I don’t always read
French philosophers, but when I do …
Michel
Foucault said where there is power there is resistance. I think we see concrete
examples of that, large and small, in the world all around us.
Think
about a child who doesn’t want to go in his car seat. (I can speak with
authority about this.) He arches his back and pushes against the straps as you
try to buckle him in. The power you exert meets the child’s resistance.
If
someone is pushing you to do something you don’t want to do, you push back. If
someone is forcing something on you that you believe is wrong, you push back.
You resist.
Resistance
is a powerful thing. There have been a lot of resistance movements throughout
history. For example, there was the Resistance led by Princess Leia against the
Empire, which was clearly evil, using the Force for dark and evil purposes… Oh,
right, that isn’t actually history.
In
actual real life, though, there was the French Resistance, where citizens of
occupied France pushed back against the Nazi power in their country. The
members of the resistance found many subversive and creative ways to sabotage
the Germans in their war efforts. The French have long been proud of the role
they played in defeating the Nazis, showing that even when you don’t have
conventional forms of power, there are other ways to resist.
Any
war is a matter of power and resistance. One side pushes, the other side pushes
back.
Where
there is power there is resistance. We could just as easily say that resistance
is another form of power, that power fights against power. But not everyone
joins one side or another, right? Some just go with the flow.
I am
thinking about power and resistance today because I think our two readings
bring these issues to the surface: There is power and there is resistance.
There is good and there is evil.
And I
think Foucault is right when he says that power is everywhere, power is more
amorphous than structured. Everyone has access to power, it’s just a matter of
how you use it.
I
think both our scriptures have something to say to us about power and
resistance. Just as in so many cases we can think of in the world, when evil
rears its head, resistance will emerge and fight against it.
But,
here is the flip side: It is also true
that whenever good rises up, there will be resistance to it. This is the matter
that scripture so often contends with, and so sharply reveals to us.
Let’s
take the story from Mark’s gospel. In Capernaum on the Sabbath day, Jesus
entered the synagogue and taught. In typical Markan fashion, the text doesn’t
tell us how this came about. Was Jesus invited to step up to the front and
teach? Or did he just stand up and begin speaking? In any case, the people were
astounded. They perceived the authority he possessed in his words.
Then,
in just a matter of moments, they were able to see a demonstration of this
authority. A man possessed by an unclean spirit, a demon, stood up in the
synagogue. He started ranting and raving, screaming, saying shocking things,
calling Jesus the Holy One.
Time
out for a word about demons: One of the problems we have in reading the
scriptures is that so much of it is impossible to translate. We can translate
from Greek to English, but how do we translate different ways of understanding
the world? Such as ancient understandings of power, brokenness, goodness and
evil, as they are at work in the world? How do we impose our modern
understanding of the world, in which science plays an important role, on an
ancient story? How do we articulate the timeless truths that are in these
stories, in spite of epic barriers?
These
days when we read about exorcisms and healings we have other knowledge we can
bring to it. A man who is said to be possessed by a demon might actually have a
diagnosable disease. He might suffer from epilepsy, in which case his
convulsions would be understood in that light. He might suffer from mental
illness, with delusions that he expresses in ways that are terrifying to
others. In our modern world, we may see these instances that are called demon
possession differently. But we should be careful that we don’t use this
knowledge to explain away the important message.
The
gospels are not attempting to diagnose illness; they are endeavoring to
describe a world in which evil is present, it is insidious. Evil infects some
people so much that they are completely overwhelmed by it. We might think of
some who suffer mental illness or addiction this way. For others it completely
co-opts them, making them agents of evil. We might consider some infamous
characters in history, like Hitler, in this way.
For
most of us, though, the spirit of evil is a force that sometimes clouds our
judgment and bends our wills. It is a force that resists when we try to do
good; it hands us useful rationalizations when we need to justify our sins.
Jesus
commanded the spirit to be silent, and the spirit obeyed. And the people were
amazed.
Amazed, the text says, as it searches for a word that would be
adequate to describe this whole unearthly experience. I wonder at the words the
various translations use to describe the people’s response to Jesus. When you
compare a number of different English translations you find the words astounded, amazed, astonished, shaken,
surprised, overwhelmed, incredulous. Notice that it does not say overjoyed, glad, grateful. No, they
are not yet ready to say that this is a good thing that has come into their
midst.
And we
know, from our reading of the scriptures, that many of them would never be
ready to They would prefer to condemn the messenger to saying that this is a
good message, a word of God, a good thing that has come into their midst.
People don’t always greet the power of God with open hearts. They are
resistant.
The
scene that day in Capernaum is consistent with other scenes that played out
many times before in cities and villages– even in the wilderness. When Moses
led Israel out of slavery, they bitterly accused him of trying to kill them.
Time and again, they mistrusted him, at one point even casting an idol out of
gold which they set out to worship, in place of God. Moses brought a word of
God and the people resisted. And the scriptures show it happening again and
again.
When
the prophet Elijah came to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, warning them to repent,
did they repent? No; they went after Elijah instead. Elijah brought a word of
God and the king resisted.
When
Jeremiah preached, when Ezekiel demonstrated, the people resisted. It seemed to
be a pattern. When the power of God, the power of good, is present, there will
be resistance.
Resistance,
in and of itself, is neither good nor bad, it is only opposition, and it may
oppose either good or bad. It may play out to good or bad effect. It is the
nature of the world; as long as this world exists there will be tension between
good and evil. And this is why God knew that the world would always need new
messengers to bring God’s word, God’s power, to the people.
The
book of Deuteronomy is one extended set of instructions Moses delivers to the
people of Israel as they prepare to take possession of the land God has
promised them. Among the many things Moses has to say to them, are instruction
about how the nation of Israel will be constituted. This is where we hear of the
leadership offices God will provide for them: there will be priests, there will
be judges. There may be kings, although their power must be limited, because
God is the true sovereign. And there will be prophets. It was in the
constitution!
God
knew that the people would need prophets.
Many
hundreds of years later, Jesus of Nazareth came with words and signs and
wonders – a new prophet in their midst. Indeed, we understand Jesus to be the
fulfillment of all of the leadership offices – he is prophet, priest, judge,
and king. Jesus came to his people and he met resistance.
The
people resist and, as Moses’s words clearly suggest, the prophets will
sometimes resist too. It is just as difficult to deliver a hard word as it is
to receive one, and it is tempting for the prophets and the preachers of the
world to soften it up, or just change it into something more palatable.
In the
story of the prophet Elijah in the book of Kings, it says that when King Ahab
encountered the prophet he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” I
guess this king had nicknames for the people who worked for him, or maybe just
for the ones he didn’t like. Ahab would have liked Elijah better if Elijah had
a softer, gentler word for him. Not too long after that encounter, Queen
Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah, and I think Elijah was more scared of
Jezebel than he was of Ahab – with good reason.
It
occurs to me that peddling a softer word might have been tempting for Elijah. After
all, who doesn’t want to be liked? Or, at least, left to live. Nonetheless, he
resisted the temptation.
All of
this is simply to say that we need to beware of how we might be tempted to
respond to a word of good as well as a word of evil. Just as our weekly
confession is meant to remind us, we are all, every one of us, flawed human
beings. One of our weaknesses is just not wanting to see that and accept it.
And if someone holds a mirror up to us – whether a prophet, a preacher, a
friend, or Jesus himself – we just might resent it.
This
is our weakness, but that’s not the bottom line. You know we have a source of
strength that is stronger than any weakness we might have: Christ with us and
in us. and the bottom line is you and I can overcome all things through Christ
who strengthens us.
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