Life Giver: Love, Compassion, Mercy
By Charles Rush
March 26, 2000
Luke 10: 29-37
want to do something unusual this morning since we are in Lent
and part of Lent is not only to reflect on the Good but why the Good is
so hard to actualize. I'm also thinking of the Pope's recent
decision to hold a Mass to offer repentance for the sins of the Church.
In my opinion, it didn't go nearly far enough, but I respect the Pope's
initiative. He and I simply share quite different views of the
depravity of institutions.
Lord Acton once observed that power corrupts and absolute power
corrupts absolutely. What is true of secular institutions is also true
of sacred one's. Indeed, in all of history, in only the rarest of
times, have religious institutions been separate from the dominant
power. The vast majority of civilizations, religious institutions are
simply a spiritual reflection of the virtues and vices of society at
large. And when you stop to think about it, what else would you
expect?
I want to give one horrendous example of this, in part because it
has concerned so many of you, the idea of religious wars. This is a
long excerpt from the diary of Pizarro's brothers reflecting on a
conflict at Cajamarca on November 16, 1532. On that day, Pizarro led
168 Spanish soldiers with horses, swords, and guns in a battle with
80,000 Incan's. They slaughtered thousands of soldiers, captured the
King Atahuallpa for ransom, extracting possibly the largest ransom in
history- a room filled with gold 17 feet wide, 22 feet long, filled 8
ft. deep.
He writes to "the most invincible Emperor of the Roman
Catholic empire, our natural King and Lord" about "the glory
of God our Lord and for the service of the Catholic Imperial
Majesty" because "they have conquered an brought to our holy
Catholic Faith so vast a number of heathens, aided by His holy
guidance." He also notes that this narrative will bring
"terror among the infidels". We note, that it not only did,
it continues to do so.
The Spaniards were on an exploratory mission, quite far from the
rest of their convoy, when they happened upon the King of the whole
Incan Empire. They were overwhelmed. He says, "The Indian's camp
looked like a beautiful city. They had so many tents that we were
filled with apprehension... fear and confusion. But we could not show
any fear or turn back," for fear of being killed.
The next day King Atahuallpa sent a messenger and the Spanish
Governor invited the King to come visit, promising no harm would come
to him. He then divided his troops on either side of the plaza where
they were stationed, put artillery right behind him. He was going to
lure the King and his courtiers into the full plaza where they could be
attacked from three sides.
Later in the afternoon, Atahuallpa arrived with a full retinue.
Some 2000 men proceeded him in a large march, followed by dancers,
followed by singers, finally the King himself on a a litter carried by
80 of his immediate Cabinet members, bedecked in beautiful jewels and
parrot feathers.
Governor Pizarro sent Friar Vicente de Walverde to go speak
to Atahuallpa, and to require Atahuallpa in the name of God and of the
King of Spain that Atahuallpa subject himself to the law of our Lord
Jesus Christ and to the service of His Majesty the King of Spain.
Advancing with a cross in one hand and the Bible in the other hand, and
going among the Indian troops up to the place where Atahuallpa was, the
Friar thus addressed him: 'I am a Priest of God, and I teach
Christians the things of God, and like manner I come to teach you.
What I teach is that which God says to us in this Book. Therefore, on
the part of God and of the Christians, I beseech you to be their
friend, for such is God's will, and it will be for your good.'
Atahuallpa asked for the Book, that he might look at it, and
the Friar gave it to him closed. Atahuallpa did not know how t open
the Book, and the Friar was extending his arm to do so, when
Atahuallpa, in great anger, gave him a blow on the arm, not wishing
that is should be opened. Then he opened it himself, and, without any
astonishment at the letters and paper he threw it away from him five or
six paces, his face a deep crimson.
The Friar turned to Pizarro, shouting, 'Come out! Come out,
Christians! Come at these enemy dogs who reject the things of God.
