Deceptive Unity
Pentecost 8 – Summer Series: “Brushes with God”
August 4, 2018
Grace, Mankato, MN
Genesis 11.1-9
One day, during a gym class at East Jr. Hi in Richfield, the teacher set up a short race, 100 yards, I think. He wanted to see who the fastest runners were and picked those he thought would have a chance to win. I begged to have a chance to compete. I thought if I ran and worked hard I could win the race or if not, make a good showing. Grudgingly, he agreed to let me try and you know what happened: I got smoked, didn’t even come close to the others. You see, thinking you can do something, trying hard doesn’t always translate into winning. I learned a valuable, if not painful lesson that day about being a “legend in my own mind.”
The inhabitants of Shinar, what was known as Babylon, were legend-makers in process, or so they thought. On a basic level, the Babel story is an origin story. It tells how the variety of languages developed in the ancient world. But the story is more complicated than that. You would think that being unified, working together for a common cause would be something to be applauded. The problem is that they were unified by the wrong thing, something counter to God’s mission for them. They decided who they were going to be and what they’d be doing without a thought towards God.
Today we look at the Babel story through the eyes of 16th century Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel, the Elder. There are actually two paintings of the Tower each slightly different. This one hangs in Vienna and the other, smaller one hangs in Rotterdam. Now, it’s helpful to know that Bruegel painted in the heat of the Protestant Reformation and its resistance to the authority and abuses of the Roman Catholic Church. During this time many referred to Rome (the Papacy) as Babylon and it is no coincidence that Bruegel’s Tower of Babel looks like a Roman Coliseum.
Bruegel, like many of his day, painted ancient stories in contemporary images. Thus there ships in the harbor, a landscape that looks European, and nobility and workers clothed in typical garb of the day. We don’t know who the nobleman is, but the tower itself is telling: it is crumbling even as it is being built. Rome, called the Eternal City, was collapsing, a sign of the futility of prideful human effort. For Bruegel, the painting symbolized the struggle between a church worshiping in Latin and Protestants from many languages and cultures.
The warning in both the Babel story and painting is this: unity for the wrong reason is dangerous and even possibly evil. We ask ourselves, “Why is it that people most often get unified when they are unified against other people?” The Babel story tells us that a better shot at unity comes when we ask who we are as God’s people and what God intends for us. We always need to ask what God is calling us to be and do, something our Transition Task Force and the church council has been doing the last year. Furthermore, we’ve been careful to make sure our own building project is mission based, not human based, and I think we will succeed.
Like many of you, I’m concerned about the destructive unity in our country and world with groups attacking one another. A week ago, Bill Anderson brought me a copy of an article by Jim Wallis that appeared in Sojourner’s online magazine (https://sojo.net/articles/who-will-call-out-presidents-racism). He and the other members of his Friday morning discussion group agreed to bring this article to their pastors and implore them to call out racism, especially that of our current president. Now, I appreciate Bill’s passion and concern, but my first thought was, “Do we really need to say that telling someone to go back where they came from is racist, not to mention illegal in the workplace?”
“Do we really need to say all immigrants are criminals who come from s-hole countries is wrong? Do we really need to say that calling white nationalists ‘fine people’ gives them credibility they don’t warrant or deserve?” Unfortunately, we do need to say it, and more, because this is not who God is calling us to be and do. I know that this is a heavy message this morning, and I wish it could be sunshine and unicorns, but it’s not.
The reality is that the grace, mercy and unconditional love of God has for us has no meaning unless we name the sin and brokenness that make that grace necessary. We need to acknowledge that no matter how hard we try, we can’t do anything on our own. It’s true that we can’t fix the hurts of this world on our own, but God calls us to faithfulness, not success.
I’m proud of our work in the world combating racism. I’m proud that we have worked to settle immigrant families. I’m proud that we have housed and cared for the homeless. I’m proud that we travel to other communities to stand with them in the fight against poverty. I’m proud that we truly welcome all people to the Lord’s Supper without any qualifications or restrictions. The work is ongoing and we are strengthened to do so when we remember that our unity comes in, with and through Jesus Christ who died for all so that all may live. Will you join with me in spreading that message of love? Thanks be to God. Amen.
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