Antifa | Wayfarer

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have been more unruly than the nations around you and have not followed my decrees or kept my laws. You have not even conformed to the standards of the nations around you.”
Ezekiel 5:7 (NIV)

One of the more interesting things that I have observed in my lifetime is the increasing extent to which individuals and groups are given and driven to sow anarchy and chaos. It seems that wherever and whenever protesting crowds descend into rioting, violence, looting, and burning, there is always an element participating that cares nothing about whatever cause started with the protests. This element is there to encourage the crowd’s descent into chaos.

Fascinating.

In today’s chapter, God continues to describe to the young prophet Ezekiel his first prophetic assignment. What started out as strange just gets seemingly more strange as God tells Ezekiel that when the 430 days of his metaphorical siege on his little model city of Jerusalem is over, he is to cut off his hair and beard. A third of it is for burning the model city of Jerusalem, a third for striking with a sword around the model of Jerusalem, and a third for scattering a third of it to the wind.

For the people of Ezekiel’s day, the metaphors were much more clear than they are for modern readers. Hair in Mesopotamian cultures was often considered part of a person’s essence, and for this reason, hair was often used in religious rituals and divination practices. The prophet’s hair was God’s metaphorical essence that was in His people. The end of the siege of Jerusalem would end up with God’s people being burned inside the city, slaughtered if they tried to flee, and scattered in exile.

As God explains the judgment against His people, He states that they have been more “unruly” than the nations around them. The Hebrew word hāman has an expansive meaning that includes descriptors such as turbulence, rage, and clamor. This is where it gets really interesting.

Remember that Ezekiel is among the exiles in Babylon. In ancient Babylonian literature, a similar word translated as “clamor” is repeatedly used to describe the increasing and never-ending wickedness that draws the wrath and judgment of their gods. This includes the Babylonian version of the Great Flood story. The Hebrews would know well these words from Genesis 6 that led to the flood:

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Through Ezekiel, God is telling the Hebrews living in Babylon that their unruly “clamor” is like the same “clamor” that caused God to bring the Great Flood (according to both the Hebrew and Babylonian versions of the story) is what will bring the destruction of Jerusalem if they refuse to repent. Not only that, but their “clamor” was greater than “the nations around them” which included their Babylonian captors.

In mixing metaphors from both Hebrew and Babylonian traditions, Ezekiel is telling his people: “Even our evil Babylonian captors get it better than we do!” This was a stinging rebuke, a desperate warning, and an urgent plea to His people to repent.

In the quiet this morning, my head and heart go back to how I see this “clamoring spirit” alive and well in today’s world. As I meditated on it in the quiet this morning, I came to the conclusion that it is always present in this fallen world. The only thing that changes is the amount and intensity which has ebbed and flowed throughout history. What a contrast to the fruit of the Spirit that Jesus asked His followers to sow in this fallen world to bring redemption, reconciliation, righteousness, and peace which will lead towards increasing order.

I find this a simple litmus test for my life and the human systems which I influence. If my life repeatedly results in me amidst chaos and disorder, then I need to take a long introspective look in the mirror. As a disciple of Jesus, I should find myself with a growing and increasing sense of peace in any and all circumstances. If not, then I’ve missed something important along the way.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

So Jehu destroyed Baal worship in Israel. However, he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit—the worship of the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
2 Kings 10:28-29 (NIV)

As I read the chapter this morning, I couldn’t help but think about the news reports coming out of the cities held by ISIS. Our own media have been slow to report the brutal daily realities there. People forced into religious submission and immediate death sentences for any who do not proclaim religious allegiance. Immediate death for anyone caught in the most minor moral infraction such as smoking a cigarette or not wearing the right garb. Those of other faiths beheaded or crucified. Dead bodies hung out for public display as a warning to all.

Life in ancient times was bloody and brutal. Today’s chapter is not a light, devotional read. It’s a veritable blood bath. Last week I used the Godfather saga as a modern parallel to Jehu’s take over of Ahab and Jezebel’s regime. The word picture continues to parallel in the today’s chapter. Having “capped” Ahab and Jezebel, the new Godfather Jehu consolidates his power by killing all of Ahab and Jezebel’s sons, all of their inner circle, their loyal followers, and then all of the members of the religious cult of Baal to whom Ahab and Jezebel zealously ascribed.

For ancient political upstarts like Jehu this type of bloody takeover was nothing new or groundbreaking. There was a well-worn playbook for taking over and consolidating power, and Jehu’s actions were strictly takeover “by the book.” Even in The Godfather II they reference the ancient Roman Empire as blueprint for how they organized and carried out “business.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I thought the most important thing mentioned in today’s chapter was when it is reported that Jehu had wiped out the corruption and idolatry of Ahab and Jezebel, but then he continued to commit his own personal idolatry by worshipping the idols of golden calves. One idolatrous regime gives way to another. Jehu was happy to violently wipe-out his enemies and set up his own personal empire, but in the end he wasn’t that much different from his predecessors.

Which brings me back to today’s headlines, and my own thoughts in the quiet of the morning. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The reports out of cities controlled by Islamic State read like the ancient story of Jehu (and the Inquisition, as well). Even in our own “modern” and “enlightened” culture we have groups of people both left and right who have actively ascribed to violence, power, and intimidation to do away with those who disagree and subject others to their personal world views.

Maybe we’re not so civilized as we think we are.

I’m reminded this morning of Jesus’ words, “You have heard it said…, but I say….” As a follower of Jesus I am called to a different playbook that says if you want to gain power you have to let it go, if you want to lead you have to serve, if you want to ascend you must humbly bow. Jesus’ playbook begins with a change of heart that leads to a change in behavior and relationships. It grows organically by contagion.

The problem with Ahab, Jehu, Rome, the Corleones, Islamic State, the Alt-Right, and Antifa is that it’s all about external power to subject others to their will, but this only serves to sow seeds of hatred and rebellion in the hearts those subjected. Thousands of years of human history and we still haven’t learned the lesson. We’re still falling back to the old playbook. It often works, for a time.

I much prefer Jesus’ strategy. Start with changing the individual heart and then working outward using simple tactics of love, grace, forgiveness, and generosity. I’m not forcing anyone to follow this path, mind you, but I’m happy to buy you a cup of coffee or a pint and tell you about my own personal experience.