Roger J. Gench, Oct. 23, 2011

Matthew 14:1–12; 27:11–24

During the September meeting of the General Assembly Mission Council (the group that oversees and implements the work of the PCUSA), the justice committee received a report from the socially responsible investment wing of the PC (Mission Responsibility Through Investment) about its upcoming recommendation to divest of all financial holdings of Presbyterian Pension Fund, Foundation, etc. in Caterpillar, Inc., the heavy equipment company in Peoria Il that has over the last several years become a lightning rod because its bulldozers have been used to construct illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, and used by the Israeli military to demolish homes of suspected Palestinian terrorist and their families, and used also to construct a separation barrier between Israel and the occupied lands some of which is actually constructed on the Palestinian land – all of which have been condemned by the International Court of the UN and human rights organization as a violation of international law. The GAMC will not vote on this recommendation until February but the recommendation to divest is already causing great consternation to folk on one side or the other of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and dismay to good Presbyterian folk in Peoria, IL.

And so, on Oct 10 and 11, I was part of a delegation of three folk from MRTI and GAMC who traveled to Peoria for the meeting of The Great Rivers Presbytery. I have never been to Peoria and from all I could see it is an All-American city – about 400k strong including the surrounding metro area, it boast a median income of almost 43k per year, and it has for years been considered the place where one could get a solid litmus test of public opinion on market products and social/political issues – they seem to have lived up to the well know phrase “Will it play in Peoria.” To be sure, Peoria has its issues, poverty rates are up since 2000 but only slightly up, and considering the economic downturn that the rest of the country is experiencing, that makes Peoria relatively stable place to live. Even so, the Presbyterian Churches of Peoria are not resting on their relative stability but rather are engaged in an impressive number of programs to alleviate poverty both in their own area and around the world. Moreover, the Presbyterian Churches of Peoria are a model for dealing with conflict, and that’s good because conflict is what brought us to Peoria for many of the members of the churches of Great Rivers Presbytery are employed by Caterpillar or one of the many companies that supply products for Caterpillar. And by most accounts, CAT is a model company –not only have their machines built and rebuilt the infrastructure of this country’s roads, bridges, etc. but they have been most generous in giving back to Peoria and the surrounding counties, and through its Foundation they have given 500 million dollar to sustain ecological projects around the globe. Given the stellar reputation and practices of Caterpillar, its not surprising that the Presbyterian of Great Rivers came to the defense of their company. Interestingly, the common argument we heard at the Presbytery meeting was akin to explanation of the Caterpillar’s executives – “we can’t control how our products are used. We expect them to be used in environmentally responsible ways that are consistent with human rights, but we have no means for enforcement of these expectations.”[1]

And so we in the Presbyterian Church are faced with a dilemma, -- an admirable company doing good work, being a good citizens and enabling financial, socially conscious viability for thousands of workers many of whom are Presbyterians, and yet, at least in one significant instance, their products are being to confiscate land, render thousands of people homeless and to build a separation barrier that denies livelihoods to thousands more. To be sure, there is another side to this story; as there is always another side to the story of the Middle East. Just to take on example, many count the building of the wall as the main reason for the reduction of violence inflicted from Palestinians toward Israelis. To be sure, the Middle East is a messy business and the Presbyterian Church has consistently found a way to be right in the middle of it.

In fact, the business of the Middle East is so messy that there is an overwhelming temptation to find simple answers to a conflict that belies simple answers. And there is an enormous temptation to take one side or the other of this conflict. The story of Israel’s use of CAT equipment to bulldoze Palestinian homes is but one example of how easy is it to side with the Palestinians vis-a-vs the Israelis But before we give into this temptation it behooves Christians to realize that we not innocent bystanders is this conflict nor are we neutral observers of someone else’s dispute. The 2000 year history of Christian teaching of contempt of the Jews is well documented – the stereotypes, persecutions, pogroms, forced conversions, ghettos, and multiple forms of discriminations. Whether or not the Christian teaching of contempt for Judaism led to the Holocaust is a matter of debate. What is without question is that it played an influential role in what became the worst genocide of human history. In light of this, we need to be ever vigilant against anti-Semitic sentiments worldwide and the ever-growing hatred of Israel in the Middle East. Of course this doesn’t mean we turn a blind eye toward Israel -- nor toward the Palestinian people. We should be both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian but not naively so. The pro-Israeli/pro-Palestinian posture I recommend is grounded in a thoroughgoing acknowledgement of our complicity with the sins of the world.

