Idols, Statues, and Monuments
Mark 13:1-5 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2 “Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?”5 Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you.”
Outside of talking about the COVID-19 virus, the number one conversation of 2020 has been about racial justice, and within that-statues and monuments. There’s no escaping the conversation. After all, it even served as a plotline in Frozen 2. In the closing sequence, after discovering how Elsa and Anna’s grandfather betrayed and murdered an indigenous leader, the townspeople take down his statue. Even kids’ movies address this theme. Everywhere we go, we see and hear about conversations on statues and memorials.
There are many angles and perspectives when it comes to evaluating statues and monuments. Certainly, I will not be able to address every question or concern this morning.
As the minister of the Acklen church, my primary aim today is to provide a biblical context, a framework, for us to consider these issues. Primarily, we must think about this like Christians, and the Bible and Spirit must be our guides. Before doing that though, let me offer a disclaimer.
I understand that people groups need symbols and stories to keep them unified. I understand that every group from schools to sports teams to nations need unifying symbols and stories. Our nation, any nation, needs symbols that espouse unifying values. I believe and understand this, but my thoughts today will not center on a national perspective. I aim to focus on the Christian perspective. The civic and national perspective has value, but I’ll let others address that.
Here is the primary lens by which Christians should consider statues and monuments. Idols and idolatry. We must frame all of this by an understanding of how idols function and what God says about them. In the Bible, idols were physical statues and monuments which people worshipped instead of the true God. Over time, the idea of idols expands into other temptations and loyalties. Anything that takes the place of God in our lives is an idol.
Let’s start by a look at the 10 Commandments, which Moses received from God at Sinai. The first command speaks to the supremacy of Yahweh, and the second two show how to support that primacy. Exodus 20:1-7 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
There is only one true God. We are not polytheists. We don’t believe in multiple gods. There is only one true God, and that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-the God who became flesh in Jesus of Nazareth-the God who sent us the Holy Spirit and rules the cosmos. This is an audacious claim. It’s why many find Christianity arrogant. It’s why many water down the exclusive nature of the one God in the modern world. That temptation is not new. Since the advent of monotheism, humanity has faced the temptation to craft God into our sense of who God should be. Too often, we want to make God into our image, not recognizing that we are created in God’s image.
This is the nature of idolatry. In biblical times, they made idols to hedge their bets. At times, they doubted the one God, Yahweh. So they made idols to mimic how surrounding nations saw gods. They wanted all potentials covered, as if religion is like fortune cookies and magic. The most famous example of idolatry happens as Moses receives the command not to make idols.
Exodus 32:1-4, 19-20 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” 2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” 19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. 20 And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
This becomes a recurring pattern for the Israelites. Often, they fell into idol worship. Eventually, like Moses did here, a righteous king would rise up to tear down all the idols. Two such examples are Asa in 1 Kings 15 and Joash in 2 Kings 11. Fast forwarding to the New Testament era and the Roman empire, idolatry happened in pagan temples. Christianity exists as a faith without idols and without a physical temple. As Paul says in Athens, God does not live in temples made by human hands. The kingdom of Jesus does not do physical temples and idols. In our opening Scripture from Jesus, we saw how the beauty of Herod’s temple had become an idol of sorts, even to the apostles. The New Testament authors continually preach against the lure of idols. John says in 1 John 5:21, “dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” They remind us that idols can be more than statues-greed, lust, jealousy, pride-those can become idols as well. Any desire or loyalty that surpasses Christ becomes an idol. We could talk for weeks about the ramifications of this. Idolatry is a broad and important topic.
In the first few hundred years of the Christian church, we notice that Christians don’t build Christian statues. Part of that was due to the fact that they were mostly poor and non-elite. The first church buildings don’t come till the 3rd century and that trend grows slowly. More than that, they had a built-in default suspicion of idols. They worried that statues of Jesus could distract people from the real Jesus. They worried that status of great Christian leaders could distract people from Jesus. When it came to statues and monuments, their default response was basically, “that’s not us.”
Over time though, we see a steady growth in Christian art, what we think of as icons. There are several reasons for this. As Christianity became the majority belief in many areas, many wanted to honor it the way they’d honored former belief systems. Statues and monuments gave the Christian faith an air of credibility. It was also a teaching tool. In a mostly illiterate culture, many learned about the faith through art. The art on the walls often shaped people more than the words from the preacher’s mouth. Moreover, some of this came from the desire to honor and connect with the artistic God of creation through creating art.
From time to time, controversies arose over this, though. Some feared the growth of icons had become idolatry. In the 8thand 9th centuries, these controversies came to a head. At times, Christians tore down Christian icons out of a commitment to obey the second command-do not make graven images. Eventually though, those in favor of icons won the day. They made a careful distinction between icons and idols. Icons were meant to glorify God, while idols sought to dethrone God.
