American(ism) Idol

Scripture — John 11:45-48 (NIV)

Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

Devotion

Even things that are not bad or sinful in and of themselves can become idols. In yesterday’s devotion, I wrote about how downhill skiing became an idol to me when I was a young adult. It was not only the chief consumer of my time and money, but it was also the primary thing that gave me a sense of significance. As God revealed that idolatry to me, I had a strong sense of conviction that I was called to give up downhill skiing.

Work is another example. While meaningful work is itself a good thing—indeed, a very good thing—it is easy in our culture to idolize things that come from our jobs such as social status, influence, praise, or money. We are tempted to find both our sense of security and our sense of significance in our occupations and the salaries we draw from them rather than in God. Not many persons in our modern world are tempted to bow down to statues of wood, stone, or metal, but we do worship things like money, comfort, fame, and prestige. Power is an especially appealing idol in American culture.

My own experience with skiing many years ago has kept me pondering what other things I am tempted to idolize. It is easy for me to be blind to the common idols in my own culture, so it is a question I must keep asking. This past Lenten season, I was reading through the familiar passage of the raising of Lazarus from the dead in John 11 and I got to John 11:45-57. (I recommend reading the entire passage now if you have time.) John’s gospel tells of the response of the chief priests and Pharisees to the resurrection of Lazarus. “‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.’”

As I read through this passage, it struck me in a new way. Seeing in Jesus the power to resurrect the dead, it seems to me that the religious leaders ought to have been pondering the very reasonable possibility that Jesus might be the Messiah. Even if all his previous miracles were not enough evidence, the resurrection of Lazarus surely was. Indeed, an appropriate response would have been one of worship. But John’s gospel doesn’t even record them asking that question. Instead, their main concern is that, as a result of what Jesus had done and of his growing number of followers, the Romans might take away their temple and nation.

Keep in mind that the Romans did not in general allow for religious freedom among their conquered subjects. Subjugated peoples were ruled by Roman governors and expected to submit to Roman religion including worshiping Caesar as a god. The people of Israel had a unique situation in that they were not only allowed to retain their own king (though he was under the authority of a Roman governor) but also to keep their temple and religious practices. In short, during the time of Jesus, the people of Israel had been granted an unusually high level of religious freedom. Although for most Jews of that day life was still both brutal and short, for their religious leaders this arrangement meant a certain amount of prosperity and comfort despite being under oppressive Roman rule and taxation. Suddenly—or so reasoned the Pharisees and chief priests—that religious freedom was in jeopardy.

Now religious freedom is itself a good thing. I am glad for the religious freedom we have in the United States today, and I think the religious freedom the Jews were granted in Jesus’ time was a good thing for them also. I also appreciate my church building and think it’s worth caring for. A place of worship is a very good thing. The temple in Jerusalem was a good thing. Likewise, there is nothing sinful about caring for one’s nation or country. Yet what I see in the response of the Pharisees and chief priests in this account in John 11 is that their nation and the level of power and comfort that came from that religious freedom had become an idol to them. Their nation seems to have been more important than their God. The outward practices of their religion—all of the activities associated with their temple—had become more important than the God whom they were supposed to worship in that temple.

In a sense, what the wording of John 11:48 suggests is that these Pharisees and chief priests had become religious nationalists: the important concern to them after the resurrection of Lazarus was not whether Jesus was the Messiah, or whether God was present, or what the appropriate response of worship was; rather, their concern was for the implications to their nation, their religious buildings, their freedom of religion, and ultimately to their comfort, prosperity, and power. Rather than opening mind and heart to the Messiah, they worshiped nation and religion.

This is certainly convicting to me. Though it is tempting for us today to demonize the Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ day, I think we do very similar things in our own nation and religious institutions. I’ve certainly built my own power structures in my life. I like being in control. I enjoy my comforts. A Messiah who claims to be God is a threat to my personal comfort and power. I can’t hold on to my own idols and also worship God.

Yet at the same time, this Messiah with the power to raise the dead is also my greatest hope, and the only one truly worthy of worship. And so, we are also faced with the same question as the people of Jesus’ day. Do we care more for our politics and freedoms? Or do we bow down before the One who can raise the dead?

Banner image by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Your Influence on Your Friend Jesus.

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