If you have ever attended a funeral in an Episcopal Church, you have likely heard the opening lines of the fourteenth chapter of the John Gospel. The disciples are already grieving because they know Jesus is going to be executed. They will have lost their master and their movement. Jesus comforts them by saying, "Set your troubled hearts at rest. Trust in God always, trust also in me," assures them there are many "dwelling places" in heaven, and tells them "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me."
What are intended as words of comfort and encouragement have been turned into a weapon used by fundamentalists against non-Christians and even some others within our faith tradition. Looking at the opening chapter of the Gospel we realize that the logos of God, the rational principle of the universe, fully inhabiting the person of Jesus, is the "I' when Jesus speaks in this gospel. Might we find, then, that the principles of the world's great religions are essentially identical? I believe so. Let us ask ourselves: What is the way that Jesus was? What is the truth he calls us to reflect? What is the life he has summoned us to live?
First of all, Jesus was a pacifist; he called for absolute non-violence. Some will say, and not without justification, that the contexts of modern times are different from ancient Palestine. What about the Second World War? ISIS? The point is well-taken, but consider whether violence is used as our first option or only as a last resort. Consider 9/11. As I watched the television coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, the Bible verse running through my mind was, "Vengeance belongs to me, I shall repay, says the Lord." How would our putatively "Christian Nation" respond? Well, we immediately invaded a country that had nothing to do with the attacks, killing substantial numbers of people, and eventually destabilizing a whole region. We are still trying to clean up our mess. Suppose we had chosen a Christian response. Suppose we had poured a trillion dollars into human development in the region and denied ISIS their constituency. The Middle Eastern situation would look substantially different now.
Jesus also stood for social justice and against the accumulation of gross wealth and power. What if our nation today were committed to Jesus' values instead of supporting an ever-widening wealth gap and fostering divisions among people instead of reconciliation? What if we were to address, as a matter of public policy, basic human needs like health care and shelter, instead of promoting the business-as-usual of capitalist consumerism and ignoring the consequences?
At its root, all of Jesus' values reflected in his life and teachings, call us to self-denial and loving service of others, putting neighbour ahead of self. We can still do that, as individuals, as people in communities, and as a nation. If we choose to take Jesus seriously for a change.
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