“All the King’s Men”

Psalm 146

Humpty Dumpty: All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Andrew Greeley: What Jesus criticized in the rich was what various prophets criticized in Israel’s disastrous foreign policy. The Israelite kings thought they could be secure and confident in their power if they made military alliances. The prophets warned them that the strength of the Israelites came not from military alliances but from [The Lord]. When treaties became a substitute for the covenant of [The Lord] Israel was doomed.

Jim Wallis: Abraham Lincoln had it right. Our task is not to invoke religion and the name of God by claiming God’s blessing for all our national policies and practices – saying, in effect, that God is on our side. Rather, Lincoln said, we should pray and worry earnestly whether we are on God’s side.

Cal Thomas: Religious politics failed the church because believers were told that they could improve the morals of a nation through legislation and politics. It failed the state because time that might have been spent preaching a gospel of redemption – that would have had the collateral benefit of elevating culture – was wasted in a futile attempt to reform the unconverted… Some leaders of the religious-politico movement say things would have been without [the] political activism of conservative Christians. But the counter-argument might even be truer: Things might have been better if, instead of sending money to the national headquarters of religious leaders and pledging alliance to preferred politicians, conservative Christians had been busy feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting those in prison, caring for widows and orphans and – most notably absent from the movement – loving their enemies… conservative Christians would do well to re-read the Bible and stop relying on the “spin” others put on it for their own temporal purposes. There is no biblical mandate, or expectation, for reforming the world through government. Government can, and usually does, reflect the moral attitudes of its people. However, government cannot heal broken marriages [nor] can it force parents to invest the time necessary to properly rear a child. These things are personal, not political… The time is ripe for conservative Christians to spend less time influencing Caesar, to consider what it means to render unto God, and start rendering.

Psalm 146:3, 4 (The Message): Don’t put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life. Mere humans don’t have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them.

Luke 4:16-21: When [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery to the sight of the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

[prayer]

Some comments about the text itself: Christ is the fulfillment of Psalm 146, especially verses 5-10, for in Christ was the reign of God established unto all generations. These verses are, as we heard in the reading from Luke 4, a description of Jesus’ self-understanding.

Blessedness, or happiness, is found in God alone. His help is certain. We can trust in him. The psalm is a hymn of praise for God’s mighty acts, for his goodness. It praises his healing power and loving kindness.

We worship God by praising him AND obeying him. Obedience is nothing more OR less than living out the ethics of his Kingdom. Faith in God involves a two-fold response. First: Our ultimate trust is to be placed in God and God alone. God’s will, not humanity’s, is most reliable for dealing with all of life’s issues, including social issues. Thus wrote the psalmist, “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.”

Secondly: We are called to do God’s work among the poor, the helpless, the hungry, and the sick by being Christ’s Body in the world. The church is obligated, in the name and after the manner of Jesus, to not only be concerned for and minister to the poor, but to also, as is necessary and in appropriate ways, to witness for social justice. Throughout Psalm 146 there is a theme of social justice that underscores God’s concern – which is rightly our concern - for the poor. The psalm echoes the concerns of the classic prophets regarding justice and righteousness.

So, after the quotes and exegetical highpoints, what does any of this mean for modern American Christians during the Season of Advent? Well, it is a reminder to us about who really is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords in our lives: the God made incarnate in Jesus Christ. It is a reminder that, when we pray to God, we are to seek his will for us not ask him to rubberstamp our wishes. It is, furthermore, a reminder that we are to be about our Father’s business in the world, and as I said earlier, that we are to, in appropriate ways, urge the world to obey God.

And that’s where it gets a bit dicey at times. In our righteous passion to see God’s will done we sometimes get un-righteously or self-righteously caught up in political processes in the hope that his will can be legislated and legalized. That’s when we start trusting to much in the so-called princes, or experts, of the world. We want the government to be about the social witness and social actions that rightly belong to the church.

Is it then sinful for Christians to be involved in politics and legislation? No. Our very own Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order tells us that it is part of faithful church membership and Christian discipleship to live “responsibly in the personal, family, vocational, political, cultural, and social relationships of life.”

It was by way of the past intervention of Christian activists, who were often told to mind their own business and keep religion out politics, that slavery ended, Jim Crow laws were overturned, and women were given equal rights. It is through the words and actions of Christian activists in our present day that the horrors of abortion, pornography, and human trafficking are kept in the forefront of our national conscious, and that will not allow us as a culture to ignore the atrocities, persecutions, and genocide taking place in distant lands – atrocities, persecutions, and genocide that are often inflicted on our brothers and sisters in Christ.

It is part of our stewardship that we be involved in the realms of politics, government, and business. It is part of the church’s prophetic task to speak out against people and institutions whose practices encourage the perpetuation of injustice, oppression, and human exploitation in any form – be it political, economic, or as is often the case, sexual; to speak up when intolerable sins are being accepted as the cultural norm. Sometimes we’ll be called liberals and socialists. Sometimes we’ll be labeled as fundamentalist fanatics. Often we’ll be told to mind our own business.

But that’s hard to do when we have prayerfully discerned that our business is, in truth, God’s business. Those words prayerful discernment are very important. We dare not speak or act for God unless we are absolutely convinced through prayer, Bible study, and serious deliberations with our brothers and sisters in Christ that our words and actions reflect God’s will. God’s will; not the latest social, cultural, or political hobby-horse that someone insists that we ride, you know, the cause de jour. God’s will; not what’s favorable to our particular form of political thought or financial position. God’s will; not some need on our part to lead a personal crusade for or against whatever.

And while we’re speaking and acting we must never forget our responsibility as Christians to feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide homes for orphans, give unwed mothers options other than abortion, see to the needs of the elderly, pray for sinners, love our enemies, and share the Good News about Jesus; our responsibility to be involved in hands on, up close and personal displays of God’s love in the midst of the concrete realities of daily life.

Along the way we must never forget that ultimately God’s will is accomplished in God’s own time and God’s own way. We do the best we can do in the name of Jesus then leave it in God’s hands. God’s hands; not ours, not culture’s, not the government’s, not the politicians’. All the Republicans’ programs and all the Democrats’ rhetoric can’t put our fractured lives, festering culture, divided nation, or broken world back together again. Only God can do that. It is our task to faithfully serve him in the doing.

In closing let us take to heart these words from biblical commentator Alton H. McEachern: “God helps those who cannot help themselves.” Amen.