Here’s an old, old story. One day a poor peasant named Gordius arrived in an ox cart in the city of Phrygia. As legend has it, an oracle had predicted that their future king would come into town riding in a wagon, and upon seeing Gordius, the people made him their king. In gratitude to Zeus, Gordius dedicated his ox-cart to the Greek god and tied it up in the temple with a highly elaborate knot. Another oracle predicted that whoever could untie this “Gordian Knot” would rule over all of Asia. None mastered this feat until Alexander the Great visited Phrygia in 333 B.C., who, upon seeing the famed Gordian Knot, drew his sword and simply cut it in half. Was this cheating? Well, the ends of the rope had been spliced back together, so there was no way to untie the knot by manipulating the cord itself. Alexander’s solution was the best and most realistic one available at the time.
In today’s contentious society, it often appears that the pressing issues facing us are tied up in unsolvable Gordian knots. How do we untangle the concerns about adequate wages for all who work, appropriate welfare safeguards for the poor and elderly, and quality education opportunities that honors the needs of both students and teachers? Why have the verbal strands of every argument been distorted and knotted up so that suddenly adequate health care or reasonable support for those who are retired is characterized as an optional, privileged “entitlement”? Why must every moral issue become so politicized that no one can untangle the ropes binding up our governmental processes?
At some point, the church needs to reclaim its “Alexandrian” voice in these debates. We need to wield the sword of common sense and compassionate faith to cut through the Gordian knots plaguing our public discourse. The current debate over gun laws is a good case-in-point. We should speak out for the common sense requirement that any household where children are present that also possesses guns must have child-safety locks and/or locked cabinets for these weapons. We should insist that a person whose gun is lost or stolen report that fact to the police in an expeditious manner. Neither of these actions are infringements on Second Amendment rights, yet both would save lives lost now to accidental gunfire or acts of suicide. In the same way, the NRA has tried to deflect reasonable gun control measures by calling for extra resources for people struggling with mental illness. It is a common tactic to defeat one “good” (e.g., gun control) by pushing for another “good,” since no one can reasonably challenge the need for offering adequate support in confronting mental disease. But like re-weaving the ends of the Gordian knot, it is a disingenuous tactic designed to maintain the status quo and stop all “unraveling” around this issue.
The church’s social justice “sword” is honed on the words of Christ, who remind us that the needs of the poor, vulnerable, abused, marginalized, and hungry always take precedence over those who seek to safeguard their privilege with tightly-knotted ropes of injustice and power. The oracles of our faith have foretold that time when all God’s children shall be free. May we be bold in wielding the sword of Christ as witnesses today for this prophetic word of hope.