Howard Thurman writes about two alternatives faced by the Jewish minority of which Jesus was a part - to resist or not to resist. He then writes of secondary alternatives to these two. #1. Imitation - which can fall under the general plan of nonresistance. He notes that Herod was an excellent example of this solution. #2. Another form of a nonresistance pattern is to reduce contact with the enemy - keeping one's resentment under rigid control and censorship. He notes that all imperialism functions in this way. Subject peoples are held under control by this device. #3. Resistance - to which he notes that even nonresistance is a form of resistance. He then really focuses on the Zealots as an example of this - a form of fanaticism. Then, Thurman notes another way. #4. The Kingdom of Heaven is in us - as the alternative Jesus brings. He quotes Vladimir Simlhovitch to flesh out this point. Jesus had to resent deeply the loss of Jewish national independence and the aggression of Rome...natural humiliation was hurting and burning. The balm for that buring humiliation was humility. For humility cannot be humiliated. ...Thus he asked his people to learn from him, "For I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
What I like about Thurman is he keeps moving with his images. For example, if #4 was to be all that which was said, it would be - in my words - religious bullshit. It could be the opiate - the doormat ready to be stepped upon. But, No! In fact, he recognized that such language and imagery became that used by the powerful and the dominant as an instrument of oppression. He goes on to write: Wherever his (Jesus') spirit appears, the oppressed gather fresh courage; for he announced the good news that fear, hypocrisy and hatred, the three hounds of hell that track the trail of the disinherited, need have no dominion over them.
God's Reign or the Kingdom of Heaven is a life - a life within all of us - a life that is meant to come to life right in the middle of all the violence and crap of the day - a life that is contrary - a life that sides with those whose lives are usually taken from them or shaken down as though they mean nothing. I hear this vision Thurman notes to be a vision of transformation. It is not a vision of a life that comes to all after our life is over. It is the power that resists all the powers that make the world - their world. So when Jesus walked along the way - he was walking within God's Reign - as God's Reign. Then to make a more powerful position of resistance, he invited others to follow in that life. In that invitation comes the power of resistance that is available to those pronounced and treated as the least and those who stand and live and love and share life with them.
When I use the phrase Read and Blue and Purple Too, it is a simple reminder that those who rule - those who stand within the halls of power - those who understand quite well how to keep the divisions of our lives alive and well, will not be those who walk in the way of The Kingdom of Heaven that is in us. Oh, they may talk well of such a Reign - but it is used to unleash those three hounds of hell in order to keep in power those who hold power and cause others to run for their lives. Thurman lifts up a resistance that is a life that pulls us into a contrary position and actions. It will not be found within the labels of Red and Blue and Purple Too - not even Green. It will be made available as we become vulnerable to all the powers within lives that do not go along. This is not mere protest - this is not rioting - this is not violence in any form. Rather it is the action of those who touch and heal and eat with and walk with all those folks we read about in the gospels. The note we must hear at this point is that those situations in which Jesus walked - are not distinct to that time and his life. We are not called to merely study them. We are invited to walk in that same way.
The complexity of our day - in so many ways - makes it difficult to walk humbly with our God - to resist the deep need to win or be called right and good and in power. Yet, whether Red or Blue or Purple, if we say we are followers of Jesus (people who live within the Reign of God in this day) no side can own our hearts or lives. We must do what I hate and fear - risk being left out and not in control of the day. Yet, what we may gain is the wealth of life that comes when we step down from our desire to win the day and turn to walk humbly with any who are left behind. It is there - the place we do not want to be - that we begin to change - see with new eyes - speak in a new voice - let go of the life we are absolutely sure we must save. Then within the embrace of those crowds of people who longed for healing and touch and food, we find ourselves full and healed and open to face the powers of death - for they cannot take away the life we are invited to share with all people without the need for Red or Blue or Purple Too.
TRRR
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