"I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you. so you should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."--St. John 13:34-25.
As I've traveled the road I'm on, from clergy candidate to hardcore atheist, to whatever I am these days, I've held one constant thought. I've just not been able to escape from the fact that what often passes for Christianity these days has absolutely nothing to do with what Christ had to say. I honestly don't understand. I was raised in a Christian home and a church where I was taught the Jesus loved everybody, that his gift of purpose and life was open to all. I studied theology, I learned from pastors and priests who further instilled this in me even more. However, the more I got out in the world, the more it blew up in my face. Eventually I got so tired of seeing and hearing Christians prattling on about judgement, prosperity, and Old Testament moral codes that it drove a wedge in between me and the faith I believed was calling me to be a servant of God.
The more I've thought about it, I've drilled down to three things that are found in the teachings of Jesus Christ that seem to be incompatible with modern "conservative" Christianity. I believe these three things are are the cornerstone of Christ's teaching and ministry, so they should also be the foundation of the lives of Christians and churches.
1. Jesus loves and gave his life for everyone, and invites everyone to share in his life and love.
At first this doesn't sound all that controversial, but I contend that it isn't just controversial, but radically subversive and and contrary to modern, conservative, Christianity. Most Christians today are more than happy to invite anyone to their table, as long as that person subscribes to the same creed or liturgical form, and as long as that person isn't gay, liberal, or heaven forbid not religious at all! Is that really what Jesus had in mind? I think not. This is the guy who hung around with a bunch of dirty fishermen, prostitutes, and tax collectors. That's right, TAX collectors. Can you honestly envision Jesus turning a gay person away from his table?
Of course, then everybody comes back with "but the Bible says that being gay is a sin." Well guess what folks, the Bible says a lot of things. It's amazing to see what Christians will drill down to find. People will spend a ton of time talking about how the Bible says "Do this and don't do that," yet they don't seem to spend all that much time on what Jesus said or did. It's also worth noting that probably nobody absolutely conforms to these Old Testament codes anymore, and God doesn't smite everybody for it.
The message of Christ is absolute, unconditional love. It's not "hate the sin, love the sinner." This is just more us vs them talk that makes people feel superior to others. When you turn away people in your life, for whatever reason, you are turning away Jesus as well.
2. Jesus envisions a humble community where people share with each other, help each other, and rely on each other as opposed to an individual, selfish, and overly self-reliant lifestyle.
American Christianity is heavily influenced by the puritanical version of Calvinism that was brought to our coasts by those guys and gals with the funny hats that we celebrate every Thanksgiving. You want those strict moral codes? It's hard to get stricter than your friendly neighborhood Pilgrim (or Puritan). They also brought this code of "If you don't work, you don't eat." This has translated to the modern day selfishness that is so inherent in many libertarian, tea bagger, and ultra-conservative circles. Are there people who take advantage of the generosity of others? Absolutely. Does it mean that people, especially Christians, should dispense with the generosity and self sacrifice preached by Christ? Absolutely not. This is what Jesus looks like to these folks:
The only problem with this is that it's totally against everything that Jesus taught and did. I kicked off this entry with a picture of Jesus feeding the 5000. Take a look at this story either in Matthew's or John's Gospel. Basically it's late on in the evening and there a ton of people around with nothing to eat. The disciples tell Jesus to send them away so that they can go buy food for themselves. Jesus says that this isn't necessary, and he takes the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish brought by a small boy and turns it into enough food for everyone plus some left over.
Note that Jesus didn't tell the people to go fend for themselves. He didn't refuse to take the 5 loaves and 2 fish from the boy and give it to all of these other people because the crowd didn't bake the bread or catch the fish. He made it enough for everyone. Through the sharing of resources, everyone was taken care of. Sure there was a miracle in this story, but think about it. There is more than enough food and resources for everyone in the USA, with some left over. We throw a ton of food away! We go to church, give a tithe or offering, say a superficial prayer and feel that our obligation is done. Everybody else needs to get off their butt and get a job, or a second job, or a third job. Jesus had a vision of community where people share resources and talents for the good of all, not some Ayn Randian society where people just fend for themselves and are indifferent to or hostile to the suffering of others. This is clear as can be all through the Gospels.
3. Jesus thought the best of everyone and gave people the benefit of the doubt.
There isn't a more poignant or heartbreaking scene in the Gospels than some of the last words of Jesus recorded in Luke 23:34. As Jesus hangs on the cross after being tortured and near death, as he watches the Roman soldiers below him gamble for the last of his possessions, he sends a plea to his father: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Dwell on that for a few minutes. These people just flogged him and then made him carry the instrument of his own execution though the city and up a hill. When he got there, they nailed him to the wood and suspended him from the cross, his body weight causing him to drown in the fluid from his own lungs. Most people at the foot of the cross are still mocking him, and he has to be still stinging from the crowds chanting for his death and the betrayals of his best friends. Yet in the midst of this, with some of his last breaths, he prays to God to forgive these people. There at the end, at the moment of death, he knows what's going on and is still thinking the best of the people who tortured and killed him.
Yet Christians today are so quick to judge and to think the worst about people. Gay people, who desire nothing more than legal recognition of their relationships are considered evil folks who are out to push their beliefs on others. Nothing is further from the truth. Gay people are just like anyone else, people who want to live their lives in peace as they see fit.
Poor people, those people Jesus cared about so much? They're all lazy. They just need to get off the couch and get another job, because we're certainly not going to share what we have. Some of the hardest working people I know work 2 or 3 jobs just to make ends meet, and they would have serious words with anyone who sat around in an air-conditioned office all day and called them lazy.
Jesus calls us to see the best in everyone. It's not easy sometimes, but everyone is worth love and respect no matter who they are or what they do. Jesus calls us to love the unlovable. Jesus doesn't care if you're a criminal, he sees a the basic humanity that just might be turned around. Jesus calls us to love the people our society hides away. He calls us to love the sick, the handicapped, the dying. It's not a suggestion for something to do if we get our latest project done at work. It is the way of Jesus, the way of sacrifice, the way of the cross.
It seems like these days we all spend more effort finding excuses for not doing what Jesus asks of us. "Well, I can't be in a community with these people because they're gay, and that's wrong. It doesn't matter if they were created that way." "I'm sorry Jesus, I just can't support social programs for the poor, unemployed, or sick because they'll just learn to depend on it and never fend for themselves." Does this really hold water with the man who let himself be tortured and executed for you? I don't think so.
Christians are called to have a heart like the heart of Christ. That heart loves everyone, shares with everyone, and thinks the best of everyone. That heart is a heart of compassion and love, even when we may think it's not deserved.
Live that love, live that compassion.
And don't let YOUR heart be hardened.
No comments:
Post a Comment