Lenten Journey- Palm Sunday- Stopping the Wheel

We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in an essay to theologians and theological students

The question that always hovers around any discussion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer is his participation in the surprisingly widespread plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler. While he himself was not anywhere near being the assassin, his work with the Abwehr (German Army) as a double agent was connected with the overall plotting and planning. (It also kept him from being drafted and sent to the front.) He was involved in the plans almost from the beginning and gave it his complete support, knowing full well what the consequences would be. Many, myself included, have struggled with that position. Many debates have been held - and will continue to be held - among people who wonder if that was an appropriate thing for a Christian pastor and theologian to do.

His most famous justification for his actions is the example he used of needing to stop a runaway bus from killing many people. If it took shooting the driver, he said, it was appropriate in order to save more lives. Even if it is a sin, he said, he must risk that to stop evil. In an essay for theological students he used the quote above as a description of what he was doing. He was committed to bringing the wheels of injustice and evil to a halt once and for all.

I did not live in that time. I do not live in a place that is anywhere near as awful as Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. We too often throw words like Nazi and the name of Hitler around as if we know what we are talking about. Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived in a time and place that was filled with and governed by evil. There was no apparent human caring in Hitler, Himmler, or Goering. The SS and Gestapo were as inhuman as any army has ever been. The whole direction of the Nazi vision was anti-religion, anti-God, anti-any life but their own. Words like compassion, kindness, or grace have absolutely no meaning in their world. We have seen far too many of such people and situations in the past century. They are still happening in parts of the world. But what we have in our histories of World War II gives us an unprecedented example of how easily and quickly an otherwise civilized society can devolve into hatred, anger, fear, and unrestrained death. That must not be downplayed or overlooked!

In reading Eric Metaxas’s biography of Bonhoeffer I have come to a deeper appreciation of what this deeply faithful and faith-filled man was facing. Metaxas makes it clear that it was not an easy decision for Bonhoeffer. He did not take it lightly. He took his faith very seriously and its role in his life was paramount. At the very end of his life he continued to exhibit a calm and a “presence” that astonished his fellow prisoners and the guards who watched them. He saw death, at the end, as a road to freedom. He was able to combine his deep faith with the needs of those around him and face the situations without any outward fear. He was convinced he was doing what was right and went ahead and did it. All the things I have talked about in the previous weeks of Lent were all combined at the end to propel him forward with certainty in the resurrection of Jesus Christ! His faith was as real as it can be!

There has been much talk in the US in the past three months about resistance and even revolution. Some have pointed to Nazi Germany in the 1930s as someplace to learn from, hence the look to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his faith. We are, at this point, far from that level of extremism. But that only makes it more imperative that those of us who feel strongly need to know what is happening and learn what potential actions we can engage in. It has been and will continue to be a time of contention, disagreement, fear, anger, and a multitude of emotions. In our country we have seen many things challenged that we thought were being taken care of- civil rights, women’s rights, the environment to name a few. We have seen a series of potential scandals and ongoing investigations, the extent of which we have never seen in our lifetimes. We watch as saber-rattling becomes the norm. We argue over walls and immigration, refugees and the Biblical idea of sanctuary cities.

Which brings us to Holy Week- the central activity of Jesus that makes clear why we Christians are to follow him. In Jesus, Bonhoeffer would say, we see God’s view of being human.

• We see in the life of Jesus the life that every Christian should strive for. 
• We see in Holy Week the suffering that Jesus was willing to undergo for humanity. 
• We see on Maundy Thursday the call to servant obedience he gave to his followers. 
• We see on Good Friday the ultimate personal sacrifice of self for others. And, to use Bonhoeffer’s quote, we see how far God in and through Jesus was willing to go to drive a spoke into the wheel of evil and injustice.

Today, Palm Sunday, Jesus enters Jerusalem to cheers and acclaim. The people are all on his side. They will be so- until it becomes inconvenient. Leaving aside all the theological niceties and sermon themes I have preached and we have all heard, what is there about Palm Sunday and Holy Week to challenge us in the year 2017? What is there to remind us of the direction of God’s will, the power of God’s love, the vision of how we as humans are called to live? As I go through this week I will have shorter posts each day to help me focus on how this week can guide us. In some ways, even though many churches focus on the whole Passion narrative, it is still only Palm Sunday. It is the day of hope and joy, even as we know what is about to happen. That gives us the opportunities to prepare.

In my preparations this week, even as I cheer Jesus, I know that all around are things to pay attention to- the things that Jesus paid attention to, as, for example, he drove the money changers from the Temple before retiring to Bethany.

• Where am I seeing the signs of injustice?

• How do I participate in these acts of injustice and evil, even if it is “only” by my silence?

• What are the ways I can care for the victims of injustice and evil? That is important. But if I do nothing to stand up to the evil we will all continue to be overwhelmed with more victims than we can handle.

• What are the ways I can name these signs of evil?

• How can refuse to go along with the evil

• In the end, how can I help in the actions to stop the evil?

