A Sermon for Pentecost and Call for Action

Sermon for Pentecost 2025

Text: Mark 3:27

“No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.”

Introduction: Season of Pentecost

Here we are gathered in the liturgical season of Pentecost—a time when the Church remembers the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples and the unleashing of the apostles to bear witness to the Prince of Peace, Justice and Truth in the world. It is the season that celebrates the mightly acts of the apostles and the bold activism of those who follow their witness.  

Pentecost 2025 is a good season for Christian activism. A good season for holy boldndess. A good season to tell the truth. And a good season to remember what happens when the Spirit of God fills people with courage in a time of crisis.

A Prophetic Parable

The short parable about the strong man Jesus told in the Gospel of Mark is a little unsettling:

“No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.”

Traditionally, this has been interpreted spiritually. The strongman is the devil, and Jesus is the one who binds him. While that is true, it’s not the only layer of truth. As scholars like Walter Wink and Ched Myers have shown, the “strongman” can also represent the "powers and principalities" of this world—spiritual evil clothed in political power.

Coded in a parable, Jesus was confronting the power of the empire—the Roman Empire—and the religious system that had made peace with it. He came to set captives free, but first, He had to bind the strongman in his house.

Three Signs of the Times

I want to name three converging trends in the present moment that call for binding the strongman.

1. The growing resurgence of Christian nationalism. We are seeing a new form of militant Christianity fused with authoritarian politics, where political leaders are being cast not just as presidents, but as messianic figures—anointed by God, above the law, and surrounded by religious theater.
2. The manipulation of religion to legitimize power. We are witnessing the same pattern seen in church history—when emperors converted for convenience, and when the church exchanged its prophetic voice for political favor. This is not new—but it is dangerous.
3. The growing threat of state-sponsored oppression. Most recently, the administration has prepared mass immigration raids—intimidating municipalities, separating families, and framing immigrants as “invaders” and protestors as insurrectionists.  These are not isolated events but elements of a broader authoritarian agenda—and the church must not be silent.

History’s Warning: From Tolerance to Theocracy

I recently returned from an academic tour of historical church sites in Turkey, where the early ecumenical councils met in the 4th, 5th, and 6th centuries. We studied how Christianity was first persecuted, then tolerated, then legalized, then preferred—and finally made the official and required religion of the empire. The church first accepted the protection of the state, then courted its favor, and ultimately surrendered its independent authority to the rule of the Holy Roman Empire.

We are witnessing a similar slide today.

We are watching as religious leaders kneel in allegiance to political power, as scripture is used to justify domination, and as spiritual language is weaponized to impose control.

Binding the Strongman Today

 “No one can plunder the strongman’s house unless he first binds the strongman.”

Today, the strongman wears a suit, holds a Bible, and sit in the highest office of the land. But the fruit of his rule is fear, division, corruption, and cruelty. He has plundered the house—our democracy, our decency, our shared moral vision.

We must bind the strongman:

• Legally—through the courts, through the Constitution, through accountability.
• Politically—through protest, grassroots organizing, and the defense of democratic institutions.
• Spiritually—through truth-telling, courage, repentance, and prophetic witness.

Call to Activism: 

The early church did not wait for permission to speak truth. On Pentecost, the Spirit came—and the Church was empowered.

We need a new Pentecost today:

• Not one that is silent or safe.
• But one that is bold and public.
• A church that says no to fascism, no to fear, no to the worship of power.

If we wait until theocracy is official, it will be too late.

The Spirit is moving. The fire is falling. And the house is shaking.

Let us not be found among the fearful—but among the faithful.

Let us not bless the strongman—but spiritually bind him.

It's time to plunder the house—spiritually and politically-- to set the captives free.

An Easter Warning

Bind the Strongman before its too late!

There’s a strange and sobering feel to his Holy Week, borne of a convergence of sacred observance and civic unrest. Across the country, new rounds of protest are planned for Saturday, April 19. Here in San Diego, demonstrators will gather at Waterfront Park and march to the Gaslamp District to protest a wave of executive orders consolidating power in the hands of a single leader. The event is being organized by 5050california.org, under the banner “Not on our watch--because silence is compliance.” 

 Last Sunday was Palm Sunday—a day marking Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem amid cries of “Hosanna!” (save us!) and the waving of palm branches under Roman rule. Historically, it was not just a parade, but a protest march that led to his execution by the occupying empire. 

 This Sunday, April 20, is Easter—a day when Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection. It is also the final day of Passover, when Jews recall the liberation of an oppressed people. But April 20 is also Hitler’s birthday, still marked by white supremacist and neo-fascist groups. This troubling convergence of symbols—resurrection, liberation, fascist memory—aligns with another political calendar milestone. 

 “On Day One”, January 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border. That action triggered a 90-day period for the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to assess the danger and submit recommendations on invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, which allows the president to deploy military forces within the United States. That 90-day window ends on Easter Sunday. 

