Genocide: 'Ra Ra the Canaanites'. A sermon.

"Genocide: Ra Ra the Canaanites." A sermon given at the Chaplaincy, University of Sheffield on 14 November 2012.

Readings: Job 19.23-27 and Matthew 8.28-34 (and 1 Samuel 15)

I didn't think I had the stomach for 1 Samuel 15 or the numerous texts from the Hebrew Bible where all men, women, children and animals perish. I also chose the reading from Matthew to remind us that the New Testament is not death or violence free either, even in an act of healing. Perhaps, though, we can stomach a herd of pigs perishing a bit more easily than other narratives.

I also was glad that Dave Lees has already taken us, last week, into an explanation about Marcion and why there can be seen to be advantages (and disadvantages) in just removing all 'offensive' material and having a much shorter text in front of us!

What we do have in our hands, is our scripture, our holy book, the texts that the Church 'set apart' and that we turn to. How we use it though, that's vital. How do we use it?

I'm reminded of the indigenous South American who reflecting on the 500th anniversary since Europeans quoted Jomo Kenyatta (from Kenya) who said “When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught us how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the Land and we had the Bible.” How readily the bible served for those from the West controlling, subjecting, other cultures (even destroying the culture and being complicit in new genocides). How do we use these texts? With great care because we must be mindful of how great a misuse we can put our bibles to.

It's not just a misuse of the the bible that's the hazard, though, but a justification, from the bible, for constructing versions of God that are redundant. We must be grateful to the many atheists from the last two or three centuries who have helped the church to throw off versions of God that used to be quite ordinary and yet now are utterly distasteful to us. We have managed this and still kept the same scriptures, but we're reading differently to the way we used to.

We even can misuse the very text that is in front of us. Job in his complaint in chapter 19 is furious with God and wants his complaint against God heard, but believes death will come before justice does, so he wants the challenge against a version of God he cannot bear, inscribed in a rock so his argument does not get lost. Job, in talking of a redeemer or champion living, is talking about his own case against God (not about Jesus). He also is not espousing eternal life, but an everlasting objection to the kind of God that's brought about his suffering. He'd rather his case is heard before death, so he can argue face to face, but if not, he certainly doesn't want his quest for justice ended simply through death, God's got some answering to do and Job's going to make sure it happens in life, or in death.

Job longs for justice with every fibre of his being and keeps at it before his life is dragged from him, even though he feels flayed alive. When he says “I've escaped by the skin of my teeth” the irony is palpable, teeth have no skin, he feels liked he's simply being skinned alive by the enormity of both his physical and psychological suffering. To add insults to injury, his friends, his “friends” all line up with versions of God that justify the agony Job's in, he really doesn't need this! We all know those moments when there's so much that's wrong with the version of things that is regarded as central that we find ourselves at the edge of things, holding on by our finger-tips (by the skin of our teeth).

But I don't think we need to simply be left feeling like we're losing our grip. Rather it's time we got a grip, making a commitment to let go of false constructions of God and instead speak of and believe in a God whose nature is of infinite and immeasurable love. Just as Job argues with versions of God he eschews, so we must take courage in arguing with versions of God that are counter to God's nature.

We must remember that 1 Samuel 15 was used by those preaching before the massacres, the genocide, in Rwanda. The bible before us can be so used to abuse, that we must find a different way to hold it. It is only then, when we argue with the versions of God we must bid farewell to that keeping hold of faith in an all loving God is possible while keeping the scripture firmly in our hands. Amen