One word
that was used a lot in the last American Presidential election, as well as in
the wake of “Brexit”, and which turns up a lot with reference to politics in
the Canadian Midwest and Quebec is “Populism”.
Roughly, Populism is a vehicle for change where you’ve got a Charismatic
person with a set of ideas that are very in tune with the general sentiment of
the people. It tends to arise when
mainstream political institutions fail to deliver. The Internet encyclopaedia Wikipedia defines
Populism as “a political style of action that mobilizes a large alienated
element of population against a government seen as controlled by an
out-of-touch closed elite that acts on behalf of its own interests.”
“Populism”
and “Populist” tend not to be nice words to be associated with. People couple them with other terms such as “Fascist”
and “ignorant masses”. Though there is
historical evidence for the argument that unscrupulous types can and do take
advantage of the fact that the “masses” tend not to keep themselves educated on
the world they live in and rather default to what comedian Stephen Colbert
called “Truthiness”, the simple gut-feeling of what the truth is in disregard
of the facts, Populism can be a good thing.
It can be a good thing especially when it comes to civil rights,
farmer’s rights, peasant’s rights, worker’s rights, and so on. A Populist movement in the cause of what is really
true and right is a powerfully good thing.
That in mind, let’s talk about John the Baptist.
John the
Baptist was leading a Populist religious movement out in the wilderness of
Judea. A large segment of the Jewish
population felt alienated from the center of their faith and national life, the
Temple in Jerusalem, because an out of touch closed elite priesthood was acting
on behalf of its own interests rather than truly serving God. The Temple in Jesus’ day was nothing more than
“Big Business”. The Priesthood was
growing wealthy and powerful on charging Temple taxes and selling “unblemished”
animals for sacrifice. The means that
God had provided for cleansing the people of sin was utterly corrupted.
There was also
a prevailing populist sentiment that the God of Israel was not in the Temple. The Prophet Ezekiel at the time of the
Babylonian Exile had a vision of the Glory of God leaving the Temple and
heading east to be with his people in Babylon.
But, after the return to the Land there is no account of the Glory of
God returning to the Jerusalem Temple.
On the other
hand, the Romans were occupying the Land and oppressing the people in the distinctively
randy and violent Roman fashion that undergirded what historians call Pax
Romana, the Peace of Rome. Images of
Caesar and Roman imperial power abounded.
Caesar demanded his subjects call him Lord and Saviour, two titles the
Jews reserved for God. It appeared that
the glory of Caesar had supplanted the Glory of God.
So John was
out in the wilderness at the Jordon River where the Israelites first crossed
into the Promised Land essentially calling the people back to start over. He was a prophet, the greatest of all
prophets, and like a prophet he had harsh words to say in confrontation of the
corruption of Israel by the elitists – the priesthood, the Jewish monarchy and
wealthy citizenry, the Romans and the Roman soldiers. More importantly he beckoned the people,
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” “Turn around from your wayward wandering and
come back, back here to the wilderness to the Jordan because the Glory of God
is going to re-enter the Land. The
Messiah is coming. Come back to where it
all began and be washed and be ready.” John was very adamant to claim that he
was not the Messiah.
This was a “populist”
message for a people who had lost faith in their civic religion, their leaders
and add to that Roman oppression. The
sentiment was that it was the worst of times.
If there ever was a time the people of God needed a Deliverer to
liberate them and restore their dignity as the people of God it was then. The “populist” hope was that God was sending
the Messiah, a Holy Spirit anointed king, any day then to deliver his people
from Rome, clean up the Jerusalem Temple and the Priesthood, and bring true
peace to the Land, Shalom as they called it.
There was
also a prevalent “Woe is me” sentiment.
The people knew they were not ready to be in the presence of the Glory
of God and that the Temple was too corrupt to be a vehicle to cleanse them of
their shame and guilt at knowingly not having lived godly lives. How were they to stand before a their just
and holy God. This was particularly true
of the tax collectors and the people called “sinners”. They in particular flocked to John in the
wilderness to be baptized in the Jordan, washed clean in the waters of a new
beginning to be ready for the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of Heaven.
Then one day
Jesus showed up among the Populists.
John knew from before he was born that his cousin was the Messiah. Like good Canadians they had their polite discussion
on what is proper and John baptized Jesus.
When Jesus came up from under the water suddenly the heavens opened and
the Spirit of God, the Glory of God in the form of a dove descended upon
Jesus. The voice of God the Father said,
“This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.”
The Glory of
God was returning to the Land and Jesus, the Son of God, was now the
Temple. In the River Jordon where the
Israelites first entered the Land, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Glory of God
was coming to usher in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Where else would God be than among his estranged people?
We know how
it goes from there. After a brief battle
of wits with Satan in the wilderness Jesus starts his ministry of healing,
casting out demons, forgiving, teaching, confronting, feeding thousands on
orts, and calming seas. He would share
table fellowship with anybody. Jesus
brought the Kingdom of God not in the form of a military revolt where he took
throne in some grand palace. Rather, he
ushered it in through some really life changing kitchen parties.
Jesus is the
Temple. The place in God’s creation
where Heaven and Earth are open to one another and people are rightly related
to God and one another. Everywhere he
went the Temple went and Temple things happened. Around him, it was on Earth as it is in
Heaven.
Jesus’
reign, the Peace of Christ or Pax Christos, is manifested as unconditional and
transformational faith, love, and hope lived out among a community of disciples. His self-denying/will of God-obeying way led
to the Jewish and Roman elites crucifying him.
But that wasn’t the end. It was
the means. God the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit raised him bodily
from the dead and set in motion a whole New Creation that we await with Jesus’ triumphal
return to establish his locus of reign here on Earth as it is now from heaven. Though
Jesus is not physically present he is still among his people and his Populist Movement, the Kingdom of
God, the Reign of God continues. He and
the Father have poured the Holy Spirit out upon his disciples so that we now
are the Temple and in us the Glory of God shines all over the world.
We live in a
day when people have lost faith in the institution of the church. They think church-going Christians to be
simply judgemental, moralistic elites. Maybe
we, his disciples today, need to once again go out and be among the people out
there as Jesus did and is. A church
building is a good thing to have but not if it keeps us from being the Temple
among the people.
Jesus
embodied the Temple most frequently in the places where people gathered to
eat. The thriving church of the 21st
Century will do discipleship around the kitchen table and wondrous things, on
Earth as it is in Heaven things, will happen.
Now is a good time for us to discover that the Kingdom of God is near
and maybe it needs to take the form of a Populist movement that meets around
the kitchen table. Maybe try this. Get some of your church friends together. Cook some food. Read a Gospel passage and talk about. Jesus will be there. Easy Schmeasy.
Who’s in? Amen.
