Jesus vs. Pharisees
Jesus contends with the Pharisees. (Artwork Courtesy of Morgan Guyton)
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:34-39 (NRSV*)
This “hard saying” of Jesus has been much on my mind of late, as it seems that Christians are confronting, and being confronted by, what it means today to follow the teacher from Nazareth.
The uproar over “The Message” author Eugene Peterson’s retraction of his support for same-sex marriage offers only the most recent example. Other prominent Christians who have been chastised, excoriated or even arrested for their views in the past few months include:
- Author and speaker Diana Butler Bass, who challenged her own Episcopal Church to refuse to hold a prayer service at the National Cathedral as part of Donald Trump’s inauguration;
- The Rev. William J. Barber II, who has been arrested along with others in both North Carolina and Washington, D.C., for protesting inhumane public policies such as cutting Medicaid benefits;
- Blogger John Pavlovitz, who wrote recently about burning bridges with those who harbor prejudices against black people, LGBTQ people, female people and sick people in order to live “more authentically.”
Among United Methodists, the Rev. Dr. J. Stephen Harper, highly respected as an author, spiritual director and former seminary professor, wrote recently on Facebook: “Do not waste time and energy on people who exclude you. By their own choices, they don't allow you to have anything to do with them anyway. Give your efforts to loving, caring for, and including those you know and meet.”
Lest anyone misinterpret these examples, I stress that I grieve, not gloat, over these developments. I’m grieving because these departures represent the kind of unlinking that Jesus demands: the renunciation of ties to family, friends and church that have given affection, comfort, meaning and purpose to life, in order to follow the Way he teaches.
That’s not to say that the institutional church has been one big festival over the years. Being a hospital for sinners and not a museum for saints, my church provided plenty of hates and hurts along with blessings. Nonetheless, many Christian institutions and the people who make up them now appear to have lost their way – a perception that they no doubt apply to those of us who are “Dones”** as well.
What I see happening these days closely resembles the kind of winnowing that scripture teaches us will come at the day of judgment. The community rules that we were taught when I was a youngster are turning out to be institutional props and tribal prejudices. In no way do they look or feel like Jesus’ instructions to his disciples about loving and serving God and neighbors. In many respects, there’s profound relief in this realization, for it resolves much cognitive dissonance. Yet there’s also a sense of fearful finality, of coming unmoored, of being lost in space. Unlike the prodigal son, there will be no going home to a forgiving father once we move on. Instead we are exiting all that is familiar and sustaining for a goal that we do not yet see in full. How do we sing the Lord’s song in this strange land of disconnection? How do we build on the ashes of the bridges we have burned?
It can be easy, at such moments of confrontation, to quote the above scripture, but mouthing the Bible verses doesn’t erase the pain and grief at parting ways. If the Reformation, which marks its 500th anniversary this year, has been predicated on Martin Luther’s famous phrase “Here I stand; I can do no other,” then the next 500 years of Christianity seem likely to be marked by a similar declaration: “There we move, for we cannot stay where we are.”
My heart tells me that I’m feeling God’s sorrow at how religious institutions have once again distorted God’s message of love and justice for humans. My soul echoes God’s anguished wooing, imploring us to bear the agonizing crosses of scorn and derision in our witness to Jesus’ Way, because our desperate times call for the Word to be seen and heard anew.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days.***
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* The New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible. Copyright 1989 by the Christian Education Committee of the National Council of Churches, USA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
** “Dones” is a newly coined term for former church members who no longer participate in organized religion.
*** “God of Grace and God of Glory,” words by Harry Emerson Fosdick, No. 577, United Methodist Hymnal. Quoted under “fair use” doctrine of U.S. copyright law.