In his essay, Resurrection
and Empire, David Ray Griffin, discussed the hope of resurrection in the
face of oppressive empire. The essay looked at how and why empires maintained
credibility in both the ancient and modern world, “An empire can maintain its
honor and credibility, its leaders invariably hold, only if everyone knows that
it will allow no challenge to its hegemony to go unpunished.”
His essay
forced me to think about how resurrection and empire were used in a not so
hopeful way in the church I grew up in. Each year on the 4th of
July, unless the 4th was on a Sunday, there would be a church
picnic. Just thinking about having to attend one of these picnics makes me want
to return a penguin to its natural habitat, just to get away from it all. Each
year before we could eat, the pastor would give a sermon. But before he could
begin his sermon we would have to do our duty to “God and country” and say the
Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem. So back to the sermon, it
was not that much different from Sunday morning sermons. There was the typical
hellfire and brimstone, God smiting the gays and churches that used inclusive
language (because God is obviously a white male with a penis and the very
thought of God with a vagina was just blasphemy). Besides what sermon would be
complete without corrupting the Good News to scare people? After the smiting
came the resurrection theology; which was shockingly
void of hope and grace. Twenty minutes of Jesus as the Crucified Savior and
Risen Lord led to more hellfire and brimstone. This time the smiting was
directed at social justice activists- social advocates were Satan’s disciples
and the United Nations was just yet another sign of the impending rapture. The
sermon ended with a reminder that the only way to make sure that we were not
left behind was to convert as many people as possible. The sermon ended with a
reminder that Jesus supported empires that used force to spread the message of
the crucified and risen Christ. Because somehow and I will never understand
this theology a Jewish rabbi from Nazareth who was executed by an oppressive
empire commanded his followers to support systems if oppression.
Jesus lived
in an occupied country. A country that was occupied by a blood-thirsty,
controlling, oppressive empire. In his essay Griffin argued that the Roman
Empire was not sadistic, but used terror because it was a tried and true method
of control. While I may not agree with his belief about the Roman Empire 100%,
he was correct in saying that “ terrorism was deemed effective.” I don’t
completely agree with him because the Roman Empire believed in “peace through
victory” and it did not care about the number of lives that were lost in the
process of achieving peace. Jesus was
crucified by the super power of his day; “Crucifixion was Rome’s way of saying:
if you dare to challenge our authority, this is where you will end up. Jesus
would have been aware of this likelihood. Some two thousand rebels had been
crucified near the time of his birth.[i]”
Resurrection
cannot and should not be used to defend the action of oppressive empire.
Resurrection should be used to rebel against oppressive empire. The first century church used resurrection to
challenge the theology that was at the heart of the Roman Empire.
Before
Jesus was born-or even before he had ever existed-another human being was
already proclaimed Son of God and indeed, God Incarnate
with in the same first common-era century and within the same Mediterranean
world. In fact, almost all of the sacred terms and solemn titles that we might think of
as Christian creations or even Pauline
inventions were already associated with Caesar Augustus,
the first undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire, from 31BCE to 14 CE. Augustus was Divine, Son
of God, God, God created
from God. He was Lord, Liberator, Redeemer, and Savior of the World- not
just of Italy or the Mediterranean, mind you, but of the entire inhabited
earth. Words like “justice” and “peace,” “epiphany”
and “gospel,”
“grace” and “salvation” were already associated with him.
Even “sin” and “atonement were connected with him as well[ii].
According to Griffin the belief of resurrection “was surely
crucial for the early survival and growth of the church in the face of hostility
from the empire. This hostility was inevitable because Rome had elevated its
emperor to the statues of deity….[iii]”
In just the
same way that the first century church used resurrection to challenge Roman
Empire, resurrection needs to be used to challenge empire in our modern world.
The United States is one of the most oppressive empires in the history of the
world. Too often resurrection hope and the Good News are used to support a
system of oppression.
The Word
did not become incarnate to support oppressive empires. The Word was not
resurrected to support oppressive empires. The other day Unvirtuous
Abbey’s FB status was, “Think outside the tomb.”
Resurrection hope calls us to a life of thinking outside of the tomb. The
darkness inside the tomb symbolized the force of oppression. Resurrection
brought light to the darkness. The light was a resounding “no” to oppressive
Roman Empire. The light is still a resounding “no” to oppression.
[i]
Griffin, David Ray. Resurrection and
Empire in The American Empire and the
Commonwealth of God: A Political, Economic and Religious Statement. Louisville:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. Pg 151
[ii] The First Paul. Borg, Marcus J. and John
Dominic Crossan. New York: Harper One, 2009. Pp 93
[iii] Griffin,
David Ray. Resurrection and Empire in
The American Empire and the Commonwealth
of God: A Political, Economic and Religious Statement. Louisville:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2006. Pg 153
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