"Let every man be subject unto the higher powers." Well that was certainly an interesting Epistle reading from St. Paul to have within the first week following a federal election, wasn't it? We also find ourselves within the octave of the conversion of St. Paul.
Taken out of context, one might marvel that St. Paul, living under a government that had occupied his homeland and was not particularly understanding of his native Jewish religion, would write such instructions to the fledgling Christian Church, made up as it was mostly of converted Jews who had undoubtedly brought much of their anti-Roman-government sentiment with them. Granted, this letter was written prior to Nero having taken especial aim at Christians in terms of open persecution, but they were still viewed with a certain amount of suspicion, as they were recognized to be an offshoot of Judaism. If however, we look at this passage in the context of the remainder of his letter, and particularly that part which immediately precedes it, we might come to a different understanding. Firstly, it might seem that Paul's thoughts that we heard this morning about respecting our government and being good citizens could very well be a development of his exhortation, just from the previous chapter, that no one should think of themselves more highly than they ought to think.
He may also have been worried about yet another form of enthusiasm. Some Christians believed that they were already citizens of another world, having gained a new freedom in Christ, and therefore did not have to obey civil authority. St. Paul may have feared the anarchy that would result from such an outlook and therefore was attempting to remind believers that they still very much had a duty to be good citizens of this world.
Equally, when he mentioned that "the powers that be are ordained of God," he may have been thinking of the chaos that would have characterized life about the Mediterranean if the Roman government with their remarkably impartial justice system had not brought the stability that did in fact exist. Some have thus commented that St. Paul may have viewed the Roman government as providential, sent from God even though they weren't aware of it, to protect its citizens from the advent of anti-Christ. Perhaps in this regard he may have been thinking of an Old Testament example of a non-Jewish king whom God upheld as an instrument of His plan. In the latter part of Isaiah, Cyrus, king of Persia is even referred to by God as His "anointed," surely a surprising title for a non-Jew.
Would St. Paul have written differently say, 10 years later, following both the destruction of Jerusalem and the now open persecution of Christians? I suspect not, as part of these seven verses make the point that, by being good citizens and doing good always, then such good works would be met with approval, they would be a witness – surely a timeless message that bears emphasis as much today as it did then.
Consider also that the last phrase immediately prior to these verses states, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good;" and the very next phrase following the passage is, "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." Personal exhortations that surely connect with the passage about being obedient, contributing, productive citizens.
But how does all of this fit within the context of our still being in the season of Epiphany with its overriding theme of Christ's divine manifestation to the world? Certainly the Gospel continues with that theme where Jesus calmed the tempestuous sea, causing considerable wonder in the minds and hearts of the disciples who were present – a further manifestation of His divinity.
But where is the connection in the Epistle, or in the Collect for that matter?
Actually, I see a marvellously multi-branched connection, especially when we look at all of the readings at a personal level. Had any of us been in the small ship and witnessed the calming of the sea, there is little doubt that we would have been duly impressed in seeing the wind and the sea obey a man. Yea, we would have no choice but to recognize Him as more than just a man; His control of the elements was a manifestation of His divinity, an undeniable sign of His transcendence – His existence apart from, and not subject to the limitations of, the material universe. A personal epiphany.
I'm quite certain that St. Paul, without much effort, could have found a myriad of things to criticize about the Roman government of his day; but he chose rather to attempt to look at the situation as being directed by God. We must recall that, against the consideration of our own governments in our respective lifetimes, the Roman government of Paul's day was devoid of any belief in God. Yet, in taking a much, much broader view, Paul still saw them as being instruments of the Almighty, ruling for the greater common good, if nothing more. A manifestation of God's authority in human affairs.
And perhaps, looking both ahead to our own day, and backwards into Old Testament times, we must also ponder human nature as it relates to the collective attitudes, morals, beliefs and governments of societies. How often did the Israelites, either as a society or through one of their kings, presume to not need God anymore, as it were? They chalked up their prosperity to their own devices and desires. Having thus expunged the Almighty from their society, and being left to their own foibles, things did not go well – repeatedly.
And yet there are other episodes where good and faithful people despaired because the transcendent God did not seem to be in control. Only in hindsight were they able to see how His plan had unfolded, yet again manifesting Himself to the world. So as we consider life today we must ask ourselves, "Are we living in a time and in a country where we have sufficiently expunged God from our society that He is looking down and saying to us, 'O.K. thy will be done?' Or are we in a time where everything that is happening, causing many faithful people to despair, He is actually very much still in control, and with our extremely limited vision and poor understanding of His transcendence, we are unaware of His influence?" I, freely admitting my own limited understanding of the Almighty, cannot answer those questions.
