Symbolic actions for confronting the powers: Part II

In a previous article, I gave a list of symbolic actions that I found in a review of the prophetic books of the Bible, along with what these would look like if they were replicated in the 21st century. The purpose of this article is to provide a summary of symbolic actions as I have found them in the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke; the book of John is not treated, as it is considered by most scholars to contain the least historical accuracy). Below, I continue this series of writings which will offer ideas for symbolic actions that followers of Jesus might use in a public square today, followed by the Biblical source of the idea in parentheses.

1. Public proclamations – As with my previous article, I begin this list with a few general ideas. The prophets and Jesus used symbolic actions to accompany a message, and delivered it in a public place where it would be heard by regular people, and interpreted by those representing the powers as a threat to the status quo. Therefore, it is important that symbolic actions be used to draw attention and memory to the message of God.

However, proclamations can be given without an accompanying symbolic action. As a previous article of mine suggests, the doctrine of satisfactionary atonement, to me, is an affront to social justice and the freedom to be found in relationship with God. Therefore, proclamation could include such things as calling christian radio stations to point out the reasons why atonement interpretations of Jesus’ execution pervert the Gospel’s message of the here-and-now kingdom of God, in favor of an angry god whose sole focus is on judgment and the afterlife.

A personal plan of mine is to sit outside of some fundamentalist churches on Sunday morning and hand out pamphlets about what the need to take our focus off of the afterlife, and to put our morals here on the ground. It’s time for progressive Christians to be more bold in proclaiming the Gospel as they see it! For too long, the right has been unapologetic about its message of fear of hell and honor of the empire, while the left has taken on the burden of being accommodating of all points of view. My reading of Jesus does not reveal a person who tried to create common ground of understanding when the opposing point of view was not conducive of his vision of justice and worth for the outcast. Be more courageous!

2. Consistent with John the Baptist’s use of baptism for repentance from our cooperation with cultural paradigms of violence in Luke 3, public baptisms with liturgies that denounce social evils, express a desire to turn away from our complicity with them, and speak commitments to the values of Jesus could be used to attack nationalism, capitalism, military solutions to differences of opinion, etc.

3. Proclamations that are made with power will always be questioned. This is because claiming power to change the social order is a political act, and thus steps on the toes of those who justify their place in corrupt systems by believing in their own power and position. Christians who wish to organize people to commit nonviolent and symbolic action might find an interesting guide for responding from Mark 11:27-33, where Jesus challenges the authorities about their treatment of John the Baptist. In confrontations I have had with people who interpret trends of social inequity as the result of individual personality flaws (e.g. poor people are poor because they are lazy; black people are arrested in higher numbers because they place a lower value on personal morality), a surefire conversation stopper is to ask whether they would make the same argument if Martin Luther King, Jr. were standing in front of them.

A recent twitter conversation I had started about racism elicited a response from an organizer of the Tea Party Coalition, who said that “liberals are always injecting race into everything and creating victims.” After a lot of back and forth, I asked if she thought Martin Luther King injected race into everything and created victims. There were no further replies. Martin Luther King is our John the Baptist, who wished for us to cast off the corruption of power and embrace a new way. It’s time for us to carry this message forward.

4. Jesus begins his ministry by proclaiming that the kingdom of God is here. Followers of Jesus recognize an authority that supplants earthly power. We are not to expect our institutions to try to create a better life for all people. This will only happen when regular folk shame those institutions to action. As an alternative, we should live life like the kingdom of God is already here, and declare rights for ourselves without regard to common convention or unspoken messages of hierarchy dictate.

5. The church itself has created rituals which could provide us with ready-made meaning. I like Walter Wink’s idea of using exorcisms to expel demonic influences where they are seen most: military complexes, banking institutions, churches, etc. Can you imagine the response if we were to perform an exorcism outside of a church???

6. Intentional alliances with the “unworthy”: General discussions of purity laws, which are intended to exclude. Mark 7:1-23 Jesus and his disciples don’t wash their hands before they eat. In verse 15, he says that “there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.” Then, in verse 19, he declares all foods clean. In Luke 10:29-37, the person who helps the injured man is the reviled Samaritan, against whom much racism was leveled by many Jewish people of the time. Why? Not because the religious authorities who passed him by were bad people or didn’t care, but because the purity laws didn’t allow them to touch a man who was almost dead, as this would risk making themselves impure. So, the religious laws that define who is allowed in the presence of God, in fact can exclude us from acting the way a person who was living the kingdom of that God would act.

