One of the great pleasures of working as a chaplain in a rigorous college prep environment is that I get to work with young leaders who really think they have a shot at changing the world. They have a kind of "childlike faith" in the possibility of making the world a better place, and a wonderful naivety about their own capacity to bring about that change.
They have been told repeatedly that the sky is the limit, and they can do anything they put their mind to, if they will just work hard enough. And most of them have not had enough experience with the world yet, to have that beat out of them by life's hard knocks, or slowly drained out of them by life's compromises.
Do you remember what it was like to have that kind of childlike faith that you could change the world? Before you "grew up" and repeatedly failed the same failures, fought the same fights, and argued the same arguments, over and over and over again. Jesus repeatedly praised childlike faith, saying that it was necessary if we wanted to enter into the Kingdom of God.
And while "childlike faith" can mean a number of things, from curiosity to courage, surely part of its meaning is this: We really, really do think that God can change things for the better, and bring about God's Kingdom "on Earth as it is in Heaven".
Why else do we pray the Lord's prayer? Is it not in the hope that God's Kingdom can come here, now, in us, through us? Why else do we get up on a Sunday morning, and gather here to hear the Good News afresh, and partake in the Great Thanksgiving Meal at this Altar? Is it not because, despite our jadedness and skepticism and cynicism, we think God might just show up and DO something? To change us, change our community, change our world, for the better?
Today as we listen to the Gospel reading about Jesus sending out his disciples, as we read about Ezekiel preaching to a rebellious people, as we see Paul struggling with his weakness, let us tap into this childlike faith once more. Perhaps, just maybe, there's some hope that Jesus still wants to change the world. And he might even want to work through us as his hands and feet to do it.
But the big question is: How? How does God change the world?
The first thing I notice when I ask "How does God change the world?" is this: God doesn't do it the way I would, if I was God. And if you are really honest with yourself, you might even admit that God doesn't change the world the way you would do it either. Because, honestly, if I was god things would happen a LOT faster.
I think I would be a wrathful god, a Day of Vengeance god, a Book of Revelation god. I might give a warning or two. But if people didn't shape up, and do what was right, and good, and just, and compassionate, I would be strongly tempted to force them to do what is right, or I would eliminate them.
That's right. If left to my own devices, in the name of Justice and Compassion, I would be tempted to do horrible things which are neither Just nor Compassionate.
And maybe, if I caught you on a really bad day, when you were really angry at the News, really upset with Social Media, really furious about Politics, maybe you might say the same thing. All these people need to shape up, and do what is right, or they can all go to hell! We all have a wrathful god somewhere deep within us, ready to smite those who do wrong in our eyes.
And if we keep on being really honest with ourselves, we might also realize that part of the reason we are so cynical about ever seeing change happen in the world is that we haven't seen God smite the people who deserve it, and reward the people who have been oppressed. And we cry out under our breath: How long, O Lord, will you allow the wicked to prosper, and the vulnerable to be mistreated?
Perhaps the solution to our jadedness does not reside in God acting like we expect God to act, but instead realizing that WE need to act that Way God expects US to act. And God's Way of acting is Christlike. Because Christ is the Way to God, embodied in a human life. [cf. John 14.6-7]
And if God's Way of changing the world is Christlike, we need to ask HOW Christ changed his world, and HOW he sent his disciples out to change their worlds. And the difference between our way and God's Way hinges precisely on how Christ uses, and refuses to use, POWER to accomplish the arrival of God's Kingdom.
In modern psychology and sociology, it is popular to look at power from two perspectives: Hard Power and Soft Power. HARD POWER is the god of wrath, who uses power coercively to bend his enemies to his will, to force them into submission. And if they will not submit, this power is used to exclude or destroy them, so they are no longer a threat.
Jesus' entire life is a repudiation of Hard Power to accomplish the Kingdom of God. From his birth in an animal stall, to his childhood as a day laborer, to his ministry with the least, last, and lost, to his judicial murder as an enemy of the State. When standing before the Roman Governor who could have pardoned him, Jesus gave as thorough a rebuttal of Hard Power as we could imagine when He said:
"My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish Leaders. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." [John 18.36]
Only once did Jesus use Hard Power against livestock and tables, when he protested how marketers and money changers had co-opted Temple, to get rich from the sacrificial offerings of the poor and needy. It was this act of protest that led directly to Jesus' crucifixion. From Jesus to Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr: When your protests start hindering the position and profits of the Powerful, that's when they have you assassinated.
Instead, other than the single exception of his Temple Protest, Jesus only and always wields SOFT POWER. Soft Power transforms by healing, not by harming. Soft power operates through compassion, not coercion. Soft power changes hearts and minds, it does not damage bodies or destroy lives.
Soft power may use shame to convict the conscience, but it does not use threats to compel compliance. Soft power may break relationships in protest of injustice, but it always leaves open the possibility for repentance and reconciliation. And finally soft power always expects us to be our best self, instead of expecting the worst from people. In short, Soft Power blesses. Hard Power curses.
