+ GOD'S HUMTLITY

Thursday morning, March 13, 1980
Muskingum College

. PE Let me introduce the subject
by way of a vignette from history and an important and
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ssage of seripture.

Philippe. \ one army was commanded by conspirators who

recently had assassinated Julius, Caesar. \ Their names -

Brutus and Cassius. \ The other army was under two loyalists,
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Mark Antony and Octavian.
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were victorious at Philipps. \ the battle marks the real

beginning of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Octavian

as Head of State - Emperor. \the Roman senate conferred the
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Octavius must have had a soft spot in his heart for the
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place where his dramatic rise to power began because one of

the first things he did was rebuild Philippi, on the model

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of a miniature Rome, and populate it with his old soldiers,
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It was given the rank of colony. \ rt would haye_ bad some-

thing of the character of a military base. \ Its mentality
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would have been martial. 4 And in Philippi, a Roman citizen
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by the name of Paul, had planted the seeds of a Christian

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church.
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These are the people to whom re wrotetwhat was to become
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one of the most important and certainly one of the most

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eloquent passages in the Bible.\ Philippians 9:5-11...'Have
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this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality
with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself...humbled

himself, became obedient..."

The old soldiers of Philippi would have understood the
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business about obedience unto death . | That is the military
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code |\ It was the self—emptying, the humility, the conscious

renunciation of power_which they would have tripped on, and

which was so opposite from everything they had lived by.\ A
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soldier understands power .\ You don't renounce it, you yse
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it on your enemy. \ you don't empty yourself: (you protect
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and extend yourself at the expense of your opponent .\\ Nowhere
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does the Gospel of Jesus Christ stand in such, sharp contrast
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to the world as in the passage written, perhaps for the old
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soldiers of Philippi .\ Se1f—omptying - humility are here de-
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fined as characteristics of the new life in Christ, and that,
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in any age, is radically different.
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The world, after all, operates large ly on a power basis.

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It always pas | "fie fundamental religious ques tion asked by
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every generation since the beginning of time has to do with»
power;\ namely, if God is all powerful, 3 hy do his people

suffer? | We ask that question every time a good and dear
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friend, a relative, a generous human being, is struck_down
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prematurely \ Why? \ why does God let it happen? | way do God's

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enemies prosper and his friends suffer? \ Why doesn't God do
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something?

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The question is asked in lpterature over and over again

but nowhere more urgently than™:he ancient Jews at the time

of their exile in Babyton \ In the beginning they perceived
their God in the same terms as their nei pbors..\ Tribal

deities gave power to their people: \ the more powerful the

tribe or nation, the more powerful the deity \ Prosperity,

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economic strength and military conquests, even the number

of concubines enjoyed by the King were all seen as evidence

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of God's power and glory. |= brief, God was established by
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the power and strength of those who claimed his name .\ During
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the reigns of kings like David, Solomon and Uzziah it was
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easy to believe that the God of Israel was Lordof all, and his
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people chosen from among the whole human race. \But it didn't
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last long: \ the system began to unravel in a civil war, 2
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split into two nations, questionable alliances, finally

invasion and conquest.) In 587 Jerusalem was vanquished and

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Solomon's Temple, the very sign of God's power and presence,

was leveled and the population deported.

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Paul Tournier observes: (vor a nation which has so totally
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identified its destiny with the power of Jahw@h, it is much

more than a military defeat, \it is a religious calamity, the

collapse of the very foundation of its faith \ Having for so

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long proved God by the success_of those who served him they

pegan to doubt him in the face of this complete catastrophe.

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Where is God's power?'| (The Violence Within, p. 107)

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There it is - the age old predicament of saith \ Why

the awful silence of God? | way do the innocent suffer?

Why not peace and harmony instead of war and suffering?

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A moment of pure revelation and one of the turning points in

the history of religious thought, came when a prophet, left

behind in Judah, wrote to the exiles in Babylon to the effect
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that God himself suffers with them, that he identifies with

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them, that he becomes weak for their_sakes, that he chooses

humility.

