THE SYSTEM
(homily)
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
Peace be with you. This week, I gave the address for ACTION’s 21st annual banquet. I’m so grateful for my family and friends that were there. It felt good to share that moment with my parents. They were supportive and encouraging, letting me know how proud they were.
Parents are often proud of their children. It’s default. But children can be proud of their parents! Sometimes, they embarrass us, like when my dad tried to involve me (a 13-year-old) in what was becoming a physical altercation at the mall. A true and comical story. Humor aside, I am very proud of my parents. They have persevered through impossible odds. There’s not enough time to tell it all.
One of the first things I remember my father talking about, in which I felt great pride, was a story that took place during the war in Vietnam. It happened in a restaurant in the South when my Uncle Alex, who was a soldier, and my father, left in solidarity with a Black soldier who was refused service. They were vocal with their protest, the absurdity of a culture that would honor veterans with their mouths and then profane that honor with the poison of racism: refusing to serve a man willing to die in service. My grandparents had often warned them to be careful in the South, not to make themselves a target. They knew the way Black and Brown folks were treated. In the 50s and 60s, there were “sundown towns.” These were cities that had ordinances and curfews for people of color. It was a system in place that legitimated violence and oppression. I was really young when I first heard that story (and many others), but I remember feeling proud that he stood up against a system amid injustice.
Today's text focuses on Jesus’ crucifixion (the cross) and what that means for the church. And that meaning may surprise you. Charles Campbell points out, “John is not concerned with the forgiveness of individual sins. Nor does he proclaim a form of substitutionary atonement, through which Jesus takes on the divine punishment… Rather, in John 12:20–33, Jesus’ crucifixion judges “the world” and drives out the “ruler of the world.”
The World: Kosmos. Not the created order, but here it’s human society organizing itself in opposition to God’s purposes. It is the structures and institutions, that aggressively dominate human lives. Campbell says, “Kosmos is probably best translated as ‘the System.’ And this System is driven by a spirit or force (“the ruler of the world”), whose ways are domination, violence, and death.” This text is an exorcism. The exorcism of a System of domination that is judged and its “ruler” is “cast out” by means of the cross.
I’m not sure we’ve been taught the fullness and the potency of the cross.
Question: How have we domesticated the cross? Civil religion has appropriated and co-opted the cross, diluting it into a domesticated personal salvation by ignoring its corporate thunder: “Now is the judgment of this world (kosmos: the system); now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” This is an exorcism of an oppressive system.
Do you know why many people have had no interest in Christianity? Because so many Christians have had no interest in addressing systems of oppression and domination. Worse yet, they’ve been permissive, complicit, or actively benefiting from them. Why should I care about the church when the church has no concern for me or my neighbor and the systems we face? Much of what we call church is just self-help, pseudo-Christian spiritualism blended with civil religion, where the symbols, rituals, and narratives of Christianity are appropriated for nationalistic or political purposes, the status quo.
Christians are people of the cross. You can only follow Jesus to one place: the cross. Not the mall (Target, Amazon), not City Council (the board room, or The Pentagon), not the battlefield (the mob, the riots, the insurrection)… You can only follow Jesus to one place, which is the cross. And FROM THE CROSS, you speak to every single reality. From the cross, you speak to every system of domination. The cross itself says it all.
This Sunday, John tells us what evangelicalism fails too often to say: John is not concerned with the forgiveness of individual sins or substitutionary atonement, where Jesus supposedly saves us from God… Rather, in John 12:20–33, The Cross judges (becomes our judgment of) “the systems of the world” and drives out its “ruler.”
“It was for freedom Christ has set us free.”
Jacques Ellul says, “The first duty of free people is to say No.” Christians are called to be resisters, to stand against the prevailing ethos of our time, to be maladjusted to oppression, and to be non-compliant.
Question: What are "The Systems" driven by a desire for domination and exploitation that profoundly shape our world? What is the System’s reach? Let’s identify aspects of The Systems:
Dr. King outlined The Three Evils: racism, consumerism (and poverty), and militarism (cycles of violence). We could also include _ _ _ _ _ social media (algorithmic extremism: a non-equal contract of asymmetrical power). Another system…
Police Brutality: Families of color have to have “The Talk: a common communication Black parents have to give to their children about interactions with Police and how to encounter them safely. There’s a powerful, heart-wrenching video about this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coryt8IZ-DE
Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds because of a system that entitled him to believe that he could! He did this while other police officers stood by, business as usual. All for a 20-dollar bill. Why? Because of a system where trials are rare, criminal charges are filed in less than 2% of cases where police use lethal force. For every 100 people killed by police, fewer than two officers even face a trial. This lack of accountability is a significant source of frustration and outrage for many communities, particularly communities of color who are disproportionately policed and killed.
Charles Ringma “When the dominant ideas, values, and priorities of a particular age are unquestionably accepted, one may be in a greater prison than that made of stones and iron bars.”
Jacques Ellul - “People have always been possessed by powers (systems) beyond their control. Yesterday, it was the demons of the forest, nocturnal devils, phantoms returning from the past. Today, it’s money or politics or technological excess.”
† The Cross: refusing to be part of oppressive systems, thrusting us onto the lonely road with Christ.
Today is the feast of St. Patrick, a man who was stolen from his homeland. He was a slave who escaped only to do the unimaginable: return and redeem. He becomes a profound image of the outsider who sees systems of domination and lives out a loving, liberating faith. His struggle transcends time, a prophetic rebuke to any comfortable Christianity that ignores the cry of the oppressed. He calls us to live a life of faith filled with works where the marginalized find not only solace but humanizing solidarity.
He went up against two systems:
The system of slavery: “He was the first public European leader to speak and crusade against slavery. Within his lifetime, or soon after, ‘the Irish slave trade came to a halt, and other forms of violence, such as murder and intertribal warfare, decreased,’ and his communities modeled the Christian way of faithfulness, generosity, and peace to all the Irish.”
The system of institutionalism/clericalism: “One would naturally assume that the British church, which had ordained Patrick a bishop and sent him to Ireland, would have continued to affirm his mission…This was far from the case…He was criticized savagely. What was the "beef" of the British church leaders?… They were offended and angered that Patrick was spending priority time not with church people but with pagans, sinners, and barbarians.”
The Celtic way of evangelism flew in the face of systems of domination: both slavery and dehumanizing institutionalism.
He knew the cross was the judgment of oppressive systems and the exorcism of its ruler. To be a Christian is to resist oppressive systems, which will always thrust us onto the lonely road with Christ.
We can only follow Jesus to one place: the cross. “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.”
This week, I had a sobering thought: am I living a life that can be lost?
Only the cruciform path: the way of co-suffering, self-giving, radically forgiving, liberating love will last. Success will not last, fame, money, security, acclaim, prestige, none of that will last. Only solidarity with the least and the lowest… only a life of cruciform love will last.
The one found in the least of these is the Alpha and Omega.
“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” AMEN