 No one can predict what Trump will do. But his followers interpret his actions through the optics and symbolism of power and providence. His movement has shown repeated disdain for democratic norms—denying due process, undermining free speech, and threatening judicial independence. If the military were activated against immigrants, protestors, or other “enemies,” it would mark not just an abuse of executive power, but a dangerous transition toward authoritarianism backed a military state. 

In San Diego—so close to the border and home to many immigrant and refugee communities—the implications are immediate. Many vulnerable residents are living in fear. Others are watching their retirement savings erode under the pressure of punitive tariffs. People of conscience are rightly alarmed by a torrent of executive actions concentrating power in the hands of a so-called strongman. 

 As a retired pastor, theology professor, and church historian, I believe a political reading of one of Jesus’s most poignant parables is warranted: “No one can enter a strongman’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strongman.” (Mark 3:27) This Holy Week, we must ask: Who is the strongman now? And what powers must we resist in Jesus’s name? In context, to “plunder” is to take back by force what has been stolen. The strongman’s “goods” represent lives and resources captured by systems of domination and fear. 

Traditionally, the strongman is interpreted as Satan. But theologians like Walter Wink (Engaging the Powers) and biblical scholar Ched Myers (Binding the Strong Man) interpret the strongman as a political figure—a metaphor for imperial authority, embodied in emperors like Caesar. 

 Today, the strongman sits in the White House, surrounded by a weaponized team. As David Brooks recently wrote in The Atlantic, the Trump administration is “destroying any institution or arrangement that might check the strongman’s power.” The time has come to bind the strongman—legally in the courts, politically in Congress, socially through protest, and spiritually through prayer. 

 As a resident of Point Loma and church member in Ocean Beach, I feel bo th the tension and the hope of this crisis moment. On Good Friday, the Peninsula Faith Leaders will lead a peaceful, prayerful Pilgrim Walk along historic “Church Row” between St. Peter’s By the Sea and Resurrection Church OB (from Noon and 2pm on Sunset Cliffs Blvd.) —not as a protest or a parade, but as a demonstration of spiritual unity, community, and presence. 

 For me, Palm Sunday’s praise leads to Good Friday’s prayer walk, and into Saturday’s protest. Before I celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday, I will march with fellow San Diegans downtown. I will carry a sign that reads: 

 “Bind the strongman before it’s too late — Mark 3:27.” 

Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D. is a church historian, practical theologian, and clergy member of the Point Loma/Ocean Beach Peninsula Faith Leaders. He is the author of C.S. Lewis on Scripture; co-editor of Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith by Henri Nouwen; and other books on spirituality and social concern.

“The Violent Take It By Force; Kingdom People Seek Shalom” (Matt. 11:12; Jeremiah 29:1-12)

Shalom Series Sermon #3

'The Violent Take It By Force'; Kingdom People Seek Shalom (Matt. 11:12; Jeremiah 29:1-12) 

Advent Reflection at the John Wesley Fellows Christmas Conference 2024 for Advent III (December 15, 2024) 

By Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D. 

Intro: Advent III 

Traditionally, the Prophecy Candle of Hope, Bethlehem Candle of Peace, Shepherd's Candle of Joy, and Angel's Candle of Love each point to different parts of the story Christ during the four weeks of Advent. 

 Matthew 11: 2-5; 11-12 reads:

"2When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to [Jesus] him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” 4 Jesus answered them [by pointing to the signs of the Kingdom]: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them…” 

Then the Gospel writer adds this dark note in vs 12: "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and violent people take it by force…” A disturbing verse (some say it doesn’t belong there but was added later). “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, when violent people take it by force.” 

The phrase is the title of a new book by Matthew Taylor on the rise of American Christian nationalism in its extreme and violent forms. Most notably in the rise of ‘God’s Army’ and the so-called New Apostolic Reformation willing to advance God’s Kingdom by force and violence. 

• Not unlike the Zealots in Jesus’s time wanting to force his hand to overthrow Roman occupation 

• Not unlike Palestinians in our time who have endured displacement and oppression and are fighting back with violent means...to destroy the State of Israel. 

• Not unlike the message in the new Bonhoeffer film about the moral clarity between good and evil that justifies an assassination plot to destroy an evil dictator or empire. 

In contrast to taking the kingdom by force is Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles from Jerusalem to Babylon. After the downfall of Judah in 597 BC, the leaders in Jerusalem are carried away into captivity in Babylon. Deposed, displaced, deported to a foreign land. 

 • Should they rebel, revolt, seek to overthrow their oppressors? 

 • Should they curse the Babylonians in their prayers? 

 • Should they hope for a quick deliverance and restoration? 

The displaced Judeans were in denial…. They wanted to believe the new prophets who said their time in bondage will be short-lived? They wanted to resist, refuse, rebel, and try to overcome their oppressors. These where Judah’s enemies who destroyed their city of Jerusalem, looted and burned their temple, and dragged them away as captives. In their anger, the exiles refused to sing their songs of joy for the amusement of their conquerors. “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” Instead, they cursed their enemies and prayed that God would kill their offspring: “Blessed is the one who takes your little ones and bashes them on the rocks," many prayed.  (Psalm 137} 

The pastoral Letter from Jeremiah to the exiles provides clear guidance on how to surivive in Babylon:

 • Don’t believe the false prophets who claim a quick deliverance. 

