Defy is a Sacred Word
written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“Speak out, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. ”
Almost everyone raised in the church learned the virtues of kindness, respect, and supporting others. Few of us were nurtured in the Biblical virtue of defying others. The greatest sin in many churches of my youth was creating disagreement. Mentioning disputes may sound harsh and perhaps even un-Christian, but it is undeniably Biblical. The Old and New Testament writers have many examples of faithful people standing up for their beliefs, even when it creates a quarrelsome environment.
The Biblical prophets were a pain in the neck to the religious and secular establishments. Yet, it didn’t start with them. Father Abraham went against cultural norms, even willing to kill the son they waited so long to love. Moses was the great protagonist, and Joseph cared for Egypt’s Pharaoh. Jesus defied the Roman and Jewish leaders with such passion; these two groups, who vehemently disrespected each other, came together to kill their common enemy, the rebelling Jesus of nowhere Nazareth. The Apostle Paul, who defied God by killing Christians, after his road to Damascus, defied his Jewish leaders by embracing this new sect of Jesus people. The list of faithful rebels in the Bible is long.
Throughout Christian history, the faithful are at their best when they are defying the dominant paradigm. For example, for most of the United States’ history, we were cruel overlords, embracing slavery at the expense of God’s ethical imperatives. It was Christians of different denominations and racial backgrounds who defied civil law and followed God’s law of love instead. The 20th-century civil rights movement drew its courage and strength from faithful churches that defied a society marked by prejudice and hate. Sometimes, the worst struggle for Christians was other Christians who misquote scripture to “prove” their hate-filled ideologies. The faithful defied inside the church and outside in the larger society.
Yet, defying others without an intelligent, ethical, and faithful imperative creates unholy action. Church people today who affirm and celebrate our present administration’s hatred toward immigrants and defy those who disagree are not acting in faithful defiance. Defying the dominant paradigm with proper faithful ethics requires constant evaluation. Individually and as faith communities, we must regularly search our hearts and challenge one another’s understanding of who God is calling us to be. God calls us to defy evil and injustice while always facing the world with a loving heart. That is a tall order, and the only way to avoid despair or cynicism is through the movement of the Holy Spirit in our midst.
