2 Kings 22:1-20; 23:1-3
One of the greatest modern philosophers in the history of the world; Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, once told a story of how a madman discovered that, according to his observations, God was dead.
While Nietzsche is often credited with the quote “God is dead”, that quote has usually been misinterpreted.
What Nietzsche was asking us to reflect on was the relevance of God, rather than the existence.
Nietzsche was addressing a very real nightmare that was rising out of the industrial age;
Pollution, economic disparity, child labor, and an industrial revolution that was ushering in a new era of warfare that would destroy the fabric of the entire European society; these were just a few issues Nietzsche saw rising from the eve of modernity.
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| Friedrich Willhelm Nietzsche |
He believed, that in the face of such changes -especially changes that would usher in such a harsh reality and violence- God would not only be powerless to address the impending disaster, but perhaps God had ceased to work in the world at all.
Now, I’m not implying that Nietzsche believed in God, but Nietzsche was addressing the NEED for God.
For Nietzsche, there was no longer the need for religion or God.
Society had just gone too far, it was surrounded by desperation, imminent destruction.
Nietzsche wasn’t the first to make such claims.
Many had claimed that the end was imminent and there was no way out.
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For King Josiah, there is a similar air of hopelessness.
Josiah’s reign in Jerusalem followed the invasion of the Assyrians during King Hezekiah’s reign.
It was an invasion that fully displayed the brutal and sadistic capabilities of an invading army.
Much like Nietzsche’s Europe, the world of the Ancient Near East was on the verge of a major change.
While Egypt had been a dominant power in the region, Israel had carved out it’s own territory and existed, largely unaffected by other empires, to include the Egyptians and the Hittites.
But the Assyrians rose quickly, with an objective of dominating the region through fear and brutality.
First, the Northern region of Israel was destroyed, sending refugees fleeing the northern region in fear.
As the northern Israelites fled into the Kingdom of Judah, seeking sanctuary from the Assyrians, they brought with them their own interpretation of the God of Israel that both kingdoms professed faith to.
They brought their culture, their faith, and what was left of their families.
Little wealth was salvaged from the attack because the Assyrians had swallowed up not only the territory, but the wealth and the people left behind -which were killed if they were lucky, enslaved if they were not.
What the Northern Israelites brought plenty of -as they fled the massive Assyrian army- was fear.
The fear of the Northern Israelites spread like a plague inside the walls of Jerusalem.
Behind the walls of Jerusalem the entire region sought protection from the invading army.
Imagine, a walled city surrounded by an enemy army.
In a modern context, we have a difficult time imagining such a sight.
An island in the middle of an ocean of impending doom.
And while this occurred under the reign of the King Hezzekiah, Josiah’s reign occurs in the middle of two complete disasters;
the reign of the Assyrians -who control every square mile surrounding what is left of Israel- and the Babylonians who will destroy, not only Israel, but the Assyrians as well.
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| An artist's depiction of the Assyrian siege on Jerusalem |
Babylon will destroy and rule the region with even greater brutality than that of the Assyrians
Just consider the words of Psalm 137 that describes the brutality of the Babylonian invaders
“Oh daughter of Babylon, you devastator! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!”
Sobering insight isn’t it?
Much like Nietzsche, Josiah knows what is coming.
Nietzsche knew an event like World War one would occur, much like all of Europe.
Josiah knows, he sees the writing on the wall and this is partly why we hear of his lamentation today; tearing off his garments in mourning, knowing that nothing he does will save the people.
But Josiah is a good king and he knows that faith is more than a deterrent against impending disaster.
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Comedian Dane Cook once did a bit called “the atheist”
In the bit, Cook claims he was at a party when he was sneezed on by another partygoer who was not polite enough to cover his mouth.
Cook, in an attempt to be polite in spite of the sneeze, looked at the partygoer and calmly said “Bless you”
The partygoer took offense at Dane’s response to his sneeze and engaged in a conversation about how rude it is to say such a thing to an atheist.
Dane Cook, as only he can do, claims that he asked the atheist what he believed in, to which the atheist proclaimed
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| Comedian Dane Cook |
Cook claims that although he didn’t share his thoughts out loud he secretly wished that this vision of the future would come true with a slight nuance.
He says “I hope when he dies he does become a tree. I hope he's in the middle of the wilderness and he's doing his tree thing. Whatever it is trees do. I know they do a lot of work with breezes. And wouldn't it be fantastic if while he was out there just enjoying his treeness. Through the woods a huge, sweaty guy with an axe comes along. Sees him. Chops him down. Smash. Put a chain around him. Drags him through the mud and the muck. Puts him into a sawmill. Grinds him up. Then you pound him down into paper. And once he's paper. You print the Bible on him?”
