Sacrifice for the Cause of Justice

Readings: Ez 37:21-28; Jn 11:45-56

Ezekiel tells us today that God is trying to make a covenant of everlasting peace with God’s people and Israel will be delivered from its apostasy and idols.

The gospel, however, shows us that maybe we (collectively) are not so eager to be parted from our idols.  We hear the Sanhedrin speaking about Jesus saying, “What are we going to do?  This man is performing many signs.”  The Sanhedrin is the local council of elders.  What is interesting, however, is what they say next.  They say, “If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.”

The Sanhedrin perhaps didn’t care all that much about Jesus’ theology.  What they were really afraid of was that Jesus would create a popular movement and that the Romans would come in and take away what little that they had.  Remember that Rome was a brutal occupying force that took whatever it wanted from whomever it wanted.  Rome highly valued order, and a popular movement was a threat to that order.

Two thoughts I would offer for today:

First, whenever there is oppression (in this case the Romans being the oppressor), there will be “lateral violence”. What this means is that those who are oppressed will often take this oppression out on one another and not on the oppressor.  The Sanhedrin actually had a shared interest with Jesus, but instead of aligning, they attack him in order to protect what little the Romans have granted them. 

We see this dynamic play out all the time and we’re seeing it play out right now amidst the corona virus pandemic in a variety of ways.

A year before he was killed, Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned a Poor People’s Campaign that tried to bring together the poor and disenfranchised from all races to unite in collective ways.  He knew that, ultimately, the power of the people was a force to be reckoned with but only if division didn’t split them.  King said that “whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh’s court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that’s the beginning of getting out of slavery.”

Second, fifty-two years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN.  I find striking parallels between King’s life and the life of Jesus – including today’s gospel.

King was in Memphis because he went back to support the sanitation workers who were on strike there.  Death threats had been made against him, but that didn’t stop him.  He just moved a little more cautiously (not unlike Jesus).  But his commitments and convictions were clear.

And in his final speech now titled, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” – a speech given without notes and one that encourages economic boycotts and political resistance – he says that his personal life is not the most important thing.  His life is not about him.  His life is about serving the God of justice and he does not divert the path even if it leads to personal harm.  To listen to King’s speech, click here (it’s really an amazing speech and one that sums up so many of our Lenten themes).

For today, just sit with the examples of Jesus and Martin Luther King, Jr.  think about so many others throughout history who have made sacrifices for the cause of justice, goodness and equity.  Just breathe in that spirit and let it fill and inspire you.  May we be given a spirit of solidarity and courage to resist oppression wherever we find it.