Prophetic Critique To Power

What happens when people become desperate for power?

It corrupts them.

What is the one thing that the Bible bears witness to over and over (and over) again?

That power corrupts people.

What is the one thing that has America on the brink of imploding?

Power is in the wrong hands.

I've been mulling over this blog post for a few weeks now. What exactly do I want to say? Do I even want to say it? Why do I feel the need to say it? Ultimately, I do believe that what I'm sharing in this post HAS to be said. And so here goes...

Let me be clear, I do NOT see myself as some modern day prophet. I am not that brave. I'm just a girl with internet access and a blog. I am however, willing to be self-critical. That also hasn't happened overnight. The journey to this point has been a huge culmination of life events that have shown me that, "you really don't have all the answers you once thought you did, Cayla." And those events + revelations have pushed me outside of my comfort zone to chronicle them here on this blog. 

I believe being a Christian means we first have to be self-critical. I believe that one way the Bible is still so relevant for us today is because the writers + editors were so willing to be self-critical. Literally every failure of Israel has been put on display as an example of everything not to do. 

It's why I often chuckle at how badly we want to make the Bible into a book of "what to do" when really it's more of a "what not to do" story. Part of being self-critical eventually leads us to rethinking our theology. Here's where it gets hard...

Not only is the Bible really good at self-critiquing, it's really good at showing us patterns. 

For times sake, I'm not going to deep dive into the Adam & Eve story. But I will touch quickly on the curses that God dolled out to Adam & Eve right before they got the boot from Eden. 

He makes childbirth hard for Eve and cursed the ground for Adam. Basically, childbearing now becomes difficult and agriculture becomes hard.

A serious of unfortunate events leads us to Abraham & Sarah, and it goes like this:

• Adam & Eve royally screw up the way that God wants His creation ruled (plan A).
• Sons of God & daughters of mankind start procreating and the plan is corrupted again. This introduces giants, who are seen as evil.
• God sends the flood. (Plan B)
• God starts over with Noah & his family. Exceptttt, well things get even weirder and more corrupt when Noah's son seeks to gain power by raping his mother. Noah curses his son and his descendants (which PLOT TWIST end up becoming Israel's enemies).
• Humans once again try to gain universal power by building a tower into the "heavens" (remember, this is an ancient culture...obviously you can't reach the spirit realm with a really tall building), and God thwarts that idea by scattering them all. Basically, He abandons humanity and starts over. (Plan C)

By the time that God calls Abraham to be "the father of a great nation"...He's had to return to the drawing board 3 times. Not only that BUT he calls out a man who is very old (probably can't work the land) and a woman who is barren (can't even have children). So He simply just says "you know what, those curses don't even matter anymore...I'm going in a different direction."

Through Abraham & Sarah, God chooses to use people who've been enslaved for 400 years to steward God's perfect plan for power. That bears repeating. God's chosen people were enslaved. They weren't powerful kings or politicians. They were literally dead last in the socioeconomic landscape. 

Except, the rest of the Old Testament shows us that Israel screws it up BIG time. To the point that they lose everything. 

Umm, plan D anyone? Yeah, Jesus.

So here is my point. Power is a problem. 

The heroes of the Bible aren't David, Solomon, Sampson, kings, etc...

The hero of the Bible is someone who came without power. Just like so many prophets before him and so many martyrs that came after.

Jesus was good news, not for those who had power, but for those that didn't. 

Which begs us to examine ourselves really hard. What power structures have I benefited from? Our western theology has tried to diminish the message of love, non-violence, justice & peace at the expense of power. 

White evangelicals want power, because we're used to having power. Plus, if we have the power, then God must be winning right? This isn't me pointing the finger at any one person, this is me saying "I've benefitted from power". Now that I realize it, what am I going to do with it?

Jesus calls out the powerful religious establishment in Matthew 23 and I think one of the most profound verses that applies to America today is:

"But don't do what they do, because they (the church) don't practice what they teach. They tie up heavy loads that are hard to carry and put them on people's shoulders, but they themselves aren't willing to lift a finger to move them.

Verse 13 - "You shut the door of the kingdom of Heaven in people's faces. For you don't go in, and you don't allow those entering to go in."

I mean, if that isn't a holy sh!t moment for Christians, I don't know what is. 

Jesus goes on to say that "sure you hypocrites, you're paying a tenth of a few things BUT you're neglecting the more important matters of the law - justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These things should be done without neglecting the others."

Jesus throws down. 

While it's hard and I've lost my safety net, I want to be that Christian that speaks out for children in cages, single mothers, abused women, my LGBTQ friends, immigrants at our border. I want to speak truth to power that hides behind a badge & gun and kills black people playing video games in their living rooms or while they're eating ice cream on the couch. The poor who are being crushed by income inequality and massive college debt. And not only that, but speaking truth to the powerful systems in place that protect oppressors. Why are these the people that Christians want to be associated and aligned with? 

My white privilege has been a heavy load for people of color to bear. I've been complicit in shutting the doors of heaven to some people by my fierce judgement & condemnation. 

It has to be called out. 

The only thing we're called to bear witness to is Jesus' love, mercy, justice, and grace. 

Not political power. Not privilege. Not being right or winning. And certainly not Christian Nationalism.

Church, if our leaders aren't calling for us to lighten another's load, to stop shutting Heaven's doors, and speaking truth to power... then it's our responsibility to do it. Period. And don't mistake who God is willing to use...an old man and his barren wife. A prostitute. A tax collector. A Roman solider. An unwed young mother. God isn't boxed in on who He will use. It's best we remember that when we're striving for power.