Expected Justice, but instead, Bloodshed
Isaiah 5:1-7
Matthew 21:33-46
Isaiah writes:
For the garden of God is God’s people.
We are God’s pleasant planting of produce.
God expected us to produce justice fruits, but instead, we hurt one another.
God expected us to follow God’s ways, but instead, we made others victims.
And Jesus continues, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” (Matthew 21:43)
When the religious people heard these words, they were so angry they wanted to arrest Jesus. But they were also scared.
When we hear these words, do we picture ourselves as the good vines who produce good fruit and inherit the kingdom? Or do we picture ourselves as the wild vines that have forgotten God?
This week has made me think many of us have forgotten our cornerstone. We have forgotten what we are to measure our life by. And in its place is an idol called... the gun.
I’m not going to advocate either extreme on this hot button issue. I’m not interested in banning all guns, or permitting all guns. I’m not interested in debating home-grown or international terrorism nor nitpicking the whys someone chooses to go on a murder rampage.
Instead, I want to talk about what is going on here, and what this means to a faithful Christian congregation. You see, I think we can produce the good fruit or the bad with guns… and it depends on our cornerstone. Depends on what we are using to guide and measure our live by.
First: What is going on here? Gun Law Scorecard ((gunlawsscorecard.org)) ranks the states on their gun laws, deaths by guns, and the accessibility of weapons and ammunition. Here in Wisconsin we get a “C-” grade.
In Wisconsin, 10.4 people die out of every 100,000 a year due to gun shots. In California it's 7.7 out of every 100,000. In Oklahoma it's 18 out of every 100,000 whereas in Alaska it's 23.4 out of every 100,000. ((cdc.gov)) Some of these people are intentional. Having access to a gun means one is more likely to commit suicide by a gun. Some of these are intentional against other people – gun homicides. And many are accidental.
See, we permit concealed carry into daycares, airports, school buses, colleges, churches, and elementary class rooms. And you can open carry just about anywhere. But nowhere is there a requirement that you have to be TRAINED in how to use a gun. Yes, you have to be trained to have a concealed carry license. This is a good thing. But there is no training required for open carry or for gun ownership.
Common sense? Gun safety? Keeping toddlers away from guns? None of these are prerequisites for gun ownership. All you have to be is over 18, and not convicted of a violent felony or a drug felony.
This means that we hear of terrible situations where a little girl went for candy in nana’s purse, and accidentally shot herself with nana’s gun. A little boy found a gun in his parents’ room, thought it was a toy, and killed his brother. In both of these cases, no rules or laws were broke… but yet, every 63 minutes a bullet hits a child here in the USA.
A plethora of guns means a plethora, many, accidents.
Owning a gun doesn’t mean you own gun sense. But we don’t require all gun owners to go through education courses.
I know I sure never was allowed to fire the .22 growing up without an adult educating me. I was taught. But many are not.
And we as a society are not requiring gun courses of people who purchase firearms.
I support gun ownership. I think we need guns, especially in rural areas, for hunting and for defense. However, I do not support private ownership of military guns – guns that leave such wounds and trauma that there’s nothing left of a deer to eat. Or that shoot 500 rounds a minute, thereby killing your entire family with an accidental pull of the trigger. I support guns for fun – .22s and bbs and airsofts.
Armor piercing ammunition is not for fun and does not belong in the hands of the general public.
Bullets designed to “take down a man,” as one advertisement lauds, shouldn’t be what we’re packing. Even in self defense situations, it is not the default that we have to kill someone to be safe.
I believe, however, no gun laws will change. Time and time again, we have a mass shooting… which once was six people dead, and then 10 Amish school kids and then a whole elementary school, then a movie theater, then a dance club, then a country music show with hundreds injured and 58 or 60 dead, 26 dead at a Texas church, and now 17 at a high school in Florida… and there is an outcry for change for a month or so… then we forget. Worse, we let already existing gun laws to slip or be repealed. In three months, gun lobbyists — who make their money by swaying politicians to make it easier to buy guns — will be back in local, state, and national offices donating money and promising votes if more guns are sold. In a month, there will be signs combining gun ownership with a patriotic duty, advertisements for Black Friday steep discounts so you can give the gift of “protection,” by rebranding the ability to murder hundreds in a minute as something you and I need to feel safe in our homes. Already, there are advertisements promoting gun sales.
Second: what does all of this mean for us, a congregation of Christians? Rev. Susan Thistlewaite accurately states – for many of us, we worship the God Gun.
See, worship is when we give our time and attention to something. When we are devoted to it. Sacrifice and change our lives for it. Wear its images and symbols. Promotes it beliefs. Live and preach its teachings and ethics. Live and die for it.
Many people worship guns.
Time and attention. The advertisement of our local newspaper alone shows how gun sellers clamor for our time and attention, our money. The more time and attention we invest into a hobby, the harder it is to step away from the hobby and take a honest look at it. Once you are several hundred dollars – several thousand dollars – invested into guns and gun accessories, clothes, and ammunition… it gets very hard to step away and think straight about guns. All this time and attention lead to devotion.
Devotion. Am I ever willing to step back and question my loyalty to guns? If we are never willing to question gun ownership or laws, even in light of scripture calling for justice and an end of bloodshed, then the gun is more our god than the God of the world.
Sacrifice. We are paying the lives of children, elderly, men and women, sacrificing them time and time again for our Gun Idolatry. Whenever someone dies by a gun, their death is considered ‘justified’ for the ‘right to bear arms.’ Maybe our Gun God is demanding too many innocent lives. Maybe we have replaced the Commandments of God with the 2nd Amendment.
