The Biblical Case for Communism?

Our first reading – in the season of Easter readings from The Acts of the Apostles replace the Old Testament lesson – our first reading is often jokingly picked up as the biblical argument for communism.  “All who believed were together and had all things in common…they were distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need (Acts 2:44-45).”  But to do that moves the power or causation in the wrong way.  A lot of those 18th and 19th century “-isms” that never seem to die tend to be Christian heresies.

Communism is an attempt to create just the providence of the Kingdom of Heaven without the King.  It is an attempt to pull the glory of the Kingdom into this old world not by spiritual means but by means of the flesh.  And so, if you follow the biblical case for communism a bit further in acts you eventually find that the flesh is still too much with us in this old world.  They continue to hold everything in common (Acts 4:32ff), but immediately after is the biblical horror story of Ananias and Sapphira who want to be a part, but also want to keep a part.  And eventually full biblical communism runs into a real problem when Greek speaking Jews get neglected in the distribution (Acts 6:1). The Apostle’s appoint deacons and that is the last notice of everything in common.

But I believe the lesson remains for us a wholistic picture of goodness of the kingdom. The first thing to notice is that the entire community is not formed from the will of any many or anything material.  It is formed around four things: “the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, the breaking of the bread and prayers (Acts 2:42).” The kingdom of God expressed in this church immediately after Pentecost is a Spiritual reality.  It is brought into being by the Word of God – the apostle’s teaching. And it is sustained in this world by the practices of the community. The sacramental practice of the breaking of the bread.  The spiritual practice of prayer.  The human practice of fellowship.

Within this spiritual community “wonders and signs were being done (Acts 2:43).” Now there are many times that I wish the wonders of signs the apostle’s performed were much more prevalent. But even Jesus in his teaching tended to downplay the miracles.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me not because of the sigs, but because you had your fill of bread (John 6:26ff).” It is not that the miracles are nothing, but seeing them created a desire for more bread that you didn’t work for, not a faith in the one who provided. The greatest miracle performed was the creation of the community itself – the community of the forgiven.  The church is absolutely unique in this. It’s promise is simply the promise of Christ.  Your sins are forgiven.  Yes, there is other business that often happens at churches.  And there are people, at least there used to be, who joined churches for those opportunities. But the church itself, unlike every other institution of man, exists to forgive sinners. It is purely an institution of faith.

The last note from this picture is that they “had favor with all the people (Acts 2:47).” As a rightly ordered community of love the church is attractive. “The LORD added to their number day by day.” Now as Peter would comment it is still possible for the same people who “see your good deeds and glorify God” because of them to at the same time “speak against you as evildoers (1 Peter 2:11-12).”  But that is not the only experience. The community of love which the church is called to be can look inward focused as it gathers around teaching and fellowship and sacraments and prayer, but paradoxically that inward focus on the things of God also creates an outward drive of evangelism.  God is creating his people.  The LORD is gathering is Kingdom. Day by Day he adds to their number.  And it is a Kingdom where we receive exactly what we need from the storehouses of the King. 

Wesley at Emmaus

041926 sermonDownload

Biblical Text: Luke 24:13-35

The Road to Emmaus is one of the most evocative stories in scripture. It has some echoes of the Old Testament and the “Messianic Secret” in the line “their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” It also fits in perfectly with Luke’s love of travel narratives. We are always on the way somewhere. But for me – and liturgically coming on Easter 3 it plays into this – it is a post-resurrection appearance that deals with knowing. How do we know? In that way it can be something of a Lukan Thomas story. Except where as John’s answer is the beatitude – “blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” – which plays into John’s love of sight metaphors, Luke’s answer has some layers. I pull in John Wesley’s quadrilateral which in the way it gets used might be the most misused theological framework. I touch on that in the sermon a bit. Wesley had an answer to “How do you know?” It was roughly: Revelation, Tradition, Experience and Reason. And at least how I think it should be taken that order is a hierarchy. Scripture or Revelation is the bedrock. Tradition, something that is ever growing, is the witness of the saints and ages. It illumines the fullness of scripture. Experience is how these intersect with our lives. And the last, reason, is really teaching our fallen self to see God at work. They aren’t separate ways of knowing that are weighed against each other. They work together. And as the sermon develops the text, Jesus walks the pair on the road to Emmaus from experience through tradition and back to the Scriptures. And then they are prepared to see.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Just War & Jesus

