“Stay out of Syria”

I noted on Facebook today a politically liberal friend sporting a “Stay out of Syria” image for her profile picture. When my lefty friends make similar noises as Sarah Palin it always gets my attention.

Internet + Expressive Individualism means that we will have access to thousands of voices, images, perspectives and judgments on the matter.

What does it mean to “stay out of Syria”? Obviously everyone talking about it feels the need to not really “stay out of Syria”. “Staying out” would probably mean not talking about it or attempting to exert influence on any particular decision. Most Americans will likely attempt to “stay out of Syria” in this way, whatever the US government does. Syria for many simply doesn’t seem relevant. If events in Syria eventually significantly impact the price of gasoline, things may change of course.

Depends Where and When and How you are

For people in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Turkey, and anyone with loved ones involved, “staying out” would be a luxury they might deeply desire. There is no avoiding a civil war or numerous other catastrophes that are common to humanity.

“Stay out of Syria” obviously attempts to influence the US Congress not to authorize the military strike the President has declared he wishes to make as a response to the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons against their own people. I think we understand this, but the admonition implicitly evokes a potential Syria-free reality. This again may seem like reality for many of us, given the fact that many of us may have very few felt ties to Syria, but most of us also know this can change quickly.

I don’t say any of this to weigh into the debate on whether or not the Congress should authorize this action, it is to simply note that whether felt or not, there is no real way to truly “stay out of Syria”. Whether or not the US strikes, the civil war will continue and there will be an outcome and that outcome will shape the future of this world that we share.

My Comfy Fence

Sarah Palin says “Let Allah sort it out!”.  Jim Wallis, Russell Moore and others consult the just war theory and have come to their conclusions. Since I don’t have to vote in Congress, and taking a side in either direction might make me unpopular with whoever is on the “other side”, and while I hear arguments that get traction with me on both sides, I’ll decline to commit publicly to an opinion one way or the other. I’ll take my comfy seat on the fence today to sit and observe.

As I stated before, my seat is only comfy because of the country I live in and the relational circles I possess. Syria is for me a rather hypothetical place and I’ve been alive long enough to know that this is just one of billions of situations on earth that are enormously complex and for which there is likely no easy, available, “good” solution.

Just a few weeks ago Egypt was all the talk. While the talk has died down I’m sure the situation in Egypt, and how many other places has not been resolved.  There is of course immense human suffering in hundreds of other countries in thousands of other ways that are not in the news. Make your own list according to your political tastes. Find a Facebook issue group about them. Start a blog. There will always be another.

While my fence is a comfy place for Syria, there are of course lots of other situations for which I have no comfy fence. There are many other concerns where I have considerably more power and influence over than Syria and my attention is drawn to them.

One might easily argue that the comfort of my fence for Syria is itself an abdication of my responsibility as an American citizen and a Christian. I SHOULD take a stand and exert my influence one way or another. I’m told that 100,000 people have lost their lives in this civil war, that at least 2 million Syrians have been displaced from their country and many more within the country are homeless.

It is easy to imagine that if I had the kind of ears that could hear the mental anguish of the Syrian people I could not sit still. I would have to weigh in, form an opinion, take a side and act in whatever limited ways I possess, but here I sit, unwilling even to change the picture on my Facebook profile. What a coward!

A God who Has Those Ears

Exodus 2:23–25 (NET)

²³ During that long period of time the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out, and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning, God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, ²⁵ God saw the Israelites, and God understood.…

Exodus 3 is the beginning of Yhwh’s intervention in the affairs of ancient Egypt. He has patiently prepared a leader, Moses, that he will recruit, and he is about to get involved. The involvement will be both religious and geo-political. The separation of the two is of course a modern invention. He will use shock and awe to rescue the enslaved children of Israel and he will send them out after they have plundered the household wealth of their former masters. He has decided. He will get involved. He is no coward.

