Affluenza, John the Baptist, and Jesus' Stubborn Refusal to Kill the Romans

Brad Sullivan

3 Advent, Year A

Sunday, December 15, 2013

St. Mark’s, Bay City, TX

Isaiah 35:1-10
Canticle 3 / 15

James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11           

So there’s been a lot of outrage on the interwebs and the facebooks this week over a teenager in Texas who stole booze from Wal-Mart, drove drunk, crashed his car, and killed four people.  The outrage has been that this young man avoided prison by claiming “affluenza” as his defense. Instead of prison, this young man is going to a posh drug treatment center and is on probation for 10 years.  The idea was this.  His parents had spoiled him so thoroughly, and they had bought his way out of trouble so much, that he had no real concept of right and wrong or of there being consequences for his actions.  So, because he was rich, he had learned that there are no consequences for his actions, and therefore he should be given special treatment by the courts and act without consequences. 

I’ll warrant that perhaps rehabilitation and treatment are what’s in order for this young man.  The outrage is that the only reason he’s able to get that treatment is because he’s rich.  A poor young man, doing the same thing as this kid, would have gone to prison.

The unfortunate lesson people are learning is, if you have enough money, you can kill other people with near impunity.  “Yeah, I killed some folks, but it’s not my fault, I have affluenza.”  If you’re rich and powerful, you can get away with murder.  That’s a bit of an overstatement, but that’s how people are feeling, hearing this story.  That’s the lesson learned. If you’re great and mighty, and powerful, then you can pretty well do whatever you want, and if you hurt other people on the way, well too bad for them.  That may be greatness in our kingdoms of earth, but that’s not greatness in the kingdom of heaven.  The kind of power and might that kills with impunity due to wealth has no place in the kingdom of heaven. 

Ironically enough, however, that’s the kind of greatness people were expecting out of Jesus, perhaps the greatness even John the Baptist was expecting out of Jesus…great, mighty, powerful, ready to kill a bunch of Romans and get them out of Israel.  John was in prison at this point for upsetting king Herod, and I can imagine even John thinking Jesus was going to be the messiah they were expecting, a mighty king who would raise an army and kill all of Israel’s enemies, ushering in this reign of peace for Israel.  John sent his messengers to Jesus from prison, and I think he was basically saying, “ok Jesus, I did my part, got all of Israel to repent, and yet here I am stuck in prison.  It’s time for you do your messiah thing, spring me out of here and kill all the bad guys.

Jesus responded to John’s messiah question by affirming nothing at all of what John and everyone else was expecting.  “The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”  ‘That’s great, Jesus,’ John and the people are thinking, ‘you’re a super nice guy, friend to the needy, but what about becoming powerful and mighty and killing our enemies?’ 

Jesus then tells the people that John the Baptist, crazy John with his camel’s hair and wilderness repentance kind of ways, jailbird John the Baptist is the greatest of all men, and yet, Jesus says, the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.  That sounds rather insulting to John, doesn’t it?  I think Jesus was not insulting John, but illustrating the extent to which violence and vengeance and power and might have no place in God’s kingdom. 

God the Father showed us just how much vengeance and violence have no place in his kingdom by allowing us to kill his Son, Jesus with impunity.  God did not take vengeance on humanity for killing his Son.  Rather, God allowed us to kill him to show us his radical love for us, and God demonstrated his power not by killing us in vengeance, but by raising his son from the dead, forgiving us, and inviting us to share in the Resurrection life with.  In Jesus, God showed us the power and might of love and forgiveness.

God showed us the power of his kingdom in which the great and powerful are not those who use their wealth and power to kill with impunity, but those who use whatever they have to serve others.  God’s kingdom is great not because God can destroy the Romans, or any other group that people don’t like.  God’s kingdom is great because in God’s kingdom, “the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at [Jesus].”     

Love, forgiveness, service, and humility are hallmarks of God’s kingdom, and there is a lot of what we hold onto now that must be left behind to live in God’s kingdom.  Vengeance and violence, they have no place in God’s kingdom.  Resentment and anger have no place in God’s kingdom.  Absolute lack of caring for other human beings has no place in God’s kingdom.

Jesus said, “how hard it will be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”  We see in this tragic killing why it is so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  If one’s wealth allows a person to buy his way out of trouble so much that he comes to care so little for human life that he feels he can even buy his way out of trouble for ending human life, then we the truth of Jesus’ words.  “How hard it will be for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven,” and yet, Jesus says, “with God all things are possible.” 

God can change our hearts.  God can make us new.  In Jesus, we can become new creations and be a part of God’s new creation.  The Kingdom of Heaven is not just some place that good people go when they die.  Rather the kingdom of heaven is lived out in this world, in fits and starts right now, then eventually, when our waiting is over and Jesus returns, the kingdom of heaven will be lived out fully, as God renews, remakes, and restores all of creation, including, if he wants to be a part of this new creation, the young man with affluenza who stole, drove drunk, and killed four people. 

He probably couldn’t live there right now, but with God all things are possible, and if he wants to, that young man can be remade and be part of God’s new creation.  That may be a tough pill to swallow, the thought that that spoiled kid can have a place in God’s kingdom, but “blessed [are those] who take no offence at me,” Jesus said.  Blessed are those who don’t shun that kid and desire vengeance upon him.  Blessed are those who pray for and seek his restoration, that he will have a new heart and be remade through Jesus in God’s kingdom. Blessed are those who pray the same thing for the poor people as well who do stupid things, who steal, drive drunk, and kill. 

In God’s kingdom, blessed are those who forego their anger and desires for vengeance at the evils of the world.  In God’s kingdom, blessed are those who seek not to become great and change the world not by adding violence upon violence, killing those deemed to be enemy (as people wanted Jesus to do to the Romans).  In God’s kingdom, blessed are those who seek to change the world by serving others, by being humble, by living as the kind of humble messiah Jesus proclaimed to John.  Amen.