yet the powerful got nervous...

because they refused to be their servant

On December 12 I will be leading Chapel at the Church of the Abiding Presence. The Gospel for the Monday of the third week of Advent is Luke 3:7-18.

At this point I’ve only done cursory research, but the dynamics of this story have already piqued my interest. Here we have an itinerant preacher addressing the need for justice and repentance (this is John after all). In their culture of oppression and corruption the crowds are immediately drawn to this message.

In fact, some are so infatuated with John they begin to wonder if, indeed, he is the insurgent to overthrow the powers and principalities and become the new, just ruler. Quickly John points to one greater than he.

This dynamic can be seen in many places, but one contemporary example is the OWS movement. Many have criticized this movement as lacking leadership and direction. While many of these critiques are well-intentioned and well-made (great New Yorker article analyzing the Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline protests and contrasting it to OWS), they may also stem from the same desire to have one person embody an enormous message.

John had the humility and presence of mind to distinguish himself from God’s reign of justice and peace. As such, John was a harbinger who maintained his integrity and allowed the message to have its own integrity too.

Ultimately John was a preacher of repentance, and repentance served the reign of justice, but was not that reign itself. Ultimately the OWS is a call for many things, especially economic justice, but not that justice itself.

The insight and humility of the OWS movement to resist calls to identify a leader and make a list of specific demands may madden those (individuals and political parties) who think they can bring justice themselves. That frustration certainly gives rise to a number of critiques, but one praise you don’t often hear of the OWS is that this group of people know who they are, and just as importantly who, and what, they are not.

By separating themselves from the justice they (and many others) so desire, they protect this justice. Ultimately a person, a party, an initiative, a bill cannot create this justice. It will take enormous political will. These brave women and men are helping create this willpower by remembering the justice that inspires this will is not of their own creation.

John, like these people, saw a need to address corruption. John, like these people, resisted the call to embody this message. The eyes of power-dynamic may see this resistance as cowardice, insipidity, or weakness, but maybe that judgment won’t be the final one…