06-21-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
June 21, 2024
This Sunday will be the second-to-last sermon on the Totality of the Jesus Life. We have been looking at numerous passages of scripture that have historically caused discomfort, anger, confusion, or even brought some people to the point of leaving Christianity behind. Too often, people have been told that they simply need to accept the Bible for what it is—maybe even being told that it is not in God’s plan for them to understand a passage. I don’t find that helpful. As a follower of Jesus, my starting place is with the life of Jesus, and it is through his life witness, words, and self-giving love that I glimpse what I believe to be the heart of God, or at least what can be understood by the human mind. When I find a passage that seems to stand against the most basic teachings of Jesus, I need to pause, take a step back, and ask some questions.

What concerns me is when I see people begin to chip away at Jesus in an attempt to cling to passages that promote violence, depict God as angry and full of vengeance, or offer an understanding of humanity as worthless. When you look at the totality of the Jesus life as found in the Gospel narratives, does any of the violence, anger, or worthlessness hold up? If anything, the Jesus life seems laser-focused on dismantling the damaging and soul-sucking ideas often associated with God and humanity. You may remember Dr. Warren Carter, professor of New Testament at Phillips Theological Seminary, who was with us a few months ago. In a couple of his lectures, he spoke of the questions he asked of scripture. They were: Is it loving? Is it life-giving? Is it liberating? The alliteration is helpful, but those three ideas—loving, life-giving, and liberating—are, in my opinion, a helpful summary of the totality of the Jesus life.

Less than two hundred years ago, the strongest voices in favor of slavery were using the Bible to defend the practice. Since I do not believe God ever supported slavery, what do I do with those passages that support slavery? We have a dilemma! For me, I feel very comfortable saying that the Bible was written in very specific historical settings, including those in which slavery was a given. It wasn’t that God was in favor of slavery back then, but that people in every moment are limited (maybe bound) by their historical context. In every moment of human history, God is beckoning humanity toward an even greater vision of what loving, life-giving, and liberating look like.

Of course, we can’t just point back and mock the short-sightedness of people in the past. We must also ask ourselves where God is beckoning us to step beyond the confines of this current moment in hopes of gaining a slightly greater picture of God’s vision for creation. That’s where it can be uncomfortable. 

Holy One, let me find peace through your loving kindness. It is there that I am able to ask the necessary and often difficult questions about my faith, my understanding of you, and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Any step I take today will be followed by another tomorrow and another… at least I hope so. By your grace, may it be so. Amen.