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2007-11-06 issue:

Enlisted

Put on the Bible's combat gear to live in a Superpower nation.

by Jennifer Sensenig Davis

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In 2004 an art installation at Chicago’s Federal Building lined the plaza with 500 pairs of combat boots marking the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq. This exhibit used combat gear to call the Superpower nation to end the war and make peace. In Ephesians, the combat gear of the first century is used in a similarly artistic way.

The idea of dressing the church for battle comes from the Old Testament. In Isaiah 59, YHWH, the warrior who has defended and saved Israel in the past, also fights against Israel when their society becomes unjust. But in Ephesians, the church is called to “put on the whole armor of God.” We might imagine ourselves, individually, taking up these weapons in turn.

Yet, more than recommendations for individual believers, these enlistment orders are intended to raise up an “army of one”—one body, who will not be overpowered by the devil. This is not a call to worldly weapons, bloodshed or domination. Rather, in the wake of Christ’s resurrection, the church is an attack of Christian creativity against the remnants of false power—the rulers, authorities, powers and forces of evil.

New Testament conversion: We Mennonites are rightly anxious about warfare imagery being misunderstood, but don’t go AWOL on me just yet. The good news is that God’s battle plan in the New Testament is nothing less than a conversion of these powers. How does Jesus conquer economic injustice? Conversion. Zacchaeus begins the life of discipleship by divesting his wealth. How does Jesus conquer domination of women? Conversion. The woman at the well becomes an agent of the gospel. How does Jesus conquer domination in general? Conversion. The apostles are trained as servants. They are powerful but will not “lord it over” others. How does Jesus conquer racial profiling? Conversion. The Samaritan becomes the model of Christian mercy. How does Jesus conquer poverty? Conversion. The church redistributes wealth so that no one had need. At the end of Jesus’ life, how does God conquer violence? Conversion. By Christ’s wounds we are healed.

Is it beyond our dreams that the powers of this world can be converted, or taken captive, by the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ? Today, Joseph’s story is God’s word—the sword of the Spirit—slicing into our national life.

Conversion in a Superpower nation: After Joseph’s brothers tossed “this dreamer” into a pit and sold him into slavery, Joseph lived the rest of his life in Egypt. A false accusation led to Joseph spending many years in prison. In contemporary Egypt, prisons are places of abuse and torture. Deaths of prisoners, unfair trials, use of the death penalty and prisoners of conscience arrested for political and religious beliefs or sexual orientation are among the injustices. And Egypt is not the only modern nation beset by these sins.

As if anticipating this and any other nation justifying torture, Scripture’s critique of ancient Egypt is unrelenting. The prophet Ezekiel judges and laments Egypt’s national direction. Initially, God’s anti-Superpower words address the leadership. “I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon sprawling in the midst of its channels, saying, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ I will put hooks in your jaws. … I will draw you up. … I will fling you into the wilderness” (29:3-5).

Battling against the nation, God will fling the enemy into the wilderness. As we know, the wilderness is where a nation either dies or is converted to life with God.

Joseph suffered at the hands of his family and under the domination of a Superpower, but he survived both the pit and Egypt’s prison. Released from prison to interpret a dream about fat cows and scrawny cows, Joseph subsequently becomes the prime minister in Pharaoh’s administration. From this position Joseph leads a program to reorganize Egypt’s economy and mitigate the effects of impending famine. Joseph blesses Egypt, the Superpower nation, with an economic strategy that converts the flow of Egyptian wealth so that in the lean years the hungry can be fed.

This chapter of Joseph’s story is like a bell tone in our Mennonite Church USA ears. Our 16th-century Anabaptist ancestors suffered abuse at the hands of older, stronger siblings and the power of the state. We, too, have a memory of the pit and the prison. And like Joseph’s later success in Egypt, Mennonites have largely flourished living in this nation.

Joseph also speaks a second language. Today, Mennonites in the United States speak many languages. We are fluent in the languages of restorative justice, medicine, arts, community organizing, agriculture, business, computer technology, pedagogy and therapy, among others. Our Mennonite schools equip students to live the call with cultural fluency and a Christian mother tongue.

Joseph is not a warrior. Could he have been second only to the Pharaoh and not used violence or domination to underwrite his authority? Biblically speaking, Joseph’s tenure as prime minister is during a peculiar period when Pharaoh was listening to God and the nation was responding to impending disaster by reorganizing its economy. Rather than resorting to weapons of violence, Joseph dons the belt of truth as he stands before Pharaoh.

Knowing that famine was surely coming to devastate land, animals and people, Joseph might have suggested a military campaign to enlarge the territory of Egypt and exploit more resources to protect Egypt’s population. But wisely, Joseph’s campaign is about sustainability and sharing. Joseph established trade relations with people beyond the boundaries of Egypt through abundance rather than scarcity.

God’s creative advance against the nation of Egypt included even “collateral grace.” Joseph was reconciled with his family.

In the book of Acts, the wise and Spirit-filled Stephen declares: God “rescued [Joseph] from all his afflictions, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt” (7:10). Joseph lived the call in Egypt. Joseph blessed the nation where he lived. Even before the hungry world is fed and the family of faith is reconciled, this brother stands willing to risk the pit or the prison a second time. God’s call to us in Joseph and in Ephesians is to stand.

Live the call: As Mennonite Church USA, our ears ring when we hear Joseph’s story because we, too, are living in a Superpower nation facing ecological crisis. Ancient Egypt’s crisis was famine. Ours is oil dependence, global climate change, soil degradation, air pollution and deforestation. Like Joseph, we can contribute to wise government in our nation to benefit not only the United States but the rest of the world, particularly the global South, which will be disproportionately affected by these environmental crises and the resulting resource wars.

To the degree that we in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition are still separate from the world, we are all foreigners in the empire. We are neither fully at home in this nation nor completely antagonistic toward its leadership because our leader is Jesus Christ, the Lord whose mission is conversion. Each of us is a living testimony of conversion. And God has enlisted us in an attack of Christian creativity against the remnants of false power.

It is possible to live the call in the United States. When we are enlisted and receive our uniform, the whole armor of God, we are outfitted like Jesus—the divine warrior whose weapons destroyed strongholds by saving, healing, teaching, delivering those captive to demons, loving enemies and even suffering.

Sisters and brothers, we stand as one body in a Superpower nation. We are an army of love, with truth telling as our belt, justice across our chest, wearing sandals of peace, headgear of salvation and packing the Word. This is an unmistakable uniform. We are at Christ’s command.

Independence Day: The United States of America needs Mennonite Church USA to live the call. In the whole Christian family we are just one among siblings, but there is wisdom in this church. We have no need to protect the positions or privileges we have. God does not call us to preserve our wealth or our status but to give our lives for others. Soldiering is a sacrificial vocation. The Lord’s battle plan does not include self-preservation. Conversion means losing ourselves in order to gain Christ. 

On this national holiday, let us claim the cracked Liberty Bell. Its inscription, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof” (Leviticus 25:10), comes from God’s Jubilee, which realigns people, land and resources with God’s intentions for salvation and peace. Let us set aside our fears and our impulse toward self-preservation. As converts to Jesus Christ who believe that all authorities will ultimately bend to the true power of crucified love, the victory of resurrection is in sight. Getting dressed for the engagement is our sacrament. Christ is risen, and at his word we, too, are raised. Let us affirm our enlistment with Christ. Mennonite Church USA, put on the whole armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of justice, the shoes of peacemaking, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.

Jennifer Davis Sensenig is a member of the pastoral staff at Pasadena (Calif.) Mennonite Church. This article is adapted from the sermon she gave July 4 at San José 2007.

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