So, it’s beginning to feel like the 15th century.  Emperors beefing with popes over some deep theology that has immediate real world consequences.  Now in 700 words, I’m not going to really solve anything. Nor when Emperors and Popes are yelling at each other does a parish pastor have much standing.  But I do think it is worth trying to think through something in writing.  There is a long Christian history of teaching that comes under the title “Just War” which goes back to Augustine. There is also just as long a history of magistrates ignoring it.

First, let’s look at the most compact form of that teaching possible.  It is from paragraph 2309 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Like Luther’s small catechism, and like all classical catechisms, is structured around: The Creed, The Sacraments, The Law, and Prayer. Paragraph 2309 on Just War is from the section on the law, subsection on the Fifth Commandment (“Thou Shall Not Kill”), further subsection on Jesus’ teaching “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” As a Lutheran, setting this in the section on the law, would tell us: 1) This is how God intends things to be (Civil Use), 2) It shows us where we sin (Religious Use), and 3) It sets for the Christian Life a standard for sanctification. Let me quote this paragraph in full.

2309 The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. the gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time: – the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; – all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; – there must be serious prospects of success; – the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. the power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the “just war” doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

Now let’s summarize. 1) There is no such thing as a just war of aggression. 2) Even if you are aggressed against, there must be a serious cause (“lasting, grave and certain”). 3) It must be a last resort (“all other means…impractical or ineffective”). 4) Probability of success. 5) What is typically called proportionality. (“not produce evils and disorders greater than the evil to be eliminated”).

This is a Mark Brown conclusion, yours may certainly and probably does differ, but using that as a grading scale, probably WW2 and the First Gulf War are the only ones that pass the test.  It is the line on proportionality that is probably most easily crossed.  For example, saying that we will destroy an entire civilization probably crosses that line. But that moves into what I think is something truly new in Just War theory, the reality of nuclear weapons. Since WW2 increasing number of states have had the ability to destroy all life on the planet, or if not all life to make the Roman’s “salting the earth” look like child’s play.  In the current conflict, if you get past the aggression line with the reasoning that Iran has been attacking “The Great Satan” and “The Little Satan” by proxies and other means for decades, you still hit the 2nd line.  Has anything Iran done to us crossed the “lasting, grave and certain” line?  The threat of a state getting a nuclear weapon definitely crosses that line.

And that might be where the last sentence is the wisest.  “The evaluation of these conditions…belongs to the prudential judgement of those who have responsibility for the common good.”  One gets the feeling that the Pope doesn’t trust the prudential judgement of the current President, or his ability to see the common good.  The current President returns the distrust in rejecting the Pope’s reasonability in seeing the common good. A common conservative critique of progressive answers, fine intentions but guaranteed to hurt everyone.

Now as you can see from that entire summary discussion, the biblical text beyond the 5th commandment hasn’t entered into it at all. Just War doctrine is a philosophical argument.  And it is largely persuasive.  I wish this is how the nations of the earth ruled themselves.  But the Bible itself is grittier. Jesus himself seems more realist.

“But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. (Matt. 20:25 ESV)” It is just a statement of fact.  The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must. That is how this fallen world often works.  And in fact, if you read Romans 13 or 1 Peter 2:13ff, the apostles tend to think that this is probably for the good of the world.  They say to obey the rulers.  If the rulers are terrible and you can’t follow them for the sake of Christ, and they strike you, it is not a call to rebellion, but to rejoice in your sufferings for the sake of Christ.  Those rulers are present for God’s reasons. Even if we don’t know them.

