Hilton Head Island, SC – February 9, 2020
The Chapel Without Walls
II Kings 2:1-12; Hosea 8:1-10
A Sermon by John M. Miller
Text – For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. – Hosea 8:7a (RSV)
Last Wednesday a unique event happened in the 245-year history of the United States of America. The US Senate completed its 34th impeachment trial since the Senate’s inception. The Constitution provides for the impeachment of federal elected officials and judges, as we heard many times over the past three months. But in its 34th impeachment trial, and the third impeachment of a president, the Senate acquitted the current president of the United States, having refused to call for witnesses or documentation regarding the president’s impeachment. In the previous 33 impeachments, they had always insisted on witnesses and documents.
Two out of the majority of 53 Republican senators voted in favor of witnesses and documents, but the other 51 voted against it. All 45 of the Democratic senators voted in favor of subpoenaing witnesses, along with the two Independent senators. One of the two Independent senators, who has long declared himself a democratic socialist and not a Democrat, is running for the Democratic nomination for president. Isn’t it the case that politics makes strange bedfellows? How can someone who is not a declared Democrat be running for the Democratic nomination?
Elements of ancient Hebrew tradition decreed that Elijah was the greatest of the prophets. Elijah lived in Israel in the middle of the ninth century BCE, when the autocratic king Ahab and his even more-autocratic queen Jezebel were on the throne of Israel. There is no Book of Elijah in the Old Testament, but he is told about in I Kings and in the first two chapters of II Kings. You heard about what presumably happened to Elijah when he died, except that presumably he didn’t die in the same manner as everyone else. Instead, as II Kings 2:9 and 10 says, Elijah and his successor Elisha were talking together, when suddenly – quote – “(B)ehold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven,” whatever that might mean.
The prophet Hosea lived in the northern kingdom of Israel in the middle of the eighth century BCE, a hundred years after Elijah. The prophecy of Hosea is one of the oddest and greatest prophecies in the prophetic collection of Old Testament books. The first three chapters are among the most problematic of scriptures in the entire Bible. You might be titillated by them, although Hosea did not intend them to produce titillation. I suggest you read all of Hosea, either this afternoon or sometime this week. I really do. It will help you better understand this sermon.
As with other of the Hebrew prophets, Hosea writes as though he represents the voice of God Himself. He voices God’s severe displeasure at the bad behavior of the people of Israel, and he (both Hosea and God) hints that Israel is about to destroy itself because of their lost connection to God. In 722 BCE, the Assyrian army came, conquered Israel, and obliterated the kingdom.
Nonetheless, although God was angry with the people of Israel for disobeying His laws and commandments, He despaired at what He knew was about to engulf them. The eleventh chapter of Hosea is one of the most magnificent poetic descriptions of the nature of God’s love. Even though He knows their immorality shall be their undoing, God nevertheless agonizes over the fate the Israelites are bringing upon themselves. “How can I give you up, O Ephraim!” God says; “How can I hand you over, O Israel?” (Hosea 11:8) Nonetheless, the destruction came.
I believe God is in despair over the political behavior of the American people from both sides of the spectrum. Our polarization is sadly undermining us. God realizes that our behavior is leading us into destruction, but thus far there is nothing we are doing to prevent us from collapsing into a cunning autocracy.
In Hosea, chapter 8, Hosea, speaking as God, notes that the people of Israel have fashioned the idol of a golden calf in the temple they built on Mt. Gerizim, above their capital city of Samaria. God hates idols, says Hosea, and the Israelites will pay a price for that idol. Hosea (God) says, “For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind” (Hosea 8:10). In powerful and terrible poetry, Hosea makes it clear what inevitably happens when a people step too far beyond the bounds of morality and decency that God has set for them.
