Who Tells Our ‘Definitive Story’?

IN HIS INFLUENTIAL book Orientalism, Palestinian literary critic Edward W. Said articulated the symbiotic relationship between knowledge and power. Said observed that people in power often get to produce knowledge, and they produce it in ways that justify and enhance their privilege. Such a symbiotic relationship between knowledge and power plays out in books, movies, art, and other cultural venues. In the context of European colonialism, Western artists and intellectuals did the empire’s bidding by caricaturing cultures in the global South as barbaric and inferior to European culture. Empires employ such caricatures to justify conquest and advance political and economic interests. Such distortions promote narratives that deflect attention from the mechanisms of conquest and, in many cases, pit colonized communities against each other.

It matters who gets to tell whose story. How they are told and to what end matters as well. Empires continue to manufacture modes of knowledge — in the form of caricatures, false narratives, and single stories devoid of nuance — and weaponize them against the oppressed. This phenomenon of promoting single stories occurs in biblical interpretation too and in the scriptures themselves. As Christians, charged with being “good news” among the oppressed, we can unveil the mechanisms by which dominant groups produce knowledge to advance their own interests. How are we perpetuating single stories or false narratives to the detriment of ourselves and others? It’s a task that requires intellectual acumen as well as intellectual humility.

September 1

Challenge Single Stories

Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

IN A WIDELY watched TED Talk, Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warns of the perils of perpetuating “single stories” about individuals and communities who are different from us. Adichie offers an incisive critique of the politics of storytelling, and notes that “power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person but to make it the definitive story.”

In an attempt to explain Jewish customs to a Gentile audience, the Markan narrator writes that the “Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,” and follows up with other generalizations (7:3-4). The text presents Pharisaic and Jewish traditions in stereotypical terms. Mark’s placement of the text in parentheses is as intriguing as the content itself. It amounts to a narrative aside, a mild version of what we might call a “subtweet,” away from the earshot of characters about whom it is written.

Mark’s account of Jewish rituals caricatures the community in harmful ways and robs from readers our ability to understand the nuances. Just as Jesus reinterprets sacred text, so are we invited to complexify truth and push back against stereotypes. How can we become more aware of the single stories we promote and consider their problematic implications?

September 8

Beware Empire’s Tactics

Isaiah 35:4-7; Psalm 146; James 2:1-17; Mark 7:24-37

A FEW YEARS ago, a cartoon made the rounds on social media featuring a CEO, a laborer, and a foreigner sitting at a table. In it, the CEO has a huge plate of cookies in front of him, the laborer has one cookie, and the immigrant has none. The CEO turns to the laborer and says, “Careful mate. That foreigner wants your cookie!” It’s a clear attempt to shift attention from the CEO’s hoarding.

First-century historian Flavius Josephus describes the ongoing tensions between Jews and the residents of Tyre described in Mark’s gospel. The two colonized communities fought over several issues but primarilythe limited resources left after the Roman Empire siphoned off what it wanted. Rome successfully deflected attention from its economic practices by convincing colonized communities that they could survive only by eliminating competition from other oppressed groups. This led to a mindset of scarcity among colonized communities.

What is articulated by Jesus’ reluctance to grant the Syrophoenician woman’s request for a miracle? Is it fear that if “the food” (or the benefits of the new kingdom) is extended to her community, then Jewish people would lose out? Is it a zero-sum game in which one or the other can enjoy it, but not both? The woman’s riposte insightfully insists that her community gaining access to the gifts of the kingdom will not deprive Jesus’ community of theirs. In the two feeding stories that sandwich this story, Jesus challenged the mindset of scarcity. An extension of the woman’s insight is that the two communities need not fight for meager resources but should expose imperial hoarding practices. Empires often pit marginalized communities against each other to distract from oppressive practices. Beware of this trap.