Not easy questions, and the answers are even more difficult. But it is what Jesus did in Holy Week. Can I do anything less?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In Memory:

April 9, 1945

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

was executed by the Nazis at

Flossenburg Concentration Camp.

He was 39 years old.

Darwin, Christians, and Hitler

As I was surfing the web the other day I came across an article on Salon.com on novelist James Carroll's book Constantine's Sword and the new documentary made from it. It is a book about anti-Semitism and the Catholic Church's complicity in it for centuries (or even millennia.) The article by Andrew O'Hehir in his "Beyond the Multiplex" column said at one point:

Carroll believes that Christians, and especially his fellow Catholics, must come to grips with the past. They can't claim to be a force of morality and integrity until they face the church's painful history of anti-Jewish libel and persecution -- and face it in what he terms a spirit of "repentant change."

As one who has been a student of this issue for nigh unto 40 years now (and a Christian who was born Jewish and more than painfully aware that in the anti-Semitic world even my daughter, 1/4 Jewish, would be singled out for hatred. That in spite of my 44 years as a Christian and her lifetime as one.)

Then came the next paragraph:

The culmination of Christian anti-Semitism, of course, arrived under the Nazis, ...

That line made me want to break my silence on the recent anti-evolution film with Ben Stein, Expelled. What makes the film controversial, as I understand it, is linking evolution with the Nazis. Without Darwin and evolution the Holocaust would never have happened.

Wrong! Sadly and greatly wrong. It makes it sound like the genocidal mania of the Final Solution is based on some liberal, secular idea. Hitler may have been the ultimate secular, and he was anything but liberal but his whole approach was based on an idea that has been around almost as long as the church.

Anti-Semitism of the same virulent and homicidal approach was around long, long, long before Darwin. It was around long before Newtonian science. Long before Copernicus took the earth (and us) out of the center of the universe. To make such a silly and reductionist claim about evolution is nothing short of bad history and a gret big form of denial.

The article goes on:

Carroll's objects of contemplation are various and his approach is always sober and reflective. He finds the roots of anti-Semitic violence in the Emperor Constantine's sudden conversion to Christianity, which came in a vision as he was crossing a bridge over the Tiber.

Ben Stein couldn't say that without getting into trouble. James Carroll, a Catholic and former seminarian can say it.

I am not getting into any argument about creationism vs evolution. I find it a silly, reductionist waste of good energy. But when the argument seeks to change or worse ignore history it is in danger of losing the war to win the battle. Yes, I know that Hitler would have used anything and anyone to justify what he was doing. But he knew what he was doing when he is reported to have said that he was about the finish what the church had been trying to do for centuries- get rid of the Jews.

And much of the church was found wanting when it came to standing up and saying "No!" After all, the government is for our protection. Those Jews must have been doing something wrong or the government wouldn't have taken them away.

Oh how scary!

I hope that Carroll's documentary gets a far wider showing than it will. Anti-Semitism is one of those powerful core sins of western civilization, just as racism is our American core sin. Anti-Semitism is not dead and gone. It is not based on Darwinian evolution. Yes, the Nazis utilized evolutionary thought to justify what they were going to do. But that isn't what drove them. Historically, for six times the length of time since Darwin, the world that the Nazis built on has been driven by anti-Semitism.

Holy Week 2007-
Wednesday - Resting at Bethany
(Based on thoughts from Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan in the book, The Last Week.)

But all is not calm while Jesus rests. Judas is busy. The plans are all coming into place. Soon. It will all happen soon.

Whatever it is.

Even Judas probably has no idea of what this really is about. Whatever his reasons, whatever the thought process that brought him to this decision, all we will ever know is simply that he turned Jesus into the authorities. He worked with the powers that be to set a trap when there weren't a lot of people around.

While Jesus rests in Bethany. He's going to need all the strength he can muster in the next 48 hours. Every ounce of human resource he has will be tested. He probably knows it. Whether he had the complete awareness of God or just a 100% human awareness at that point, it would be perfectly clear that things were heating up. How much the human Jesus really understood is obviously up for debate. But that is not the point.

He was at the center of the storm. He has put himself there. No questions asked. He was preparing for that final confrontation with evil that began with his temptations and will now be brought to its conclusion.

Evil sulked away from that time on the desert, waiting for a better time. Now, it is bringing its forces together. Maybe that's why Jesus talked about the apocalyptic yesterday. His ability to see the forces of evil, an awesome power of discernment, never fails him. Perhaps because, unlike us, he is not fooled by shows of power or promises of wealth and esteem. He is not taken in by calls to glory or military prowess or global domination.

He sees beyond them, through them and into the very heart of the darkness they provide. I am glad I don't have that. I am much too human and have a hunch I would be overwhelmed by what I see. What I am able to discern through my own imperfect and prejudiced view is bad enough.

Judas sneaks around. Jesus rests. It is Wednesday and this weekend is coming.

God help us.