That tyrant has thrown my book of holy law to the ground! Did you now
see what happened? Why remain polite and servile toward this
over-proud dog when the plains are full of Indians? March out against
him, for I absolve you!'
With the cry of "Santiago" the Spaniards charged, on
horseback, their spears and armor no match for their opponents. They
cut them down left and right. A general panic ensued because the
Incans had never seen or heard gunfire or canon fire before. For
reasons never really determined, the 20,000 support troops about a
half-mile away never budged from their position. Meanwhile the
Spaniards slew some 7,000 men in battle. They captured the King.
Afterward, Pizarro addressed the King Atahuallpa. This is what he said
"Do not take it as an insult that you have been defeated and taken
prisoner, for with the Christians who come with me, though so few in
number, I have conquered greater kingdoms than yours, and have defeated
other more powerful lords than you, imposing upon them the dominion of
the Emperor, whose vassal I am, and who is King of Spain and of the
universal world. We come to conquer this land by his command, that all
may come to a knowledge of God and of His Holy Catholic Faith; an
A friend of mine gave me this book to read recently. He wrote in
the margins, "novel interpretation of the parable of the Good
Samaritan."
In terms of Christianity, there is no justification of incidents
like this, no rationalization, no explaining it away. I only want to
use it to point out the uniqueness of the teaching of love in
Christianity and to show just how difficult it is to actually manifest
love.
From our modern point of view what strikes us about this story is
how hypocritical these Conquistadors and priests were. That is
because, from our perspective, religion is unquestionably about love
and the Church is obviously separate from political and military power.
The proper role of religion is obviously to our mind, is to teach
people a nobler way to live and to serve as a prophetic critique to
power.
But from an ancient point of view, when I look at stories like
this- and they could be duplicated- what I see is the continuation of a
very ancient form and function of religion/politics/military.
In no other religion, is there any teaching like Jesus has about
love. I would be willing to bet that the reception of love as the
essence of God and our relationship to each other was counter-intuitive
when it was first proclaimed, despite the fact that it is almost a
matter of common sense today.
If you look at the function of religion in the Roman Empire, it
modeled a very different relationship than we have today and the same
could be said of Egypt, Babylon, and a number of different Empires in
the ancient world.
In Rome, religion was principally about the spiritual dimension of
political power. The priests accompanied the army for protection and
prediction of the conditions for victory. They petitioned the divine
to bless political leaders. Their religious services were also like
unto our pledge of allegiance in which the citizens of Rome bound
themselves to the authority of the Empire and submitted themselves to
the Emperor and the Senate. In later Roman society, prosperous
families hoped for Sons that would go in three fields. One to run the
estate, one in the Senate, and one in the priesthood.
After the Roman Empire, fell apart in the Middle Ages, there were
regular hopes on the part of the aristocracy in Europe that the Roman
Empire might be reconstituted again. Those hopes came and went and
they continued for centuries. Once again, landed families hoped for
sons in three realms. One to run the estate, one to be a General in
the army, and one to become Bishop. Bishops had enormous spiritual
influence. They administered the considerable properties of the
Church. They heard the confession of the political leaders of the day
and gave their blessing to new political and economic enterprises.
They were vested with power to bless and damn, not only in this life
but in eternity. They assumed the ancient form and function from the
old Roman society, one that the people understood, one the people felt
comfortable with, one that they wanted.
Whenever religion becomes wedded to power, it is nothing but a
spiritual expression of the virtues and vices of that society. It was
always an uncomfortable arrangement because Christianity is not a very
good Empire religion. There are some dimensions that justify conquest
but Love is a pretty large brake on Imperialistic expansion of a
rapacious nature. In the history of the Church power corrupted love.
And we came to understand just how difficult it is to actually
implement love in any kind of institutional way. You know that if you
just stop and think what it would take to even remotely allow the
teaching of love to have some impact on your workplace. Make it
easier, it is hard to actually implement love in our charitable
organizations- the YMCA, the Community Foodbank- people are still
petty, mean, vindictive even when they are working for a good cause.