September 15

Confession vs. Action

Isaiah 50:4-9; Psalm 116:1-9; James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38

IN MARK'S GOSPEL, Peter comes across as impulsive. He is quick to confess that Jesus is the Messiah (Mark 8:29). He gets Jesus’ identity right when most, including his fellow disciples, do not. But things change quickly when Jesus articulates his destiny as the Messiah (8:31-32). The Greek word dei (translated as “it is necessary”) that captures Jesus’ assertion that the Messiah must suffer implies that suffering is intrinsically connected to his identity and mission of challenging the empire. Jesus does not glorify suffering but lays bare the inevitable cost of promoting justice.

Peter knew what being messiah entailed but seems unwilling to let Jesus go that route. He boldly and eloquently confesses Jesus’ identity but makes a futile effort to steer Jesus away from his messianic mission. Later, he even offers to build Jesus a tent so he could stay there comfortably with Elijah and Moses (9:5). Peter has the right belief about Jesus but not the commitment to live out that confession of faith. Alas, eloquent confessions don’t always translate into commitment to justice, in Peter’s case or in ours.

Confessions are essential for articulating a church’s identity, or at least facilitating conversations about it. Yet, the Body of Christ has spent too much time, both historically and in the present, trying to get its confessions “right,” while devoting far less energy toward ensuring that confessions translate into actions integral to our Christian identity. Confessions can become substitutes for concrete actions toward justice, especially when the latter requires confronting the powers or making substantial sacrifices. Do our confessions and creeds propel us to action, or have they become facades that hide our inability to carry the cross?

September 22

Arrogance and Humility

Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 54; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8; Mark 9:30-37

WHO DOESN'T APPRECIATE Jesus’ words “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35)? We certainly know leaders who have modeled humility and risen in ranks. Commenting on Jesus’ suggestion that whoever welcomes the little one in his name welcomes him, John Donahue and Daniel Harrington note that “in Aramaic the word talya can mean both ‘servant’ and ‘child’” (9:36-37). Within this literary context, Jesus was likely suggesting that whoever welcomes the servant welcomes him and by extension, God. The act of serving others reveals the essence of the divine more than anything else and elevates the servant. It sounds like an ideal and rewarding trajectory, yet it is only one strand of the story. The humble are not always lifted up. At times, the arrogant rise meteorically to gain immense power (see Psalm 73).

Lately, there’s been much talk in the U.S. and around the world about the need for strong leaders, with little emphasis on humility or servant leadership. The virtue of humility has been weaponized against women and people of color who are told to be humble and yield to those already endowed with power and privilege. The emphasis on humility as a virtue should be read in tension with other stories (such as that of John the Baptist) where those at the margins refuse to humbly submit to oppression. If we only highlight humility in ways that require those at the margins to embrace it, then we play into the hands of the powerful and do a disservice to the gospel.

September 29

Is God on Your Side?

Esther 7:1-10, 9:20-22; Psalm 124; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50

IN PSALM 124, the psalmist sings passionately about how God has protected God’s people from the clutches of Pharaoh. “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive” (verses 2-3). God sides with the community in a particularly precarious moment. Similarly, the story of Queen Esther highlights how she thwarts, through prayer and a savvy strategy, arrogant Haman’s diabolical plot to eliminate her community. Over the centuries, many have misappropriated biblical texts, such as Psalm 124, to claim that God is on their side — whichever side that is.

Western colonial interpreters employed such texts to advance the idea that God sanctions their conquest and justifies violence against the conquered. Neither Psalm 124 nor similar texts lend themselves to the suggestion God supports any of our specific agendas. To build on the insights of Catholic theologian Raimon Panikkar: Claiming that God sides with us and against others amounts to profound irreverence for God. To place God on our side is to deny that God chooses God’s own sides. God does take sides, but not that of any individual or nation. When God takes a side, it’s an action rooted in love, compassion, and justice — all quintessential aspects of the divine nature. To paraphrase Gustavo Gutiérrez, God invariably aligns with the oppressed, and the oppressed vary depending on the historical context.