Jesus then continues, “It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matt. 20:26-28 ESV)”  This old world and the church just operate by different rules.  States are not judged by individual morality.  You, me, everyone who desires to follow Christ, must pick up this cross. We are strangers in this world or as Peter would call us “elect exiles.”

You can see why Anabaptists usually don’t vote and never hold office.  They view any such authority as incompatible with the Christian life. The standard reply of the church was “no, the wheat and weeds together.”  Often referencing John the Baptist’s advice to the solider, “Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” (Lk. 3:14 ESV)” If there was someone who was going to say “separate yourselves” you’d imagine the Baptist would be it.  But he does not.  His advice is don’t abuse the office but carry out your duties.

The Bible’s ultimate answer is that we await the return of the King. There is one who will rule justly. Right now he sits at the right hand of the Father. And one day shall return in power and great glory. Until then, “the kingdom suffers violence, and the violent bear it away (Matthew 11:12).”

Maturing Faith

Biblical Text: John 20:19-31

041226 sermonDownload

The 2nd Sunday of Easter always has the Gospel Text of the Apostle Thomas. There are two things that you can preach from this text. 1) The Office of the Keys. And I touch on that at the start. 2) Figure out something to say about doubt. And that is the tougher one. Mainline Protestantism – which the LCMS is both part of and not part of – for a generation plus has glorified doubt. Which is a terrible misreading of this text and what the bible consistently has to say about it. It is not that the Bible denies doubt. In fact as I’ll build in the sermon, it isn’t just Thomas. Everyone has some significant doubt. But doubt is a childish thing. If you are going to accomplish anything – if you are going to have life – you are going to have faith. They, faith and doubt, aren’t opposites. Doubt is a valid starting point that must give way when proof is offered. It could give way to knowledge. It could give way to accomplishment. It can give way to faith. Doubt is the starting childish position that matures into something real. The Introit for the day really starts off with the theme – “Like Newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation.” (In Latin that is Quasimodogenidi, the famed Hunchback was born on this Sunday and so called Quasimodo.) Jesus tells Thomas to “stop being faithless and believe.” That is a maturing faith. One that stops with childish things and believes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A Concrete Faith

The letter of First Peter doesn’t get the respect or attention is should. It gets chosen to start on Easter 2 because it synchs up with Jesus’ words after the Thomas episode.  “Though you have not seen him, you love him (1 Peter 1:8)” aligns nicely with “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).” But it is such a great example of the concrete nature of the gospel.  We live in the era of the “word salad.”  I muse sometimes that we have moved from a print age that produced high rhetoric like the Lincoln-Douglas debates to common rhetoric like the letters Civil War soldiers sent home.  Sure, there might be a bit of survival fallacy, the letters that serviced were bound to be moving, but the fact that they were written by 8th grade educated privates from the middle of nowhere and they are more meaningful than anything produced by professional wordsmiths in the past 50 years says something. That gave way to the bonhomie of radio addresses. Which themselves gave way to television. And as we adapted to television the “sound bite age” came upon us.  The most complicated arguments got reduced to 10 sec clips.  The Word Salad, in the sports world often called corporate banalities, summed up by Seinfeld as “Yadda, yadda, yadda” was created to avoid the sound bite. It’s a style of speaking to be seen on TV talking but saying absolutely nothing. More air than an angel food cake or a good meringue.  Compare that to the concrete of Peter.

Why has God acted?  “According to his great mercy.” As God repeated said about himself he is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” Who God is has lead him to act.

What is the act of God that comes from this mercy? “He has caused us to be born again to a living hope.” We were dead in our sins and God’s mercy has caused us to be born again. We are born again not by re-entering our mother’s womb as Nicodemus quipped, but in hope.  Where we did not have hope, we now have hope.

Why do we now have hope? “Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” If there is one thing we knew it was that dead people are dead. They don’t come back. Until one did. The fact that one did – Jesus Christ – gives hope.

What is the concrete nature of this hope? You have “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the proof that the sacrifice of the cross stands. Heaven has been opened for you. This life may pass away, but your life is in the resurrection.  And death no longer has any hold over it.

