people of color targeted for domination?
June 07, 2020 Gospel John 3:16-18 Trinity Sunday