Today I am going to be preaching a sermon in a style I have never used before. From here on to the end, almost everything I shall say will be formulated as questions, not statements. It is my sincere hope that all of you will listen carefully to these questions, and think about them. Each question shall have a definite point behind it when it is asked. If anyone misses that point from the nature of the question, either it will mean that you are not listening closely or that you have not been following the news for the past three years. Incidentally, I cannot predict how many sermons will be in this series of occasional sermons. It depends mainly on what happens between now and Nov. 3, the day of our national election. So let us turn now to the questions.
In 2020, why has the Democratic Party allowed a man who for decades has not identified himself as a Democrat, but as a socialist, permitted his name to be placed on any ballots in any state as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president? Why doesn’t he do what Norman Thomas did six times, run for president on the Socialist Party ticket? Yet the Democratic Party having reluctantly allowed his candidacy, why would any Democratic-leaning voters even give a weak moment’s thought to voting for Bernie Sanders? In their deepest, darkest, Freudian subconsciousness, do they want Donald Trump to win the presidency again?
If it should happen that Mr. Trump does win a second term, will Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party have sown the wind, but they shall reap the whirlwind? If pressed up against the wall, Mr. Sanders would have to admit that what he really espouses is a much more socialized form of capitalism than Americans are ever likely to accept, but he will never publicly state that? He prefers to say he is a socialist, which technically he is not. Why should anyone vote for a man who is not politically truthful about what is his fundamental political philosophy? Would it be prudent to elect one extremist leader to follow another extremist leader?
Does anyone truly suppose that an unusually intelligent and able 37-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana has the necessary life experience or political savvy to become President of the United States of America now? Does anyone imagine he would be genuinely effective in that odious responsibility on the first day he would be in office? He would be a mere child compared to the collection of ancients in Congress, especially in the Senate --- wouldn’t he? How would they respond to a man young enough to be their son or grandson?
Do all of these questions sound highly political in the Politically Crucial Year of 2020? They are! They are meant to be political! Politics is at the heart of how every nation conducts itself politically, and how Christian citizens exercise their Christian citizenship. God judges every nation, and not just individual citizens. God does not judge countries primarily on the strength of their economies or their world influence or the power of their military or their alliances. He judges us as peoples mainly on the basis of our values and our ethics. Do we follow His laws as well as our own laws, His thoughts of righteousness and fairness or our own thoughts? The biblical prophets and Jesus offered fiery denunciations of Israel and other nations that existed at the time the Bible was being written. God judges everyone and everything, including nation-states --- doesn’t He? If we think He does not, might we be sowing the wind, and inevitably reaping the whirlwind?
The Democrats had several women presidential candidates, out of their two-dozen-plus candidates, but most of them dropped out before the calamitous Iowa caucuses. Too many women in too many races for every office drop out because too few voters show too little support for them early on. Why is that? Is that an indictment on America and American voters? Or do most Americans honestly believe women are not as capable as men? If so, are we truly what Americans are supposed to be --- in God’s eyes?
Should “likeability” be a primary factor for any vote for a presidential nomination or for a president or for any other office? It is said that many voters do not like the only woman the Democrats are likely to nominate. Is that wise? Is it fair? Is it just? She is intensely well-versed on nearly every issue known to humanity, highly informed, fearfully intelligent, - - - and intense. Shouldn’t she be judged on her political positions, and not on her personality? But if she wins the nomination, might an unintended sort of wind be sown, and a certain kind of whirlwind ensue?
The democratic candidate who unquestionably has the longest and strongest political experience to be the next president is also a 77-year-old man who stutters and who may not be as mentally sharp as he once was. If he wins the nomination, will he and the Democratic Party sow the wind and reap the whirlwind? There is no one in the field of 25 candidates for the Democratic nomination who has the number of years in office with the quality of those offices as that man.
Does it sound like I am trying to influence you on what basis you vote in the upcoming open South Carolina Democratic presidential primary? I sincerely hope so! I firmly believe God judges all citizens of democracies on the basis of how they vote. God doesn’t judge most of us as federal employees of any sort, because most of us have never been federal employees of any sort. Rather God appraises us as ordinary citizens, and how we vote expresses our deepest political values and aspirations. The Bible suggests that God is vitally concerned about those particular issues.