Can you imagine how scandalous it would still be if we were in continual association with hookers? On one occasion, when the Pharisees and Sadducees try to trap him, Jesus says that “the harlots are going to the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:21:31-2). Jesus doesn’t seem all that concerned with personal morality, as much as whether you are deemed acceptable and worthy according to the culture’s established hierarchies.

All of this is less about the individuals and their earthly status, and more a consistent point to be made that the kingdom of God is so totally foreign to the way we are used to, and that repentance and belief is a matter of rejecting the old ways, and embracing a new way that honors all life, especially the lives that the culture rejects as unclean, impure, unworthy. Our alliances are the best indication of which kingdom we really believe in.

7. “Go show yourself as clean.” In Mark 1:40-45, a leper comes to Jesus, and asks to be made clean. It is my belief that Jesus was a human being, without access to divine powers that are not available to all of us. Therefore, I choose to view this story as one of many where Jesus sees someone who had been utterly rejected by the society as unclean, and who could therefore not take part in the life of the city or accept any of the blessings of the religion. I believe that Jesus would find similar exclusions of people with AIDS, homosexuals, prostitutes, “smelly” homeless people, drug users, and many others in our churches. Jesus doesn’t heal this man of his leprosy. He encourages him to gather the courage to go to those who have declared him unworthy and make them tell him to his face that he is unwelcome. Public exposures of shameful policies are a main method Jesus has for demonstrating how our cultures have prioritized laws over human dignity.

I would like to suggest that we all find churches that refuse the sacrament to homosexuals, and go to church with rainbow pins on, and force the priests to turn us away. I believe that many parishioners have private beliefs that are counter to church policy, especially with regard to homosexuality. However, these parishioners remain silent, unable to see how theologies perpetuate political shame. Were parishioners to witness firsthand the rejection of the sacrament on such flimsy grounds as sexual orientation, it could create creative conflict in the church that is very necessary. Think of your own analogies to the lepers of our day, along with ways that those people could challenge the authorities who declare them unclean before the eyes of the people. Opportunities to see the kingdom of God as a different way from the status quo are most clearly seen in confrontations like these.

8. Luke 2:27: “Laws are made for people, not people for the laws.” As Jesus says to the Pharisees in Luke 11:37-54, “You...cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?” Later, Jesus points out that they follow the rules of the religion, but they neglect the primary impulse of religion, namely, justice and love. Healing on the Sabbath is another example. Where Jesus in Luke 13 and 14, points out that his critics would save their son if he fell in a well on the Sabbath, and that the kingdom of God proclaims all of us sons and daughters, so fuck the rules when your children are in need.

9. Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, if someone asks for your coat, give him your cloak as well. (Matthew 5:38-42) I refer my readers to the writings of Walter Wink, who has done a tremendous job of teaching us how these expressions have been corrupted to mean that we should let people treat us like shit, when in fact, they mean to take something that someone has done to us, and then encourage them to do something even more extreme, until finally, they see the injustice in their actions. If we fight fire with fire, we all get burned. If we fight injustice by requesting even more injustice, eventually the human being who is acting unjustly will be given the chance to see.

10. Defy convention – Let the dead bury their dead. You are alive! (Matthew 8:18-22) The acknowledgement of the kingdom of God is indicated by a complete reversal of all the rules and mores of society. Since the order that society pretends to offer is false, then everything you thought you knew is now the opposite. It’s like my children, with opposite day! In Mark 9:35, the last shall be first. In Luke 14:7-14, invite the lowliest to your parties, and take the lowest seat available. Those of us with middle class associations hear about events at which food and drink will be served every day. Let’s gather the hungry and take them with us to these free events!

11. Curing the blind – Seeing a new way. Did Jesus heal blind people? In my opinion, only those blinded by their collaboration with oppressive structures. Jesus’ new way encourages us to reject the rules of association which require you to associate only with certain types of people or discredit yourself. Tax collectors, unclean women (Mark 5: 21-43), prostitutes (Matthew 21:32), lepers (Marke 14:3). And don’t worry if the power structure reprimands you (Luke 12:11-12). This is to be expected, and so what?