Fast forward another 500 years to the time of the Protestant Reformation. As we’ve discussed before, the Roman Catholic church had cultivated some unhealthy excesses, among them indulgences as well as fancy buildings and monuments. Many protested these excesses. Expensive statues and monuments were seen as part of the problem, part of the reason why some Christians had lost sight of the kingdom. Therefore, some Christians sought to destroy Christian statues and memorials. Historically, we call this iconoclasm. To be clear, some Protestants were okay with Christian art as long as it remained in the category of teaching tool. However, some Protestants, known as iconoclasts, sought to destroy it all.
As participants in Churches of Christ, we should be aware of something. We descended in part from Christians who participated in iconoclasm. We descended from disciples who had a deep default suspicion towards statues and monuments. Think of it like this. Have you ever been to a Church of Christ church building that had a statue? I haven’t. Consider our plain walls and plain building. There’s a value behind the simplicity. Don’t make anything that could become an idol. In our spiritual DNA, we are not statue and monument people. That’s not us.
For the most part, I’m thankful for that. I harbor a default suspicion towards statues and monuments. But I don’t want to go too far. My artistic friends have helped me see this. Statues are works of art. God created us as artistic people and shows an artistic side in the creation of the world. We need art. But when works of art become idols, we have a significant problem. When does art become an idol? When does art promote an idolatrous value? That’s what we have to discern.
There is a difference between a work of art that ushers us into God’s presence and a work of art that takes us away or takes the place of God. I’ll give you an example. A few years back, I got to see Michelangelo’s Pieta in Saint Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. In the statue, Mary holds the broken body of Jesus. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I’m impressed with Michelangelo, but I didn’t think much about him. I thought about Jesus. At that moment and time, it ushered me into worship, and I was grateful.
I’ve enjoyed both my trips to the Vatican. I found the art moving. But I also found the entire area excessive. I see how it feeds into cynicism, especially the wealth behind it in the presence of so many poor. I see how Martin Luther’s visit there helped push him into starting what became the Protestant Reformation. I’m torn. I have a default suspicion of statues which I plan on continuing. At the same time, I want to value and encourage good art. I’m against idols, but I don’t want to be against art. We need discernment.
Maybe we should think of it like this. We don’t want to be a part of anything that is or can become a Golden Calf. At the same time, a creation that reminds us of the goodness of God can be needed and helpful. I think of the 12 stones which Joshua set up after the Israelites crossed the Jordan River in Joshua 4. They put them there as a monument to remind future generations of the power of God. That was a monument, an icon, but it was not an idol. It took people to God, not away from God. Therefore, when we encounter statues, monuments, and works of art, we should ask this. Is this a Golden Calf or 12 Stones? Golden calves should be torn down. 12 stones should be preserved to tell the story.
So what does all this mean for the present conversations in our country? Let me address that. I believe that statues and monuments that celebrate the Confederacy are Golden Calves. I’m supportive of their removal. They cause pain for many of our sisters and brothers in Christ. We should care about that. There is a difference between remembering a painful history of complicated individuals in a museum or historical area and celebrating sin with a public square monument. Many of these statues and monuments were created to mark territory, intimidate, and perpetuate Jim Crow era segregation. I find all of that antithetical to the gospel.
Let me take it even further. Any of our national statues and monuments, even your favorite ones, can become an idol if you’re not careful. I love going to Washington D.C. I’ve been 5 or 6 times in my life. I love walking through the Washington Mall and seeing all the monuments-the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, memorials to the wars such as WW2, Korea, and Vietnam, and newer memorials like ones to FDR and MLK. I find it all very inspiring. But I want to confess something. On more than one occasion, walking through D.C., I found my heart seduced. I found my imagination enticed. I found myself wondering if the American story was the greatest story ever told. My heart felt pulled towards it as my primary identity. I began to feel like an American who happened to be a Christian, instead of a Christian who happens to be an American. In those moments, these American statues and monuments felt like idols. I’m not advocating that we tear them all down, but we should be careful about our interaction with them. Kids and teenagers, hear this. Do not let Washington DC seduce you. Christian involvement in politics is important, but do not let your heart be led astray. Your Christian allegiance comes before all other loyalties.
Church, beware of idols. Flee from idols. Good things can become bad idols if we’re not careful. Even your favorite statute and monument, like the Lincoln Memorial or MLK Memorial, can become an idol if you’re not careful. This country can become an idol. Our ultimate citizenship is not this country but the kingdom of God. My greatest hope is not the continuation or preservation of America but about the growth of the kingdom and the return of Christ.
We serve a Risen Lord. We don’t serve idols. Be careful about the seduction of statues and monuments. I have default suspicion towards statues, and I don’t plan on changing that. At the same time, we worship a creative, artistic God. We should embrace art that honors our Creator God. We should discern by asking, is this a Golden Calf or 12 Stones? We must be vigilant and aware. There are many idols in our world. Hear the words of Jesus. “Do you see all these great buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. Watch out that no one deceives you.”