40 Acres and a Mule

Many Americans rightly ask about desired, realistic outcomes for Syria as they ponder the question of whether to intervene. John McCain says that there are good political options for us to ally with. Sarah Palin, his former presidential running mate says there are not. The guy who beat both of them for the office he possesses hasn’t produced any so we’re left to guess. In any case outcomes are legitimate questions.

During the Civil War General Sherman’s famous solution for how to feed tens of thousands of newly freed black slaves was “40 acres and a mule“. That never really panned out. History is full of rescue efforts that are supposed to improve life, most of which fail to fully deliver. American blacks would have to wait a hundred years to use a decent restroom.

Yhwh’s revealed plan to Moses includes not only worship at Sinai but a land flowing with milk and honey. Israel’s children will be delivered from slavery, plunder Egypt, pass through the desert and be given a new home of their own, a last of rest. Any reader of the Bible, and reader of the news will know that both “milk and honey” and “40 acres and a mule” will be far more complex and difficult than imagined.

God’s Chosen Instrument

Moses, our old shepherd who failed to get away with murder even once, is God’s idea of the person to pull it off. His response of “Here I am” quickly goes to “who am I?” His immediate show of deference will turn to evasion and avoidance. He who years earlier thought to free one brother Hebrew but found it impossible to resolve one personal feud would defeat Pharaoh and convince a nation to follow him into a land with no food and no water. Moses’ best item on his resume is his reluctance to go along with Yhwh’s plan. It all looks like madness.

The Uncashable Promises of God

Moses naturally asks for some kind of assurance, some guarantee of outcome. If Moses is going to stick his neck out there in this mission he needs something more than a fireworks demonstration on a desert bush.

God’s pledge looks completely unsatisfying:

Exodus 3:12 (NET)

¹² He replied, “Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.”

In other words, the guarantee, the great proof offered can only be seen IN the outcome?! That’s like “you’ll know that my promise to pay is good when you see the money in your hand.”

What Moses is asking for, and what the people are asking for, is of course leverage. What they want to know is that God has “skin in the game”. Why should they stick their necks out in this effort for his idea, his mission. Who is he? How can they know? Why should they trust? How can they decide?

What is Both Obvious and Overlooked

Why would Moses, or the people of Israel enter into a relationship on such terms? Can’t they just ride the comfy seat on the fence like I am doing today with Syria? Oh yeah, they have no comfy seat, and the truth is neither do we. The only one who had the option to NOT be involved is the one who showed up in the common bush but failed to consume it.

It is the one who has interrupted Moses in the desert, called him aside and already extended his commitment. “Surely I will be with you.”

These will be the words that Moses will cling to for the next 42 years. These words will be the leverage that Moses will employ again and again in his relational wrestling with this God. These will be Moses guarantee. “You promised!” is all Moses will have to stand on.

The Name

At the center of this passage is the most written about verse in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is the name of this God given by Himself to Moses. It is sometimes translated “I am what/who I am” or “I will be who I will be”.

Both of these seem as cryptic as the sign given above. Don’t we want the “I’m the one who frees slaves” or “I’m the one who makes your dreams come true” or “I’m the lucky one, the golden ticket, the goose that lays golden eggs!”

There is a reason gods and saints proliferate. We want a specific god who works for a specific type of dilemma or difficult spot. We want a specialist. This god doesn’t seem to offer that.

Robert Alter offers yet another interpretation of “the name”:

Since the tense system of biblical Hebrew by no means corresponds to that of modern English, it is also perfectly possible to construe this as “I Am He Who Endures.”

Alter, Robert (2008-10-17). The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (Kindle Locations 7079-7080). Norton. Kindle Edition.

Staying Offshore

Even though I’m a coward for not changing my Facebook profile pictures, I’m not alone.