The Church today is like that too. We are severed from political
power, from economic power. We merely come together as a volunteer
community to focus on matters spiritual. But I dare say that anyone
who has gotten involved in a Church for any length of time, won't have
a story to tell about someone that has been mean, arbitrary, hurtful.
You should go to a Presbyterian General Assembly and hear the Ministers
debate a social issue like the role of homosexuals in the Church.
There are times when it appears a food fight is about to break out. If
you have a disagreement with someone you know well and have an ongoing
relationship, they just don't see things like you do. But if you have
a disagreement with an Evangelical from California, pretty quickly they
become a right-wing fascist bonehead with a clerical collar. Love is
very hard to establish institutionally because power corrupts love
invariably.
And it is a unique idea in the history of religions. It is just
foreign to the spirituality of Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism. That is not
to say that they have no concept of care, compassion or affection.
They do but the concept plays no central role in the spiritual quest.
We are so deeply influenced by Christianity that we take love for
granted. I have a friend who is a Minister. They had a student from
the Middle East to stay with them on an exchange program. She would
attend Church and sit in the back of the balcony because she had never
been in a church and wanted to know what Christians were like. The
Minister preached on love. She said to him afterward, we should teach
that to the Elders in my country. We never hear anything about love.
Duty- yes, obligation-yes, discipline-yes... Love is not a central
concept in Islam.
Even in Judaism it is not central. I had a conversation once with
an Orthodox Rabbi. After a long discussion, he said to me, "The
more I hear you speak, you sound like the Almighty is love. I hear
this from you Christians. I must tell you that is not what I think of
principally when I think of the Almighty. The Almighty is about
holiness most of all.
I've thought about that issue a lot over the years. I believe that
we do have an issue. As Jack Miles has pointed out in a recent book,
if you read through the Bible from Genesis on, there is no explicit
statement about God loving until Isaiah 39. Looking back from Jesus'
explicit teaching, we Christians have seen the love of God implied in
creation, implied in the Exodus, implied in God's relationship with
Isaac and David. But Miles is right that love is simply not front and
center in the Jewish scriptures like it later becomes in Christianity.
And it is not easy to implement, particularly to the stranger, to
people we are bound together with and do not personally know,
particularly in any kind of institutional way: the nation, the
corporation, even charities. It is always a struggle, even in the most
intimate circles. On the one hand, we should have high expectations
and high hopes. But on the other hand, we should be thankful for small
victories wherever they arise.
I am reminded of a friend who tells a story of her father, a simple
man who immigrated to this country from Sicily after the War. He was a
laboring man, not very articulate. His whole life, he was pretty
aloof, not very in touch with his emotions. As she said, "who
knows why he was what he was, it never occurred to us to ask. It
appeared that he had a fairly formal relationship with his wife. They
fulfilled their family duties but they never had much warm intimacy.
His wife endured a lot of frustration with him on a number of levels
and worked through it.
She got sick with cancer. Over some time, her condition worsened.
Some physicians told her that her situation was grave but they gave her
an option to enter an experimental study. The problem was that
entrance to the study was a blind test. It required her to forgo the
standard treatments and she wouldn't know whether or not she was
getting a placebo or the medicine. She decided to enter the study.
She came home and said to her husband, "I need you to call me
every day from work. I need you to tell me that it's going to be okay
and that you are going to take care of it, and everything is going to
be okay." He got it. He was not a very bright man, nor
articulate, but sometime every morning and sometime every afternoon, he
called home, "I'm just calling to check in a see how you are
doing... I just want you to know that everything is going to be okay
and I'm going to take care of it."
On Eric Eriksson's scale of profound love, it was not all that high
but in his own fumbling and limited way, it was also beautiful. And I
think that we should probably simply be grateful, whenever and wherever
love manages to sneak in and manifest itself in our lives, quite in
spite of ourselves and our foibles. The fact of the matter is that we
are only stumbling towards Jerusalem. Amen
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