As the context changes - the faithful change their words and ways. Here is more on the switch from Babylon to Persia. Thus the changed attitude toward empire arose partly from the empire's altered policy and partly from the Jewish leadership's calculated stance that sought to get what it could from the empire. For reasons that are quite complex, we can in any case note that the sharp metaphor "Babylon" is no longer directly in play. The long generative period of Persian hegemony produces no such compelling image, and so the rhetoric is not nearly as sharp as under the previous regime. For all of these reasons it seems right to judge that the militant model of exile-restoration is displaced by the more cagey, fluid model of accommodation and resistance, a model that required a great deal more agility. One of the words that describes the early church in Acts is not 'cagey.' We see in Acts a contrary community that is - from the storytellers perspective - quite new - odd -liberated - alien. Here we see that during the time of the Persian empire, the faithful found ways to continue along their 'religious' ways of life and do that within the power of empire that was overwhelming the world (the Persians really were - like the Greeks and Romans would). This had me wondering how the faithful today appear in the middle of the empires of the day. For the most part, there is accommodation. In fact, I would argue that there is something else taking place. It would be nice to simply say accommodation, but that is not the case. We buy what is and sell it in packaging that fits our words. In fact, we often use our words to bless and promote the empire. I once read that such use of 'sacred' words for purposes that were not sacred is blasphemy. This can be anything from singing about God's blessing of one country over another ( in Evangelical Lutheran Worship the first hymn in the 'national' section is a brilliantly worded hymn that takes us out of the realm of empire blessing) to holding "national prayer breakfasts"
or a 'national day of prayer.' Connection: So we live in the land of the free and the home of the brave - I really love that line of national anthem. Yet, as a follower of Jesus, to be courageous is to be faithful to the God who shapes us - calls us - makes us God's own. It is as a faithful follower of Jesus that I can then become the kind of citizen I can be. I think that is an interesting tension. Blessed are you, O God, who gives us life that reflects your image. Be our light again as we face this day. Be our light and lead us into the way of faithfulness to you alone so that we can then become a part of the world around us as your children. Amen. |
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