“You have been deceived by the fear you inspire in others and by your own pride. You live in a rock fortress and control the mountain heights. But even if you make your nest among the peaks with the eagles, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord. Jeremiah 49:16
Call it my ‘Rasta’ moment, but I have been thinking a lot about Babylon these days. To Rastafarians, Babylon refers to human government and institutions that are seen in rebellion against the rule of Jah (God), beginning with the Tower of Babel.
In my case, it’s more likely that the prophet Jeremiah has something to do with my current fascination with this ancient empire. Read Jeremiah and one encounters Babylon on nearly every page. It is not only the empire that Jeremiah predicts will trample down his own people, it is the empire which will burn God’s holy city to the ground.
Jeremiah’s entire life is one of unrelenting lament, with only brief respites of consolation to his people that if they wait long enough, 70 years to be exact, the land and the holy city will again be theirs.
These respites of consolation are the only good news he has. Wait two generations and then things will get better. In the meantime, Babylon rules. And ruthless their rule is.
Although the Babylon that ravaged the Promised Land is long gone, something like it has permeated human society ever since.
Two thousand years ago it was the Roman Empire.
Now it could be any of America, Neo-liberalism, Amazon or any other entity staking claim to power over others.
Babylon is anything which exercises dominion over more than just its own. For the sake of a few within its own, it denies prosperity and freedom to many.
It is the power of the wealthy over the poor,
the leverage the privileged have over the disadvantaged,
the pulpit the esteemed have over the ridiculed and despised.
So what would be good news to those over whom Babylon rules, who have little, if any means, of getting out from under its oppressive rule? Wait two generations for something better?
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favour has come.” Luke 4:18,19
When Jesus read these words in his hometown synagogue, he insisted not only was he their fulfilment but that their fulfilment had already begun.
This is a different kind of news to those of us accustomed to believing that Jesus is about the life to come. It is the good news that is in effect right here and now. In Babylon. In these days when Babylon is smiling on the world of the 1% and merchandizing the rest.
This proclamation from Jesus is unmistakably political. Enough to overthrow any Babylon.
It is a proclamation that rings most true, not in some sepulchre or sanctuary, but where life gets real messy and congested, in refugee camps and war zones.
It is God’s good news for poor people. Everywhere. Beginning today and not tomorrow. For those who have no power and no wealth, it is through the world's poorest people God’s kingdom comes.
We may not see it coming, mired as we are in the machinations of Babylon, but in promising sight to the blind and liberty to the captive, Jesus offers us the gift of seeing things the way he does and the freedom to live that way.
