One hundred years later, the Kingdom of Judah faced
catastrophe for the same reason. But Yahweh didn’t want to lose them too. To
avoid that, he sent Jeremiah to speak liberating if irritating words of
truth to his people.
On one occasion, Yahweh sent Jeremiah to the Temple of
Yahweh in Jerusalem—the only place on Earth where Yahweh had chosen to be
present in a special way. Yahweh told Jeremiah to stand at the gate of the
Temple and speak these words to everyone entering it to worship him:
3 Thus
says the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you
dwell in this place.4 Do not trust in deceptive words,
saying, ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of
the Lord.’ 5 For if
you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice
between a man and his neighbor, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the
widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after
other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I
will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your
fathers forever and ever.
8 “Behold,
you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail. 9 Will you
steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices
to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known,10 then come
and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say,
‘We are delivered!’—that you may do all these abominations? 11 Has this house, which is called by My name, become
a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,”
declares the Lord (Jeremiah 7:3-11), New American Standard Version, here and
following).
Yahweh
revealed to his people that they had become robbers (v. 11). If he had not
revealed that truth to them, they would not have known it. They would have
continued to be deceived by the Olympian gods. They would have continued to believe
the lie that they were acting as witnesses to Yahweh or, worse, the lie that
Yahweh was indifferent to their lack of witness.
The
people of Judah became robbers because they coveted more than their fair share
(v. 5). Powerful people took advantage of marginal people to the point of
causing their death (v. 6). They broke the Ten Commandments for the sake of
unjust gain (v. 9). They could only justify such Olympian behavior, of course,
through their devotion to the Olympian gods like Baal (the Canaanite name for
Jupiter) (v. 9).
Like
all good Olympians, Yahweh’s own people were pursuing the path of power which
is based on falsehood, expresses itself through indifference toward Yahweh and
others, and ends in death.
Yahweh,
however, refused to remain indifferent to his people and their faithless
witness to him. He chose to destroy the falsehood upon which their
faithlessness was based. True, Yahweh was present in his Temple in a special
way (v. 4). True, his people were standing in his presence in a special way
when they came to him there (v. 10). But even so, Yahweh refused to allow his
Temple to become a sanctuary for robbers (v. 11). If Yahweh’s people were going
to act like Jupiter’s, he was going to have them do that someplace else.
Like
God’s people yesterday, we Christians today also suffer from the illusion that
we are committed to God while remaining devoted servants of the Olympian gods.
We too enjoy more than our fair share, at the expense of others, because of our
blind devotion to the gods of politics, war, technology, sex, money, and
consumption.
Unlike
God’s people yesterday, however, our situation is much more complex. Today we
Christians and our churches are inescapably enmeshed in the one Global
Technological System (GTS). The GTS is humankind’s greatest act of devotion to
the Olympian gods and especially to Vulcan god of technology. It is also the
most powerful means the gods have ever had for globally enslaving all
societies, cultures, humans, and the rest of God’s good creation.
Today
the GTS challenges us, as Christians and churches, in two especially grievous
ways. First, it is currently inescapable. We Christians and churches are forced
to participate in its gross injustices. We are compelled by necessity to
violate the Ten Commandments. The gods are so pleased.
Worse,
the Olympian media cast their deceptive spell over everyone daily with increasing
rigor. Through the media, the elite minions of the Olympian gods deceive us
into thinking that the GTS is awesome and that all sacrifices to it are
justified. They even have us Christians enthralled.
Jesus
Christ, however, remains the victorious truth who sets us free to love God and
neighbor and leads us into fullness of life.
Going
to church is good but not enough if we go as thralls of the gods and their GTS.
Jesus
has different ideas about Sunday mornings. First, he delights to speak to us his
liberating words of truth through the biblical passages we read, the sermon we
hear, and the words about both we share with one another.
Second,
through these words of truth, he frees us from our thralldom to the gods
through their GTS. We may remain slaves of it, for the time being, but we are
now aware of our enslavement. We are no longer under their spell. We see their
GTS for the evil thing it is and no longer justify its destructive
consequences. Once again we are able to affirm the righteousness of the Ten
Commandments and witness to Christ’s fulfillment of them. What’s more, Jesus
inspires us now to share his liberating truth with our companion Christians.
Third,
Jesus frees us to work together as churches in discerning ways of loosening the
grip of the GTS. We human thralls of the gods have been slaving on the GTS for
over 360 years now. It’s not going to go away overnight. But even now, Jesus is
freeing us to develop ways of loving others and nurturing life in spite of it.
As
we affirm our freedom for Jesus and from the gods in these three ways, we may
truly declare that our Sunday gatherings are the Temple of the Lord that he has
desired all along. As we do, our going to church will be good enough.
Copyright © 2018 by Steven
Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
