Silence and Action VIII (Haas B)

Look, we are your bone and flesh . . . 

 - From 2 Samuel 5

When the people of Israel came to King David at Hebron, he was not yet king over all of Israel. He was just the king of Judah, which had been his position for about seven years.

Now the point needs to be noted, every time it comes up: Israel and Judah were not the same. We lost site, in our modern Bible study, that Judah was a separate entity then Israel. For a brief period of time, Israel and Judah were united (mostly under David and Solomon), and when united, the entire nation was known as "Israel." 

The people of Judah were known as "Jews." Later on, when the land was known as "Judea," the name of "Jews" became fixed. And Jesus was known as "King of the Jews." But the descendants of the non-Judeans, through time, came to be known as "Samaritans." The story of Israel, going back to Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, is one of brothers becoming estranged from brothers; of countries spitting apart and reforming. 

It is a story of people taking their eyes off the ball, losing their sense of mission and purpose, letting themselves be divided so that they can be conquered by outside nations that hate them. 

The most important lesson of history is the most forgotten lesson. You reject the ways of your forefathers, and split from your brethren, at your own peril. Great nations become materialistic. They become libertine. They lose their morality and their devotion to higher, eternal values. And in doin so they make easy prey for their enemies. And great nations, even when good, are always hated by others. 

Why? For the same reason people that are not fans of the New York Yankees hate them! Because they're Number One.

At the very beginning of the greatest example of national unity, in world history, is a statement of vision:

"We are your bone and flesh."

At the root of the resentment felt by the Millennial generation, which gets expressed in partisan anger, pointless defiance of authority, easy disposal of inconvenient relationships, and at its extreme, acts of random violence committed in schools and movie theatres, is a deep feeling that they do not belong.

They have not been claimed by parents that would rather relive their own teens than bond with their teen-aged kids. They cannot create eternal memories spending weekends in the homes of grandparents, because the grandparents live too far away and are not married to each other anyway. They are not taught to value family and community. They only have one or two cousins, that are ten years older or younger than they. They are not taken to reunions. They can't name their living great-great aunts and uncles - they can't even name their living great aunts and uncles. And if they saw them they might mock them as old people with hateful views and funny nervous disorders.

They love to criticize the home town that gave them all good things, that accepted them unconditionally, because it is "backward."

"We are your bone and your flesh" is an ultimate declaration of belonging. It's a point of survival. The family is the ultimate club . . . where you are a member whether you want to be or not. It is where you are forced to love others unconditionally.

You can't reject your family and then go talking about social justice. It is incompatible.

We want "action"? We wanted action forty years ago . . . when social changes began that draw a direct line to Columbine and beyond. 

The action needed is to know your own flesh and blood, to cling to it as though your life depends upon it . . . and to protect all of your members, as your own flesh and blood.

Because they are.