Reflection: “All the Kingdoms of the World” (Luke 4:5)
Luke 4:5: Then the devil led Jesus up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, fresh from his baptism in the Jordan river, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he is tempted by the devil. The first thing I notice in this reading and am appalled to recognize, is the contrast: The Human One, full of the Holy Spirit, is led by the Spirit to be fully present to his own identity and to God, the true source of life, the ground of being, in the wilderness, and the result is that “for forty days” he is tempted by the devil. Even if the number 40 is symbolic, evoking the memory and the identity of his own people, Israel’s 40 years (which is most likely also symbolic) of wandering through the desert of Sinai, when we think about it, being tempted, tortured, provoked by the devil’s temptations for ‘forty days’ tells us how relentless and immersive this journey was for Jesus. Today’s reading says, “Jesus ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished.” (V. 2)
In the scripture and throughout the ancient history of Israel, deserts were places of radical transformation where the people of God were shaped as a faithful community, seeking and striving to follow God’s rule, God’s law, which centers on equity, economic justice, and care for the marginalized (including immigrants and foreigners). For example, Leviticus 19:34 says, “The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” The desert regions of greatest importance in the scripture are the Sinai to the south in Egypt, the Judean wilderness in west-central Judah (where Jesus was baptized and tempted), and the Arabian desert to the east, separating Judah from Babylon. The last place was the literal and spiritual geography where Isaiah’s prophecy and cry were written:
“A voice is calling: clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” (Isaiah 40:3)
“I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)
“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus” (Isaiah 35:1)
This week, our hearts overflow with sorrow and indignation as we listen to the news of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Shock and outrage mingle with our tears at this horrific violation of innocent people in a sovereign nation. We have witnessed Russia’s horrifying swath of murder and terror, the Ukrainians’ desperate resistance and fight, and the outcries of more than one million innocent souls trying to flee from Russia’s barbarity, all in the space of one week. This onslaught of horror has led me to think more deeply and do more research in order to shine the light of scripture on the root cause of this evil. Today’s story of Jesus being tempted in the desert is a good place to start.
As many of you have already studied yourself, the ground that lies under this premeditated war is Russia’s hundreds-year-old settler colonialism and Russian nationalism (imperialism) in Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I believe that, in the words of today’s Gospel, “All the kingdoms of the world” challenge or even condemn the notions and practices of settler colonialism and expansionist nationalism. Luke 4:5: “Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
Many experts explain that Putin’s obsession with Ukraine originates in a Russian imperialism and settler colonialism that are based on a religious belief that in the ninth century there was a state called Kievan Rus. This is where it was located. (Show the picture) The Slavic people lived here. The city of Kyiv was the capital between 980 and 1015. The Kievan Rus was ruled by a Grand Prince. In Russian, his name is Vladimir. In Ukrainian, Volodymir. Russians and Ukrainians both draw their lineage from this Slavic state. Much changed in the centuries that followed; Ukraine came under Russian rule. There are many hidden histories that require, for a better understanding, critical lenses such as settler colonialism and religious and state imperialism.
There is a lot of history between the two nations but it all leads to the same point: Russia’s claim to Ukraine on the basis of colonial history is unjustifiable and wrong. India-based journalist, Palki Sharema Padhya, compares the forced annexation of Ukraine to Britain reclaiming India or South Africa, or Spain reclaiming the Philippines. Past imperialism cannot justify present day expansionism – especially when the past is so horrific. Russian leader Katherine the Great started Russifying Ukraine in the 1700s (Russification). Ethnic Russians were shipped to Ukraine as settlers. Schools were told to teach in the Russian language. By 1800 the Ukrainian language was banned. In 1930 Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin engineered a famine in Ukraine (Holodomor: the Ukrainian words for hunger (holod) and extermination (mor)) as a punishment for Ukrainian defiance. Millions of Eastern Ukrainians were killed – starved to death in a region known for its wheat harvests. The area was re-populated with ethnic Russians. In the 1940s, the indigenous Tartars were forcefully relocated, and they were replaced with Russians.
There is a reason why Eastern Ukraine today has so many native Russian speakers. It was designed to be that way. Eastern Ukraine, historically, was important to Russia. It has coal. It has iron, and fertile land. Its historical connection with Russia was forced both by claims regarding the Holy Rus and repopulation. Putin’s Russia has claimed that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. Today, the people of Ukraine, fighting to defend their national sovereignty and identity, bleed to defend themselves against Putin’s Russian Imperialism. The description above is just a general quick summary; it requires much more to give a comprehensive, accurate picture of the land and its peoples.
Here's some of what I’ve learned from my personal readings.
According to Taras Kuzio, a Toronto-based academic and expert in Ukrainian political, economic and security affairs, a large number of western historians of ‘Russia’ and political scientists working on Russia continue to include Ukrainians within an imperial history of ‘Russia’, denying Ukrainians a separate history. For example, many denied that Kyiv Rus was part of Ukrainian history, as the history of a sovereign nation, independent from Russian history. It also supported the incorporation of Crimea into Russia based on the argument that the peninsula “had always been Russian.” Many have downplayed Russian nationalism (imperialism) in Vladmir Putin’s Russia and completely ignored the revival of Tsarist and White emigre Russian nationalism that denies the existence of Ukraine and Ukrainians. On the contrary, Ukrainian nationalism was portrayed as a threat to forging an “All-Russian People” based on the three Eastern Slavs and undermined Russian foundational myths to ownership of Kyiv Rus. Tsarist Russia denied the existence of the Ukrainian language and claimed there had never been a Ukrainian state, that Ukraine had no history and that they were “Russians.” Putinversteher (Putin-Understander) scholars treat Russian military aggression as some sort of a ‘civil war’ taking place in Ukraine.
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St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kyiv |
Luke 4:5: “Then the devil led Jesus up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.”
In today’s Gospel, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, following his baptism, is led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he is tempted by the devil. Let us ask ourselves: What would we do? As a people of God, a community of faith, what would be our own critical reflection on our spiritual and political status in regards to the temptation of power, land, control of being promised “All the kingdoms of the world”?
The root cause, the evil of this invasion boils down to this: bending to the temptation of power (regardless of its character: political, economic, and/or religious). It’s not just reduced to one individual or one historical era. It’s how despots employ and the world permits imperialistic nationalism. It’s the opposite of what today’s Gospel reading teaches us. It’s the opposite of what we hope for today - to see Ukraine acknowledged as an independent nation, with its own identity and history. In this Lenten season, Christ is with Ukraine and other imperiled countries, seeking a future outside of the grip of the devils of not only war, but Imperialism.
This is all I have for today, for our reflection on this first Sunday of Lent. As we continue on with the theme, “Make a Way, Rivers in the Desert: The Reflective Journey through the Desert of Divisions”, I encourage this community to define together, what would be the true opposite word/alternative story, or path, to “divisions”, that challenges nationalism, imperialism, and wars, in the world. Let us travel the symbolic and spiritual journey of 40 days with Jesus and with one another.
Hymn: VU 460 All Who Hunger
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