Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
There is a
phrase, a slogan that has gained popularity over the last century or so in our
politics.
“Drain the swamp.”
I quote an
author, John Kelly, writing in his blog in 2016:
“In a press
release from Oct. 17, 2016, Trump pledged to “drain the swamp in Washington,
D.C.” He then tweeted: “I will Make Our Government Honest Again –
believe me. But first, I’m going to have
to Drain the Swamp.” What is he talking
about?
“Politicians have
long colored calls to clean up government corruption with drain the swamp. In 2006,
newly elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi pledged to “drain the swamp” in
Congress after 10 years of Republican control.
After 9/11, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld committed to “drain the
swamp” of terrorism; the phrase was a favorite of Bush administration officials
during the ensuing wars they launched in the Middle East. Earlier, in 1983, President Reagan described
his chief mission as “draining the swamp” of big government.
“At its bottom, drain the swamp is a metaphor: If
you drain the swamp, you eliminate the
mosquitoes (or snakes and alligators, in other iterations) that breed
disease. But ironically, the original
disease the expression referred to was the very thing Trump has built his
campaign on: big business.
“Drain the swamp isn’t just a vivid
conceit with a revolutionary flair: It also alludes to the stubborn myth that
Washington, D.C., was built on a swamp, which fatefully, had to be drained to
accommodate the new seat of American democracy and power.
“Myth aside, drain the swamp has
proved sticky over the course of the 20th century, used by
Democrats and Republicans, socialists and capitalists, to condemn whatever
particular malady they believe is plaguing our government.”
End of quote.
Why is it that a
phrase such as “drain the swamp” has gotten so much traction over the years,
being used by both Democrats and Republicans?
What is it that
resonates about that concept?
The reason is
both simple, and troubling at one and the same time.
People sense,
deep within them, that we are engaged in a battle against the forces of
evil. It’s that simple.
And yet, it is
troubling in that we cannot identify the true face of evil in our midst. The “enemy” is hidden. And there is no agreement on who the enemy
is, and who it is that will lead the fight against the enemy.
In the politics
of today, with all the divisiveness, some see our president as the champion of
good who will overcome the evil that has plagued our government, while others
see him as the very face of evil itself.
It would be much
easier if the forces of evil all were easily identifiable, if the devil was always
red with a tail as pictured in folk lore. Or if the good folks all wore white hats, and
the evil ones black, like in the old western movies.
For all of the
confusion, though, there is one thing that the Bible affirms as being true.
There are forces
of evil at work in the world that are at battle with the forces of good.
Paul writes in
Ephesians:
For our struggle is not against enemies of
blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the
cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly places.
“The cosmic
powers of this present darkness” – now there is an ominous phrase.
At the time that
the Book of Revelation was written, a time when the Church was under severe
persecution, it was the Roman Government that was envisioned by John as being
the beast, the evil power in the world that must be opposed, and that would one
day be defeated by Christ himself.
At the time of
Martin Luther it was the papacy, the institution of the Church itself that was
seen as the evil force that needed to be challenged and reformed.
In more recent
world history, Karl Marx identified capitalism as the source of evil in the
world and called for the workers to rise up against it.
Most of us grew
up in an age that responded to Marx’s criticism of capitalism with our own
conviction that it was communism that was the source of evil in the world and
which must be opposed. The Soviet Union
was viewed as the evil empire.
Today, our most
common enemy is and has been terrorism and our country has been at war since
2001, our longest continuous conflict, against those forces.
Lyndon Johnson,
during his presidency called for a War on Poverty and in order to fight it,
introduced massive government programs to fight poverty, creating ‘entitlements’
that subsequent politicians would identify as evil.
Ronald Reagan, in
response to these programs, launched his own agenda of reform of big government,
with the well worn phrase that “Government is not the solution, government is
the problem.”
Richard Nixon
declared that drug abuse was “public enemy number one” and initiated the War on
Drugs, which today accounts for a massive prison population in our own country,
and outright conflict at our southern border as we fight the illegal drug
traffic.
We could go on
and on.
Many of these
efforts to combat evil are like swatting mosquitoes, no matter how many you
swat there are more to come.
But there is an
underlying reality that we are confronted with time and time again, and that is
that there exists in the world a power of evil that seeks to destroy us.
The cosmic powers
of this present darkness.
Paul writes:
3Therefore take up the whole armor of God,
so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done
everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth
around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for
your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.
16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to
quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18Pray in the Spirit at
all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always
persevere in supplication for all the saints.
. .
Stand firm in the
Lord.
This is the
response that Paul offers to the conflict with evil in our world.
In Martin Luther’s
hymn A Mighty Fortress we sing:
“The old Satanic
foe
Has sworn to work
us woe!
With craft and
dreadful might
He arms himself
to fight,
On earth is not his
equal.
No strength of
ours can match his might!
We would be lost,
rejected,
But now champion
comes to fight
Whom God himself
elected.
You ask who this
may be?
The Lord of Hosts
is he!
Christ Jesus,
mighty Lord.”
Another popular
hymn, deemed too militaristic to be included in our hymnal is Onward Christian
Soldiers:
Onward Christian soldiers!
Marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
Going on before.
Christ the royal Master,
Leads against the foe;
Forward into battle,
See, His banners go!
It strikes me,
that as we are faced with the reality of evil in our world, many of us
Christians are a bit like the hippies of the 60’s.
In response to
the Vietnam War they wanted to speak about nothing but ‘love and peace’.
That’s in part,
why hymns like these are looked down on today.
Too militaristic.
And yet, the
Bible tells us time and time again that there is a battle raging all about us.
There are forces
of evil greater than us.
But as dire as
those warnings may be, the promise is even greater.
The battle
against evil will be won.
It will not be
won by the likes of Trump or Obama, but by Christ himself, and so people of
faith are called on to stand firm and trust that God himself will thwart all
the efforts of the evil one.
This is the good
news.
The challenge for
us is that this battle will continue to rage till the end of time. That’s one of the messages of the Book of
Revelation, that it is not until the end that all the forces of evil will
finally be defeated.
I suggest to you
that in the meantime, what we are called to do is celebrate small victories,
even if the final battle is yet to come.
Every time love prevails
over hate, there is a victory.
Every time
forgiveness is offered, there is a victory.
Every time
justice is done, there is a victory.
Every time we
face this world of uncertainty with faith, there is a victory.
These are not the
victories that we have achieved, but rather the victories of God.
And here is the
ultimate measure of our faith: that we believe in the end that God wins.
That’s our
hope. That’s our faith.
That’s God’s
promise.
Amen
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