12. Don’t fear those who kill the body (Matthew 10:28). Instead, take up your cross (Matthew 10:38) – face the full penalty of the empire and refuse to budge. This is an extension of the belief that the state/empire is an illegitimate source of power, which used fear of punishment to keep challenges to that power at bay.

When Jesus is asked whether they should pay taxes to Caesar, Jesus declares that we should “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” While this has historically been interpreted to encourage the payment of taxes, one must recognize that, consistent with the message of the prophets (see my previous post on the prophetic literature), if Jesus had been asked what belonged to Caesar, he is likely to have said that nothing belonged to Caesar, and that everything belonged to God. The empire is not to be trusted, obeyed, or collaborated with. The opposing kingdom of God does not recognize earthly power, but rather judges according to how we met the needs of the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, the naked (Matthew 25). The kingdom is to be found in viewing the service to those that the state has rejected as an opportunity to experience God’s new way of living.

13. The use of parables (The Good Samaritan Luke 10; Prodigal son Luke 15; Rich man and Lazarus Luke 16; the Talents Luke 19) When we hear the parables, we must think that Jesus spoke these stories, that take about 20 seconds to speak, and then stood up and said, “Thanks for coming!” and walked away. This cannot be true. These stories are meant to incite discussion about fairness among his listeners. It is important to note that, when viewed this way, the main character of the story does not always have to be the stand-in for God. For example, in the parable of the talents, the owner of the money comes back and harshly declares that “to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” (Mark 4:25)

If this is a story Jesus used to let people who are not given the authority to interpret Scripture a chance to be in on the conversation, then we don’t have to be troubled that God’s way is so unfair. Rather, as Marcus Borg has pointed out, this story can be a chance for his followers to discuss the unfairness of the status quo, and for us, the ways that capitalism creates inequality. Viewed from this vantage point, isn’t the parable of the talents a story that has incredible potential to discuss how the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer?

Sometimes, the parable is a reflection of the inherent unfairness of society, and the discussion that follows is a Paolo Freire-like opening of the eyes, bringing to awareness the contrast between the paravin’s low place on the culture’s hierarchy, and the preferential treatment given to the lowest in the kingdom that is being manifest here on earth.

Consistent with this idea, it is important to point out that Jesus’ statement in Mark 14:7 that “you will always have the poor with you,” is not a resignation, but an angry rebuke of how fucked up this world is. Recognition of the kingdom and its reversal of the status quo will not bring about the actual reversal of policy to make societies equitable and fair. Rather, we live this other way in spite of and as a living contradiction to the fucked up empires who kill their prophets, and exploit the majority of their subjects.

14. More on discussion with the paravin. We are called to spend as much time as we can with those our society has rejected, in order to mutually gain from the insights the stories of and about Jesus have for exposing the unfairness of our earthly systems and providing the power and courage of rejecting those conventions. Despite what we have been brought up to believe, these are not God’s laws. Rather, distinctions and shame, centered on power/powerlessness and wealth/poverty is the way as it has been lived for centuries, except among those who follow a different way.

The Eucharist is another ritual that has tremendous power to declare an equitable community through eating and drinking. Might we have communion services with the outcast outside the church? Within the church’s walls, the distinctions between the worthy and unworthy are replicated by this institution which has rejected the radical message of Jesus. Only outside the church are all welcome to table, without regard to status.

15. Luke 4:16-30: Jesus does something radical, but only the religious can see it. He proclaims the Jubilee, which is a time that the Pentateuch demands every 50 years, when all debts are forgiven, and everyone is given a fresh start. I cross reference this proclamation the version of the Lord’s Prayer offered in Luke 11, in which Jesus says “forgive us our debts, as we forgive every one who is indebted to us.” Since Jesus was often criticized for offering “sinners” forgiveness of sin, and since the Lord’s Prayer has often been interpreted as saying “forgive our sins,” I wonder if we ought to proclaim to our own brothers and sisters the forgiveness of debt!!!

