The eighth-century BCE prophet Isaiah heard the following words from God: “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). They are just as important today as they were almost three millennia ago when the Assyrians and then the Babylonians finally succeeded in capturing the Israelites and taking them into exile for half a century for not doing this.
It sounds so simple. Yet it is so often forgotten or ignored without much opposition in our own so-called “Christian” country. All of us, who claim to be followers of Jesus, are called to do the same things the ancient prophet declared he heard from on high.
I once took a class on clowning from Margie Brown at Pacific School of Religion. At the time, there were many protests at UC Berkeley. When the police vans showed up, Margie dressed up as a clown.
After she was arrested, she would go willingly into the wagon—but only after handing out flowers to the officers. She used farce to confront force. And in the end, the movement was successful.
When I was recently checking the internet for clown pictures, I found one that struck me. It reminded me of the current administration.
(Source: https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=456079&picture=the-emperors-new-clothes)
Most of the time, they act—perhaps unintentionally—like clowns, appointing people with little knowledge or experience and trying to overturn everything Isaiah said was required then and by extension, now.
The picture showed a king desperate for power, but virtually naked. That is what we are facing with Trump’s second attempt. The first was in 2017.
The second is now. And it is up to us who follow the ways of Jesus and the commands of Isaiah to unmask what this “clown” is doing.
Every day, people are harmed: those who need health insurance, immigrants, women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Whole groups and entire nations are cast aside, with no due process. The list is endless.
In his book Clowning in Rome, the great theologian Henri Nouwen wrote:
“The clowns are not the center of events. They appear between the great acts, fumble and fall and make us smile again after the heroes we came to admire. The clowns don’t have it together – they are awkward, out of balance and left-handed, but – they are on our side. The clowns show us with a tear and a smile that we are sharing the same human weakness. The longer I was in Rome, the more I enjoyed the clowns, those peripheral people who by their humble, saintly lives evoke a smile and awaken hope.”
Even Jesus himself intentionally played the clown when he made his last entry into Jerusalem. He sat just barely above the crowd, his feet almost touching the ground. People gathered safely around him, singing and throwing palm branches in joy.
It was a protest—a parody of Rome’s power. The donkey and an unarmed Palestinian Jew had no chance against a Roman charger, of course.
But in the long run, Rome fell in 410 CE. And yet, Jesus’ message continues to live in us, his followers.
This is not a spectator sport. There is no time for silence. It is time to choose your weapon.
For me, it will be a poster saying: “Clowns belong in the circus, not in the White House.” I will bring balloons, noisemakers, ticker tape to throw around, bubble blowers, kazoos, tambourines, drums, and maybe even a rubber nose.
I will be a clown, bringing farce to confront force. And in the long run, the meek, the clowns, the everyday people, will win this battle.
Please come and join me. Let’s send in the clowns!
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advocate and educator for those experiencing hearing loss.
