The Empire Strikes Back 帝國反擊戰

There is a backdrop to the story of God in the Bible, which often gets overlooked in our desire to focus on the main action of his redemptive work through Jesus. This perspective is graphically depicted in the story of Daniel’s encounter with King Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 2) in which Daniel gives the king a God-inspired understanding of a dream that had troubled him. The dream depicted a huge statue with a gold head, chest and arms of silver, lower body of bronze, and legs made of iron mixed with clay. It was what happened next that disturbed the King most. In the dream, he saw a small stone smashing into the legs, toppling the statue, grinding everything to dust and the stone growing until it became a mountain filling the whole earth. What Daniel described in his interpretation of the dream was a series of strong and powerful Empires that would dominate the world, but eventually become subjected to God’s kingdom. While as Christians we rightly focus on God’s work of redemption and kingdom establishment, history shows us that much of this takes place within the context of strong Empires that might see Christianity as a threat to their own existence, just like the small stone destroying the statue.

In the last 50 years or so, theologians have been able to look at the story of God’s redemption in the historical contexts, in which it unfolds and understand more about the political and cultural tensions that exist when God’s restoration work interacts with Empires. In biblical history, two of the most significant examples are Egypt at the time of Exodus, and Rome in the time of Jesus and the early church. Based on these, theologians use the word ‘Empire’ to describe a number of common characteristics and attitudes that can form a significant challenge to Christianity. Empires are usually very powerful entities that have gained their power by a ruthless exercise of force and will maintain their power by exercising that force if necessary. However, they have a masterful means of using a synthesis of politics, religion and culture to subject the people to their will in a way which is able to produce willing service and participation as well as a strong sense of patriotism. They are often led by an authoritarian leader who has God-like status and is highly venerated by the people. Empires are typified by a top-down government style whose priority is to maintain control and stability of the nation at the expense of individual expression.

When Moses appeared before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and demanded that he let the Israelites go so that they could worship God, he was not only challenging Pharaoh’s status as a god in front of his own people, but also acting as a union leader for Pharaoh’s slave labour force and asking for justice. It was a dangerous confrontation of Empire power. When the early church spoke about Jesus as ‘Son of God’, ‘Lord of all’, and ‘Saviour of the World’ in the cultural context of Emperor worship in Rome they were using the same titles that were reserved for Caesar as Emperor. It was this constant political tension that at certain times in their history led to the persecution and martyrdom of Christians.

It is not difficult to identify Empire characteristics in many of the political systems that surround us in the world today. And throughout history, we can see many different ways the church has tried to resolve that tension. In some cases, it has tried to exert its own power and as a result, formed unhealthy relationships with political power; in others, the church has had to become an unwilling participant within the Empire in order to survive. There are also instances where the church has been manipulated to support political power, and there are plenty of cases where it has been persecuted because it was seen as too much of a threat.

In the last 20 years, the church in Hong Kong has been able to enjoy a Christianity that has been largely free from the tension which Empire culture brings. And at the same time, we might have seen this as our normal entitlement. However, the vast breadth of biblical expression suggests to the contrary that when the church has to exist in this state of tension where nothing is taken for granted and everything is dependent on God it develops strength and vibrancy which deepens its faith and keeps it vigilant. The church exists only because Jesus is Lord. When we are forced to exist within Empire structures, we must expect to sense that tension, and we must find ways to resolve it that still upholds Jesus as our Lord. Like the first century church, we must use that tension to strengthen our faith in the face of opposition and not retreat from it.

在聖經所記載的上帝故事裏，我們往往專注於祂透過耶穌所作的救贖工作，而很容易忽略了這故事背後的場景。關於這一點，我們可以從但以理與尼布甲尼撒王的故事中看到生動的描述（但二章），聖經記載但以理為王解夢，因為這夢令王心裏煩擾。王夢見一個大像，這像的頭是精金的，胸膛和膀臂是銀的，下身是銅的，腿是鐵的，而腳是半鐵半泥的。而接著發生的事才令王最困擾，他夢見一塊小石頭打在這像半鐵半泥的腳上，把腳砸碎，然後整個大像金、銀、銅、鐡、泥的部分都一同砸得粉碎，成如禾場上的糠秕，而那打碎這像的石頭變成了一座大山，充滿天下。但以理解夢，將這詮釋為一系列的的強大帝國，這些大國掌管天下，卻最終服在上帝的國下。我們作為基督徒，常常關注上帝救贖的工作和祂國度的建立，然而，歷史上有許多強大的帝國都會將基督教視為威脅，就像那將大像砸碎的小石頭一樣。

過去近五十年，神學家開始從歷史的處境來理解上帝救贖的故事，因而發現了在上帝的修復工作與帝國互動時，當中存在著許多政治與文化的張力。在聖經歷史中，兩個最重要的例子，就是出埃及時期的埃及，以及耶穌和初期教會時期的羅馬。因此，神學家會用「帝國」（Empire）一詞來形容一些對基督教造成重大挑戰的特質與態度。帝國通常是一些很強大的實體，透過武力來獲得權力，也會用相同方法來維持這種權力。然而，帝國還有一種很厲害的手段，就是透過政治、宗教和文化的結合，令人民願意臣服於帝國；人民會願意服務帝國，參與其中的公民活動，也會有強烈的愛國意識。帝國通常都會有一位專制的統治者，這位統治者地位有如神明，受到人民的高度崇敬。典型的帝國管治是由上而下的管治，他們的首要任務就是控制國內的秩序，維持國家穩定，因而犧牲個人的表達自由。

當摩西站在埃及的法老王面前，要求老王容以色列民去事奉耶和華，摩西所做的，不單是在挑戰法老像神一樣的地位，他也像是法老奴隷的一個工會領袖，向法老尋求公義。對於帝國的力量而言，摩西的行動是一種危險的對抗。初期教會稱耶穌為「神子」、「萬有之主」和「救主」，在羅馬這個奉行君王敬拜的文化處境中，這些稱號原本是留給凱撒的。正因為這持續的政治張力，所以基督徒在某些歷史時段裏大遭逼迫，甚至殉道。

今天環觀世上各種政治體系，我們不難辨認出哪些有帝國特色，而我們也能在歷史裏看到教會用各樣方法試著化解這種張力。教會試過向政權施壓，結果與政權之間形成了一些不健康的關係；教會也試過在帝國裏勉強生存，或被政權操控；教會亦曾因為為帝國帶來太大的威脅，而大遭迫害。

過去二十年，香港教會經歷著相對自由的氛圍，甚少感受到與帝國文化間的張力，我們亦可能因此以為這就是常態。然而，聖經裏卻有許多相反的例子，教會一直處於張力之中，沒有甚麼可以視作理所當然的，一切也要依賴上帝。信徒和教會在這樣的環境下，建立出剛強的心，也滿有活力，令信仰更有深度，時刻警醒。教會存在只有一個原因，就是耶穌是主。當我們被迫要在帝國文化的結構下生存，我們就要有心理準備面對這樣的張力，也要找尋方法使教會仍然可以持守耶穌為主的精神。正如第一世紀的教會一樣，我們必須運用這樣的張力，鞏固我們的信仰，勇於面對，不要退縮。