When I think about the ways in which this regime is treating our neighbors, I am reminded of our Gospel reading from just a few weeks ago. It was Jesus’ parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).
The story goes that there was a Rich Man who had a beggar named Lazarus at his gate. The Rich Man completely ignored Lazarus while he relaxed in his riches while Lazarus was left to have his sores licked by the dogs. One day, both the Rich Man and Lazarus died and the Rich Man was taken to Hades, the Greek world of the dead, while Lazarus was taken to recline with Father Abraham. The Rich Man was made a beggar, and begged Abraham to send Lazarus to fetch him water and to warn his brothers about his fate. But he was refused, because between the Rich Man and Lazarus a great chasm had been created where no person can cross.
Jesus makes a point to have Lazarus, the marginalized child of God who was abandoned at the gate of the wealthy, to be the only person in any of Jesus’ parables to be given a name besides Abraham. It means, God Helps. God is with the outcast. God is with the burdened. God is with those who have been reviled and kicked out by those who possess so much power that they have forgotten what it means to be human beings. Jesus chose to center the poor man in this story instead of the Rich Man. The Rich Man probably had a name in life. He probably had his name on big gold letters on the sides of buildings all around town. But in this story, the only one out of the two of them who gets to be remembered with a name is Lazarus! The very person who was only visited by the dogs is now reclining against Abraham!
And between the Rich Man and Lazarus a deep chasm had been etched into the earth. The Rich Man had no hope of ever crossing it and Lazarus could not either. I don’t think that’s because God condemned the Rich Man to torment for eternity, but because the Rich Man had completely abandoned his own humanity and therefore couldn’t conceive of a universe where he occupies the same space as Lazarus.
The chasm is within the heart of the Trump regime. It has created a cage around itself, isolating itself from the rest of the world. In trying to keep everyone else out, the Trump Regime has locked itself in! The cage is the Empire, the bars are the ego, and the lock is lust for power.
Christian Nationalism is an affront to Christianity not just because it is Jesus’ opposite, but because it encourages humanity to become humanity’s opposite. Like beasts, it encourages the nation to lock itself inside of an enclosure.
But we, right here and now, continue to take a stand every day. We stand for the marginalized. We stand for the refugee, the outcast, the immigrant, the vulnerable. Our true citizenship is in the Kingdom of God, not in the American Empire.
May we continue to find the strength to be a voice in the Wilderness, leading the way to compassionate love, encouraging America to open the cage around its heart. Amen
Photo by Martin Wyall on Unsplash