One of my favorite figures, or perhaps villains, of Church history is the Roman emperor Julian. Julian ruled in the middle of the fourth century BC and has been known to historians, church or otherwise, as “the apostate.” His story is completely fascinating in many respects: he was related to Constantine the Great (hence his accession to Emperor), he was a brilliant classical philosopher and scholar (in the same vein as Marcus Aurelius perhaps), and in many ways had rather forward-thinking ideas for the time (for example, he had very little patience for the landed nobility and their excesses in court). But, he does come down to us through history as someone who very publicly left the faith, despite being taught by many great Churchmen of the time. He actually rubbed elbows with Gregory Nazianzus and Basil the Great, two of the most influential theologians ever. In fact, Julian’s abandonment of Christianity was so complete that he attempted to restart Pagan Roman worship and sacrifices in the old municipal temples.
Julian’s apostasy was probably founded on several ongoing gripes with the Church, especially with the constant theological and political turmoil of the 4th Century. I think what actually stuck in his craw the most though, was that he perceived the teachings of Jesus to be ruinous to the Roman system. He saw the Christian principals as expounded by Scripture and the great bishops of the the day to be the ultimate source of the declining influence of the Romans in the West. Jesus’ message was not the robust, pride-bound, war-like ethos of the great Roman generals of antiquity.
So why am I talking about a dead Roman emperor on Patriotic Sunday? Well, one because I oddly think about him when we hear the words from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to love our enemies. I also think, that in a round about kind of way, Julian was kind of on to something; something we might consider as 21st Century Christians in America.
As a postscript to his story, by the way, he died after being impaled with a spear in a fateful engagement with the Persians. Legend says his last words were Vicisti, Galilaee. Thou art victorious, or perhaps, Thou hast conquered, Galilean. Which is definitely the name of the first album of my imaginary Anglo-Catholic heavy metal band called, “Monstrance.”
So Julian was on to something in regards to Jesus’ teaching. Now, I think he’s dead wrong about most of his conclusions, but he was right about the fact that the teachings of Jesus, and in general the Gospel of God incarnate come to bring all things back into God’s own Lordship, are destabilizing. But only because they are so obviously not the status quo. Julian saw Jesus’ teachings as chipping away at something that was worthwhile and eternal. The church understands the Gospel, especially Jesus’ moral teachings, as moral eternal truths, chipping away at the structures of this world that are unworthy, unjust, and ultimately fleeting.
Where poor Julian saw weakness in generosity, humility, and mercy, the Church sees her greatest strengths along with other virtues like faith, hope, and love. We also know that they don’t always come naturally to us, and that we need to ask God to help us. It’s interesting therefore, that the folks who helped frame the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, felt strongly that rather than tearing apart an Empire, these virtues would help keep together a diverse group of colonies in order to form the democratic republic that would grow into the country we live in today. Despite some intellectual gadflies like the brilliant French satirist Voltaire and theological skeptics like David Hume, the Enlightenment era to which our nation’s founders belonged produced our founding documents; and they were influenced by the teachings of a certain conquering Galilean.
So i’m suggesting that Christian principals are definitely part of the philosophical and ethical punch our founders were drinking. I’m also suggesting, contra Julian the Apostate, that the virtues of the Gospel are what makes this country great even when I disagree with various aspects of its political life. But despite the fact that Jesus’ teachings are certainly influential to American life, that does not let the Church off the hook. For Christians who take their faith seriously, the teachings of Jesus are not just influential, they are mandatory reading. Mandatory, difficult, confounding, and ultimately liberating. In fact, for all of the talk we tend to hear about liberty and freedom here in the States, I think a Christian response is pause. When Jesus preaches his Sermon on the Mount, whence comes the famous teaching we heard today, he is preaching about freedom. But he is not, strictly speaking, preaching about that topic as many among us, both liberal and conservative, republican and democratic, seem to construe it. Rather, the call to live into his teachings: loving our enemies, praying for our persecutors, in recognition that the sun that God hung in the heavens rises on the just and the unjust, these are things that truly liberate us to love as God loves, to love Him as we should, and to make his love in Christ known to all nations.
Therefore, if you’ll forgive this terribly earnest rhetorical pun, I’m thinking about is a Declaration of Dependance. Dependence on God to help us with our work as Christian Americans: willing to answer God’s call for the salvation of the world in Christ, willing to live a liberated life of service to God and to our neighborhood, rejecting the tyranny of the world, the flesh, and the devil. To have the abundant freedoms we have as Americans is a providential blessing from our Creator. The response for God’s people is thanks and a hand up to be pulled into service to God’s purposes.
You know, Emperor Julian was onto something in his final words too. Jesus the Galilean is the victor of our hearts by his great love. May he be with us as we show his love to a world that needs him very much.
Amen.
Sermon preached by the Rev. David S. Bumsted
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
6th Sunday after Pentecost
5 July 2015