“No man who has broken into a strong man’s house can carry off his goods, without first tying him up; and not until then will he plunder his house.
Mission Impossible and MacGyver
employ all the technical tools needed
follow in the shadow of The Shadow
without a radical cloud of unknowingin a world unable to suspend disbelief
we set up surveillance of our perimeter
our common defense at the expense
of strengthening the general welfareonly too late we become smart enough
to see we’ve tied our own hands
indentured servants see the situation first
and open a door to our projection
“The social context reflected in Mark’s narrative may be alien in form from our own, but not in substance. Our world is hardly free of systems of domination. Today the free market has become the strong man.” ~Say to This Mountain: Mark’s Story of Discipleship, Myers, et. al.]
James Carvelle’s slogan, “The economy, stupid,” has had many other identifiers of what is seen as the issue at hand. It has been used to justify enough discontent to overlook negative characteristics in elected officials. As this is written, the latest to take advantage of the insecurity felt by many below the usual social markers is Donald Trump.
Using brute force to plunder a strongly gated community doesn’t work well. First the center must be weakened, tied up with its contradiction in terms. Whether it is Rome, Temple, Market, or Tribe, each is done in by its own rules privileging power over mercy, independence over compassion, and freedom over community.
Burglary is nothing compared to razing and salting by oppressors, no matter their compassionate conservatism or dictatorial divinity. Such an overthrow is hard on everyone, but hardest on the least, whether that be native people overcome, working class slavery in a variety of guises, women as women, racial, religious, sexual orientation minorities, children, or the land.
Bottom-line: Not only does Satan not destroy Satan, but, if you look closely, the part you are playing in binding others is going to be overthrown and thrown out.
Can you feel the conspiracy against Jesus and yourself growing by the moment? An authority of belovedness is not widely embraced.