Out of Babylon — again

Basic to understanding the Israelite/Christian/Muslim traditions, according to the Bible material, God through Abraham chose Israelites to be a special people. In Genesis 12:2-3, God promises Abraham “I will make of you a great nation…so that you will be a blessing. In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This promise of God does not say that Israel (and its off springs) is the only people who can know God’s blessing. It does make clear that Israel was to have a special mission in history. Their God, JHWH, had spoken and his calling was irrevocable.

What does it mean to be a great blessing nation? Discussion began and differing opinions filled the earth. The people of Israel spent many decades as slave people in Egypt. They did not find greatness in Egypt. Moses led them from Egypt, and Joshua led them in a systematic conquering of Palestine. The conquering task was later assumed and completed by King David. David became one of the bloodiest, most vicious rulers in history. He established a powerful nation with a capitol on a dominant hill. His son, Solomon, built a magnificent temple for YHWH. Many Israelites believed this was the greatness that was promised to Abraham.

Then the kingdom disintegrated. Petty competitions and a competing capital city tore Israel into pieces. The former great ruling kingdom was conquered by the rising Babylonian empire. The Jerusalem temple was destroyed. Many Israelites were slaughtered. Others were forcefully relocated into surrounding conquered territories.

A small band of selected Israelites were carried away to the city of Babylon. They became powerless slaves. This small band of Israelite slaves were supposed to integrate into the Babylonian culture. They did not. They could not put aside their call by YHWH to be a great nation through which YHWH would bless the whole world.

The 70 years of captive slavery in Babylon became the most productive period of writing in the history of the Israelite people. Major portions of our Old Testament were written by the enslaved Israelites. They recorded the stories of their history. They wrote some of the finest poetry ever written in western civilization. Central to their thinking was a reworking of the meaning of greatness. Their vision of greatness moved from political and armed might to greatness through being servants of JHWH. The servant passages of the book of Isaiah are magnificent and are immortalized in Handel’s Messiah.

The task of defining the meaning of greatness never leaves us. Throughout history the rich and powerful define greatness in terms of wealth and power. The Israelite slaves in Babylon keep interrupting, and calling us to the alternative meaning of greatness.

Jesus from Nazareth was born into a poor and powerless family who lived in the poverty stricken Galilean territory in Northern Palestine. Jesus and his neighbors chaffed under the heavy heal of Roman rulers and misguided administrators of the Jerusalem temple. The Galilee area was the seed bed of the emerging Zealots who advocated armed rebellion. Jesus became a student of the writers from the Babylonian captivity. Read his parables and aphorisms and a contradicting message comes through. Greatness is not found in power and wealth! One of his great aphorisms is “If any among you want to be great, let him be a servant of all.” It is a central part of Christ’s message that we do not want to hear.

Jesus spoke often of the Kingdom of God. We who follow him and call him “Lord” ought to have something other in mind than power and wealth. Most all of us every Sunday pray “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

Seven years ago (2010) Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann wrote a small book entitled “Out of Babylon.” The book is a warning to America and its thirst for world dominance. We Americans have had times of greatness. After WW II, we rebuilt our enemies. We have been generous with aid to the world at times of disaster. Many of our American citizens have shared and worked for the less fortunate in the world. We build libraries, universities, and hospitals. Examples of philanthropy abound.

But there is another side to American life. We are arrogant in our pursuit of power and wealth. We have just elected and installed a new president. His campaign theme was “make America great again.” What does he mean by greatness? I recently took a new look at Brueggemann’s book. It is truly prophetic. From President Trump and his supporters, I have heard no call for generosity. I have heard no call to public service. I have heard no call for love of neighbor.

Israel’s empire collapsed. Babylon’s empire failed. The Persian empire, that replaced it, also failed. The Greek, the Roman, the French, the German and all other worldly empires fail.

It is time for Christian churches and their leaders to speak a word of truth about greatness. It is time to start a national discussion of the meaning of greatness. It is time to embrace justice, mercy and generosity. It is time to establish ourselves as servants of all. From Babylon and from Jesus, “If any among you want to be great, let him be a servant of all.”

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.