A Bowl of Stew and a Birthright

I sat with a dear friend this morning for a while. As our conversation sometimes does, it gradually drifted toward politics and specifically the made for television rally that just occurred in front of the Lincoln Memorial. I do not profess any real great interest in politics but try to follow it just enough to keep up with what's going on. So with great interest I listened to my friend describe the events in Washington. I honestly listened out of a great deal of respect that I have for him. I realized as we engaged in the dialogue that we probably couldn't be farther apart on our views of this event specifically and in other areas of politics as well. It doesn't really matter because I love my friend and respect his opinion.

To a good segment of believers in our country tt seems as though we just witnessed the possible beginnings of revival this past weekend. God, country, old fashioned values, freedom...it was all there except maybe the apple pie and Chevrolet. To the Evangelical faithful it was preaching to a choir on steroids. After all, how could one argue against turning America back to God? Lord knows we have fallen from our glory days as a nation and it seems as though we finally have a hero with enough influence to rally the faithful to do something about it. Beholding the supporting cast of celebrities, power-brokers, and influencers had to send a spike of spiritual adrenaline up the spines of many who had become weary in longing for the good ol' days.

The whole thing reminds me of the story in the scriptures of Jacob and Esau. Esau, a skilled hunter comes in from the chase one day extremely tired and hungry and longingly looks at the stew that his little brother Jacob had prepared and was undoubtedly eating before him. Caring only about the immediate need in front of him, Esau exchanges his future inheritance as the firstborn son for immediate gratification in the present. It seemed like the right thing to do at the moment until his appetite was sated. Once he had a chance to reflect on the swap from something other than a hungry belly it was tragic. An entire future of blessing sold for the comfort of a meal today.

The fact is, we are all Esau to some extent. We constantly trade off our sonship for bits and pieces of comfort, security, pleasure, possessions, and the path of least resistance. Every teen who gives up his or her virginity is Esau. Every individual who is in financial debt is Esau. Every family that buys into a lifestyle requiring two incomes just to keep up with the bills is Esau. Every person who dishonors the Sabbath rest is Esau. Every church that lowers scriptural standards just to increase its numbers is Esau. Everyone who places hope in political systems, human messiahs, and influencial celebrities is Esau. Esau's dilemma is our dilemma and it never goes away.

For much of the conservative church world the desire for a champion, a false messiah, a political hope that will ease the burden of life and taxes is the hunger pang that consumes all thinking. We already have a Messiah and his name is Jesus. But our Messiah leads in ways that fail to accommodate current fleshly cravings and quick fixes. His idea of progress is represented in the slow work of leaven carried out by his disciples no matter what country or political system they find themselves. We would rather have our cultural heroes and political alliances that will do the hard work of the kingdom for us and do it by November's election.

Make no mistake about this. Underneath all of the rhetoric being spewed out about God and Country, with a healthy dose of religious values on the side, is a concern for money. Money that is either sent to Washington to be spent, or money that remains in our pockets to spend. It is always about money. As J.P. McCarthy used to say, "It's not about the money...it's about the amount!" That is so true here. There have always been taxes and government spending, it is the amount that is being debated. Contrary to what most good Christians believe, our American Revolution was not about paying taxes. It was about taxation without representation and the last I checked the representatives of every people group in our country make our laws. We now have what we rebelled against England to get.

Politics is always about the money. The political stew that is offered for everyone's hunger comes in two bowls: Liberal bowls and Conservative bowls. Both bowls are simply not worth selling out our religious heritage over. In a blog that represents a view contrary to what most God-fearing Evangelicals believe Russel Moore brilliantly offers a unique perspective on the whole thing. He states, "There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship." (http://www.russellmoore.com/2010/08/29/god-the-gospel-and-glenn-beck//) To the liberal money is the means to power through redistributing wealth to the "havenots". To the conservative money is the means to power by promising the "haves" that they can keep theirs and even get more. In both cases it is a means to power. Even those who have reminded me on more than one occasion that "it's not about the money, it's about freedom" have to admit that in their christeo-religious foray they equate freedom to having money and the loss of money through taxation as loss of freedom. (I'm not sure at what percent of taxation freedom occurs but it is always less than what we are paying now.) It's always about money or as Moore puts it "mammon worship."

There are no quick fixes to our current situation in America. If tax rates are brought to zero it won't bring back the good ol' days. Reducing taxes won't fix the sights I see driving through our inner city. Oh...and by the way... ask the American Indian how the good ol' days were for them as we settled their lands. Ask the black man how it was when America was really at its best and the Founding Fathers were establishing "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for all. Check out the plight of the Hispanics ungraciously dubbed "wetbacks" by those who employed them for labor that caused their backs to glisten with sweat under the heat of summer for which a pittance is given in compensation. Sorry folks, we didn't get here by traveling the holy path of righteousness as some would have us believe and we didn't get here because the right or the left sold us out. We are here because we are sinful and sinful people always take the bowl of stew over the likes of justice, delayed gratification, generosity, sacrifice, discipline, and long term wisdom.

I wish Christians could get as excited about the words of Jesus as they do the rhetoric of the Tea Party. I wish that the ideas of justice for all, helping the poor and needy, living in contentment, and other gospel values stirred the passion of God's people more than a television or radio celebrity. I wish we could all find the words of a Jewish Rabbi to go and make disciples more riveting than the promises of politicians to make life better. I wish we could say "No thanks" to the bowl of stew that seems like the perfect answer to the life we crave and embrace the call to a kingdom that asks us to lay down our lives for Him.