Binding The Strong Man In Minneapolis

[Note: I wrote this reflection BEFORE the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, January 24. His death at the hands of federal immigration officers marks yet another significant turn of events that has major implications for us as people of faith and as citizens in this nation. While these reflections do not speak directly to these events, I do think that they remain relevant to the moment in which we find ourselves. I will be writing more about this incident in the near future.

To many in the current administration, the solidarity that everyday citizens are showing for one another iin Minneapolis is almost incomprehensible. Why would people do this for people they do not even know? And yet for us as people of faith, this is what we are called to – to live into a love that is willing to lay down our lives for friends.

Alex Pretti’s last words were spoken to the woman who had been shoved down by federal agents. He asked her, “Are you OK?” just before he was thrown to the ground and, ultimately, killed.

No greater question can we be asking these days to our neighbors and to the least among us. “Are you OK?”

Clearly, they are not OK. And we are not OK.

May we all find the strength to carry on, carry each other and carry the gospel into this world.]

I recently was away on a family weekend that we call Winterfest. As many family members who can make it (this year about 22 of us) gather in an AirBnB down near Dansville for some cabin and outdoor time. As part of the outdoor time, we make a fire each afternoon and night that we gather around for warmth, conversation, laughter and connection. The campfires are always a highlight for me, and I find fires so mesmerizing.

One thing I love about fires is that just when a fire seems to be burning down, you can lift and turn over a log or two and the fire finds some new life and burns a little brighter. Stirring the embers brings forth some new life.

Our first reading today from 2 Timothy 1 utilizes this image when Paul urges Timothy to “stir into flame the gift of God that you have…For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love…” Paul goes on to encourage Timothy to “bear your share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God.”

We are living through times these days that require power and love. We are living through times these days that will require people to be willing to bear hardship for the gospel. We are living through times when we must stir into flame the gifts that God has given us.

Minneapolis has been in the news a lot lately because it has become ground zero for people collectively responding to the violence of the federal government’s response (primarily through ICE and border patrol) against immigrants, the Somali community and ordinary citizens.

In Minneapolis, members of the interfaith community have been actively responding to the crisis, and many have been there throughout this past weekend – called from all around the United States (as Martin Luther King did in Selma in the 1960’s) to be witnesses to truth and freedom.

This is an historic and pivotal moment, and our reading today from 2 Timothy suggests 2 very important things. First it acknowledges that we ALL have gifts that we can bring to movements for freedom and justice. No matter how big or small, we all have something we can do. 

Secondly, Paul’s words invite us to be stirred so that our flames might burn a little brighter. Maybe we need to shift something physically, emotionally or spiritually, but our flames need to be fanned in this moment, and we need to help each other keep our courage and heart up!

Then in the gospel today from Mark 3, Jesus is accused by the religious leaders that his words and work come from evil spirits. They see what he is doing in the world – subverting business as usual and ushering in a new social order – and are opposed to it. They accuse him of relying on the power of evil to do such things. 

In our modern context, it is the political authorities who are “demonizing” the resistance in Minneapolis (in my humble opinion, Jesus would be on the front lines of the resistance in Minneapolis. Jesus would probably, in fact, be IN the detention centers or would be associated with those who are being victimized by ICE – if we are to believe Matthew 25). The federal political authorities use words like “domestic terrorists,” “radical left lunatics,” “enemies from within,” or “communists” to describe the people who are standing up for immigrant rights, democratic processes and just process. They want to characterize the people working for freedom and justice as out of their minds and undermining the social order. They want other people to be afraid of them.

The religious authorities may have used different words against Jesus, but the playbook is still the same.

Jesus tells his listeners that “a house divided against itself…will not be able to stand,” and instead says that “no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder property unless the strong man is first tied up.”

Jesus is saying that the powers of this world are, in fact, the evil, occupying force. They are the ones that have ravaged God’s kin-dom and turned it into this nightmare that we are living in. They are the strong man whom Jesus intends to tie up in order to “plunder” this house and set the world right. Moreover, Jesus calls out the authorities of his day (in this case, the religious folks) and says that it is they who are serving evil forces through their cooperation, complicity and silence with the evil that they are seeing. And he calls his followers to align with his work in this world.

Cooperation. Complicity. Silence.

This is what the faith leaders in Minneapolis are trying to bring attention to as well. Not only are they there to stir the flames in people’s hearts, they are there to say, “No,” to the tactics and repression of ICE. They are there to withdraw cooperation and end complicity with those who make ICE’s operation possible.

That’s why they have called for a boycott of Target (where ICE shops), Hilton hotels (where ICE agents are sheltered), Enterprise car rental (where ICE rents their cars from) and Delta (the way that ICE agents are brought into Minneapolis). 

What I have also loved about the faith leaders’ response is that they have not demonized the people who may be doing the harm. They continue to have compassion for the people who do the bidding of the “strong man,” but they also call them to stop doing that work and reclaim their place in the human family.

Like Jesus, faith leaders in Minneapolis see the “strong man” in their midst and also believe in and know the “stronger one” who can free us from the grip of the strong man.

Our nation is crying out right now for people of faith to stir into flame the gift(s) of God that we have – gifts that give us a spirit of power and love. Gifts that help us bear our share of hardship for the gospel. Part of our faith response is becoming more active in the struggles for justice and freedom. And part of the work is withdrawing our cooperation with, complicity in and silence around what we see happening.

This is no easy task, and it can be hard to know “what to do” in these moments. But there are both ways to support the resistance happening on the ground in Minneapolis AND ways to support similar efforts wherever you live.

In these times, may our hearts be stirred and our flames be fanned as we develop increased courage, conviction and compassion to use our gifts for the service of the kin-dom and those most in need in the world around us.