Our Rebellious Mission: Exposing the Empire

On my daily walk to work, I pass what once was the Wilson Men's Hotel. This iconic building, with its many tiny rooms and cheap rent, housed men that couldn't afford to live anywhere else. Many had lived there for decades - it was their home! I watched this rich developer start converting this old hotel into luxury apartments, causing all the elderly poor residents to scatter. Despite the promises that none would end up homeless, many did. What was most painful during this ordeal was how one 84-year-old blind man showed up on our doorstep, confused, with nowhere to go. 

This story isn't unusual: the empire is at work! A couple years ago, just down the street was Uptown Tent City where a large mass of city officials and police forcefully moved everyone who lived under these viaducts. About 10 years ago, ordinances were used in City Hall by those in charge to evict a bunch of homeless old men from CCO. Throughout the years, a group of "positive loiterers" stand in front of the Currency Exchange armed with their cell phones, using their status and privilege to dial 911 on who they perceive as criminals. Exclusive meetings are regularly scheduled to determine what properties can be built, who should get arrested, which properties should be targeted, how to keep the "bad guys" locked up for longer, and who's good enough to get the funding and tax breaks to develop their exclusionary properties.   

This is the empire at work. I've witnessed all the above and far more. It's strategic. It's painful. It's about the silencing of the poor and working class. Whether it's cuffs or zoning court, it's about using one's privilege to change the landscape. It's tactical forcing out of those they deem undesirable and bringing in those they've deemed desirable. It's Uptown's own version of redlining and segregation. It's all being done with our alderman promoting it or being in agreement. This gentrification is primarily being executed by neo-liberals, who make themselves look like saints by saying they're doing it the name of beautifying the neighborhood, of community development, of helping the homeless, of saving the poor, of rescuing the youth, of caring for those in need. 

As much I cringe at the destructive power of those who maintain, uphold, and promote the empire, I'm glad Uptown is also full of those who refuse to be silenced; like those who raised their voices and marched in support of the Salvation Army when our alderman told them they weren't welcome to feed the homeless in this neighborhood. As a result, our voice was loud, our voice was heard, and they have remained on Wilson Avenue to this day. 

I glad for those who won't let the empire reign unabated, without a headache! I'm glad to see Black Lives Matter protests pop up all over the neighborhood. Despite Uptown Tent City's eventual eviction, I'm glad to have seen the hundreds who raised their voices and supported those experiencing homelessness. I'm glad to see the collective power of our voices and actions still making a noise - we still provide shelter, we still provide food, we still advocate for affordable housing, we still make every effort to make sure the police won't violate our homeless friends' rights, we still protest, we still casework, and we still provide support.

Our job is to love our neighbors as ourselves, and when we do that, we will expose the empire. It enrages me when people say Jesus was only concerned about saving souls and had no interest in social justice. He entered an occupied countryside, where there were oppressors and the oppressed, where there were the rich and the poor, where there were religious gangsters bullying those deemed morally corrupt or unclean. He didn't sit idly back and ignore the hostile climate, he proclaimed "Blessed are you who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you shall be filled". He lived out that mission, he came to make everything right, to right the wrongs, to bring justice, and he gave us himself as our example, so we might follow suit...

• when Jesus chose to speak to the Samaritan woman at the well, he exposed the empire 
• when Jesus chose to look upon the city he loved and weep over a people who were like "sheep without a shepherd", he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to heal people on the Sabbath, he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose the tax-collector Matthew to be one of his disciples, he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom of God in parables, he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to enter the temple with a whip to overturn tables and chase out the "den of robbers", he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to pay his tax by taking money from the mouth of a fish, he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to call King Herod a "fox" and continued to keep doing his mission by healing those in need, he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to wash the disciples' feet, he exposed the empire 
• when Jesus chose to save a woman from a public lynching by saying "he who is without sin, cast the first stone", he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to challenge the rich young ruler to give away his wealth, he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to dine with Zacchaeus at his house, he exposed the empire 
• when Jesus chose to use vicious language to confront the religious leaders of their blatant hypocrisy, he exposed the empire 
• when Jesus chose to love and be compassionate to those who were shunned and cast aside, he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose the path of non-power and the words "those who live by the sword, die by the sword", he exposed the empire
• when Jesus chose to be mocked and brutally crucified by the hands of the empire, he exposed the empire

When Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, he began by challenging all our desires for power and prestige, by proclaiming “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. He revealed that his Kingdom brings heaven to earth, that his way is in stark contrast to all the violence, lust, and riches of the world's empires. Jesus turned it all upside down, by revealing that the kingdom of heaven is not a top-on-down dictatorship, but a courageous journey down a path of love, prayer, humility, and putting others before ourselves. Jesus tells us that if we wish to follow him, we must “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” by following his non-conforming ways. 

