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| Rosa Parks |
There are many other events associated with this culture-altering day in US history. Mrs. Parks went on to represent--and in some instances, champion--ideologies that I both support and oppose; but this is true of all people who make a difference in this world. We are passionate about the things that strike a cord within us. The things that offend us, offend us. The things we love, we LOVE.
There have been many humans throughout history who have pressed the face of their culture into the mirror of its own depravity. Some of these were broken humans, who fell further into the darkness of that very brokenness, like Adolf Hitler. Other broken humans arose from darkness into the light of Truth, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. To be sure, both men were driven by passion and both inspired millions by their actions. Sadly, this same passion, regardless of one's (non?) religious leaning, has a simple beginning: pride.
In Christianity, pride came before the Fall--that moment in time, when humanity "exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator." (Genesis 1; Rom. 1) Pride entered and said, "Hey, I can be just like God."
Pride comes with a great price when placed wrongly. At the moment when humanity chose itself over the God that created it, everything became a potential idol to worship--everything. The color of our skin, for example, became an idol in place of God and we have worshipped it throughout history--as an object of our self-love or our self-hatred. The result is the same: death.
Slavery, freedom, peace, war, universal healthcare, GMOs, UFOs, environmental justice, social justice, human rights, land rights, gay rights, religious rights – my rights. ALL of these things share one thing in common: Me, me, me.
“You can’t do that [take my guns, tell me who I can't marry] to me.”
“You can’t do that to me”.
Whatever word the emphasis falls on, the force behind the words are the same:
“You're not the boss of me!!”
There have been many humans throughout history who have pressed the face of their culture into the mirror of its own depravity. Some of these were broken humans, who fell further into the darkness of that very brokenness, like Adolf Hitler. Other broken humans arose from darkness into the light of Truth, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. To be sure, both men were driven by passion and both inspired millions by their actions. Sadly, this same passion, regardless of one's (non?) religious leaning, has a simple beginning: pride.
In Christianity, pride came before the Fall--that moment in time, when humanity "exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator." (Genesis 1; Rom. 1) Pride entered and said, "Hey, I can be just like God."
Pride comes with a great price when placed wrongly. At the moment when humanity chose itself over the God that created it, everything became a potential idol to worship--everything. The color of our skin, for example, became an idol in place of God and we have worshipped it throughout history--as an object of our self-love or our self-hatred. The result is the same: death.
Slavery, freedom, peace, war, universal healthcare, GMOs, UFOs, environmental justice, social justice, human rights, land rights, gay rights, religious rights – my rights. ALL of these things share one thing in common: Me, me, me.
“You can’t do that [take my guns, tell me who I can't marry] to me.”
“You can’t do that to me”.
Whatever word the emphasis falls on, the force behind the words are the same:
“You're not the boss of me!!”
If everyone is equal on this planet, with equal rights, then none of us actually have any rights. Another wayward expression of this idea: "Everyone is special." If that statement is true, then no one is special. If by special, however, you mean unique (ah, the English language!), then I whole-heartedly agree. We are all unique, not "special". And by no means should we grasp for equality.
"I shouldn't have to sit in the back of the bus, I'm white."
---------
We're born with the ability to learn.
I learn that if I cry, someone will pick me up, or feed me, or change my diaper. Of course, at birth, we don't have words--nor are we even able to conceptualize this process for many years to come. If this innate thinking process is permitted to take hold, I grow into a demanding, narcissistic adult with poor-to-no social skills.
"Mommy and/or Daddy just said I couldn’t do [such and such]."
I learn that if I push that other boundary over there, they’re going to give a little bit on that boundary I really want over here. Without training and guidance (also called discipline), we might enter life with no barometer for what's right and what's not. Everything I want, I should have
Now.
... and we all do this everyday for years, even after childhood is a distant memory.
We might become adults who decide other adults are less human than we are (or are more human than we are). We might become adults who assign seats on buses and who obediently sit in them. Innately knowing the difference between right and wrong, we consistently choose the wrong and we rationalize in order to cope with the inner conflict that occurs.
In psychology, rationalization is a form of manipulating the truth. It has many faces:
Rationalization can be poison to our bodies: “One more donut isn’t going to affect my A1-C level that much.”
Rationalization can be accomplice to genocide.: “If we sing the hymns louder, we won’t hear the Jews screaming when the trains rumble by [thereby avoiding guilty consciences].”
Rationalization can lead to inaction and injustice. It says, “[That thing I should do] is going to require too much of me. Besides, someone else is probably already doing something about it.”
Rationalization hears, “Move y'all, I want those two seats,” and sits there silently, doing nothing, while thinking, Someone [else] should stand up for her; she looks tired. Hey! Don’t look at me, I’ve two kids and a wife at home.