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The prophet used an image of a suffering servant and

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his words are among the most poignant in ail the language
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of religion.
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted
yet he opened not his mouth:
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like sheep that before its shearers'‘is dumb, 4 free

. So
so he opened not his mouth." bw
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What an incredible way to be talking about God. {What a

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vast contrast between that and the brazen and vulgar religion®
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of the world with their petty tyrant gods, flexing their

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muscles and commanding obeisance at the threat_of death | We

have not always understood it, but God's chosen humility has

been the essential part of our tradition since that time long

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ago.

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Jesus knew about the words of the prophet .\ He seems to

comma ft. Hop ets

description of God's suffering servant. \ Tne motif of self-

emptying, humility and the total renunication of power is’ the

have understood his mission in life in terms of

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most consistent in his nite. \ advised his followers, for
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instance, to become like ale children. \ He told them that
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the man who exalts himself will be hunbied. | we saig that
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in his kingdom the first will be last and the last first. \ ne
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suggested that the way to receive life was to lose it, an

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the guaranteed way to lose it was to try to grasp itl And in
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the Garden of Gethsemane, at the time of his arrest he said
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it plainly -\"Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father

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who would promptly send more than twelve legions of angels to
my defense?" and then allowed himself to be taken away by

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the guards.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a radical alternative to

the use of power which characterizes the world. \ Let's think
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habout that for a moment .\ We have all experienced the strange
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and compelling way in which power translates itself into

| violence.\ A norma lly placid and peace loving person can,

and often does, become ageressive, belligerent, pushy and

“Iviolent at the wheel of a several hundred horsepower auto-
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pite.\ Child abuse, one of the truly_alarming problems
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in our culture is a pure example of power becoming violence,

encouraged by the degree of violence the culture both allows
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qd celebrates. \ But tar short of physical abuse, every parent
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knows how easy it is, because of inherent power, to do verbal
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and emotional violence to one's children.\ It took me a long
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time to come to terms with it, but I am beginning to see that
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power always has the potential of violence within it.\ Tournier,
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who has written an excellent book on the subject helped me to
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see that.| He writes: | "The more powerful_we are, the greater
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the constraint, open or hidden, which we exercise upon others,
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and the more we thus provoke them to violent reactions ."\
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(ob. cit., p. 114) That is a helpful insight as we think
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about and are astonished by the intense hatred some of the
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Iranian people seem to feel toward us.
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One of the truly disturbing assertions in Tournier's

book which he documents thoroughly is that ("power confers

as
impunity on violence." )From Julius Caesar on down, powerful

men have rationalized their own violence. \("If you are power-

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ful, your violence can escape all retribution.\ Power is

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secured by violence, and violence is justified by siswastt)

(ob. cit., p. 115) Thus even the bombing of Cambodia could ;
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be called al("protective reation strike .") aotoah - poam eo ce tal,
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Ubew it as You don't have to look far for the proof of that parti-

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Melee
' cular pudding The history of Christianity has been an
ore bject 1 in th ti ee M hol
pice Se" ec esson in e corruption o ower. scholars
Om. contend that the very worst thing ever to happen to the

(ks leodes church was its becoming the State religion of Rome by edict

aide of the Emperor Constantine. | Certainly_its worst mistakes
+ aauge® ave been committed at the height of its secular power \ the

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de porttss ) | peen=precednichy.sothersimbiercabises=eruinerhunertreeday
(fest coumb

4 fw - Yet we continue to be fascinated with power.\ Institu-

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pwle ee tionally, we evaluate the effectiveness of the church on the

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we we! pt basis of its size, wealth and strength. Big - even in churches -
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ow" Cott is beautiful \ And we have made personal power into a kind of

; \ eligious @uest. |] EST, Assertiveness Training, are important

Ps heed \) eS 7
vit abet refed eum + Avsouss XL grisvlh cf refers

round, [take nothing from anyone and to insist, as

principle, that we have the right to have things

our way A ay, I'm weary of self-assertiveness.) I appreciate

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the psychological reality that many of us could stand a little

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It all came home to me in

\ I was waiting a bit impatiently at an
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ducted an animated convey: ion with several youn

4 It went on for some time. \ rinatay, I suggested. that

of my personality, looks and ancestry, \ wag totally

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surprised - stunned - then angry, and finally very sa9.\ Fe

have used self-assertiveness as a socially accepted excuse

lly legitimate need for self-esteem as an excuse
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tian faith, called it the triumph of smali ness and weakness

and offered instead a celebration of strength and power which

Nazi theoreticians eagerly used to give legitimacy to their

Master-race ideologies \ We have, in this culture - at this
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time - begun to behave in a way Nietzsche would have roved.