The words and actions of Jesus were intentional choices he made, continuously baffling those in charge. They were so infuriated by his rebellion, they challenged, threatened, and even sought ways to kill him. They wanted to convert him to their ways, they wanted him to be compliant, but he refused to pledge allegiance to anybody or anything other than God. When Jesus was shown and offered all the kingdoms of the world, this was an immense temptation he resisted. He could have chosen the easy path of silence, or he could have chosen to violently overthrow the Roman occupiers and then reign with all power and prestige, but rather he chose the painful path of being a servant and bringing liberation to the oppressed. His love was so deep, and his journey was so agonizing that he sweated drops of blood and cried out to his Father "not my will, but yours be done", just before he was very publicly lynched by the hands of the empire!

His dead body may have been laid in the grave. The closed tomb may have allowed the empire to think it had won. To them, it was celebration time, another revolutionary was dead, another rebellion would simply fade into distant memories. To them, they could return to maintaining, upholding, and promoting their empire. Victory, they thought, was theirs!

They didn't foresee what happened next. They didn't foresee Jesus rising from the dead. They didn't foresee that his death and resurrection would empower a lowly group of rabble-rousers to quicken the movement Jesus started and change the world forever. His death and resurrection gave his followers the courage and strength to expose the empire just like he did. His life calls us to embrace a "ground-on-up" revolution, not a "top-on-down" dictatorship. His example calls us to surround ourselves with like-minded folks who will rally together for the common good, for the "least of these". His death and resurrection empowers us and frees us to walk in our weaknesses, in our frailties, in faith - knowing the kingdoms of this world are nothing compared to his! 

The early Church moved in the resurrection power of Jesus. They didn't take up arms against their oppressors, they walked as Jesus walked by choosing love over violence, humility over pride, generosity over selfish ambition. They revealed the good news, they shared everything they had in common, there was none needy among them, and their numbers grew rapidly every day. The revolution continued. The rebellion continued. And just like with Jesus, the empire trembled, so thugs were once again sent out to subdue the movement. Yet, still, the revolution gained momentum.

Then another remarkable thing happened, there was a young religious gangster with a lot of power and prestige named Saul. He was a tool of the empire. He held the executioners' coats as they lynched a young man named Stephen for preaching the good news and exposing the violence of the empire. As Stephen was having rocks hurled at him, as his face and body were battered and bloody, as he neared his agonizing death, he looked up to heaven and cried "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!". Resurrection power shone through Stephen's death and witness, impacting all those around him, including that young upstart Pharisee named Saul. And, yet still, the revolution gained momentum. 

Saul, soon after, was encountered by the risen Jesus. His life, his name, his renewed mind, and the world changed forever. Saul, an agent of the empire, became Paul, public enemy number 1 of the same empire. As he preached Christ crucified, as he planted churches, as he revealed the liberation Jesus brings, as he taught love, as he rebuked selfishness, as he created funds for the poor, as he exposed the empire, he was also being threatened, beaten up, imprisoned, and eventually executed. He did all this in the resurrection power of his Lord, and the revolution continued to gain momentum. 

Even though our history reveals the courageous faith and testimonies of countless women and men who move and have moved in resurrection power, even though this revolution has had its moments of causing uprisings and revolts, the church has struggled to keep gaining momentum. The Church has become guilty of maintaining, upholding, and promoting the empire. The church is guilty of loving violence. The church is guilty of committing adultery with political parties. The church is guilty of exclusion and inequality. The church is guilty of being seduced by money. The church is guilty of white supremacy. The church is guilty of pursuing power and prestige. The church is and has been fornicating with the empire for centuries. If the revolution is to gain momentum again, people must "pick up their crosses and follow him." We must revolt against and expose our empire-seduced churches and follow the loving example and witness of Jesus, Stephen, and Paul - for the power of the empire is no match to the power of God's Kingdom. 

As we look around us, as we gaze upon those in our neighborhoods, as we see discrimination and racism rearing their ugly heads, as we feel the pain and suffering, we can't be polluted by the stagnant waters of injustice and inequality, but we have to be at the forefront of letting "justice roll down like a river and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”.

• We expose the empire when we feed the hungry and give the thirsty a drink
• We expose the empire when we assist and advocate for native lives, immigrant lives, and for anyone who struggles to put food and drink on their tables - we cry out "your life matters"
• We expose the empire when we protest against police brutality and white supremacy 
• We expose the empire when we welcome the stranger and clothe the naked
• We expose the empire when we assist and advocate for homeless lives, undocumented lives, and for anyone who needs help to find housing and any other practical needs - we cry out "your life matters"
• We expose the empire when we protest against gentrification and the tearing down of tent cities
• We expose the empire when we visit those who are sick and incarcerated 
• We expose the empire when we assist and advocate for black lives, trans lives, and for anyone is disproportionately imprisoned and struggles to get the health care they so rightly deserve - we cry out "your life matters"
• We expose the empire when we protest against mass incarceration and a system that cares only for the wealthy 

Jesus started a rebellion that exposed the empire and liberated the world. We can keep the revolution moving by living out his words: 

“As you’ve done it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me”