After you've read David's thoughts, share yours! Send a reply email to David!!
TOUGH STUFF
A.BACKGROUND
... What did Jesus know, and when did he know it? Christianity believes that Jesus was the son of God, miraculously born, divinely ordained, and given unearthly powers over disease and nature and evil. But at that moment, 2,000 years ago, walking the dusty roads of ancient Israel, visiting villages meeting people - what did he know? That people would turn against him? That he would be betrayed? Tortured? Crucified? Raised from the dead? Did he know he was supposed to go to the cross? Jesus didn't seek controversy, or court it. But he didn't shy away from it. He was a truth-teller, risk-taker, status quo challenger, apple-cart-upsetter. Today's scripture takes Jesus to the edge.
C. SUMMARY.
In the prelude to today's scriptures, Jesus warns about what we allow ourselves to be open to, and how that affects us. "Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your body is full of light. When they are bad, you are full of darkness." (Verses 34-35). His teaching attracted disciples, followers, critics, and seekers. Some were a mixture. One seeker was a Pharisee who, by and large, were critics. This one invites Jesus to dinner but is appalled by Jesus' casual approach to rituals. At that, Jesus takes the kid gloves off and lists six strong complaints against the holier than thou, hypocritical religious leaders of the day. Above all, he was ticked off about the contradiction of outward religiosity vs inward apathy toward others. Big on prayer and public piety. Short on justice and compassion.
D. KEY POINTS
1. TOXIC vs FREEDOM. Jesus says, "see to it that the light within you is not darkness," be careful about what you allow into your life. Americans love freedom, perhaps more than anything. This creates problems when our freedoms allow behaviors that we know are harmful. For example, second hand smoke, or crying "fire" in a crowded theater. What about racist or misogynistic lyrics, jokes, talk? Hyper-sexualization of everything? Ready availability of graphic anything - sex, violence, hate? Ask yourself: what is readily available to you that is not good for you (or loved ones), and what do you do about it? In a land of almost absolute freedoms how do we assure that our "eyes" take in more "light" and less "darkness"? We actually can affect society. Look how we've minimized second hand smoke in a generation. But the most immediate response is personal. You and I, more often than not, can control what comes into range. We choose what we see, watch, listen to, hear. We also can choose what we turn off or turn away from. We can also choose to listen and see other things, i.e. light.
2. CHURCHES are DYING. That's a fact. "Organized religion" is mocked, more people are vaguely defined as "spiritual" and as "nones" (meaning "none of the above" on religious preference surveys). As a fervent observer of this, I can say that the #1 reason for decline is HYPOCRISY. Not always accurate or well thought out but rooted enough in reality to slowly kill church/religion/worship. Hypocrisy is saying one thing, doing another; public face vs private face; pretending to be one kind of person, but not really. In Jesus' diatribe against pompous religious zealots (vs. 39-52) he said they loved rituals, rule, show, prestige finger-wagging, honoring the past, being know-it all's. In contrast to such holier-than-thou religion, Jesus wants religion that gives attention to the poor, justice, love of God, humility, empathy, needs of the present, and a zeal for knowledge open to all. In simple terms, in church on Sunday we espouse certain qualities, behaviors, priorities, beliefs. They come through loud and clear in hymns, sermons, prayers, scripture, etc. Pretty hard to miss. But it's only one hour a week. The next 6 ½ days how do we "exercise" that faith? Accurately? Lackadaisically? Contradictorily? In my long-ago book, Faith at Work, my main point was that whatever we claim to believe on Sunday we should act out the rest of the week.When non-church people, non-Christians, non-believers see Christians act in word and deed contrary to Christ, (or when Christians see other Christians act contrary to Christ) - well, no wonder churches are dying. Jesus calls us to be genuine.
P.S. BUT, the charge of "hypocrisy" can by hypocritical, and too easy. Everybody falls short of the ideal. We go tot church precisely because we are not perfect. We go to seek both forgiveness and a fresh start.
