Zombie Jesus Day

To be perfectly honest, I get it.  I do.  I've even smiled and giggled hear Professor Farnsworth blurt out, "Sweet Zombie Jesus!"

And this meme certainly isn't the first place where the cannibalistic overtones of the Eucharist have been pointed out.

But I think Know Your Meme only has it half-right when they claim "The Christian Church is known for spreading the word of god, whether people like it or not.  Zombie Jesus is often used in order to retaliate against the churches (sic) constant preaching."  The site assumes that the Christians who yell the loudest get to represent the rest of us.

I'm here to tell you that they don't.

Truth be told, I don't have beef with atheists, generally speaking.  Not any more than I have a beef with certain strains of Christianity—you know the ones I mean:  the ones that aren't content to say "This is where I am, and this is why..." and then leave it there.

I have a hard time with the ones who simply can't help going on.  "...and you're an idiot for not believing the same way I do."

Yes, I'm looking at some of you, too, atheists.

So I get, I do.  You don't really see the story of the Resurrection of Jesus as a case of zombification.  After all, what zombie ever said, "Peace be with you.  Why are you frightened..." and then asked for some fish to eat?  (Cooked even!)

Zombie Jesus isn't about that.  It's a way to provoke a reaction from that brand of Christian I was talking about.  The ones who scream the loudest.

I get it, I do.

But...

Isn't there a name for people who say things just to provoke a negative reaction?

And seriously, how can you get any satisfaction out of that kind of trolling?  I mean, it's so easy.

So how about I give you a more positive, if slightly less funny, interpretation of the Resurrection of Jesus?

Martin Bell once wrote that "God raised Jesus from the dead to the end that we should be clear-once and for all-that there is nothing more important than being human. Our lives have eternal significance. And no one-absolutely no one-is expendable."

So be good to each other
Rev. Josh
041415

Lectionary texts

Acts 3:12-19

When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, "You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out...."

Psalm 4

Answer me when I call,
   O God of my right!

You gave me room
   when I was in distress.
Be gracious to me,
   and hear my prayer.

How long, you people,
   shall my honor suffer shame?
How long will you love vain words,
   and seek after lies?

But know that God has set apart
   the faithful for God;
God hears when I call.

When you are disturbed,
   do not sin;
ponder it on your beds,
   and be silent.

Offer right sacrifices,
   and put your trust in God.
There are many who say,
   "O that we might see some good!

Let the light of your face
   shine on us, O God!"

You have put gladness in my heart
  more than when their grain and wine abound.

I will both lie down
   and sleep in peace;
for you alone, O God,
   make me lie down in safety.

1 John 3:1-7

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Luke 24:36-48

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you — that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

Simply A True Myth

In an earlier post I talked a little bit about a reoccurring theme that pops up in many hero journeys—the idea that an ordinary or even unvalued character turns out to be the most important person in the story.  I talked about how it's a great place for everyone who's ever known rejection to relate to the hero and feel some of that same importance for themselves.  And let's face it, who among us has never known rejection?  Who doesn't want to be the Chosen One every once in a while?

Harry Potter living with the Dursleys.  Scrawny young Arthur as a Page known as "Wart."  Garian hidden away on Faldor's farm and raised by "Aunt Pol."  Luke Skywalker growing up on a moisture farm on Tatooine—I mean really, that's as close to an actual dirt farmer as you can get, right?

There's something that kind of rings hollow about the geek version of that theme, though.  The idea is that maybe the little ol' ostracized geek is actually vitally important because Harry was abused and look at him, he's the Chosen One!  But when push comes to shove, most of us aren't actually holding our breath for an owl to deliver our invitation into the wider wizarding world.  (Those of us who are actually so mentally ill and delusional as to have lost our grip on reality are actually very few and far-between—but that's a post for another day, perhaps.)


What I'm trying to say is that if this aspect of the hero journey is all that we have to lift ourselves up, we're in trouble.  Yes, it's awesome to watch Harry go from the Boy Who Lived Under the Stairs to the most important wizard in the world.  But it doesn't mean that I'm important.

Unless it turns out that I'm actually a powerful wizard.



Nope.

But check this out:  Once upon a time there was a little boy who loved to read.  In fact, he may very well grown up to be the most well-read man in human history.  He placed a great deal of value in mythology--in hero journeys.  And then, one day, a couple of friends took him on a long walk and convinced him that Christianity is the world's most important myth because it actually happened.

And that's how C.S. Lewis converted to Christianity.

The point I'm trying to make is that when I read the scripture and see that God sends an angel to the epitome of normal and unimportant—a young lady named Mary—it's actually very important.  Not just to the story, but to humanity.

You see, God could surely have saved humanity from on high, and all on God's own.  But God chose to involve Mary.  God chose to become human in the person of Jesus.

God chose to involve us in our own salvation.

And that doesn't just mean Jesus.  It doesn't just mean Mary.  It means that we all can and should be involved.