When do we come into this inheritance? It is “guarded through faith…to be revealed in the last time.” It is yours right now in faith. You can choose to live right now as if this is just the beginning of eternal life. Which it is. And it will be revealed as such at the last time when all the sons of God are revealed (Romans 8:19). So this inheritance is now and not yet. Nothing stops us from living it now by faith.  The fullness has not yet been revealed.

Why do we live in this now and not yet? “You have been grieved by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith…may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Christian living by faith, even thought they have not seen, is the highest praise that one can give to God. God has testified and revealed himself.  The devil’s first move is to call God a liar. Faith is simply believing what God has said and revealed about himself.  He is not liar, but a good and gracious Lord. All creation is meant to render unto God his glory.  The Christian who lives by faith does this.

What again is the outcome of this? You “obtain the outcomes of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Now souls in our day and age might sound like an airy word, but to avoid the idea of cherubs floating on clouds, maybe we should simply gloss soul as self. The outcome of you faith is the salvation of your self, your person, your consciousness, who you are. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, you, what makes you you, has been saved.

We tend to think of faith lightly.  To Peter, that faith is very concrete.  And as we read this letter over the Easter season we will learn more.

Thank You St. John Chrysostom

040526 sermon (easter)Download

Easter is a day for pure proclamation. He is risen. Death and Hell have been defeated. And Chrysostom’s Easter sermon has been the model ever since he himself preached it in the 4th century.

This is mostly stolen with some adaptions for the texts we read today (Jeremiah instead of Isaiah) and for 21st century idiom. Which honestly I was surprised at how little of that updating there was. Sixteen centuries and half a world away, it still preaches.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Seven Words (A Good Friday Meditation)

The recording is the full service. The service was a Tenebrae service built around the seven words of Jesus from the cross. The rhythm and theater of the service is Reading, Hymn (which in this case is three verses of a hymn each reading specifically designed for this service), a meditation and the dowsing of a candle (which you can’t see, sorry).

A meditation on the seven words from the cross ends up being a different animal than the fuller passion reading. You aren’t really telling the story or reflecting on any of the other characters. It is strictly about what is so important that Jesus says it to us while he is on the cross. I think you might find it surprisingly moving. I always have.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Easter Prep

Two quick thoughts about almost all the resurrection accounts in the gospels.  First, setting aside the Road to Emmaus in Luke, which for some reason is only read in the Easter Season once ever three years (stupid lectionary), they are all rather straight-forward.  What I mean by that is they capture some silly things, like John’s 153 fish.  They capture some embarrassing things.  None of the disciples, who after all had been told this was going to happen, went out.  It was only the Mary’s that went out. But they largely are just reports of surprise.  “He is not here; He is risen.” It is that report like nature that to me makes them honest. This actually happened.  They are not – other than that road to Emmaus – deep theological reflections.  Even John’s resurrection accounts are “yeah, I ran faster than Peter after we heard.”  Nobody has had the time or even the inclination to theologize.  It just is.  And the fact of the resurrection is enough by itself that 2000 years later people still can’t accept it.  More theology has probably been written trying to deny it than understand it.  But the accounts are simple.  “He is not here; He is risen.”

The second quick thought might not be so quick.  The angels in Matthew tell the Mary’s, “he’s risen, go tell his disciples, he’ll meet you in Galilee.”  Then Jesus jump scares them “Greetings!” And Jesus says the same thing, “go to Galilee, I’ll see them there.” Mark’s gospel probably ends with the angel’s announcement to the Mary’s. It is either that, or the original ending of Mark’s gospel was lost. Because what we have as the ending isn’t in any of the great 4th century bibles.  And what we have is clearly a summary from the other gospels and probably the book of Acts with it’s bit about snake handling. Luke has that road to Emmaus which has at least two disciples getting out of Dodge, if for the wrong reasons.  And John’s gospel even explicitly has one of the resurrection appearances beside the Sea of Tiberias, which is the Sea of Galilee.  That’s where they get the 153 fish. Yet for some reason we think all of this takes place in and around Jerusalem.

