By the Finger of God

February 28, 2008

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

This rather is what I commanded them: Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper. Jeremiah 7:23

When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Luke 11: 21-23

Piety

Jesus, you leave little choice but to join you. You don’t offer to meet us halfway in some compromise. You ask for an all or nothing commitment to your loving ways to secure peace. You laugh at our attempts to be the strong man. You laugh at our “idiotic principle” that peace can be achieved or maintained by “arranging to use weapons we can’t possibly use without committing suicide.” You laugh at our inhumanity to each other where we rely upon prisons to do what our families, our schools, our churches and we, ourselves, did not do. You laugh at the hypocrisy we create in lives that we carry out each day – lives marked by polluting the earth, marginalizing the poor and ignoring the prophets you sent to live among us. Instead, give us an iota of the strength that you used to bind the forces of evil in the world. Help us to apply that strength not only to what we say, but also to what we do and the way we put our religion into practice. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/022808.shtml

The tables often get turned on those who are the most powerful. The 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team beats the mighty Soviet veterans in Lake Placid. The undefeated and mighty New England Patriots run into a brick wall of Giants from New York, ending their quest for perfection one game shy of the Super Bowl Trophy.

Beyond the sports analogies, strength and power are concepts to which we can relate as the most powerful nation on Earth, the last superpower. Now Jesus is talking to us in language that we understand. Smash-mouth, my-father-plays-dominoes-better-than-your-father Bible. But does Jesus the rebel act like a barroom bouncer tossing Beelzebub out the back door on his tailbone? NO! What Luke describes sounds like a total mismatch…stacked against the Messiah.

In this corner, hailing from Nazareth and turning water into wine at a glance, Jesus “The Finger of God” Christ and in this corner, the heavyweight champion of the universe of sin, Beelzebub!

What we learn is that Jesus has more power against sin in his little finger than Beelzebub has in the universe. The strong man better not be caught napping. Even if he is on guard, there is no guarantee that he is any match for this singular sensation of an opponent. The swiftly working Finger of God will bind the strong man faster than a spider weaves his web.

The most powerful are often threatened by the weakest, least powerful among us. Gandhi. Dorothy Day. Lech Walesa. Peter Maurin. Nelson Mandela. Like St. Peter, these modern-day peacemakers often found themselves in chains or under attack from the forces of the status quo who were threatened by unconditional active love. The strong man does not hesitate to throw the least among us into jail and throw away the key. Others find themselves killed by those threatened by love. Oscar Romero. Dorothy Stand. Ita Ford and her sisters. The strong man doesn’t worry about protecting their civil rights.

The image of what gets done by the “finger of God” also brings to mind the famous scene at the center of Michelangelo’s painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Life! From the mere touch of the Finger of God starts the whole creation story. Chaos is tamed and the image of God walks on earth.

Action

Binding the strong man…an apt analogy at work in the world today. Yet who will apply the chains? Who will tie the knot? Many people will speak out against evil but who will do something about it.

The current crisis in the Darfur region of the Sudan began in 2003. That is five years ago. Entire classes of college students have passed from the SAT tests through graduation yet still the killing goes on. The most significant advocates in our generation from Elie Weisel forward have tried to call our attention to this crisis. Since 2003, no segment of the population in that area of Africa – an area the size of Texas – has been spared from murder, rape and unspeakable violence. Despite the threat of international sanctions, the conditions on the ground continue to diminish. Just last week, President Bush was in Africa and spoke out (once again) on the crisis as he has done many times, including once at the Holocaust Museum. Yet would we not have undertaken a stronger and swifter path to justice if these conditions affected our Lone Star State and not a country thousands of miles away.

What needs to be done to end this genocide? According to international relief and development organizations, there are three steps needed.

1) An immediate cease fire.

2) An effective and credible peacekeeping force must be assembled to protect civilians and farmers. Darfur peacekeepers can not be successful without a few helicopters but no nation has yet provided them.

3) A renewed peace process needs to be started

What can you, as an individual accomplish?

1) Encourage President Bush and your Members of Congress to bind the strong man who is initiating these attacks – attacks which violate the UN Declaration on Human Rights. Ask them to support and lead efforts to provide much needed humanitarian aid throughout the region.

2) Consider supporting one of nearly 20 international efforts to aid the people in Darfur. Visit this web page (http://www.savedarfur.org/pages/partners_campaigns/) to learn more about these efforts.

3) Have you heard of divestment? It's one of the key tactics that was successfully used to end apartheid in South Africa and it can help end the violence in Darfur, too.

To "divest" means to withdraw investments from companies which support the genocide in Darfur by doing business with the government of Sudan. You can join in fighting the genocide by urging Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan Chase, Capital Group/American Funds, Fidelity, Vanguard, and other investment institutions to divest their holdings from any and all companies doing business with the government of Sudan.

Click the link below to sign the Divest for Darfur petition now and help cut off financial support for the government-sponsored violence in Darfur!

http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/divest_now

Diplomacy is crucial, but economic pressure may prove an even more powerful way to force Sudan to cooperate with international efforts to end the genocide. Sudan has been very responsive to economic pressure in the past so we have reason to hope that they will pay heed to the divestment efforts.

Please do not stand by while the violence continues - you can make a difference. Everyone’s death diminishes me. Do not ask for whom the Darfur bell tolls, it tolls for all of us.