Who Do We Obey?
“We must obey God rather than any human authority.”
Peter and the apostles spoke this legendary reply to the high priest and the council after the religious authorities reprimanded the early church leaders for not following their demands to refrain from proclaiming the Gospel. The apostles were incredibly brave, mythic heroes of old. They stood up for what they believed in against people with much greater social and political power. They stuck to God’s word even when it wasn’t convenient or safe. I know it isn’t fair to compare people today to storybook heroes, but I can’t help but wonder how we measure up.
During the Trump presidency, several leaders in the ELCA protested the border policy that resulted in children being separated from their guardians. Many people were outraged by the images of children sleeping on concrete floors, separated from others by chain link fences, with nothing but thin blankets for comfort. The mistreatment of innocent children by border authorities drove many Christians into a performative outrage. We could not stand for this. People marched with signs and slogans. Leaders spoke out. Pastors preached sermons against the humanitarian crisis on the border, but then something disappointing happened.
As time passed, the outrage died down, not as a result of improved conditions, but simply because other concerns drew our attention or, perhaps even worse, because we simply grew tired of talking about the brutal treatment of children at the border. We didn’t get the results we wanted, the clock just ran down. Even after Biden was elected and Trump left office, mistreatment of migrant children on the border continued, but the righteous fury didn’t return. At least some of the people complaining about it in 2018 were more concerned that Trump was behind it than they were about the actual problems. Others simply grew tired of the sad images, or they became bored when nothing new happened. Even if we didn’t forget, as time passed, we gave up and grew cold and quiet.
Unfortunately, almost every problem we have complained about in the past continues to plague our society today. Children are still mistreated on the border. The prices for life-saving medicines continue to increase for the sake of profit. The protests surrounding the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery did not produce enough change to prevent the killing of Patrick Lyoya earlier this month. A police officer killed another unarmed black man at a traffic stop. The furious fervor of the summer of 2020 didn’t change things. We’re still living with the same powers and authorities.
It isn’t clear exactly why we do this. Perhaps we are too afraid of the cost to do anything about the problems in our world. If we fight climate change, prices will rise, especially in energy. If we fight hard against police violence, we risk destabilizing the system and seeing crime rates rise in some larger cities. If we fight to keep prescription prices and medical expenses down, we fear a decrease in quality of care and availability of new drugs as the medical industry reorganizes. And along with all that, there is simply the cost of actively protesting. It is much easier to stay at home and do the things we always have done rather than boldly going out, connecting with strangers, organizing a public movement, and making difficult decisions. I can hardly blame us for wanting to sit on the couch and watch Disney Plus or Netflix, when most of us don’t even know where to begin fighting these problems.
Of course, there is another problem as well. As it stands, our system makes us believe that power is consolidated into the hands of our elected representatives. We vote for them, and they take care of everything else. The power to fix things lies in the hands of the elected authorities. As much as independent media may be on the rise, most people still look to mainstream media to inform them. The field is dominated by the large news companies and a few very strong independent outlets, and most people trust to be informed by these authorities. There are authorities that we expect to inform us and fix things, and when things fall out of their focus, we trust that they aren’t worth paying attention to. We respect human authorities by not only accepting their work, but also by letting them set the terms of the debate, the topics to be discussed. They answer the questions they ask, and we let them.
Of course, this isn’t true of all media and political leaders. Many media outlets provide useful and factual information, and some journalists do major stories that shed light on important things that others miss. Many politicians work to make life better for everyone in whatever way they can. And there is certainly a need for the media and government. The problem is that we are choosing to do the opposite of what the apostles did. Rather than going where God calls us and doing what God’s kingdom demands, we are doing exactly what the authorities ask of us: ignore problems that are in their purview, focus on only where the spotlight is pointing, and fight each other. Those whose careers depend on partisan politics and getting attention for the wild things they say benefit when the people fight amongst each other. We choose to support one politician or media personality against another instead of supporting each other. If we spent as much energy helping the poor and marginalized in our communities as we spent getting angry and arguing on the internet, we could make serious moves toward solving some of the greatest problems facing us.
The early church did not set out to disobey authority. It wasn’t deviant for the sake of it. The early church discerned God’s will and participated in God’s mission, even when it conflicted with the powers of their world. As we remember the words of the apostles to the council, that sentiment echoes through history and resonates in our time. What we need now more than anything are Christians who obey God more than men.
