“Paranoid Politics and Patient Resistance”
Job 1:1, 2:1-10
October 4, 2009 + World Communion Sunday
Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ
400 Glenwood Drive
Chattanooga, Tennessee 37404
Not so long ago I was sitting at the counter in Wally’s Restaurant and began a conversation with the man next to me. It was a perfectly normal conversation until we drifted into the subject of current events. Without batting an eye or changing the tone of his voice, my luncheon companion said: “You know, Barack Obama was born in Kenya under another name and was sent here by the Illuminati to destroy America’s economy.” Such breathtaking nonsense left me stunned. I think I blurted out something like: “Do you really think so?” And, of course, he did.
We hear that sort of paranoid politics these days not only at lunch counters but also in many places, particularly in the media. We hear this nonsense from the Limbaugh’s, the O’Reilly’s, the Hannity’s, the Beck’s. We see it in the so-called “Tea Party” protests where people hold up signs saying “End the Fed,” “Obama’s Nazi Youth Militia,” and “We the People for Capitalism not Socialism.” Of course, there are also plenty of signs and posters with not-too-thinly disguised racist attacks on President Obama.
We are in a particularly irrational time in American history. Perhaps it may be of some comfort to remember that paranoid politics have been part of our history from the very beginning. In 1798 prominent New England ministers – mostly Congregationalists! – warned of a plot by the Illuminati – a secret society of European intellectuals – to destroy Christianity and overthrow all governments. In the 1820’s, Freemasons were accused of the same thing and the Anti-Masonic political party was formed out of which, eventually, the Republican party was born. In the 1850’s we had the Know-Nothing Party who believed America’s troubles were due to Roman Catholics more loyal to the Pope than to the United States. They also eventually merged with the Republicans.
And if you think President Obama has it tough, you have to read what his opponents said of Abraham Lincoln, “that shambling ape in the White House” who wants to be a dictator. Or read what Father Charles Coughlin said in the 1930’s about Franklin Roosevelt being a tool of Jewish bankers and planning Pearl Harbor. And some of us are old enough to remember Senator McCarthy and the supposed great communist conspiracy to take over America, supported, along the way, by the John Birch Society.
Since the 1950’s we have had innumerable conspiracy theories believed in by the Left and Right about the assassinations of President Kennedy, Senator Kennedy, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Watergate Break-In, the siege at Waco, Texas against the Branch Davidians, the Oklahoma City bombing, the World Trade Center attacks and so much else. Now we have the “Gunners,” the “Lifers,” and the “Birthers.” All convinced that someone, somewhere is out to get them.
On Friday while I was waiting in the car for Barbara to finish her shopping I tuned into a talk radio show and listened to a woman telling the radio host about how her small town in Montana was being taken over by a Russian para-military force masquerading as policemen. And, by the way, the H1N1 vaccine is a government plot to establish mind-control over us. Those who refuse to get the vaccine will be put in jail, have a micro-chip inserted into them, or be forced to wear a bracelet which can’t be removed. Worst of all, the Montanan’s guns and ammunition will also be confiscated.
All of this sounds like paranoia to me and it seems to be getting worse. But let’s take a break from this breathtaking nonsense and remind ourselves what paranoia is. To be paranoid is to have persistent, unalterable, systematic, logically reasoned . . . delusions! In other words paranoids are convinced, without any rational basis, that they are the objects of persecution and attack. No amount of argument or evidence to the contrary will change their minds. They know what the truth is and the more frustrated we become in trying to convince them otherwise, the more certain the paranoid becomes that we are part of the conspiracy. By the way, paranoids are not fools. They are often highly intelligent but their intelligence is used to support their delusions. When pressed too far paranoids can become very angry and very dangerous.
The story of Job seems apt at this point. You remember how it goes. An absolutely blameless man, Job, is subjected to the most terrible misfortunes. The story (and it is a story, not history) says that God permitted his District Attorney, the Satan or tempter. (not, by the way, the Satan of later biblical material) to do everything possible to see if Job’s faith in God is genuine. In rapid succession the Satan sees to it that Job’s wealth is taken away, his children killed, and his health destroyed.
If anyone had a right to be paranoid, it would be Job. So running through the entire narrative is the question: “Will Job give up his faith in God. Will he stop believing that this universe is governed by justice and love.” Heaven knows he has more than enough reason to do that. His friends, his so-called “comforters,” try to persuade him that he has brought all this calamity upon himself because he has done something wrong. His wife gives up on him and tells him to “curse God and die.” But Job, despite his rage, his frustration, his railing against the injustice of it all still believes that God will vindicate him. In his words, “Even though God kills me, I will still trust God.” (Job 13:15) Job refuses to give up his faith in the ultimate triumph of goodness.
That same kind of patient persistence in the face of injustice and evil is what sustained Jesus. Despite what might have destroyed his faith, he kept his trust to the end. Even death on a cross could not shake his confidence that God will ultimately prevail.
I need that same kind of patient persistent faith today and I believe that many of you do, too. This is a very difficult time to be a person of faith. In some ways our times reminds me of the last days of the Roman Empire when the world was sliding into what we call “the Dark Ages.” Now, more than ever, we need to believe – despite all evidence to the contrary – that God is still in charge, that the voices of discord will not have the last word. Though we may suffer like Job or Jesus because of the evil and just plain craziness all around us, a patient persistent faith in God will see us through.
That is why communion is such an important moment for us today. It reminds us that even though lives may be broken and good men and women suffer, yet the ultimate reality is not death but life. This precious sacrament, this mystical union between ourselves and God, will strengthen us for tough times as it has for countless generations before us. As the old service says, “Draw near with faith and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort . . .” This is the meal that makes us whole and brings us peace. But let Job have the last word:
“For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God.”
Job 19:25-26