Rationalization says, instead of getting off my phone and affecting change, I can write a blog or post a status on social media that's actually going to accomplish something.
Rationalization’s source is pride, manifested in laziness and/or avoidance. The apostle John says pride lives in three forms:
- Lust of the flesh--I crave (comfort, for example).
- Lust of the eyes--I want (comfort, for example).
- Pride of life--I deserve (comfort, for example).
It’s really simple: we all need Jesus. If Jesus (God) isn’t the core of our motivation for something, it’s an abomination to him. (Commandment #1)
If I march on a thousand state and country capitols and I hate the people motivating my marching, I am a resounding gong. If I save a million little girls and boys from the hell of the sex-trade, but hate the men and women who put them there, I am a clanging cymbal. If in my apocalyptic shouts to awaken the Church, I hate a liberal or conservative Christian, I am a foul stench in the nostrils of God. If I mock rednecks or Muslims in my rants against Muslims or rednecks, I'm useless and laughable. If, in my zeal to do anything, I hate another human being, I set myself in place as their judge and become their murderer. (Matthew 5; Romans 13)
But wait, wasn’t Jesus zealous in the vein of King David? He fashioned cords into a whip and drove people away from the Temple as if they were wild animals going through his garbage. He then trashed the place in His zeal over His Father’s house--we tend to forget this most of this time. It’s as if cleansing the temple is one of those things that Jesus alone could do while He was here on Earth.
Getting passionate about truth and righteousness are off limits.
If we are truly His body–like many a famous songs state–and healing, deliverance, feeding the poor, and assisting widows and orphans are part of His continued work through us, then what of His passion for the Church? Are we really to be as bland as the ‘body’ we partake of during Communion? Are we truly to be as void-of-spirit as the grape juice we drink in remembrance of Him? We are no longer rich Christians living in an age of hunger only; we're rich Christians living with our fingers in our ears yelling, "I can't hear you!" (Psalm 69:9; Matt 21:12, 13; Mark 11: 15-17; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-22)
Instead of being “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that [we] may proclaim the praises of the One who called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light,” we have become nation of fearful, entitled cynics and skeptics. And that’s just the ‘churchy part’ of America. We now barter truth for peace. Truer, still, we confuse truth and peace for idolatry. Social justice is ignored over salvation.
And vice-versa.
There seems to be a moral compass missing in the church, of which Jesus did not lack. We scoff at any semblance of religiosity out of disdain for ritual or some other weak excuse. We are quick to ‘judge’ another denomination’s gratuitous ritualism (or lack thereof) while forgetting the very God we claim to follow set in place patterns for worship – down to the color of thread to be used when sewing garments and tapestries. Why shouldn’t we care as much about Jesus’ Body as He does? If Yahweh cared enough to be explicit in the details of the worship of Him, why do we believe it acceptable to give little-to-no credence to detail at all?
Today, we worship ourselves with a good cup of joe in cozy, dimly-lit entertainment halls, or we worship ourselves with icy cold, rote services--both, dedicated to our comfort.
Jesus was Jewish. Jesus read, and followed, the Law and the Prophets; he, alone, did it perfectly. Jesus attended the ‘religious’ festivals. He honored the ‘religiosity’ set forth by His Father to the letter. To not do so would have been a violation of the Law–commandment #6, to be precise. This would have qualified as a sin, thereby nullifying His entire existence on this planet. His famous speech about binding the broken and setting the prisoner free came while He was in the Temple following religious protocol. His own mouth stated that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.
How can this Jesus be some surfer-dude vagabond with no regard for ignorant conformists? He was born as one of them. He read what we now call the Old Testament. He, Himself, was the very Word made flesh! Jesus was, in fact, so legalistic that He–the perfect Lamb who was slain before the foundations of the Earth–came into Jerusalem during the very week prescribed by Yahweh, His Father. It was during this religious, ceremonial holy week commemorating a famous event in Jewish history–the Passover–that Jesus entered God’s holy (set apart, religiously, if you will) city to provide His sacrifice along with the thousands upon thousands of other ‘ignorant, religious’ people.
But we somehow still think of Jesus as the CEO of Hallmark Greeting Cards, or something similarly ridiculous, like the Great Lebowski. Jesus was not just some mystical hippie, or a greeting card author. He was, is, God incarnate.
Jesus said things that are hard to hear:
“If you don’t forgive others, the Father in Heaven will not forgive you.”
“If you look at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart.”
“Take up your cross daily and follow me.”
These words are no more idle than are the following:
“Love your neighbor...”
“Love one another...”
“I have come to give abundant life...”
“Peter, put down your sword...” – all of which we are quick to embrace in our attempts to emasculate the Living God to soothe our own fears and pride (a closer study of that last reference, in particular, would do many Christians some good).
