Righteous Indignation

Matthew 23:13-15 ; Isaiah 5:8-17 ; Amos 5:6-7

Two prophets and Christ himself voice the displeasure of God with the people covenanted to be the embodied kingdom of God. 

Anger is a frightening emotion. Suddenly a person is consumed with rage. They are volatile. They are out of control. They are violent simply in their presence. You wonder what is going to be said, what is going to be done, and how much it will hurt. When we feel angry, we feel on fire. We feel ourselves burning up. We feel consumed. We want to hit something (or someone). 

When it is God who is angry, we have real reason for fear--what can omnipotent rage wreak upon us?

Peace, be still. Come back to this moment.

Hearing these scriptural words of righteous indignation, fearsome as they are, can actually become a means to grace and a path into a deeper understanding of compassion as God defines it. 

First, consider what it is that infuriates God. There is a common thread through these texts--human apathy toward the commandments to love God with one’s whole being, to love others, and to love oneself. In each case, what sparks the fury is willful disobedience to these commandments. 

Christ launches into deep criticism of the Church authorities because they ignore the people in favor of legalism--they make the practice of faith nothing more than codified moralism. When that happens, the care of souls becomes replaced by maintenance of the institution--it becomes horribly depersonalized. People become labels. People become simply cogs assigned a specific function, no more, no less. Christ rails against such a move. Connections are emptied. Relationships are rendered null and void. It all gets turned to self--I can check off my boxes, all else be damned. 

Michael Gerson of the Washington Post wrote a fascinating essay spurred by Pope Francis’ rejection of moralism in favor of compassion. In that essay, Mr. Gerson made this point--

...personalism is among the most radical implications of Christian faith. In every way that matters to God, human beings are completely equal and completely loved. They can’t be reduced to ethical object lessons. Their dignity runs deeper than their failures. They matter more than any cause; they are the cause. So Francis observed: “Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person? We must always consider the person.”

God considers the person. In every case. In every circumstance. So, then, should we. In every case. In every circumstance.

God speaks through Isaiah in righteous condemnation of the economic practices of Israel. Far removed from that moment, we do not understand what the prophet speaks of. In Israeli towns and villages, certain fields were to be left vacant and certain sections of field and pasture left unclaimed even with their produce. These vacant lots’ produce was to be left for the poor, exemplified by widows and orphans--persons whom no one was under legal obligation to care for. But some savvy landowners saw lost profits, so they claimed the unclaimed land, linking up lot to lot, closing out the poor from their sustenance. That fires God’s indignation because care for the least of all is one of the pillars of compassion as God defined it. To refuse to comply is to refuse God. 

Think about that as our government makes decisions and choices that will harm the poor. 46 million people may lose their food aid. Tens of thousands may lose their benefits. Still more will be affected by the loss of steady action by government agencies. The New York Times ran this editorial reflection on Thursday last--

That means the country will be stuck with the sequester-level cuts for the foreseeable future. It means more than 57,000 students will not get their Head Start seats back, and 140,000 low-income families who lost their federal housing assistance will be stuck in unaffordable or substandard homes. Thousands of scientists have been laid off and vital medical research projects have stalled. More than 85 chief Federal District Court judges signed a letter last month saying their cuts have been so deep that public safety is now at risk. A continued sequester will force unnecessary and damaging furloughs of all F.B.I. employees, and of 650,000 civilian employees of the Defense Department. And it means the economy will continue to sputter. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that ending the sequester could create up to 1.6 million jobs.

Is this life lived by compassion for the least of all? 

Finally, there is Amos. God speaks through Amos to call Israel to a change of heart that actually is a plea to make it real, to use the vernacular. Everywhere the prophet goes, people all rise up, shouting praise of God and surety of God’s presence. Yet, one look at the streets, alleys, and places reveals something disturbingly ironic--these very same people crying out love for God live in ways the neglect neighbor, mindlessly consume, ignore God’s guides and frames for life, and basically compartmentalize religion into a day of on the Sabbath, nothing else needed. God is furious. Faith is a practice; i.e., a way of life. Every encounter, every conversation, every interaction becomes a moment of deep practice, for in every encounter between persons, God is present. God’s love brings them into being, breathes life through them; ergo, every moment is holy. God cannot be compartmentalized. To do so is a complete rejection of God as God. 

So, do we take God mindfully with us in our daily walk among the world? Let me put it this way--God is present every moment of every day, are we present for God? There is no moment of breathing wherein God is not present. Our faith is not a section of time on Sunday mornings, else it is not faith. It may well be religion, but one devoid of God. Faith tells us that God is. Faith tells us every interaction is sacred. Faith grounds our lives in the daily profundity of walking with God everywhere. 

So we find God angry. God burns with righteous indignation. But it is not consuming rage. It is a call to breathe. It is a call to focus. It is a call to love.

Everyday.

Everywhere.

Everyone.