However, I would offer two observations:
1) We all might be reminded, and especially our government and those who are doing their best to expunge God from our society, we all might be reminded of the words of the early 20th century Spanish-born American philosopher and poet, George Santayana. He is most often quoted as saying, "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it." In actual fact, his original statement was, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I have no idea whether he mused thus in 1905, just after having read parts of the Old Testament, and even perhaps St. Paul's letter to the Romans, contemplating them against human history thereafter, or whether he was simply looking at the almost monotonously repeated foibles of humanity.
2) It has always been a popular pastime to criticize our government. The past few decades have been particularly fruitful for vitriol on the part of Christians. I've mentioned before that stooping to the same level, or even below, in terms of criticism, has proved for the most part to be counterproductive. Most certainly, the policy makers have not been listening. But, think beyond Paul Martin and consider that the same issues that are causing so much angst among Canadian Christians are also front and centre in very many countries around the world. Which causes me to at least pause and ask whether there is something much greater going on? Recognizing that God will not forsake His own, should we not just get on with doing that which St. Paul exhorts, being good, productive citizens, anticipating that God, through us, will overcome evil with good? How does our Epiphanytide Offertory Sentence phrase it, quoting our Lord from St. Matthew, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
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Lastly, let us consider today's Collect, which begs that we reset our thinking much further back in human history – to the very beginning in fact. We are reminded in the words of the Collect of the fundamental frailty of our human nature, of the inescapable fact that every one of us has inherited not only a feeble human nature, but one that is faulty, given to disobedience and utterly incapable of self-realized righteousness without God's strength and protection.
In that I am as guilty as the next Christian of a post-Enlightenment approach of often attempting to rationalize my understanding of God on my terms, I suspect that it might be helpful if we were to dwell on this important message of the Collect as a very fitting aspect of Epiphany.
In addition to the reminder in the Collect, I was reminded of this by a very long, undeniably convicting message that Fr. Michael Shier, Rector of our Vancouver area parishes, wrote in the November-December "Traditional Anglican." The title of his article/sermon was "Religion of Civilization or Real Religion?" From the title we might quite correctly surmise that he contrasts religion that unavoidably has been influenced by the societies in which it exists, against the most essentially fundamental understanding of our relationship to God – which understanding arguably is lost on most Christians today. All of us have behaved, some to a larger extent than others, like the Jews of the Old Testament. How many of us can absolutely honestly say that we approach our belief in God entirely on His terms only, and not in a few, or perhaps many areas, from our own preconceptions, devices and desires?
Let me read to you one paragraph in particular. I find Fr. Shier's writing wonderfully blunt. "Real religion: that we are all alienated from God – by our own choice. We have erred and strayed from 'Thy ways like lost sheep' and we like it like that. In our heart of hearts we feel that the vice and disobedience of Adam was really a splendid virtue – in his place we would have done exactly the same and been proud of it. That's what we call 'being a real man.' We are bound up with the sin of Adam because his kind of fallen humanity is not only the kind of humanity we actually share, but the kind of humanity that we want to share, the kind of muddled-up, pathetic, tragic, and cussed humanity we really love. Make no mistake about it. You are nearer to salvation if you realise that you are in love with fallen Adam, and with all the fallen Adams from Attila to Stalin via Cassanova, than if you suppose that you are made of different and superior clay. To know that you are complicit, is the first step in Real religion – and with a breathtaking wave of the hand the religion of Civilisation dismisses the whole thing as barbaric and mentally retarded."
What Fr. Shier is saying is that we cannot relate completely to Jesus Christ and the redemption and salvation that He brings, until we have completely and whole heartedly related to Adam by admitting that we cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps anywhere near to God's standards. But even as we might profess to be just like Adam, we are unavoidably conditioned by that which surrounds us, whispering to us that we are good people – in and of ourselves; that Jesus would have done this or that differently were He with us in Incarnate form today; that this particular exhortation of Scripture doesn't apply to me; that it's OK to believe some things only partially; that our socially superior, post-Enlightenment understanding and compassion of what is best for our neighbour somehow supersedes that of Jesus; that as long as I accept most of His teachings He will have no choice but to judge me favourably.
If we hold such reservations and presumptions, then our contemplation of His manifestations necessarily will be damaged; He is no longer completely transcendent, but rather becomes just another great teacher, as the religion of civilisation would have us believe, and even as our government insists we believe. In that, my government may be corrupt, even in danger of God's wrath; but sharing the frailty of Adam's nature, I certainly can not presume to throw the first stone. I must heed St. Paul's exhortation to be a good citizen, placing my faith in Jesus Christ, the Incarnate manifestation of the transcendent God Who is above all things.
I am reminded of a verse of Alfred Lord Tennyson's enormously long poem, "In Memoriam," one stanza and the first line of the next which reads,
I falter where I firmly trod,
And falling with my weight of cares
Upon the great world's altar stairs
That slope through darkness up to God,
I stretch lame hands of faith and grope.
ANNUNCIATION OTTAWA 2006 CLR+