“We have to mean something ourselves, and not just get trapped into, ‘Hey, everything’s just a mashup T-shirt,’” Day says in Episode 91 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “The substance of what it means to be a geek is essentially someone who’s brave enough to love something against judgment. The heart of being a geek is a little bit of rejection.”In order to keep your sanity as a Christian you absolutely must love against judgement—we have to understand that there will always be at least a little bit of rejection at the heart of being a Christian. This is something that modern Christianity—especially in the United States—has forgotten. Very broadly, it went something like this: people flocked to the church in the midst and the wake of World War II and taught their children the importance of their faith. When their children grew up, they taught their own children to go to church because it's expected of us and because I told you to, that's why. So we've had about two and a half generations of people for whom morning worship was simply what was done on Sunday. Now those generations are looking at those of us who came after and wondering why they can't see that they're just plain degenerate for not showing up to worship.
Don't worry, I'm not going to get into a huge discussion of the "spiritual but not religious" crowd. Not this week anyway. But I will say this—the other reason I was struck by the Epistle lesson was that it shows that the problems "spiritual but not religious" folk have with organized religion have always been there. "For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters." Church people have always been quarreling with each other and they have always been claiming that their own "brand" of the faith is superior to that of their neighbor. Paul responds by reminding them that "...the message about the cross is foolishness..." to the rest of the world. So why spend a lot of ultimately negative energy fighting about who's better than whom? There will always be some rejection at the heart of being a Christian.
I don't see much, if any, of that theme in the Gospel lesson or the Hebrew lesson(s) it alludes to. Instead I keep coming back to what the common expectations of what the Messiah was going to be like when Jesus was born, grew up, and served out his ministry on earth. Remember that Israel had been conquered by the Roman empire. Herod the Great (famous for spending lots of money to tear down the temple in Jerusalem to build it again—only bigger—and for being a completely ruthless bastard) and his successor and son, Herod Antipas (famous for executing John the Baptist, his role in the execution of Jesus, and for divorcing his wife so he could marry his brother's wife—yes you read that right) were named "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate and Caesar Augustus, respectively. So when people talked about a savior, a Messiah, an "anointed one," they were thinking of a political and military hero. They were imagining the next King David—a true "King of the Jews" who would come to kick butts and chew bubblegum... and he'd be all out of bubblegum. So when Herod Antipas has John the Baptist beheaded for running his mouth—John was appalled at the whole divorcing his wife so he could have his brother's wife thing—and Jesus began preaching that the Kingdom of God was at hand and started gathering people to him... Well, it kind of feels like the beginning of a fantasy novel or a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The hero of the story starts building his party, right? A hearty band of adventurers who will rise up against the evil empire and destroy it! Actually, that sounds more like Star Wars, but you get the point.
Of course, Jesus doesn't turn out to be that kind of King. Only one member of the party died and stayed dead in that campaign. Oh, and every single one of them wanted to play the cleric! That's not to say that Jesus wasn't fighting for something—it just turned out not to be that kind of fight. Forming up his adventuring party was no small thing. Rich and poor and middle class, his disciples dropped everything they were doing, left their jobs and their families, and their lives behind to follow Jesus. And he may not have led an armed revolution, but the things he was preaching... well, they all came from his understanding of the Hebrew Bible, but they were still revolutionary! There was a lot of what we would call "economic justice" today in what Jesus taught. The kinds of things that Pope Francis has been saying‐the kinds of things that have been ruffling the feathers of wealthy Americans. That message and the reaction it has been receiving is perhaps best summed up in the words of Dom Helder Camara, "When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist."
Talk about the message of the Cross being foolishness to the world! Talk about rejection being at the heart of what it means to be a Christian!
Huh. Maybe that earlier theme was in there after all...
Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
012114
The scripture lessons for January 26th—The Third Sunday after Epiphany Year A—are:
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