Pentecost 11 (Proper 20)
August 20, 2006
Over the past month we have been overwhelmed by cries of indignation. The extremes of the emotions which the Israeli/Lebanese conflict have generated suggest it is appropriate for a time-out to consider the nature of the moral sources which are cited when we deem it proper to be indignant. And, recent events have generated responses which have both emotional and moral content.. From many quarters we have heard words and phrases Innocent, often coupled with victims, defensive, contrasted with aggressive, of course terrorist or terror, and ironically - permanent solution. Individual victims speak about fear and hatred, helplessness, anger and demand an end to the conflict one way or another. The fact that the words used have a moral implication make it apparently necessary to take a side - neutrality is a real no-no.
While our religious traditions are not exempt from responsibility for contributing to some of the misunderstanding - they may also offer some insight as to why we think morally loaded words are an appropriate response to the events. Perhaps there even may offer some moral input that suggests different directions which could be taken to address the sources of this conflict. In the reading from I Kings, we are presented with an exchange between Yahweh and Solomon which the editor would proffer as a standard by which we might evaluate the true nature of kingship. As time goes on - it becomes the measure of judging rulers in both Israel and Judah and forms the basis for the prophetic judgments which are rendered about the status of their society in relationship to Jahweh’s expectations.
So what is this discernment? In a way this is what the remainder of the Bible is all about. It has to do with the relationship between standards of morality (Commandments) which are both personal and social. Because, the purpose of individual obedience to God is to create a society which is fair and just. In general, the startling proclamation voiced by the Prophets is that the standard by which our personal obedience is judged is revealed by Yahweh’s verdict as to whether fairness and justice are its fruits .in our present society. The hallmark is determined by what happens to its most helpless members often typified by reference to widows and orphans but often including those who labour as well. There is then in this tradition which is ours as well, a built-in relationship between individual moral standards and the presence of distributive justice as seen in society as a whole. Sadly this tie has been severed. All too often, individual moral righteousness seems to be the standard that counts as witness to the ease with which ruthless eradication of liberation theology in Latin America was effected or the apparent lack of interest of the massive Pentecostal movement in the same area in systemic problems of social injustice.Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good from evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great? It pleased Yahweh that Solomon should have asked for this. “Since you have asked for this’ Yahweh said, ‘and not asked for long life for yourself or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for a discerning judgment for yourself, here and now I do what you ask...
(1Kings 3: 9-10)
Almost all non-Arab, non North American observers seem to agree that the festering sore in the middle east is the continuing systematic injustices inflicted by Israel with the more than tacit support of the United States on the Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank Like all such situations of this kind in the last and present centuries the principle tool for expressing dissatisfaction and helplessness by its victims is the development of the strategy called Terror. Its most successful exponents being the Irgun in Israel and the FLN in Algeria as anyone who has read Camus well knows. Terrorism is not an option which is available to Christians, but we may well be at least partially responsible for its current vogue because of our failure to condemn the world-wide perversions of just and fair societies by our preference for economic structures that require colonialism and a secure supply of oil for its success. The irony of the current conflict is that Hizbollah has little or no interest in the plight of Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank even though its emotional support is able to feed off their plight and the civilian casualties in Lebanon.
The lesson for us is that we need to visit again our obsession with being good. It has been justified all too frequently as the means whereby we assure access to a better world which is supposedly to come in another time and place. This after all is what heaven was all about. In fact, we are really part of a very different faith - one which arose out of the awareness that not all was well in the Judah of Jesus day and which must irrupt in our time as we tackle life styles which glorify and encourage overt consumption, the destruction of our environment and the glorification on an income system which places most wealth in the hands of very few. Interestingly, these same conclusions emerged from the recent world-wide conference on Aids which was held in Toronto.
Today, things are quiet again and there will be a respite while all concerned decide what to do next. The clear choice based on past performance will be a military or violent one. There may be another way but will there be a voice crying out in the wilderness of destruction that finally may be heard.
The Rev. Roger A. Balk, Ph.d.