And this brings me to what may seem to be a the most curious phrase of the Apostle’s Creed – “suffered under Pontius Pilot.” Why the mention of the governor of the region where Jesus was crucified? Some claim that it dates the history of the crucifixion, and it’s true that it was the practice in ancient documents to date an event by giving the name of the governor of the region. But surely there is more to the mention of Pontius Pilate in the Creed that demands our attention, for as is the case for all of the phrases in the Apostle’s Creed, this phrase is short-hand for the biblical story of Pilot who washes his hands of any complicity with the crucifixion of Jesus. And biblical scholar David Garland points out a fascinating parallel between Pilate and Herod in our morning scripture lessons. Not only is it true that what happens to John the Baptist parallels what happens to Jesus, but it also true that Herod’s disinclination to execute John parallels Pilate washing his hands of the execution of Jesus.[2] So one story foreshadows the other not only in the treatment prophets but also in the unwillingness to acknowledge complicity in the sin.
Could it be that there is an archetypal pattern referenced in these stories that goes to the very heart of sin and our inability to acknowledge it? Blindness to sin is endemic to the human condition. How is it, for example, that when we come of the subject of America’s primal sin of racism, there is a almost universal tendency to distance ourselves – itemizing, for example, our anti-racist accomplishments or our racially other friendships -- but seldom does one hear a confession of how we’ve been marked and scared by the sin and how we might be complicit in it. The biblical story will have none of this. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” says Paul. And what most interesting about the phrase under consideration in the Apostle’s Creed is that, in spite of the biblical story of Pilate washing his hand, the Creed will have none of it -- it acknowledges Pilate’s complicity in the suffering of Jesus and so, by implication, calls us to an accounting for our own complicity in the sufferings of others. One of the tragic ironies of Christian history is that the teaching of contempt for the Jews was based of the claim that the Jews were Christ killers – that they crucified God – when, in fact, The Apostle’s Creed implies otherwise; that we all had a hand in the crucifixion of God. Moreover, God suffers yet again ever time we fail to acknowledge our complicity with the sins of the world.

There is a reason why Christian experience always begins with penance. Any serious prophetic impulse that rises from in Christian experience rises from a penitential foundation -- a base that draws our attention to all the crosses that litter the landscape of our lives AND then draws our vision toward the horizon and the arc of God bringing resurrection and life out of a crucifying ways world. The Prophetic does not stem from liberal do-goodism because the fact of the matter is that we’re that good! The prophetic stems from a penitential theology grounded in the sure reality a merciful God in whom alone is our help; who forgives, restores, heals and empowers us for the prophetic task of healing the world. It is from this penitent and prophetic base alone that we can be pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian, pro-Caterpillar and pro-Peoria, pro-black, pro-white, pro-brown, pro-yellow, pro-occupy Wall Street and pro-Wall Street, pro-Democrat and pro-Republican, pro-conservative and pro-liberal, pro-gay and pro-straight, pro-human and always, always pro-creation. We can be pro-reality because the “almighty God, who made heaven and earth” revealed to us in the “Jesus Christ our Lord, who…suffered under Pontius Pilate” (and US) was raised from the dead to the rule the world with forgiveness and love. It is on this foundation alone that we can be optimistic and prophetic because God is first and foremost, in the beginning and in the end, pro-US. Amen.

[1] These responses are consistent with MRTI report on Caterpillar, Inc.

[2] David Garland, Reading Matthew (Crossroads, Press, 1993), pp. 154-155