During this time in our country when the majority of people are paralyzed by uncomfortable levels of debt, I listen to Jesus talking about forgiveness of debts, and wonder how incredibly powerful it would be if we took upon ourselves the authority to tell others to stop paying our bills! Imagine it! We don’t even live in an age where people are thrown in prison for their debts. The only thing we have hanging over our heads is our credit score, and the shame we are supposed to feel if it is “too low.” So I say to you now, I forgive you all of your debts!!!

16. Mark 11:1-10. Jesus sets up his triumphal entry as an act of mockery of the false power of the empire. Ironically, when the children shout “Hosanna!” to him, they are correct. Jesus stands as long as he could and blocks entry to the temple, declaring the synagogue a sign of the religious authorities’ collaboration with the oppressive powers. The American church is the whore of the American empire and we would be justified in turning over the communion tables, offering plates, etc. to declare that our church has become the mouthpiece of the state, giving divine legitimization to its violence.

17. More generally, it is my opinion that the church’s function vis-à-vis the state should be to stand outside of it, and judge it from a higher standard. A simple step that must be made in order to move in this direction is the removal of the American flag from our sanctuaries. To be sure, the hanging of our flag in our places of worship is an affront to the God who recognizes no national boundaries. To suggest that the flag be removed will surely be met with strong resistance from parishioners. Nonetheless, the American flag is not just a piece of cloth, but a symbol of many things, including racism, entrenched poverty, and militarism, which are directly contradictory to the message of Jesus.

18. In line with this sentiment, it is important to speak aloud the nonviolent reaction of Jesus to his trial and execution. What makes nonviolent resistance so much more courageous than passive acceptance of the rules or violent insurrection, is that, as Gandhi taught, we do not break the law and then hide from the punishment, but instead seek vindication and redemption through the voluntary acceptance of the punishment that the written law requires. By forcing the authorities to act in concert with their own laws, even when the cause of the lawbreaker is just, the legal system itself is exposed as a ritual that cannot recognize the priority of human life over legal conformity.

Jesus allows the authorities to arrest him without violence (Mark 14:43-52). He rebukes someone for cutting off someone’s ear in the act of defending Jesus (Matthew 26:47-56). He also keeps quiet when being questioned, which Marcus Borg interprets not as passive weakness, but rather as utter contempt for the authority they claim over his body. When Jesus does answer his interlocutors questions (e.g. “Are you the Son of God?), he answers them with smart-ass answers like, “You have said so.” – Mark 15:2-5).

During his execution, contrary to the cult of redemptive violence which requires the hero to overcome his unjust punishment and exterminate the evildoers (see my previous post on the movie Alice in Wonderland), he speaks love and forgiveness for his executioners’ complicity in evil (Luke 23:33-34).

Finally, consistent with the rejection of purity laws and emphases on personal morality, the Gospels state that the first person to have recognized Jesus’ role in a kingdom of God that shines even on the shameful, naked, impure cross was the robber next to him (Luke 23:39-43), and that the first person to declare Jesus’ post-mortem status as a Son of God was one of the Roman soldiers, who had just carried out the command of his execution! (Mark 15:33-39)

We are encouraged by the early church to reject the demonization of the human faces who perpetuate evil, and instead recognize how we are all trapped by the demands of the illegitimate system of rewards and punishments, blind to the ways those demands reject the God of history. Followers of Jesus act out a different way, knowing full well that there may be an automatic response of violence against such rebellion. Still, to act as if the conventions and laws do not hold any sway against us is the most powerful way we have to expose the weakness of power and the power of weakness. In so doing, we help the blind to see, the lame to walk, and bring sinners (those complicit with the “way things are”) to repentance.

In the story of Jesus, the crowd has an opportunity to reject the Romans’ right to execute, but instead chooses the way of Barrabas (Mark 15:6-14). The great commission to the early church, and to us today, is to continue to provide historical situations that are in fact opportunities to declare the kingdom of God and repent of the evils of religious and state purity laws.

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This list is not meant to be exhaustive. There are surely more examples that could be found and used as analogies. Instead, it is meant to encourage my readers to think creatively about how to plan out their own symbolic actions, using our rich Bible as a guide to courageous confrontation. Any of your own ideas are more than welcome.