This is all because God is Love, and therefore the Kingdom God wants to bring is a Kingdom of Love. Love cannot be accomplished ultimately by war, or violence, or coercion, or any kind of Hard Power. Because Love must be chosen in freedom, nourished by compassion. Love can only be brought about by Soft Power: The power of Divine Compassion transforming minds, and turning hearts, to accept and embrace each other as God's children.
And we see precisely this Soft Power at work in the Gospel today. The people in Jesus' hometown were expecting him to do a "deed of power"-- an act of Hard Power to rebel against Roman Military Might-- to prove that he was a prophet of God. Jesus refused to do a deed of Hard Power, and instead kept doing acts of Soft Power-- of healing and casting out spiritual evil-- to demonstrate what the Kingdom of Love looks like.
And then, when Jesus sent out his disciples, he told them to spread this Kingdom of Love by Soft Power as well. He sent them without any means of Hard Power. No swords or weapons or even tools. They didn't get extra clothes or food. They were to be completely dependent on the Soft Power of God working through local Hospitality.
And Jesus sent them to do the same things Jesus did: To heal; To cast out spiritual evil; To share fellowship and food. No armed military campaigns. No acts of terrorism against foreign oppressors. Not even political debates with local authorities. If they were denied or demeaned, they were to protest peacefully by wiping off their feet, and going to someone who would embrace them.
But their Soft Power did not make them doormats. No! They had a message: The Good News of the Kingdom of Love. They called people to repent: To turn from the ways of Hard Power. To turn from selfishness, and using force and violence to get their way. To turn from the inevitable self-destruction that comes with using Hard Power to play power politics, and make people do what they wanted.
The only way to enter into God's Kingdom is the Way of Love, the Way of Soft Power, the Way of Christ. And we have to repent from using Hard Power if we are to see this Kingdom come "on Earth as it is in Heaven". We have to instead embrace a Path of Love, healing, compassion, and self-sacrifice to see the world change. And we need this message of repentance just as badly as they did 2000 years ago.
Because we have seen the world we live in. We have watched the 24 hour News cycle. We have used social media to argue with friends and family, trolls and zealots. We know that the fabric of society is being ripped apart from the Right and the Left, from the top layer of socio-economic status, to the very bottom.
And on every side there is the common assumption that there is ONE way to victory and ONE way to mold Society: That is the way of Hard Power. Us versus Them. Good versus Bad. The Righteous versus the The Wicked. The Wise versus the Stupid. Two sides enter: One side leaves.
There is only one tactic that all sides use: Make more noise, generate more outrage, produce more memes, whip up more votes, demean more opponents, crack more skulls. We can show we are right with better statistics, better arguments, better insults! If they hit hard, we hit harder! If they shout loud, we shout louder! We follow the iron rule: Do unto others as they have done unto us!
At this stage of our cultural crisis, we are only using political and ideological versions of Hard Power. But do not be deceived. A culture committed to winning at all costs through Hard Power cannot, and will not, stop there. If we do not repent, we will find ourselves using physical versions of Hard Power as well. Dueling with words will become dueling with weapons. And then all sides lose.
I think this is part of the reason why old Saint Paul was given a thorn in the flesh to make him remember his weakness, and dependance on Divine grace. Because if you have read anything of Saint Paul in the Bible, you will realize that Hard Power came naturally to him. He started his career as a member of the religious police, using Hard Power to persecute the new Jesus movement.
Once he converted to the Way of Jesus, he became a fiery preacher and a fierce debater, standing strong for the Faith he once persecuted. Half of the New Testament is basically reading Paul's Facebook feed, as he writes to his colleagues and converts around the Roman Empire. Read these letters, and you will glimpse his fire and fierceness. At times Paul borders on using Hard Power to coerce and compel people to follow Jesus in the Way Paul thinks is best.
I think God had to do something to save Paul from using Hard Power to spread the Kingdom of Soft Power. And I think that something was to make Paul weak in a way that reminded him constantly that he was dependent on God's Love and Mercy, Compassion and Grace. And it was by this dependance that Paul remembered God's Kingdom is spread by Soft Power, nor Hard Power.
And now fast forward 20 centuries to another Saint Paul. This time Saint Paul is not an individual, but a Community, a Church, across the street from a military base, in a diverse urban neighborhood, in a thriving multicultural City, within a politically divided State and Nation. Like the original Saint Paul, we are called to spread Christ's Kingdom of Love, using Soft Power, in the midst of a culture trying to build kingdoms through Hard Power.
And just like God changed the world through the weaknesses and gifts of the original Saint Paul, God really can, and really will, change the world through your weaknesses and gifts as well. Never by Hard Power. But by the Soft Power of Christ's Love and Healing working through you: In your home, at your work, through your schools, within your communities. But like the original Saint Paul, we too need to repent, and take up the challenge of following Christ, in a Christlike Way.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, you came to establish a Kingdom of Love, where all are welcomed, all are reconciled, all are made whole. The only way to enter your Kingdom is through childlike faith and trust in you, that you are working in us, and through us, to bring your Kingdom to Earth as in Heaven. Help us to refuse the seductions of Hard Power and winning at all costs, and embrace the Soft Power of healing and compassion embodied in you. For it is in your Name we pray. Amen.
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