 • It not the time to fight and overthrow Babylon. 

• Instead, buckle up for a long ride… Settle in for a long stay in Babylon. (70 years. 2 generations) 

• Yet, do not despair, the Lord has not abandoned you… 

• The Lord will keep his promise—to return you to your homeland. 

• In the meantime: Trust, Hope, Love, Seek Shalom… right where you are. 

Not everyone believes in seeking shalom in times of oppression and domination… Some seek to use the sword, to use any necessary means to overthrow the enemy. Rather than seeking shalom in a repressive regime, some believe God has called us to take up the sword to fight a holy war and help usher in the kingdom of God. “Fight, fight, fight!” the violent chant in their desire to usher in God’s kingdom of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love by force. 

As the former International Director of Communities of Shalom for the UMC, I have taught Shalom Principles around the world for many years.  Jeremiah provides practical, concrete instructions for exiles and pilgrims in a foreign land; and for us who feel the weight of oppression in times of displacement, domination and despair. 

Four Shalom Mandates/Imperatives for Survival and Shared Prosperity

Jeremiah instructs the Exiles to take four non-violent actions in Babylon:

 1. Build Houses and live in them. Settle down for a long stay in a new land. Change your perspective. Accept the situation for what it is. In God’s providence, you have been sent into exile… Learn to cope with the new reality. Consider your stay in Babylon as a learning season. Try not to stay in a temporary shelter but build a house and live there. Become more stable and secure if you can. 

 2. Plant Gardens and eat their fruit. In the back yard of your house, plant a garden and eat its produce. Don’t focus on what you used to eat back in your old country (the olives and the pomegranates). Eat local. Cultivate the new land. Rebuild your life through farming. Become self-sustaining and not dependent on the food of others. 

 3. Raise Families. Mandate to marry and have children and grandchildren. Focus on the next generation. Do not decrease in numbers but multiple to ensure that a future generation of children will survive the exile and return home. Love your family. Invest in the hope that they have. 

 4. Seek Shalom. This mandate is the hardest one. How to seek the shalom of your enemy and oppressor in the land that is not your own? To seek shalom and pray on its behalf? Praying for the peace of Jerusalem was good and right, but not for Babylon. I think this is the only place in the OT where prayer for one’s enemies is commanded… 

The word Shalom is a key word in book of Jeremiah. Used 26 times. [Often negatively in reference to a false sense of peace or the false prophets who use the word falsely. E.G. “They have healed my people’s wound superficially, saying ‘shalom, shalom, when there is no shalom.” (Jer. 6:14). ]. Shalom is used 3 times positively in Jer. 29:7. “Seek the shalom… [quote]. 

Shalom, of course, means more than peace or absence of conflict. Big word with rich meanings: welfare…. Let the city of Babylon become a place of shalom. Let it temporarily become the new Jerusalem—the place of Yahweh’s blessing. If Babylon prospers, you will prosper too. The people of Judah can experience the blessings of land, and home, and gardens, and offspring, and peace—if you seek the shalom of the community where you have been sent, and pray to the Lord on its behalf. Knowing that in its shalom, you will find your shalom. 

 Conclusion: 

Using violence to advance the Kingdom of God is a contradiction to the message of Jeremiah to seek Shalom among one’s enemies… And a contradiction to the gospel of Jesus who said to put away the sword and don’t pay back evil for evil… 

Seeking shalom is a fruit of the Spirit…in all its fullness and meanings---health, healing, harmony, wholeness, welfare, shared prosperity, human flourishing—is the way to live with love, joy, peace, and hope. To give you a future with hope (vs 12)—quote 

You may not see God’s deliverance and return home in your lifetime, but your grandchildren will….[two generations, 70 years, before the exile ends and the promise fulfilled] The day will surely come for the promised Return. When the tribe of Judah will return home and rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. A longing and a hope... 

Not unlike… 

• Syrian refugees finally able to return to their land after 50 years of Assad family domination and oppression. • Not unlike Somalian refugees in Africa longing to return home… 

• Not unlike Palestinians awaiting the day that they can return and rebuild the land of Gaza. 

• And not unlike our hard times in this present darkness. 

The Letter from Jeremiah is a clarion call for eschatological living in the land where God’s people have been sent for the allotted time. 

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God…” (Ps. 20: 7) 

“Rejoice in the Lord, always. Again I say, rejoice.” (Philippians 2 ] Time to light the third Candle. Let us pray…. 

 [Light the Third Candle]—Shepherd's Candle of Joy 

Let us pray…. Today, we light the rose-colored candle, a symbol of joy in the face of adversity. We know that You, O Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley, are our source of beauty, truth, hope, and joy. Just as the shepherds rejoiced at the birth of our Savior, may we too embrace this moment with hearts full of gratitude and praise. We remember Your promises— that echo in our souls and invite us to find delight in the simplest of moments. May we be "Surprised by Joy"— In the midst of our ordinary lives, Let Your otherworldly joy break forth, brightening our days and lifting our hearts… AMEN.