False Apostles

O Almighty God, who in the place of Judas chose your faithful servant Matthias to be numbered among the Twelve: Grant that your Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

We don't know a whole lot about St. Matthias beyond the fact that there was an election held in the upper room, and he was the winner of the ballot to be the replacement for Judas. That's what happens when the person recording the Acts of the Apostles, Luke, was paying attention to others, most especially the apostle Paul. But since Matthias isn't recorded as doing anything bad (like Judas), we assume that he was a "faithful and true pastor"... teaching a belief in Jesus Christ as the savior.

So then, what of false apostles? The collect would make it seem that Judas was a "false apostle" even though he was one of the original twelve. And over the years, I've heard people taking another look at Judas... not to excuse him, but to understand him. I think that this may be a reaction to the physical depictions of Judas: he's often more swarthy than the rest of the apostles... which leads some to unfortunate racist assumptions. When I think about what makes Judas "false", it has nothing to do with how dark-skinned he was, or if he had a stereotypical look of an Arab Jew. I think where he becomes false is in his expectation that Jesus was coming on the scene to overthrow the authorities, and lead the rebellion that Judas wanted. When Jesus (God) didn't do as Judas wanted... he gave in to the temptation of anger, and betrayed Jesus.

So... that's then. What about now? Interestingly, Rev. Dr. Kenneth Dobson of the group Other Sheep in Asia was commenting on recent remarks by singer Elton John claiming that Jesus is a compassionate gay man. Dobson noted that Jesus IS gay, and Hispanic, and black, and a woman.

If Elton John needs Jesus to be gay for him, Jesus will be glad to be gay. Jesus let the "loose woman" wash his feet and dry them with her hair, and you know what THAT meant. You aren't sure? Well, use your imagination.
The theological problem doesn't come when we are one of those who are tortured, marginalized, abused, terrorized, or suffering, but when we are one of the abusers, the corrupters, the despots or the bigots. When we then claim Jesus is on our side, we will likely hear, "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). Strom Thurman, James Dobson (no relation) and Jerry Falwell cannot expect to be in the same line-up as their victims unless they were radically transformed in a process that went unreported. The trouble comes to even more of us when we are decent and basically good, and not involved, just minding our own business and keeping our noses clean. We will be surprised to find the fence is too razor sharp to sit on, and the weight of our non-involvement will weigh too heavily to keep us from being sliced right up the ... well, it isn't a pretty picture.

Dobson's comments are pretty much in line with what I was thinking about false apostles. But what he doesn't answer--and what I am thinking about as we continue this week in the Episcopal Church to meditate on Christ's temptation in the wilderness-- is what happened to Strom Thurmond, James Dobson, and Jerry Falwell to lead them into the temptation to sin against others? If I presume that they started from a state of grace, what was the "thing" that tempted them to turn on people and, in that process, turn on God? Because I believe that those who call the gay children of God the children of Satan are the real "anti-Christs" described in the First Letter of John. Because I believe that such misstatements ARE against Christ, and therefore anti Christ. Was it the temptation of fear that have made them attack my community? Is it the temptation of the power they gained through financial contributions to wage a war against my community, a community that wants to live in peace? I don't know. Only God knows where they went astray.

And what about me? Am I so much better off than those three?

I've been thinking about temptations. I've been thinking about the temptation to follow my fears and my anger instead of returning to my faith and my joy as my guides. As I head to bed this evening, I turn over my struggles to the liminal space of my dream world. And I trust God will meet me there and guide me in the direction of being faithful and true.... returning to joy instead of dread.