Paul or Demetrius?

[Demetrius said,] “You can see and hear that this Paul has convinced and misled a lot of people, not only in Ephesus but also throughout most of the province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands aren’t really gods.”…Once they heard this, they were beside themselves with anger and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” …This continued for about two hours. — Acts 19:26, 28, 34

This scene came to mind as I watched the President address Congress on March 4th. As he outlined his vision for America, half the audience repeatedly stood up, applauded, and cheered. The chant, “USA! USA!” sounded as if they were witnessing an Olympic event. This lasted for the duration of the one-hour forty-minute speech, only twenty minutes shy of the two hours of the Ephesians’ “Make Artemis Great Again!” shouting.

Could it be that for some, our nation has attained idol-status? And that the demons lurking in the shadows are conjured forth by leaders unafraid to name them? Greed. Riches. Fear. Retribution. Supremacy. Environmental exploitation. When such elemental spirits are unleashed, we witness a nation straying from the foundations of equality, justice, and stewardship. We see the glorification of violence, division, and hate.

Idolatry is good for business. Demetrius, the silversmith from Ephesus, made an easy living crafting images of Artemis, the city’s patron goddess. You can imagine how threatened he felt by Paul’s blasphemy. Paraphrasing the apostle, “Of course human hands create imaginary gods. It’s profitable.”

Throughout history, that of both church and state, people have sided with Demetrius instead of Paul. When it’s advantageous, we create a make-believe god in the image we desire.

If there’s any good coming from the tsunami of current political rhetoric, it’s that it reminds us that people can never really create God in their own image and get away with it. When Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Budde begged the President to be merciful to those who were scared, it brought home the fact that the Jesus of the Bible always resists those who would use him to justify prejudice. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez said the same thing when, addressing congress, she declared that if Jesus himself walked into the room, her fellow legislators would label him a radical instead of the Son of God. That’s because the god they envisioned would never have an offspring who would side with the marginalized, be moved by compassion, and overturn tables in the temple.

Our task isn’t fashioning a god to suit us. It’s to humble ourselves and be shaped by the God “who so loved the world that he sent his only Son.” I love our nation because it gives us the rights and freedom necessary to honor the Son and mirror his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

We are called to live in such a way that we welcome Paul and reject Demetrius.