1^st May 2013

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 21 April 2013

Lessons - Leviticus 24:10-16; Acts 6:8-15; 7:58-60; John 10:22-33

'We're not going to stone you for your good works,' replied the Jews,
'but for blasphemy; because you, being only a man, make yourself out
to be God.' (John 10:33)

We may disapprove of the punishment that the Jews intended to inflict on Jesus, but we understand their anger at his arrogance in equating his actions with the actions of God. Humans must not deify themselves; to do so is idolatrous and deserving of harsh penalties. Jesus must pay for his lack of humility.

Although we dislike people who act like gods, we are puzzled that blasphemy could be taken so seriously. If, as many believe, 'God' has no objective reality but is the projection of our desires and needs, then accusing those who do not agree with us of blasphemy is simply a way of intimidating them and sidelining their opinions.

In 1992 the Australian Law Reform Commission recommended the abolition of the charge of blasphemy in favour of laws governing human rights and mutual respect between different faiths. This is the end result of a dramatic change from a society that has been formed and nourished by faith in God, but which now regards human beings as the ultimate foundation of what is true and good. The law now encodes the view that, because all religions are projections of our beliefs, there is no such thing as blasphemy - just strong disputes between people who claim to have 'God' on their side.

Since 'God' is no longer a reality to be reckoned with in public life, and since the State has replaced God as the source from which all blessings flow, it is assumed that the only thing wrong with blasphemy is that it offends the feelings of some people.

Remember the controversy over publication of The Satanic Verses. Salman Rushdie was accused of blasphemy for mocking Allah and the Koran. A death order (fatwa) was issued by Ayotollah Khomeini. In the West this was widely interpreted as an attack on free speech by religious fundamentalists.

Christians, too, are shocked that blasphemy can be considered so serious!
We are appalled that Stephen is put to death (Acts 7:59) according to the Levitical law that punishes blasphemy by stoning (Leviticus 24:14-16) and that blasphemy laws are used today in countries like Pakistan to intimidate opponents and persecute Christians (as shown on SBS TV on 16 April). We are amazed that a charge of blasphemy could have been brought against the tolerant, open-minded, all-inclusiveness Jesus and that he could have been crucified for it. We assume that the Jews who accused him were religious fundamentalists.

We are experiencing a clash between two approaches to reality which is at the heart of ongoing conflicts between Islam and societies like ours that have abandoned their Judeo-Christian heritage. One honours God above all else, the other champions individual freedom. Because our sense of the Otherness of God has been lost, we fail to see the genuine, heartfelt anger of those who are distraught at actions that mock God. For many of us (including church members) belief in God's existence plays virtually no practical part in our human-centred activities. God is assumed simply to be - not honoured or glorified! Devout Muslims would understand why the Jews were offended that 'Jesus, being a man, made himself God' (10:33).
Because God is the only Being worthy of absolute praise and commitment, God must not be demeaned by anyone claiming to 'be like God'. Such arrogance is an attack on the unrivalled grace and holiness of God.

The Jews would not have complained if Jesus were simply a teacher of spiritual wisdom, a bold prophet or even the Messiah. What offended them was that throughout his ministry he seemed to speak and act with divine authority. He granted forgiveness as though he stood in God's place. He healed 'by the finger of God' (Luke 11:20). He went beyond the 'law and the prophets' by saying 'But I say unto you . . .' (Matthew 5). Although he refused their demand to reveal the 'plain truth' about his identity (v24), he offended them by maintaining that he had a unique relationship with 'the Father'. Not unreasonably they concluded that he was guilty of making himself out to be God-like.

Jesus certainly forced people to re-think radically their faith in the majesty of God. When he says, 'I and the Father are one,' (v30) he is implying that, in him, God has become fully human and participates in our broken world to display the depth of God's redemptive love for the world (John 3:16). In this way, he invited people to see in his relationship with the Father the embodiment of the Creator's costly, self-giving love for the world.

This claim offends groups that are usually at loggerheads! Religious fundamentalists and liberal Christians make strange bedfellows! The former are appalled because it demeans the majesty of God and deifies a human being. The latter are appalled because it fails to see that God is an elusive presence who cannot be pinned down and that Jesus is a very human teacher of spiritual wisdom. Both are adamant that no human being, least of all Jesus, uniquely embodies the Divine Life! These natural 'enemies' agree that, to say more is blasphemous, idolatrous!

A few years ago a prominent Uniting Church leader wrote an article in which he decried the fact that 'blasphemy is endemic in the Church' (Rev Dr John Bodycomb, Crosslight, March 2004). Instead of glorying in the majesty of God's love uniquely embodied in Jesus, and withstanding efforts to diminish the miracle of the Incarnation, he accused orthodox Christians of blasphemously claiming to know God's thoughts. Apparently those who affirm that 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself' (2 Corinthians 5:19), that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us full of grace and truth' (John 1:14), and that Jesus is 'the way, the truth and the life' (John 14:6) are guilty of blasphemy.

Bodycomb's claim is a timely warning against pious arrogance, but it destroys hope. What point is there in belonging to a church that encourages a range of religious views and prides itself on its 'good works', but is not convinced that the mercy-and-healing of the Creator has been supremely embodied in Jesus?

We need to recapture a sense of awe at God's presence in Christ. The world badly needs to hear the Good News that, in Christ, Almighty God has taken on our humanity so that we may be united with him and share the love between him and his Father.

In a society where the reality of God is of no account, and where charges of blasphemy are seen as the last resort of religious fundamentalists, the Church is called to point to the one place in history where our humanity has been assumed, forgiven and renewed.

This is particularly urgent at this time when blasphemy, far from being consigned to the dustbin of history, has been re-incarnated in the form of militant secularism. Indiscriminate tolerance is the new 'god' against which opposition will not be tolerated!

It is now 'blasphemous' in Jesus' name to oppose 'marriage equality', abortion on demand, the right to die and freedom from religion legislation. Jesus is he One who uniquely embodied the creative and redemptive purposes of God, blessed marriage between a man and a woman, invited little children to come to him, called his disciples to fullness of life and insisted that political authority is subject to the right purposes of God.

The Church of the incarnate Christ, the Body of Christ, must resist this intimidating form of fundamentalism, which is no less blasphemous for being irreligious. So much of what is going on within the community and the church dishonours God's name. Christians should agree with devout Jews and Muslims that blasphemy is an insult to God! But we must insist, against them and extreme liberals within the church, that the true glory of God, Creator and Redeemer of humanity, has been uniquely enfleshed in the humanity of Jesus Christ.

Though many people in our society and the church believe in the vague existence of God, and are wary of religious fundamentalism, we must be alert to the presence of blasphemy in our midst. What God has done for all in Christ is of such magnificence that it must not be mocked and treated as if it were the most harmful and inhuman event in history. For in Christ God has revealed his desire that all of humanity shall be fully human.

Distress over blasphemy must be accompanied by prayer. Laws that prescribe flogging, stoning or death for mocking God have been overturned by the One in whom God's will has been uniquely, magnificently embodied. Remember that the One who was crucified for blasphemy said, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. (Luke 23:34)' And Stephen, who was accused by Jewish leaders of 'speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God' (Acts 6:11) and was stoned to death (Acts 7:58ff), knelt in prayer and cried out, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them. (v60)'

No matter how severe is the opposition to faith in Christ, or how necessary it is to resist policies and beliefs that mock God's unique presence in him, the Church of the Incarnate Lord must pray for enemies of the Gospel in the hope that they may see the truth and experience fullness of life. After all, Saul - who became the Apostle Paul - had persecuted Christians and approved the murder of Stephen for blasphemy!

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.

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