The Forgotten Factor
“In the succeeding generation rulers will be appointed who have lost the guardian power of testing the metal of your different races, which… are of gold and silver and brass and iron. And so iron will be mingled with silver, and brass with gold, and hence there will arise inequality and inequity, which always and in all places are causes of hatred and war. This the Muses affirm to be the stock from which discord has sprung…” (Plato’s Republic, 8.547.e).
Inequity, inequality, and all the other disparities of life have always been with us, but there are now new calls for swift, concerted, corrective action. But what can I, an old Duffer, do?
Some would suggest that I chant, tweet, march, or spray paint slogans on a wall. But all those expedients, though ofttimes well-intentioned, seem pointless to me. Are there no other measures?
The Apostle John applies Occam’s Razor to the question—the simplest possible answer—in the very last book of the Bible.
First a word of explanation: The Book of Revelation, is a picture book, a graphic representation of human history, but it surpasses all other efforts to understand history by revealing (hence the name of the book) the unseen spiritual forces that drive many of the geopolitical events of our times. It opens our eyes to first causes and ultimate reality, and In that sense it is the most “woke” book of all time.
In one chapter John sees a harlot dressed in scarlet sitting astride a powerful beast. The beast, in John’s day, represented the Roman Empire and all subsequent manifestations of political power. The harlot represents Satan and his minions, manipulating the beast at will (Revelation 17).
This is not to say that the state is entirely evil, but it explains why evil is so hard to eradicate from the state. The moment one form of evil is vanquished the devil takes up another. Old Satan is too canny for old David. What am I to do?
By way of an answer, John is given a vision of cosmic war—the saints in pitched battle with the devil: “And they (the saints) overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to death” (Revelation 12:11).
John’s emphasis lies first in the proclamation of the gospel, the good news about the blood-soaked Lamb and his self-sacrificing love. This does not deny the efficacy of certain forms of political action, and certainly the Church is called to acts of compassion for the disadvantaged. But it does deny the ability of mere beneficence to bring about eternal good.
Unfortunately, many of us have been caught up in the politics of the moment and have forgotten that our primary task in this world is to point people toward Jesus and his love. Failing that, we may fill their stomachs (or their pockets) but we will leave their hearts empty and sad. Worst yet, they will be eternally separated from joy.
Secondly, our power to overcame evil is the power of sacrificial love. “They did not love their lives to death.” In John’s day that could mean martyrdom. In our day it calls for self-effacing, self-sacrificing love for one another. This, and not our politics—left or right—is what defines us as followers of the Lamb.
The primary message that the Church has for the world is the good news of God’s redeeming love. “Preach the word,” Paul insists, to his young friend in Ephesus, a politically corrupt outpost of an evil empire, “Stay on task, whether you feel like it or not” (1 Timothy 4:1). That is our first order of business.
“Make the most of every opportunity because the days are evil,” Paul wrote in another place (Ephesians 5:16). Evil days are days of opportunity. You and I were called on stage in this particular period of human history to proclaim the Good News that Jesus, and Jesus alone, has brought salvation to the earth. “We must play well the scene in which we’re ‘on,’” C.S. Lewis said.
David Roper
6.30.20
