Today’s Scripture Reading (January 10, 2018): 1 Corinthians 10
On Saturday, May 30, 1778, Benedict Arnold signed
his “Oath of Allegiance.” The Oath declared that Arnold acknowledged that the
United States of America was to be a free state, which owed no allegiance to
King George III of Britain, or to the British Government in general. It also
clearly stated that Arnold would, “to the utmost of [his] power, support,
maintain and defend the said United States against the said King George the
Third, his heirs and successors.” Unlike a personal “Oath of Allegiance,”
Arnold’s declaration was to defend a nation, and not a person. Benedict Arnold,
who is a villain in the United States, and an ambiguous “maybe hero” within the
British Commonwealth, probably never believed that he had betrayed his Oath of
Allegiance, declaring that his actions were actually for the benefit of the
nation. He did not owe an allegiance to King George III, but he did believe that
the best path forward for the United States as a country was to stay under the
protective umbrella of Britain. This decision to remain a part of what would become the British Commonwealth was a decision
that Canada made even though the United States had opted to leave. It is one of
the ways that the history of the two neighboring nations is very different. Arnold, for reasons of his
own, saw the Canadian path as the better one. And so he betrayed the political
leaders of his nation.
There is nothing new in an “Oath of Allegiance.”
Where President Donald Trump got into some trouble during his reign as
President was that he demanded a personal “Oath of Allegiance” from his
followers, rather than a more general oath to the nation as a whole. A personal
“Oath of Allegiance” is often easier to define. With President Trump, it is not
an oath to do whatever is in the best interest of the United States, which
political opponents argue about on a daily basis, but instead, what is in the best interest of Donald Trump. And the
reality is that what is in the best interest of Donald Trump is whatever Donald
Trump says that it is.
In ancient Rome, soldiers were required to take an “Oath
of Allegiance” to Rome. The oath was a sacred act and represented a new birth
in the soldier’s life. Before he just inhabited Rome, but now he was a new
person, dedicated to the protection of the Empire – a pursuit toward which he was committing to devote his life.
It is from this “Oath of Allegiance” that the
Christian Church gets its concept of “the sacraments.” Through participating in
the sacraments, we experience a new birth and new direction in our lives. The
sacraments of the church become our “Oath of Allegiance” to Christ. For the
Protestant Church, we celebrate two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
or Communion. And Paul shows that there is a continuity in this “Oath of
Allegiance” that extends back to the days of Moses. As Moses guided the people out of Egypt, they were baptized into the cloud
of God’s physical presence and the sea (indicating the Red Sea Crossing at the
beginning of Israel’s journey) and they participated in a special spiritual
food, which they called Manna, that sustained them for their journey ahead, just
as The Lord’s Supper sustains us. The baptism in the cloud and the Red
Sea and the participation of the community in the eating of the Manna was part
of their “Oath of Allegiance” to God through Moses. And our participation in
Baptism and the partaking of the Lord’s Supper is part of our “Oath of
Allegiance” to God through Jesus Christ. And because of this oath, we have experienced
a new birth and a new direction for our lives. No longer do we live out our
days with only ourselves in mind. Now we live with the understanding that we
will act with the Spirit of Christ
directing our movements, and we will live
as allies of God.
Figure 1: Benedict Arnold's Oath of Allegiance
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 11
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