I have been taught that Jesus was a pacifist. Clearly, scripture shows us otherwise (white horse, army, one final battle). Neither was Jesus being a pacifist at that moment in time when Peter cuts off a guy’s ear with his sword. Jesus was not telling Peter to lay down his arms because He was against gun violence. He was commanding Peter to cease interfering in His marriage ceremony.
Today, we seem to want Jesus, the Stoic, to be saying something like, “Aw, Pete. That’s so cute. Thanks for standing up for me, but I got this.” When in reality, he is screaming, “Peter! I am about to enter into the greatest wedding ceremony this world will ever know and you WILL NOT take it from me. The Bride I have come for is too valuable to be lost over your misplaced attempt at valor!”
Today, we seem to want Jesus, the Stoic, to be saying something like, “Aw, Pete. That’s so cute. Thanks for standing up for me, but I got this.” When in reality, he is screaming, “Peter! I am about to enter into the greatest wedding ceremony this world will ever know and you WILL NOT take it from me. The Bride I have come for is too valuable to be lost over your misplaced attempt at valor!”
Jesus is a passionately focused man bent on one end and one end alone: marrying the Bride his Father chose for Him. And nothing, not Peter’s sword or the very Gates of Hell are going to stand in His way. There is no turning to the left or to the right. His gaze is fixed on the prize.
But hear this: Jesus does not wield lightning bolts, eagerly seeking to annihilate any who get in His way. We suffer from selective ignorance in today’s American church. One half of us worship Jesus, the man who makes King Leonidas look like a toothless toddler, while the other half fauns after Jesus, the stoned camp counselor. Both sides lose.
Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. You don’t get one without the other. If you think you have a relationship with one and not the other, you have a relationship with neither. Another of the hard things Jesus said, was this: “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part with me.” In other words, if you do not take Jesus completely--as the Israelites did the lambs at the original Passover--He does not consider you part of His body.
The final Revelation to John proves this. In the Gospels, Jesus came into the world to seek and save that which was lost – the Sacrificial Lamb. While on the cross, He said, “It is finished.” I believe Him. When He comes back to Earth, it will not be in humility. He is coming as the conquering King, the Lord of Lords… the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And this time, He will have a sword protruding from His mouth – not a bubble wand… The Lamb accomplished Its goal. The Lion is coming to do the same.
And then there will be peace.
Rosa Parks was tired of not having justice in her life. So are you. So am I. But none of us are a righteous, holy God. Our justice is not God's justice. I don't get to judge your lack. I am to encourage you, build you up with words, songs, and action. We can try to assume the roles of determining who the wheat and tares are. But that's not our job. When we focus on rooting out the heretics in our midst, we take our focus off the Truth; and the path is narrow. There's little room for error and if we look away from the Way for an instant, we go off course--and are in danger of becoming the very thing we're striving to expose.
Don't make demons out of broken people. Follow Jesus and help others do the same thing. Racists need salvation as much as anti-racists do. Don't fall into the trap of thinking your justice is true justice. Fall into the hands of God, the true and just judge.
But hear this: Jesus does not wield lightning bolts, eagerly seeking to annihilate any who get in His way. We suffer from selective ignorance in today’s American church. One half of us worship Jesus, the man who makes King Leonidas look like a toothless toddler, while the other half fauns after Jesus, the stoned camp counselor. Both sides lose.
Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb. You don’t get one without the other. If you think you have a relationship with one and not the other, you have a relationship with neither. Another of the hard things Jesus said, was this: “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part with me.” In other words, if you do not take Jesus completely--as the Israelites did the lambs at the original Passover--He does not consider you part of His body.
The final Revelation to John proves this. In the Gospels, Jesus came into the world to seek and save that which was lost – the Sacrificial Lamb. While on the cross, He said, “It is finished.” I believe Him. When He comes back to Earth, it will not be in humility. He is coming as the conquering King, the Lord of Lords… the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And this time, He will have a sword protruding from His mouth – not a bubble wand… The Lamb accomplished Its goal. The Lion is coming to do the same.
And then there will be peace.
Rosa Parks was tired of not having justice in her life. So are you. So am I. But none of us are a righteous, holy God. Our justice is not God's justice. I don't get to judge your lack. I am to encourage you, build you up with words, songs, and action. We can try to assume the roles of determining who the wheat and tares are. But that's not our job. When we focus on rooting out the heretics in our midst, we take our focus off the Truth; and the path is narrow. There's little room for error and if we look away from the Way for an instant, we go off course--and are in danger of becoming the very thing we're striving to expose.
Don't make demons out of broken people. Follow Jesus and help others do the same thing. Racists need salvation as much as anti-racists do. Don't fall into the trap of thinking your justice is true justice. Fall into the hands of God, the true and just judge.
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