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Dane Cook does it much better than I do, but Dane is right to wish such a fate as this on his fellow party goer;
In fact, Dane is right to wish it on all of us.
These past six months I have been at Our Saviour’s I have spent almost every moment of my ministry talking about a very basic, even archaic means of communicating truth.
Truth about ourselves, who we are, what we are, why we are.
All good stories point to something beyond ourselves.
If I read the story as mere words on a page than it will remain nothing but words on a page but this story, OUR story that is given as a gift from God, points to our call to BE the story.
Sisters and brothers, when we refer to Jesus as the Word made flesh, this isn’t just a typo, this is our call.
To be the story.
But in order to be the story we need to realize the truth, the hope that we hold in our hands.
Josiah, in realizing the truth he was receiving realized that there was hope beyond the impending doom at the gates of Israel.
Hope beyond the horrors they had witnessed at the hands of the Assyrians, hope beyond the horrors they had yet to witness at the hands of the Babylonians.
It was a word that they would carry with them into slavery, exile, and oppression.
By the waters of Babylon as the Israelites would weep bitter tears they would still carry on because of the words Josiah had received that day.
They wouldn’t just be sustained by them by reading them, they would live them out; day in and day out.
That is why Josiah tears his cloak, it is the word that he thirsts for, the word that all the remnants of this once great people longed for.
Josiah mourns because like a starving child at the window of a bakery, it is the morsel his people have craved through famine.
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One of the first classes I ever took in seminary was also the hardest class I took.
The Professor, Dr Sam Balentine, was notorious for his high expectations and rigid demeanor.
In our first class he started his lecture, telling us “Today, we are going to start class by listening to the bible”
After about 5 minutes of silence, which seemed like forever, he stepped back up to the podium and began his lecture stating;
“Let us begin with what the bible does….. nothing without your voice”
What I never forgot from that man, besides his remarks on my papers to “stay in the trenches”, which, by the way, given the grades I received, I couldn’t ever figure out if he meant I should have stayed in the Marine Corps
But what I never forgot him saying was that the bible is just a book until we make it part of who we are, part of what we are, part of the story we live, rather than just a story we tell.
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A couple weeks ago, I was confronted and rightfully so, by someone who asked me if the hope I found in my faith was just out of desperation.
It is the most important question that we must continuously ask ourselves.
For Josiah, Nietzsche, you, me, we all need to ask ourselves
Are we holding onto this book out of mere desperate hope to survive the siege outside the walls of our own Jerusalems?
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| Memorial in Paris |
Our Beirut's
Our Mali's
Or are we holding onto this book out of mere superstitious hope that this book will present some magical formula that disperses or defeats the army’s at our gates?
Our ISIS's
Our Al Qaeda's
Our Most despised enemies
This is a hope that is solely in service of the self and not only does that hope lead to superstition and despair,
But sisters and brothers, when we recognize the power of this story, when we make it our own story, a living story that we live out in our daily lives, we find a hope that is not grounded in just one person’s need, but the world’s needs, the needs of all people
An outwardly directed hope in service of the entire creation.
——
Over these past weeks I have been moving at a snails pace through Sunday School and confirmation.
And believe me, it isn’t because I am dealing with a group that is a little too slow to pick up the material.
They have pushed, challenged, questioned, criticized.
They have done so, and I encourage them to continue to, because they are making the story their own.
I hate being here and meeting this young man and these young women because I don’t get to continue to share the story with them as they continue to grow once I leave after these next six months are up.
Their stories have given me hope, their passion has given me hope, and their eagerness to dig into this story inspires me daily.
But it isn’t my story, it’s ours, given by God through the hands of those who only wanted to know God, to question God, to challenge God, to criticize God, and when they made the story their own, to love God and one another.
Today, these four confirmands will be presented with their Bibles and Large Catechisms.
These are gifts from the Congregation and I, with a little help from Thrivent too.
As you receive these gifts I only ask you one thing and I ask the same of all of us gathered here today today;
Let us strive to continue to find OUR truth in this story and make that story OUR story.
Amen
Sources;
Callner, Marty. Dane Cook: Vicious Circle. USA, 2006.
Common, Thomas, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, Paul V Cohn, and Maude D Petre. The Gay Science (philosophical Classics). United States: Dover Publications, 2006.
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