We probably think that because of Luke 24:49 where Jesus tells them to wait in the city until they are clothed with power from on high.  Of course he tells this to them after he has asked for some fish.  Which sounds more like Galilee than Jerusalem.  But Luke picks the story back up in Acts and says in Acts 1:4, “he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father.”  Were they in Jerusalem the entire 40 days?  Did the plan change from those early morning hours when Jesus said he’d meet them in Galilee?  And what does it really matter?

As far as mattering, there is a fittingness to the mission of the church – to proclaim Christ risen to the world, starting in Jerusalem – actually starting from home.  Abraham was called to leave home for the land God would give him. Likewise the disciples being called from home with the first target the Holy  City has a biblical rhyming quality. Salvation comes from outside of us. It comes from outside of what we would consider holy. It comes to us in the crucified one, from Nazareth, in Galilee.

But the real answer might simply be practical.  The disciples had been in Jerusalem for the Passover.  The Passover was over.  Sunday would be the day all the pilgrims started home.  “I’ll see you in Galilee.” The next pilgrimage festival was Pentecost. So they went back to Jerusalem.  Jesus ascends, but He tells them to wait in Jerusalem.  His Ascencion might have spooked them to flee without his words.  Instead, do not be afraid.  Stay for the festival.  Stay for Pentecost. Because it is about to be fulfilled.  The gospels don’t give us a full travel itinerary, but I don’t think we have to read in some “Jesus and the angels were confused” or “they changed plans.” It’s 40 days. You probably go home.  Where you just happen to see Jesus as he told you.

For You…For Forgiveness (Maundy Thursday)

040226 MT SermonDownload

Maundy Thursday in the Lutheran Tradition as I have learned it is about the Lord’s Supper. The entire service is built around remembering and celebrating the sacrament. This sermon to me is a meditation on that tradition as I have received it and attempted to steward it. It ponders the biblical reality of Judas at that table, with a contrast with Peter. After all, both betrayed Jesus. And it ends with simple proclamation. The tradition inherited is not complex. It leaves plenty of questions. Most unanswerable. But there is plenty for faith to grasp onto. Because this supper is for you. For Forgiveness. Even the worst of sinners find pardon here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Until He Was Glorified

032926 SermonDownload

Biblical Text: John 12:12-19, Matthew 27:13-26, Refrain verse: John 12:16

It was Palm Sunday or these days also the Sunday of the Passion. The service is actually a bit of theater starting with a procession of palms. But soon after the service switches gears to the reading of a longer passion account. I’ll be honest here, the hymns of Palm Sunday carry it all. You can open with Jubilant All, Glory, Laud and Honor and continue in the same vein with Hosanna, Loud Hosanna. After you’ve read the passion sits a wonderful modern hymn No Tramp of Soldiers’ Marching Feet that makes that transition itself. Close with Ride on, Ride on in Majesty which ends on the eschatological notes that this sermon does. “Bow thy meek head to mortal pain, then take, O God, thy power and reign.”

The sermon is a study in contrasts. I like this one. Which honestly is rarely true. I’m too much of a perfectionist on somethings, but being an every Sunday preacher – and in lenten season much more than every Sunday – you can’t give each one the polish you might otherwise. But the inspiration comes from a note that John gives “His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.” Each of the contrasts of the procession of Palms and the Passion underscores the divine irony. The disciples don’t understand, Pilate doesn’t understand, the chief priests don’t understand, the crowds don’t understand, and there were are with all of them. We don’t understand, until we see him glorified. It was all written about him. It all happened to Jesus. But it is only after the resurrection that we might understand.

There is more in there as the sermon develops each contrast. And there is the final eschatological move. What we might foolishly have hoped for in that first kingly procession yet awaits. And that is the power and glory that we today so often dismiss. But that awaits for tomorrow. Today, the king comes humbly. Today, his throne is a cross. Today, he comes heart by heart in grace.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download