Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Authority and Civil Disobedience
Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 13
This part of Paul's letter says, on the surface, obey the local authority. A deeper reading shows that the authority has responsibilities as well. To start, Paul is often quoted that "authority has been instituted by God" but in fact, Paul says that "those authorites that exist have been instituted by God." Paul is not saying that the Presidency of the United States is one of God's institutions, but it is possible to argue the case.
The authority instituted by God is supposed to protect those whom it has authority over. This comes from Psalm 72, which I read this morning just before reading chapter 13 of Paul's letter to the Romans. I understand that there were political ramifications to the early Christian mantra "Jesus is Lord." Ceaser called himself Lord and Son of Heavan, and putting those titles where they properly belong (on Jesus) was an act of political disobedience. When I read Psalm 72 it started with "Give the King your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the King's Son." I don't read the Psalms and try to fit them into Christian prophecy, and I realize that this Psalm is a prayer for a just ruler of Israel. I don't live in Israel, I live in America, and as an Episcopalian I pray for our President to be a just and wise ruler. I tried to read this as a prayer about President Bush. This is partially wise and partially foolish.
The King should rule righteously, give justice to the poor, bring prosperity to all his people, deliver the poor who cries out in distress, help the oppressed, have pity on the lowly and poor, preserve the lives of the needy, redeem his charges from opression and violence, their blood shall be dear in his sight.
The King was not only the ruler of Isreal, but God, to the Psalmist. The parts I skipped over here in Psalm 72 were the promises of military victories. That's part of ancient Israel's mindset: When they follow God's word, they have military victories and defend their lands. This only happens when they are following God's commandments, which Jesus summed up nicely. When the state took care of the poor and oppressed, they had righteousness and they were protected. When Israel did not care for all of God's people, they were defeated and in extreme cases, exiled from their homeland. The prophets were all about staying on God's side, or face punishment from outside forces.
I think of our political situation. The oppressed are being trodden on by the Bankruptcy Bill and the Medicaid benefit reductions.
Our government is not acting as if it is on God's side, and still insists on running wars and claiming military victories where there are none to be had. Would Paul support the idea of obeying this authority? I don't think so. Civil disobedience, as we know it in the USA, is not prohibited by Paul in this chapter. Paul points to love as the way to fulfill the commandments. The commandments are usually negative things, don't kill, don't covet, don't steal. Righteousness becomes a matter of avoiding bad behavior and ignores doing good things. Jesus told us to do good. Paul tells us to do good. Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Of course, civil disobedience is resisting authority, but I can claim that the authority is not fulfilling its role, so we must stand up and correct them. We can do this as Christians. We need to stand up on national television and say "I am a Christian, and I cannot stand for legalized discrimination. I am a Christian, I cannot stand for letting people in this world go without health care. I am a Christian, and I cannot allow my government to oppress the poor." ¶ 8:53 AM
This part of Paul's letter says, on the surface, obey the local authority. A deeper reading shows that the authority has responsibilities as well. To start, Paul is often quoted that "authority has been instituted by God" but in fact, Paul says that "those authorites that exist have been instituted by God." Paul is not saying that the Presidency of the United States is one of God's institutions, but it is possible to argue the case.
The authority instituted by God is supposed to protect those whom it has authority over. This comes from Psalm 72, which I read this morning just before reading chapter 13 of Paul's letter to the Romans. I understand that there were political ramifications to the early Christian mantra "Jesus is Lord." Ceaser called himself Lord and Son of Heavan, and putting those titles where they properly belong (on Jesus) was an act of political disobedience. When I read Psalm 72 it started with "Give the King your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the King's Son." I don't read the Psalms and try to fit them into Christian prophecy, and I realize that this Psalm is a prayer for a just ruler of Israel. I don't live in Israel, I live in America, and as an Episcopalian I pray for our President to be a just and wise ruler. I tried to read this as a prayer about President Bush. This is partially wise and partially foolish.
The King should rule righteously, give justice to the poor, bring prosperity to all his people, deliver the poor who cries out in distress, help the oppressed, have pity on the lowly and poor, preserve the lives of the needy, redeem his charges from opression and violence, their blood shall be dear in his sight.
The King was not only the ruler of Isreal, but God, to the Psalmist. The parts I skipped over here in Psalm 72 were the promises of military victories. That's part of ancient Israel's mindset: When they follow God's word, they have military victories and defend their lands. This only happens when they are following God's commandments, which Jesus summed up nicely. When the state took care of the poor and oppressed, they had righteousness and they were protected. When Israel did not care for all of God's people, they were defeated and in extreme cases, exiled from their homeland. The prophets were all about staying on God's side, or face punishment from outside forces.
I think of our political situation. The oppressed are being trodden on by the Bankruptcy Bill and the Medicaid benefit reductions.
Our government is not acting as if it is on God's side, and still insists on running wars and claiming military victories where there are none to be had. Would Paul support the idea of obeying this authority? I don't think so. Civil disobedience, as we know it in the USA, is not prohibited by Paul in this chapter. Paul points to love as the way to fulfill the commandments. The commandments are usually negative things, don't kill, don't covet, don't steal. Righteousness becomes a matter of avoiding bad behavior and ignores doing good things. Jesus told us to do good. Paul tells us to do good. Love is the fulfilling of the law.
Of course, civil disobedience is resisting authority, but I can claim that the authority is not fulfilling its role, so we must stand up and correct them. We can do this as Christians. We need to stand up on national television and say "I am a Christian, and I cannot stand for legalized discrimination. I am a Christian, I cannot stand for letting people in this world go without health care. I am a Christian, and I cannot allow my government to oppress the poor." ¶ 8:53 AM
