The Ways Of The King

Scriptures:     I Samuel 8:4-20                                 Psalm 30

2 Corinthians 8:7-15                         Mark 5:21-43

You may remember the Star War prequel movies…and yeah, everybody hated Jar Jar Binks.  But anyway, among other things, it shows a galactic senate squabbling over trade issues and unable to accomplish anything.  Eventually, tired of squabbling, the legislature votes to give “emergency powers” to Senator Palpatine, to the cheering of the crowd.  And thus the Republic is turned into an Empire.  Padme Amidala, dismayed at this turn of events, says  “So this is how liberty dies, to thunderous applause.”

This Wednesday, July 4, we celebrate the 242^nd anniversary of our country’s Declaration of Independence from British rule.  The Founders made this ringing declaration:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  The writers then named a number of ways in which the policies of King George III had encroached on these rights – what the declaration describes as “a long train of abuses and usurpations”.  Among these were the maintenance of standing armies among the colonists and the quartering of troops among the colonists – that is to say, forcing private homeowners to allow military personnel to live in their homes and eat at their tables - even in peacetime, the overriding of laws passed by the colonists, the practice of holding legislative assemblies at remote locations and at inconvenient times in order to discourage the public from attending, famously, the imposition of taxes on the colonists without their representation in passing them, not allowing trial by jury, and cutting off trade.  The declaration declares the colonies to be independent from Britain, and asserts that “as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”  It was a costly declaration, and some of the signers did indeed put their sacred honor on the line, did indeed sacrifice their fortunes and their lives in defense of these words.  A bit over 10 years later, a Constitutional Convention was held, at which was hammered out our present system of government, in which no one person or group of persons holds all the power, and in which the three bodies of government – legislative, executive, and judicial – each represent checks and balances on the power of the others.   This reflected not only the experience of living under the rule of King George, but a knowledge that power corrupts, and therefore must be kept within limits.  In 1787, outside Independence Hall, following the end of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a Mrs. Powel, “Well, Doctor, what do we have, a Republic or a Monarchy?”  Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” 

The Declaration of Independence was a rebellion against an oppressive and unaccountable central government.  Our Old Testament reading today reflects a different problem, not of too much central power, but too little.  It comes at the end of the time of the judges.  After Moses led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, his designated successor Joshua led them into the promised land.  While Moses had designated Joshua as his successor, Joshua had not designated any one person to succeed him, and so after Joshua’s death there was a power vacuum.  This period is described in the book of Judges.  Left to their own devices, the people fell away from the Lord.  Periodically, a crisis would arise, and God would raise up a charismatic leader, called a judge, to bring the people through the crisis.  But after that judge’s death, things would fall apart again.  A few weeks ago, we read the story of the boy Samuel, who was told in a vision that the aged Eli, the judge at that time, would be punished, because his sons who were also judges were corrupt and oppressed the people, and Eli had been unable to restrain them.  In today’s reading, things have come full circle: Samuel is now old, and his sons who were made judges were corrupt and oppressing the people.   What the boy Samuel had spoken against, the aged Samuel had become.  The people had become tired of lurching from crisis to crisis without strong leadership.  They saw that the surrounding tribes had kings to lead them into battle, and at least from a distance it seemed to work pretty well for them.  So the elders of the people came to Samuel and did a sort of intervention:  “Samuel, you’re old and your sons are corrupt.   This isn’t working for us.   Appoint a king to rule us like the other nations have.” 

Of course, Samuel was terribly hurt because the people had rejected his sons, and went to the Lord to plead his case.  However, God told him to go along with the peoples’ request – but beforehand to warn them that their request would come back to bite them, and hard.  The people only looked at the benefits of having a king – that is, having someone to lead them into war and fight their battles.  Basically, they wanted a strong man that would kick butt and take names.  But Samuel warned them that eventually it would be their own butts that would be kicked by their king, that this king would reduce them to slavery:  your king will conscript your sons and daughters into his service, will take the best of your lands, the best of your produce, and you’ll be left impoverished by this king that you’re begging for.   While, to quote Mel Brooks’ famous line, “It’s good to be da king,” it’s not so good to be the king’s subjects.  Samuel’s warnings came to pass, especially during the reign of King Solomon.  His reign was peaceful, but he heavily taxed the people to pay for the Temple, his palace, and other projects dedicated to his glory.  After his death, his son Rehoboam was asked by the people for tax relief, but Rehoboam promised to jack up taxes even higher.  This led ten of the tribes to revolt against Rehoboam.   God’s people were divided, and eventually God’s people conquered, the ten tribes by Assyria, and later the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin by Babylon. 

Our situation is very different from that of the elders of the people during Samuel’s time, and yet there are similarities, notably the prevalence of corruption in government.   A study of public policy and legislation done at Princeton University concluded that in effect our government functions more like an oligarchy – a government by a small number of elites – than like a republic, as the preferences of ordinary citizens have minimal if any influence on public policy.  While money has always influenced public policy to some extent, the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which defined campaign donations as protected political speech, opened up the floodgates to corruption, to the point where we now have the best “democracy” corporate money can buy. 