What I'm trying to say is that every one of us—even little ol' ostracized geeks—really are important.  We can't just sit around and wait for God to save us.  Apparently God doesn't save us without our own involvement.

Everything we do is important.  Because every choice we make either makes the world a little bit better, or a little bit worse.

It really is just that simple.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
121614

The scripture lessons for December 21st—The Fourth Sunday of Advent Year B—are:
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16—Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26—Romans 16:25-27—Luke 1:26-38

Take Your Stinkin' Paws Off Me!

In the post entitled “Murder Simulator?” I mentioned that there’s “some great theological stuff around the Monkeysphere and Jesus' answer to that whole thing…” and that I might do a post just around that somewhere down the road.  Well, I guess we’re somewhere down the road, because here it is!

Primatologists discovered that the size of a primate’s brain determines the size of the social groups that primate forms.  In other words, the bigger the brain, the bigger the society they form.  An anthropologist named Robin Dunbar says that the same is true for you and me.

Author David Wong explains it this way.  Imagine a cute little monkey.  He suggests that you imagine that he’s dressed up like a pirate and that you have all kinds of monkey pirate adventures.


I feel compelled to admit that the pirate outfit and accompanying adventures are fun, but probably not necessary for this explanation.

He also says that you should name him Slappy and that you should image how much you love and enjoy Slappy’s company.  And that I do want you to do.  Because I want you to realize how sad you would be if Slappy died.

Now imagine that you get four more monkeys.  I won’t use the names that Wong suggests, so let’s call them Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Imagine that Matthew is affectionate, Mark is aggressive, Luke is quiet, and John loves sitting on the top of the grandfather clock and screaming.  But they’re all your pets, and you love them.

Now imagine that you get one hundred more monkeys.  Wong writes, “Not so easy now, is it? So how many monkeys would you have to own before you couldn't remember their names? At what point, in your mind, do your beloved pets become just a faceless sea of monkey?”  Well, if Dunbar is correct, the answer is about 150 monkeys.

That’s all our brains can handle.  About 150.

In his book, This Book Is Full of Spiders, Wong describes the problem this way:

“…everything we do requires cooperation in groups larger than a hundred and fifty.  Governments.  Corporations.  Society as a whole.  And we are physically incapable of handling it.  So every moment of the day we urgently try to separate everyone on earth into two groups—those inside the sphere of sympathy and those outside.  Black verses white, liberal verses conservative, Muslim verses Christian, Lakers fan versus Celtics fan.  With us, or against us.  Infected verses clean.  We simplify tens of millions of individuals down into simplistic stereotypes, so that they hold the space of only one individual in our limited available memory slots…”

Now, this problem is addressed all over the place in Judaism and Christianity and probably every other religion in the world.  But I’m a Christian, so I’m going to focus on two places that Jesus addresses it.  If you want to get into the text yourself, you can find these passages in Luke 4:16-30 and Matthew 25:31-46.  So, after Jesus was Baptized he was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.  He overcame temptation out there and then, still full of the Spirit, he began to preach and teach all around Galilee.

One day he came home to Nazareth and went to the synagogue there on the Sabbath.  He stood up and read a passage from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

But he chose to end the quote before he got to the part where Isaiah talks about the day of the vengeance of the Lord, and he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.

Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”  All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.  They said, “Is not this Joseph's son?”

I think that Jesus was trying to make a point when he read that passage from Isaiah.  Or rather, I believe that he was trying to make a point when he stopped in the middle of a verse.  The full verse is, “…to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God…”  I think that Jesus was trying to steer the people away from the path of vengeance.

But I also believe that as soon as Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” the people remembered the whole passage and assumed that Jesus was going to the same place—the place where the people get their vengeance over their enemies.  Payback time.

And Jesus saw how the people approved of him and were amazed by him and… he kept talking.  “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’  And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’’  And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.  But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.  There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

What Jesus is doing here is pointing out that within their own scriptures there are examples of God caring for people outside of the Jewish Monkeysphere.  Sidon and Syria were definitely "Them" with a capital "T" for the folk Jesus was speaking to.  Unfortunately, the crowd was not swayed.  In fact, they were predictably outraged, became violent and tried to toss Jesus off a cliff!  I believe that Jesus gives us the answer our limited brains need later in his ministry, when he told this parable:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.  All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?  And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?  And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’

And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me…’”

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with my monkey brain every day.  I catch myself trying to simplify whole groups of people down into simplistic stereotypes to hold the space of only one individual in my limited available memory slots.

And sometimes those stereotypes aren’t very nice.  And when that happens, I try to remember where Jesus stopped speaking, rolled up the scroll and sat down.  I try to remember the widow at Zarephath in Sidon.  I try to remember Naaman the Syrian.  I try to remember that if I need to simplify things for my poor monkey brain, all I need to do is replace all of those tens of millions of individuals with one person:  the King from the parable:  Jesus.