Change our lives. The Idol the Gun preaches “They Are Coming For Your Guns.” They are not and cannot. Private citizens own 79 guns for every 1 gun the government owns — this includes all cops and the military. There is no way “the government” can “come” for the USA’s guns. They may start a buy back program to have less guns on streets- but there won’t be a military vs. civilian wild west showdown. The Idol is lying. But we are changing out lives to live ready to go to war with our own country, our own neighbors and family.
Wear its images and proselytize. Do I wear signs of my god? Logos, caps, t-shirts, bumper stickers, public displays of loyalty. What Facebook things are you posting? What phrases are we repeating? Do we say ‘GOD GUNS AND GUTS’ or ‘MY OTHER AUTO IS A 9MM’ or ‘I PLEAD THE 2nD’? What we publicly support, publicly advertise, we are proselytizing – attempting to make disciples out of others.
Teachings and ethics. Do the ethics of the Bible match up to the ethics we are living and preaching? “Keep honking I’m still loading” does not seem Biblical. I seem to remember the Bible says something about forgiveness and compassion. “Trespassers will be shot, survivors shot again” does not seem like the same teaching as “welcome in the stranger, for in doing so, you may unknowingly welcome in an angel.” Helping strangers and loving one another is a different set of ethics and teachings than the ones advocated by Gun Worshipers.
The Gun Idol tells us that it is the source of our peace. An armed society is a polite society. Yet, those with guns in their cars are 44% more likely than those without guns in their cars to instigate road rage incidents… and states with Stand Your Ground laws have a 10% increase in homicides than states without such laws. Guns make people feel bolder, and more aggressive. Guns are not where our peace comes from.
Live and die for it.
The Gun God preaches “Guns Don’t Kill People – People Kill People.” Yet people with easy access to guns are much more likely to kill other people with guns. States with the highest number of gun ownership see the highest number of gun murders. In fact, it is so tied that for every 1% increase in private ownership, there is a 1% increase in firearm homicides. The Idol attempts to make itself exempt from all blame.
The Idol says keeping a gun at home keeps you safer. For every home defended by a gun there are 7 assaults, 11 suicides, and 4 accidental shootings by guns. Half of all homes with guns and kids keep one of those guns unlocked. The gun tricks us, lies to us, and says I will only hurt others and not you and your loved ones. Having a gun about does not make us safer just by default – just because there is a gun. Guns are not our shepherd and do not guide us to green pastures.
Guns are a tool. Tools can be turned against their owners. Tools can hurt their owners. Tools are items. Objects.
Impersonal. Nameless.
Tools are not our identity.
We are the disciples of the Good Shepherd, the God of Peace, Hope, Joy and Love. We following a living God, a person, who has a relationship with us.
Not an item made by mortal hands.
Not an idol.
Who’s Country is this?
Isaiah today talks about how God planted a vineyard called Israel and loved it very much. But the vineyard refused to yield good fruits. Instead, even with all the tender care of God, it was wild and unruly and forgot God. God expected justice and righteousness from the vineyard, but got instead bloodshed and heard crying.
Jesus continues the story. He says God sent people to the vineyard to collect those good fruits – prophets with messages – but the people murdered those sent by the owner of the vineyard. One after another – murdered them. God sent God’s own child, and the people chose to murder the child – saying – if we kill the child, we will be able to do just as we please. We will inherit the earth when we get rid of God and God’s messengers.
Jesus then reminds us that someday, God will return to the vineyard. The Messiah comes again. And the kingdom of God belongs to those who produce the good fruits of the spirit. The fruits of righteousness, justice, forgiveness, and love.
This isn’t NRA country, as they advertise. This is God’s country. This is God’s world.
So here we are. If we do not change a single gun law, there will be another mass shooting in a few months. The time between them is reducing. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. We want a different result – an end of this violence – but we do the same thing – decry the act, and forget, and change nothing.
How are we going to respond? By continuing to worship and promote the God of Guns, or by serving the God of Peace and Unity?
What we do to the least we do to Christ. And what are we doing doing to the least, our own children, and ourselves, and our God by teaching guns and violence are the answer? What are we doing by holding up guns as what it means to be American? To be Christian? What are we doing by ignoring the plight of our nation’s violent, abusive relationship with guns?
I will own a gun. I will not worship the Gun.
I will not live and die by my gun. I will live and die by my God.
I hope, whether you own a gun or not, you do not pray to a gun for your salvation.
Lord of mercy, we call to you in this time of violence. We pray for all who died last Wednesday in Florida and those who were injured, we pray for our brothers and sisters of color and we pray for all of your people who struggle and mourn. Be our light in the darkness. Lord in your mercy...
In Jesus,
Chaplain Kenny
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Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Additional Sources consulted…
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/10/03/las-vegas-gunman-stephen-paddock-used-a-perfectly-legal-device-allowing-him-to-fire-400-rounds-per-minute/23230992/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/10/03/america-is-exceptional-for-its-unique-deadly-gun-culture/?utm_term=.e0ee61116f6d
https://twitter.com/Calebkeeter/status/914872808110510080/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F10%2F02%2Fus%2Fjason-aldean-vegas-shooting.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/03/opinion/rosanne-cash-country-musicians-nra.html
http://www.theonion.com/article/americans-hopeful-will-be-last-mass-shooting-they–57093?utm_content=Main&utm_campaign=SF&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/when-we-worship-the-god-of-fear-the-idolatry-of-gun-culture/
https://churchplants.com/articles/6455-the-top-7-gods-americans-worship.html
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check/
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