At the same times, the system of checks and balances established by the founders isn’t working so well.  Over time, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, American presidents have grabbed more and more power for themselves.    For example, Article 1, section 8 of the constitution specifically grants congress, not the president, the power to declare war, but in practice, since the Korean War, one president after another, regardless of party, has bypassed congress in sending troops into battle.   More recently there are questions about the executive branch’s warrantless surveillance of US citizens’ phone calls, text messages, and other electronic communications – and again, this has only increased over a succession of presidents of both parties.   What is always forgotten is that a power grab by a president of one party, if allowed, sets a precedent that can be used and abused and expanded upon by all succeeding presidents thereafter of whichever party, unless legislation is passed to end it.  Franklin’s words, “A republic, if you can keep it” are as relevant today as they were when first spoken.   

Power can be used to oppress, or to uplift.  In our Old Testament reading, Samuel warned the people of how power could be used to oppress.  Our Gospel reading shows us Jesus using his power to uplift.  Jesus is approached by a desperate synagogue leader, who pleads for Jesus to heal his twelve year old daughter.  On the way, Jesus is also approached by an anonymous woman who had been living with internal bleeding for twelve years.  In the midst of the crowd, the woman touched Jesus and was healed, and Jesus took the time to acknowledge the woman’s faith.  And then, even after the synagogue leader’s daughter was declared dead, Jesus raised the girl.  

I don’t have the power to raise anyone from the dead.  I don’t have the power to stop anyone’s internal bleeding.  Most of the time I don’t even have the power to stop my own perennially lousy sinuses from spewing incessantly, much to my embarrassment and discomfort.  But we all have more power than we know.  Democracy is not a spectator sport.   Edmund Burke is quoted as saying, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”   We may remember the words of German pastor Martin Neimoller who famously wrote, “First they came for the socialists, and because I was not a socialist, I did not speak out.  Then they came for the trade unionists, and because I was not a trade unionist, I did not speak out.  Then they came for the Jews, and because I was not a Jew, I did not speak out.  Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out.”   We might remember Neimoller’s words when we look at how Muslims and immigrants and racial and sexual minorities are treated today – any abuse visited on them today could come our way tomorrow.  We do have power as individuals to put others down or lift them up, power to give aid and comfort to official abuse of power, or to confront it.  Our votes, our calls and letters and emails and tweets to congress, our public gatherings and protests all have the potential to change society, have the potential to restrain evil, have the potential to promote justice.

Historian Tim Snyder has studied how democracies in the twentieth century had fallen to authoritarianism – fascism on the right and communism on the left.  In his small book “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century”, Snyder gives twenty lessons for resisting authoritarian rule, and here are just a few of them:  “Do not obey in advance” – i.e. don’t immediately cave in to whatever those in power may demand, before they even demand it.  “Defend institutions” – such as the courts and the press, which tend to be suppressed in authoritarian regimes. “Remember professional ethics” – which would have prevented doctors from being transformed into killers in Hitler’s Germany and elsewhere.  “Beware of paramilitaries.” – self-appointed goon squads with guns - well, that one seems self-evident.  “Believe in truth” – absolutely crucial in our day of so-called fake news and alternative facts.  “Investigate” – don’t just share that photo or meme on Facebook without doing research to confirm whether it’s actually true.  ““Be kind to our language” – you may remember from high school how in Orwell’s book 1984 the government dumbed down the language by promoting “Newspeak”, creating words such as “doubleplusungood”, and authoritarian governments do their own versions of this this in real life.  “Maintain a private life” – Don’t put every last detail of your life up on Facebook, because whatever you say can and may be used against you. Snyder wrote of how keeping a diary – in secret -  kept some persons sane during Hitler’s rise to power, as everything was changing around them.    “Practice corporeal politics” – get out from behind that computer screen, get out of doors, breathe some fresh air, and actually vote, attend community meetings in person, etc.   “Make eye contact and small talk” – maintain connections to our neighbors, especially those who differ from us.  And finally, “Be as courageous as you can.” 

The prophet Samuel warns us to beware the “ways of the king”, to avoid authoritarian rule, and warns us not to surrender our power to those who promise quick fixes to complex societal problems.  Jesus, whom we as Christians claim as our King of Kings, brings healing and life to us, and inspires us to use our individual power to bring healing and life to others. 

On this July 4, it’s not enough to celebrate independence with a parade and a barbeque.  We need to live independence from authoritarian rule, interdependence with our neighbors near and far, and dependence on God’s grace. May God shed His grace on us, and may God mend our every flaw.  May God indeed crown our good with brotherhood – and sisterhood – from sea to shining sea.  Amen.