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July 26, 2009
God and ViolenceThis summer during worship we are addressing the questions that you, the people of St. Paul’s, have asked about faith, theology, and our larger Lutheran church body, the ELCA. Today we tackle the questions, “Does the God of the Bible ‘punish’ people? How is God linked to the Bible’s violence?” How’s THAT for a heavy topic the last Sunday in July? (Who put all this together?) Well... since this is on our plate today... and because how we link God and violence is important for Christian life and faith... and because I never want you to think that the things that go awry in your life are a result of God’s punishment... let’s do the best we can with these heavy and difficult questions. All in? Ok. Let’s begin with our Old Testament reading from the book of Exodus. In this passage, God explains to Moses... and the people... and all of us... who God is. God says, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin... ” If God had stopped there, we’d have nothing to talk about this morning. But there’s more to verse 7. God says, “... [I am one who is] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty, but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Certainly there’s some tension here. As the Interpreter’s Bible Commentary puts it, “This God is at the same time capable of inordinate generosity (mercy, graciousness, steadfast love, faithfulness) and an assaulting severity (visiting iniquities). Or as I might more simply say, “How can God be gracious and merciful and yet punish children for their parents’ sins?” Our larger Lutheran Church body, the ELCA, does not have an official way to square this tension, but I make my peace with it through the interpretation and the words of my Old Testament professor, Terry Fretheim. In his book, About the Bible, Fretheim addresses this topic by saying that, although it is common to claim that the God of the Bible punishes people for what they do (or don’t do), especially the God of the Old Testament, it would be more accurate to say that, “the effects (or the consequences) [of sin] grow out of the deed itself; they are not a penalty or punishment that God pronounces on the situation or ‘sends’ on the perpetrators. The evidence for this point of view is that the words for wickedness are often the same as those used for the effects (for example, ‘disaster’). And so, such disastrous effects are the ‘the fruit of their schemes.’ Ezekiel 7:27 puts it this way: ‘According to their own judgments I [God] will judge them.’ Like fruit, the consequence grows out of... the deed. Many everyday expressions make a comparable point: you reap what you sow; what goes around comes around; let them stew in their own juices... ” “That sins have effects gives testimony to the way God made the world: human deeds have effects, for good or for ill.” Again, I might more simply say, “What we do really does matter.” Right about now you might be saying to yourself, OK, Pastor Caroline, I get it. God doesn’t save us from experiencing the consequences of our own actions. But what about the part where God says God punishes children for the parents’ sins? That’s not “reaping what you sow.” Ah... right. True, says Fretheim. The difficulty with the way God created the world is that consequences aren’t always experienced in a mechanistic or precise way. “... it may be that the wicked will prosper for a time and the innocent will suffer because of the sins of others, or for unknown reasons. Ecclesiastes 9:11 even introduces an element of chance or randomness: ‘Time and chance happen to them all.’” Another difficulty somewhat foreign to our modern sensibilities is that consequences don’t usually effect only one person, but groups of people... even whole communities. This is the whole concept of “if one person throws a spit ball, the whole class gets in trouble.” Most of us would say, “That’s not fair.” And it isn’t. But that’s the way things often work..back then... today... tomorrow. Today’s passage is a perfect example. We ask, “Why are the sins of the parents visited upon the children for generations?” And yet we know that those who experience violence as children are more likely to be violent adults... .and those who grow up in alcoholic households are more likely to have an addictive personality. It’s hard to break the cycle of sinful behavior... such that the sins of the parents are often visited upon the children! Again I say, it’s not that God is punishing, it’s that what we do matters... not only for ourselves, but for our families, our communities, and the world as a whole. All this leads us into our second heavy and difficult question, “How is God linked to the Bible’s violence?” I linked these two questions together today because there aren’t enough Sundays in the summer to handle them separately, but also because a lot of the same interpretation applies. Rather than God punishing people, a lot of the violence in the Bible... as well as today... is God allowing us to experience the consequences of our actions. That makes sense to me... I can live with that... until I get to a passage like Deuteronomy 20:16-17, “But as for the towns of these peoples that the Lord is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes remain alive. You shall annihilate them-the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites-just as the Lord your God has commanded... ” There’s that tension again between inordinate generosity and assaulting severity! What do we do with that? First, let’s admit right up front that the Bible has violent stories because the Bible doesn’t paint a rosy, unreal picture, but explains life as it really is. Sadly, violence has been common among human beings throughout the ages, and it hasn’t gotten better. Sure, our methods are different now, but in terms of casualties the twentieth century was the most violent ever, and so far... with 9-11 and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, we aren’t faring any better in the twenty-first. Much like with our Old Testament passage, we can probably make our peace with the human side of violence... but the real rub here is that the people believe God ordered it. The people believe God ordained this violence. Was that the case or not? Lest we think that was then and this is now, people have often thought that God was “on their side;” have been all kinds of “holy wars” throughout history. In fact, most of us aren’t complete pacifists, but have managed to make our peace with “just war” which inevitably includes the harm of innocent people. For example, most of us would say that during WWII, whatever the Allied Forces did to stop Hitler was justified, even though the city of Dresden (among others) was saturated with bombs, such that judgment was visited on a whole community of people-even the innocent. What do we make of all this? Did God ordain violence in Deuteronomy 20? In WWII? In Afghanistan and Iraq? I often say I’m glad I’m not a military chaplain, because this is one topic I really struggle with. I suppose what I can wholeheartedly say is that... whether or not God ordained certain violence... God is nonetheless involved in it... working to turn our swords into plowshares, our mourning into dancing, our death into life. Today’s Gospel is not a summer text; it’s not usually read at this time of the year. But when we talk about God and violence, we have to talk about the cross. God gets caught up in the violence that innocent people throughout the ages have endured, and works in that violence in a way that brings us back to the first part of the equation in Exodus... in a way that brings us back to the Easter message... in a way that brings us back to a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin... ” It is my hope and prayer that God is still doing that today. |
St. Paul's Lutheran Church § 824 N. Lewis § Waukegan IL |