The solace the administration, the congress, and anyone else caught in the “half-a-world-away-conflict-of-the-week-watercooler-discussion-political-fodder-issue” is that we won’t commit “boots on the ground” to this mess. We’ll stay safely offshore and lob guided missiles in or send in drones. There will be no American Infantry or naval aviators risking their necks. There will be no chance of shooting down a pilot and having him or her taken prisoner. Remember how we whether we “stay out” or “get involved” it is abundantly clear that we will do our best to have as little skin in the game as we can.

We have of course done this many times before. Our military technology helps us do this more and more. We did it in Kosovo. We had our “no fly zone” over Iraq. We helped rebels fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and recently topple Qaddafi. Our drones are the most potent weapon in our war on terror. We’re used to this game by now.

What does this really say to the people of Syria?

When it comes right down to it we will be who we will be and what that means is that we will “stay out of Syria” to the degree that it works for us. If something happens in Syria that we imagine will somehow threaten our national well being THEN we will get involved in a more costly way but not before.

What has brought us to this point? Well of course it is the moral peril of watching a slaughter that we might have been able to do something about. We’ve watched slaughter before, and done nothing, and then felt guilty about it. We have the luxury of worrying more about our feelings than our actual safety.

We don’t like it. We don’t like how that makes us look. We don’t like how it feels. We want to do something, something effective, something affordable, something that reinforces what we think we are or hope to be.

The Stupidest Thing God Ever Did

There have been lots of slaves throughout most of human history. There have been a lot of oppressed people groups or ethnic groups. According to Exodus 1 God was behind the scenes helping the children of Israel flourish. That of course is what made Pharaoh nervous and started the slavery and this whole mess. If God could make them flourish behind the scenes couldn’t he figure out a way to get them out of Egypt without getting too involved? Maybe a surgically aimed drought, or a tornado, or the flu. He will use plagues, why not just do it anonymously like we secularists believe today?

The point of this passage is that God gets personally involved. He does what I am too chicken to do, to sign his name to something.

What does signing his name get him?

He’ll be named as a first-born killer. He’ll be found guilty by us of genocide in Canaan.

The people he’ll be in most trouble with will of course be the ones he steps in to rescue. They will soon be murmuring about the leeks and onions of Egypt and complaining that this God doesn’t pan out or come through. They’ll be making a God with a more specific name that looks like a golden calf, something they can more easily believe in.

The whole story of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures is of course one of the greatest tragedies ever told. They will have their short heyday with David and Solomon but they won’t be able to stay united for long and they will eventually succumb to the power of the greater regional empires. Their slavery in Egypt will be only one chapter of their ethnic and national domination.

Skin in the Game

Christians of course believe that Yhwh does show up, not just as a burning bush, but as a man. He comes into Israel once more when they are enslaved by empire, this time the Romans. He will raise their hopes by working wonders of his own. He won’t kill the first born or contaminate the river, he’ll multiply loaves and fishes and raise the dead.

The children of Israel who endure the Mosaic desert crossing might have pointed a finger at Yhwh and said “are you thirsty? Are you hungry? Do you feel our pain?” Jesus is the answer to that question.

When Jesus comes he is called “Immanuel, God with us.” God with skin in the game.

Little Me

Syria, Egypt, Global Warming, the economy, the poor of Florin Road Sacramento, Living Stones, my family, my friends, mental illness, human trafficking, animal cruelty, Africa, Asia, Latin America, on and on and on. I have only so much skin for only so many games! 

Why does Moses go?

Because God calls him and probably because he’s got no other options.

Why do the elders of Israel follow?

Probably the same. They just wanted out, behind anyone, in any way possible. Pain does this to us.

What gives me hope in a world where dictators gas their own people in volatile regions and I’m too chicken to take a stand? Because I believe my God hears their cries and my God is not afraid to put his skin in the game.

He has also left me his name so I, and every other human being can cry out “where is the milk and honey? what about the 40 acres and a mule? will the violence and the pain never end?!”

This God says “yes, it is finished, I will be who I will be, I will endure and I will accomplish it. Won’t you follow me?”