As of the Senate vote last Wednesday to acquit the president, is it not a virtual certainty that he shall be the Republican candidate for re-election? That being the case, would anyone deny that the three years of his presidency has been a political whirlwind of totally unpredictable proportions? Having never once achieved even a 50% approval rating (which nearly every president has achieved at some point in his term of office), does anyone think his approval rating is likely to go up markedly after the rancor caused by his impeachment and his predictable retribution following his acquittal? If you are a Republican, and you have the opportunity and the right to vote in the South Carolina Democratic primary (which you do), does it not behoove you to vote for the person you think would be the best person to be the next president if it should turn out that Donald Trump is not that person? I can understand why you might choose to vote for the candidate you might think is most likely to lose to Mr. Trump, but would that really be a wise and a moral choice, especially if Donald Trump were to lose the presidential race? And if you are a Democrat, does it not behoove you, of all people, to vote for the candidate you believe would best serve us as our next president? Is not voting our most sacred duty as citizens of a democracy?
But what will happen if the Democrats can’t come up with a clearly decided candidate by the time they hold their convention? It could happen, couldn’t it? In 2016, a Democrat-turned-Republican billionaire bought the presidency. If it came down to it, would it be better to return the current billionaire in the White House to the White House, or allow a Republican-in-all-but-name-now-turned-Democrat billionaire to purchase his presidency? There are huge winds and whirlwinds all around us, but do we realize it? Do we sense it? Do we care?
The president fired two people who testified against him in the House impeachment hearing. One of them contributed a million dollars to his campaign in 2016, and for that he was rewarded with our ambassadorship to the European Union, an organization the president disdains --- doesn’t he? But because that unfortunate soul testified the truth about the Ukrainian quid-pro-quo (which the president himself publicly admitted, didn’t he?), he was given a pink slip two days after the Senate gave the president what he considers carte blanche to do anything he wants, which he has been doing anyway without the carte blanche. The other man he fired was a highly decorated and admired military adviser who also spoke truth in his testimony. Not only was he fired, but his twin brother also was fired, simply for the grave offense of being brother to a man who offended our president. Were those who have supported Mr. Trump delighted with those dismissals, or might they be a bit sheepish or skeptical or mortified by them?
What kind of human being would take such retribution against those who dare to tell the truth about him? Is that acceptable behavior? Is it moral behavior? Is it biblical behavior? Is it normal behavior? Or is it dangerously abnormal behavior? Is our president a normal human being?
Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution delineates the powers of the presidency. It does not say a lot, but it says a little, and what it says is important. Donald Trump has concluded that it gives him the power to do anything he wants, and he has told us that. Early into his presidency, he joked that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue (he assumed everyone would know that is in New York City) and no one could do anything, because he is the president, don’t you see? But it wasn’t really a joke, was it? He has not killed anyone, yet, has he? That’s a joke - - - isn’t it?
If it is true that Donald Trump really believes these things (and he does, doesn’t he?) then is American democracy safe? Is autocracy just around the corner? You and I and all Americans are collectively democracy’s safety net, and are we exercising that God-given responsibility?
Where have the last three years, and especially the last three months, been leading us? Is the president presiding as the Constitution intends, or has he thrust us into an enormous whirlwind? Has the concept of the separation of powers of the three branches of government been abrogated by our president? The president creates far more questions than he provides answers, right?
Is Fox News correct in its interpretation of our times, or is CNN/MSNBC correct, or are all three only partly correct in what they keep saying? Has Donald Trump intentionally amassed “emoluments” in being the president, or hasn’t he? Is he like all other autocrats?
During the Iowa Caucuses, was Amy Klobuchar correct when she said the 2020 election is a “decency check”? If it is not that at the least, what else is it?
Any vote for anyone can always result in an unintended whirlwind, but if we are to accept our obligations as Christian citizens, we are obligated to vote as intelligently as we can --- aren’t we?
It was very windy through the USA this past week. Is a terrifying whirlwind in the wind?