That Darned Jesus...

The church I serve has as its Vision Statement: We will be an inclusive, diverse church, loving others according to the teachings of Jesus and working for justice and peace in our world. It's that "teachings of Jesus" part that gets hard.

I'm not talking about accepting--and even sharing--the redeeming, reconciling, and transforming grace of God offered to us in the Christ Event. We don't stumble much over that, unless our "diversity" is limited, and we "screen" those with whom we share this "good news." But, in general, we're good, at this point.

And most of us would probably affirm the "great commandments" Jesus challenges us with: Loving God and our neighbor as ourselves. Oh, we can get bogged down in the questions of "What is sabbath?" or "Who is my neighbor?", but again, we mostly good here, too.

It's when we start to look at the example of Jesus that we get a little kerfuffled. Jesus truly welcomed the stranger, ate with "sinners," and hung out with the ne'er-do-wells of the first century BCE. Even the lepers found a friend in Jesus. He wasn't afraid to "correct" the judgmental religious leaders, and suggested to them that they should "grow up" from just enforcing religious laws to realize that the role of the law was to turn people toward a relationship with God, not "appease" God. And, if that wasn't enough, when push came to shove, he let them push him through beatings and thorny crowns, and shove him onto a cross. He wasn't afraid to make the "ultimate sacrifice" for what he believed in, and what he believed in was US! And thanks to the resurrection, he still does.

In a sermon series on "Changing our Expectations," we have been looking at the parables of Jesus. Some of them are a bit hard to decipher for our time, as they are almost hopelessly buried in a first century context--you know, one of those "You had to be there" deals. We do our best, but parables like the "Crooked Manager" or the "Unrighteous Judge" are really hard to "fix" for our time. The rich man who is about to fire his crooked manager for cooking the books actually ends up praising him for being "shrewd" when he connives yet again to endear himself to the ones he screwed in the first place. What do we do with that?

Then there are the "Beatitudes" of Matthew 5, and part of the "Sermon on the Mount." Some of them make good ethical or moral sense:

-"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
-"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."
-Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
-"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."

Then there are these:

-"Blessed are the poor in spirit, or theirs is the kingdom of heaven." What? What does it mean to be "poor in spirit"? Could it mean they live in full realization that apart from God's grace we are bankrupt right to our core? Maybe. Or could it mean we will only find true riches in life through faith in God? Maybe. Whatever, the outcome is that those who either have--or attain--this characteristic will hold the keys to the kingdom. That's pretty important stuff. Maybe we should be a bit more diligent figuring out what this "beatitude" means?

-"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." OK, if this is just a statement of "blessing," telling us that when we find ourselves in grief, God will comfort us, I'm sure we can endorse this. However, since these statements of Jesus seem to be things we would be good to emulate, does this mean we should "seek" to mourn? Is this about the biblical understanding of "suffering," which is something to embrace, according to most of scripture, rather than to avoid? Are we to mourn for the lost, or the hurting, or the poor? Maybe. In doing so, do we develop the heart of compassion addressed in the "beatitude" about mercy and purity of heart? Is Jesus saying that our empathy for others will cause us to mourn, which should cause us to act on their behalf--including praying for them--and God will comfort us as we minister to and comfort them? Maybe.

-"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." What? It seems we had better figure out what "meek" means, because "inheriting the earth" is a big deal. At a time when we seem freshly bent on "consuming" the earth rather than preserving it and being good stewards of it, might we suggest that this "me first" response is the opposite of "meek"? The "meek" may be those who realize that we are only one part of a creation God pronounced as "good," and that while we have been "given dominion" over the rest of it, that was not meant to be a license to kill, destroy, or otherwise "use up" the "good stuff" God made. "Meek" may mean respectful of God's handiwork, and being of the mind to nurture the earth and its bounty, preserving it and even "improving" it for those who come after us. That works for me. How about you?

-"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Ouch. "Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more..." Being like Jesus here means taking the crap that he took, from religious leaders, rich people, Roman authorities, and even ungrateful recipients of his miraculous healing ministry. Two important things here, and both of them are hard medicine: the "blessing" or "reward in heaven" is only granted when we are doing this for Jesus sake, i.e. for living out our faith with integrity and purpose; and we must not be jerks. Sam Calian, former president of my seminary, used to tell us budding preachers, "There's a fine line between being prophetic and being a jerk." The prophets got persecuted because they spoke a word of what God wanted to say to the people of their age, not because they mouthed off about what THEY thought about "what the Bible says" or tried to superimpose their religious prejudices upon the rest of the people. That's being a jerk. The business of interpreting scripture and what God wants to "say" to our time is hard work, and should be surrounded by prayer, grace, and with God's people in mind, not trite doctrines, enforcing "rules," and calling a judgmental spirit "keeping the covenant." Take a look around at who is really being persecuted. Those who promote "rule keeping" or maintaining the religious status quo are doing it to applause and a chorus of "amens." Edgy interpretations of God's Word that include, affirm, and transform society into a loving community are currently being slammed, and these "preachers" are being brought up on charges. While it's hard to "rejoice and be glad" when one is being branded "unfaithful" or "heretical," we will have to remember we are in good company, at least according to Jesus.

Long ago, I stopped coining that popular phrase, "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD), as most of the time, what Jesus did is really hard to replicate, and doing so may get you in serious trouble with the religious crowd, even in 2019. That darned Jesus. He continues to push the hanging out with those whom others disdain, to wreck walls people want to build against others, and to envision a kingdom and an earth "inherited" by people who love radically. This isn't going to be easy. I'll bet that's what he heard in Gethsemane, too.