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We byy books which advise how to("Win through fotimtdation.” »

We even arrange our office furniture so that the boss sits
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slightly bigher than anygne else. \But even though it is our

current obsession - integrity demands the observation that

mind. \ Parents discover that almost daily with their children.
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A child can be forced to behave in a certain _way

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into self conscious responsible behavior unless there is

something more than power involved. \me cause of Jesus Christ
ecommrninis a juimmeeeareeenaa mrtimamreogeen

were effected ))

romance, we discover that love can never use power to work

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remain empty and alone. \ Power - our greatest te
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simply doesn't work...

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resorts to force, but is expressed _ in restraint.\ It_is
ereermnts erties Se mntiaiesrtsin some ‘come

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not done in tran.| The philosopher Georges Gusdorf observed
that,\ "despite appearances violence is more a sign of weak-
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ness than of strength. \.Violence is the opposite of strength,
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for the energy it brings to bear is the energy of despiar...
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The stronger one is, the less one needs to show one's Serength."|
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(Tournier, ibid., p. 11)

Power doesn't work.4 Love works \ Strong love which never
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coerces, never forces, is never violent \ When God wanted to

give the gift of salvation to his creation he had, one must

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assume, any number of alternatives. \ when he wanted to show

people how to live fully, joyfully, eternally, he could have
— Sa tient

God, in infinite wisdom, chose to become humble...

Sitting in prison, waiting for his execution by the

Nazis, Dietrich Boshoeits

birt aa

God's power in the context of real, worldly, militarymower.
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had plenty of time to think about

And he wrote: | "God allows himself to be edged cut of the
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world and unto a cross. | God is weak and powerless in the

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world and that is exactly the way in which he can be with

us and help vs. "\ Guetters and Papers from Prison, Pp. 164)

The Incarnation, our genius, means that God loves
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humanity so much that he made himself yulnerable to and for
humanity . | we are the only people in the worid to approach
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so preposterous a suggestion. |r Jesus Christ God volun-

tarily laid aside prerogative and power and agsumed the

identity of a servant. \God puts humself at the disposal of

10

humanity. duergan Moltman radically exposes our funda-
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mental genius in a book with the provocative title The Cru-

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ecified God, in which he suggests that God wasp tia spectator

at the crucifixion.\ He experienced it. | God, Moltman AT EUes |

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died for us.

Elie Wiesel keeps the issue before us even when we don't
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want to think about it.{ For him the Holecaust.has, forever

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changed the landscape of theology. Rai Richard
Rubeftfgtein, nothing will ever be the same for Wiesel, After

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auscwita, | put Wiesel tells one story which almost gompels

a Christian response. {He recalls, as a little poy, being
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a ghastly experience, even in a totally ghastly world \, The

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child died slowly and behind him in the crowd of men forced

to watch someone cried out (here is goa mere ig he?

Where can he he now?” And a voice inside Weisel answered:

‘He is there - hanging on the gallows." | Wiesel meant that

the God of

experience.

But Francois Mauriac, in the introduction to Wiesel's

book Night - frames the issue for Christians -\what did I

say to nan? | via I speak of that other Israeli, his brother,

—~ the crucified...Did I affirm that the stumbling block to

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his faith was the cornerstone to mine, and that the confor-
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mity between the crogs and the suffering of men was in my

— tery whereon the faith
of his childhood had perished." \ signet, p. 10)

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Aristotle said it couldn't be. | If he wanted to be God,

he couldn't be vulnerable \ Albert Camus, who spent his whole
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literary life wrestling with the issue came down on the side
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of Aristotle concluding that(''God remains completely unaffected
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by the ills that befail_us and is the eternal bystander whose

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back ig turned to the woe of the voz4.") (see Schubert Ogden,

The Reality of God, p. 57)

And so when he decided to come among us, into human
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history, it was in a very humble birth, and a most ordinary

life and it all ended in a gesture of meekness so humble that
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it was missed by all but a _yery fey \ God, we believe, chose

have always seen their gods in nature and grandiose power
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plays and architecture monuments . \coa, we believe, chose
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ili hi f d te lesso bout
power.
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“the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the

weakness of God is stronger than men."